Case Warranty Question

Magus

Magus

Joined
Sep 10, 2010
Messages
474
Just received a mini-copperlock yesterday with stag handles that I bought sight unseen. Live and learn, probably best with stag to see it firsthand.

Love the knife, the fit and lock up are perfect. Everything about it is perfect...except the scales. But that's stag though, the look can widely vary.

The shield side has good color, mostly browns and some good overall grooves and lines. The back side though is kinda fugly, orangish-yellow, bit of black and a lot of exposed white. Much thicker too. Again, love the knife, just wish they'd matched the handles up better. I've got another stag handled knife from Case and it's perfect. So I know they're capable of better.

Is this something Case would cover under warranty? I kinda doubt it. Not likely I'm going to send it back over something so trivial, but hey, if they'll swap out the offending scale, I might consider it.
 
Magus said:
... probably best with stag to see it firsthand.
Click to expand...

Words to live by.
Personally I would never buy Stag unseen from anyone, even custom makers.

If you bought it new from a dealer you should be able to return it.
If you bought from an individual, contact Case and ask them what your options are.
What I would look into would be to ask in the custom makers forum who re-scales knives, and see about getting killer custom stag slabs put on that otherwise perfect knife.
 
I'd stick it in my pocket and use the crap out of it. It'll start gaining some character on it's own and be better than anything else that could be put on it new. ;)
 
Problem with stag is that it's a variable material and, "One man's meat is another's poison" is very true with this . Tastes vary so much. Some people like thick stag,others prefer for thin slabs. I've got a Mini Copperlock in stag that looks fairly horrid, spine view is like a snake that's swallowed some prey-fat hump in the middle! Others might lap this up though. Where possible, ask for dealer pix first, and, in my view, GEC is streets ahead of CASE in stag quality and mounting. But, even theirs varies.
 
Since what you're describing is an aesthetic issue, and doesn't have much to do with the function of the knife, I doubt Case would replace the scales for you under warranty. You never know, they might do it just to make you happy, or they might offer to replace the scales for a fee. Taking some pictures and sending them in an email to Case couldn't hurt.

My personal suggestion for knives with ho-hum stag is to carry that sucker in your pocket with your keys and spare change for a few months and see how it looks after that. I've been doing that with my stag Case Congress for about 5 months now, and it looks awesome. This seems to add a lot of character, depth and color to the stag, as well as wearing the bolsters in a very pleasing way. It is starting to look like one of those nice old antique knives you see at shows. It certainly doesn't look like the ugly, brand-spankin' new knife it did when I got it! :thumbup:
 
I don't see it as a warranty issue. It's more an "eye of the beholder" issue in my opinion. Contact the dealer to see if he might take it back and send you another that he hand picks out of his stock. If that fails, sell it or trade it and pick up another when you have the opportunity to hand pick one.
 
KnifeHead said:
I'd stick it in my pocket and use the crap out of it. It'll start gaining some character on it's own and be better than anything else that could be put on it new. ;)
Click to expand...

I think that's the route I'm going to go in the end.

Honestly, the fugliness of the scales is starting to make it grow on me.
 
Sound advice from everyone above. Use it and give it some character of it's own. I think it would be a hard thing to explain even if you sent it in and then who knows what you would get back in return.
 
Are your scales going to match perfect anyways in 1 year after carrying it in your pocket riding around with some chump change?
If everything else is passible on the knife then make those scales your own scales over use and hard work. The scales on any knife tell a story over 3 or 4 years. Are your hands perfect, or did u buy a knife just to look at it and complain
 
Thats one thing that keeps me from buying stag knives.

If it does bother you, see if you can return for an exchange, with specific details of what you are looking for. While I absolutely detest stag scales that are severely mismatched, I can see why it happens, especially in production knives. It would be very time consuming, to match scales to each knife

Some time back, I got a limited edition Buck 112 with Elk stag scales, direct from Buck. When it arrived, I was extremely disappointed with the stag. Called Buck, and explained my unhappiness with the stag. The nice lady at Buck asked me to explain in detail what I was looking for, and she went through the remaining knives, and hand picked one. It was very nice...
 
One thing I have always found 180 degrees out of phase with my own way of thinking is the advice that basically goes like this;

"I know that thing is uglier than homemade bowling shoes, but.."
"If you are going to use it it shouldn't matter", or
"Use it and make it your own", or
"Quit whining, you bought it to use. Now get to using it." etc..

If I am going to carry it, it matters most.
I want use a knife I actually liked from the beginning and make it my own.
I might like to whine, thank you very much! ;)

If I find something distasteful, like mismatched, deformed and ugly stag scales on an otherwise perfect knife, I can't carry and use it. It would displease me to see it every time I used it.

Now I would buy something like that as a museum piece if it had historical significance, or for profit if I thought I thought I could make a buck on it. But carry it? In my own pocket? Never.

Of course that's just me, and it takes all kinds, so whatever floats your boat is fine with me as long as we are all having fun. :D
 
338375 said:
Thats one thing that keeps me from buying stag knives.

If it does bother you, see if you can return for an exchange, with specific details of what you are looking for. While I absolutely detest stag scales that are severely mismatched, I can see why it happens, especially in production knives. It would be very time consuming, to match scales to each knife

Some time back, I got a limited edition Buck 112 with Elk stag scales, direct from Buck. When it arrived, I was extremely disappointed with the stag. Called Buck, and explained my unhappiness with the stag. The nice lady at Buck asked me to explain in detail what I was looking for, and she went through the remaining knives, and hand picked one. It was very nice...
Click to expand...

I really like stag, however this is the first and the last time I'll do it without seeing it in person. I knew it was a bit of a gamble that the scales would match.

But in the end and after some thought, it's not that big a deal. It's a user, so it doesn't necessarily need to be "pretty."

It's my first mini-copper lock and this is easily my favorite Case pattern thus far. Really really like this knife. Will likely get a couple more of these....just not in stag. ;)
 
Amen, Stu.

The knife I carry becomes an extension of my hand, and given time, even an extension of my persona - far more so than some trophy wristwatch, vanity flashlight (what's up with the flashlight$, anyway?) or item of clothing. Like everyone here, I enjoy using, handling, carrying and looking at a good knife, but if the scales look more like an old potato than fine stag, I probably won't get an adequate dose of the warm-fuzzies when I whip that puppy out and it'll soon end up at the bottom of a junk drawer.

As the saying goes; life is too short to carry an ugly knife. Or was that a cheap knife...? Whatever: life is too short.
 
Magus said:
But in the end and after some thought, it's not that big a deal. It's a user, so it doesn't necessarily need to be "pretty."
Click to expand...

You can keep telling that to yourself all day long but you'll still not like the knife. Every time you pull it out to use it you'll wince a bit. Call the dealer you got it from and see if he won't help you out with an exchange. My .02¢
 
Modoc ED said:
You can keep telling that to yourself all day long but you'll still not like the knife. Every time you pull it out to use it you'll wince a bit. Call the dealer you got it from and see if he won't help you out with an exchange. My .02¢
Click to expand...

I agree. If I don't like the way a knife looks it just doesn't please me to open it up and use it. That's the bad part of buying over the net and not seeing the exact knife your buying. If I was not happy with the looks I would definitely see if an exchange could be made.
 
Modoc ED said:
You can keep telling that to yourself all day long but you'll still not like the knife. Every time you pull it out to use it you'll wince a bit. Call the dealer you got it from and see if he won't help you out with an exchange. My .02¢
Click to expand...

Appreciate your input. Honestly, it really doesn't bother me that much.

Sending it back to the seller really isn't an option in terms of an exchange, just a refund. But I don't want my money back, overall I like the knife and it's not the sellers fault the scales are a bit mis-matched, they didn't make the knife...that's on Case.

I'll try to get some pics up later and let everyone be the judge as to whether I should contact Case about it or not. At the moment, I'm okay with it. Been using the knife all day and love it.
 
I'm no photographer, but these will have to do. Here's four pics of the knife. I'm okay with it in the end. My initial post was pretty much out of curiosity and out of curiosity I may send these pics to Case just to see what they say. I'm realistic though, it's a mass produced Case knife and not something on a custom level so I'm not totally expecting perfection on all levels...just for the knife to be put together correctly and functional...which it is. So in the end, I'm fine with it. I really like it...in fact, I just ordered two more copperlocks. :D

At any rate, here's the pics. Everyone tell me what they think.

P1010638.jpg



P1010640.jpg



P1010655.jpg



P1010656.jpg
 
Magus, that avatar. It reminds me of something I can't quite put my finger on...;)
 
You asked for our thoughts so here goes... The mark side looks acceptable imho, however, the pile side is almost nauseating. That piece of stag (?) should have been tossed out, and never lived to be attached to a knife....

That goes beyond mismatching in my book. I would have boxed it back up, and returned it.

As was already said, even though you like the knife, it is still going to be in the back of your mind every time you use it, and that takes a lot of the fun out of having and using a nice slip joint. YMMV

They are a great pattern though :thumbup:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top