Fake Case Tony Bose Tribal Lock?

Is my Tribal Lock fake or not?


  • Total voters
    26
I'll use this thread as a mini review for mine, it arrived today.

First of all it doesn't suffer from the issues that the OP's appears to have, sigh of relief.

It's very new as well 27th Feb this year is the production date, fresh batch.

OVERALL GOOD Extremely good lock-up, no blade play at all, plenty of 'snap' sound on return which is good for any lockback. Sharp tip, good grinds and very sharp out of the box. Both the engage & disengage work smoothly on this example. As with nearly all CASE knives, excellent pin-work aesthetically pleasing and a good looking shield. Radiusing of scales is excellent, no proud liners or anything uncomfortable in handling. Flush on open and closed. All good qualities.

OVERALL QUESTIONABLE I'm an unabashed fan of your American Whiskey/Bourbon-the Scots can drink theirs for themselves thank you;):D But this colour is nothing like any Whiskey I've encountered;) More like Orange juice or Fanta:eek: For fans of orange it will be a treat but I'm not in that stable at all...weak dye job with white showing at the liners, yet garish! Seems to be a CASE trademark these days, the more regrettable when one thinks of CASE bone of yore:rolleyes:

Looks like a trip to the Tea Bath is indicated, but I'm a bit hesitant when it's a cv knife, has to be done I hate the Tangerine Dream it's clad in:eek: Personal opinion mind, but who drinks bright orange Whiskey?? Blade is very much off centre with a major bias to the mark side. It does not however impede opening or closing, not too much of a gripe in my book but it's always more desirable if it is on centre. There are tooling marks or gashes on the lockbar and spring, irritating but I think paper, time & the strop will fix it. The lockbar protrudes slightly when the blade is open but I think can be smoothed down as well, no big fault.

OVERALL OVERALL A decent knife with good mechanical finish, not bad at 65 USD plus delivery. Those who like a lockback that's bigger yet slim (as it's planned to be) will get a boon, fans of Zulu Spear will appreciate it too. It has NONE of the issues I abhor in a knife e.g. blade-play, major gaps, spring not flush at open/close. The carbon blade is ground nice and thin and the patina should contrast well, this pattern is vastly better in Barehead as an end cap gives it a stumpy look. But that bone could be seen on Mars, dazzled:D:eek:
 
Thank you everyone for each of your excellent feedback! I can now sleep soundly knowing full well that I have a genuine Case, albeit with imperfection/defect/flaw-- but it's still a Case and I'll just consider it as its "character".

I'm just grateful that the defect isn't about having a difficult time closing it. On the contrary, it opens and closely nicely but weirdly, with the 2/3 semi-stop/resistance which I'm glad about for safety reason.

I can live with the bad blade play as I don't have the skill to peen (right term?) it.

I don't think there's crud inside as I looked thoroughly and this item is NIB when it arrived; maybe there's a problem in the grind (?).

1WJaYZc.jpg


The ebay seller did apologized to me as he wasn't able to check out the item before shipping it out. He would've given me a refund if I were in the US, but I told him his apology was enough.

I did file a complaint with Case in their warranty site, but won't mind if they're unable to serve me as I'm overseas.

This Tribal Lock is growing on me....but like WillPower, the Whiskey Bone tone looks like orange juice or fanta!

Again, thank you each and everyone for sharing your thoughts!
 
By the way, that is a great looking group of knives!
I especially like that trapper on the top!!
 
I'll use this thread as a mini review for mine, it arrived today.

First of all it doesn't suffer from the issues that the OP's appears to have, sigh of relief.

It's very new as well 27th Feb this year is the production date, fresh batch.

OVERALL GOOD Extremely good lock-up, no blade play at all, plenty of 'snap' sound on return which is good for any lockback. Sharp tip, good grinds and very sharp out of the box. Both the engage & disengage work smoothly on this example. As with nearly all CASE knives, excellent pin-work aesthetically pleasing and a good looking shield. Radiusing of scales is excellent, no proud liners or anything uncomfortable in handling. Flush on open and closed. All good qualities.

OVERALL QUESTIONABLE I'm an unabashed fan of your American Whiskey/Bourbon-the Scots can drink theirs for themselves thank you;):D But this colour is nothing like any Whiskey I've encountered;) More like Orange juice or Fanta:eek: For fans of orange it will be a treat but I'm not in that stable at all...weak dye job with white showing at the liners, yet garish! Seems to be a CASE trademark these days, the more regrettable when one thinks of CASE bone of yore:rolleyes:

Looks like a trip to the Tea Bath is indicated, but I'm a bit hesitant when it's a cv knife, has to be done I hate the Tangerine Dream it's clad in:eek: Personal opinion mind, but who drinks bright orange Whiskey?? Blade is very much off centre with a major bias to the mark side. It does not however impede opening or closing, not too much of a gripe in my book but it's always more desirable if it is on centre. There are tooling marks or gashes on the lockbar and spring, irritating but I think paper, time & the strop will fix it. The lockbar protrudes slightly when the blade is open but I think can be smoothed down as well, no big fault.

OVERALL OVERALL A decent knife with good mechanical finish, not bad at 65 USD plus delivery. Those who like a lockback that's bigger yet slim (as it's planned to be) will get a boon, fans of Zulu Spear will appreciate it too. It has NONE of the issues I abhor in a knife e.g. blade-play, major gaps, spring not flush at open/close. The carbon blade is ground nice and thin and the patina should contrast well, this pattern is vastly better in Barehead as an end cap gives it a stumpy look. But that bone could be seen on Mars, dazzled:D:eek:

Great review. Thanks.

Unfortunately, I'm pretty much resolved to always needing to know what the bone looks like before I order a Case. They vary SO MUCH. Dying bone isn't really a problem for me, but it's nice if I don't have to. The whiskey bone looks like it will darken up nicely though. I'm a big fan of RIT liquid dark brown dye. On a CV knife, I can heat the stuff up in a cup, and then use a q-tip to dab it onto the scales, so I don't have to soak the whole knife. It may take a number of applications before the bone is nice and deep in color, but no rust worries. Hmmmmm........ I wonder if it would be effective to coat a knife with the SEAL1 CLP stuff that @knifeswapper sells, before soaking a knife in dye or tea. It could eliminate pretty much all corrosion worries.

With the seller I just ordered my bone stag Tribal Lock from, their ad showed a gorgeous bone stag with deep dark grooves and lots of burnt color. Gorgeous!!! The ad also showed them as having 8 knives left, so what I was going to receive was very questionable. :mad::mad::mad: They always photograph the best one of the lot. I went as far as to contact them, and ask if I would be receiving the knife that was photographed in the ad. Fortunately, they replied back that they still had the knife they used for the photographs, and would make sure to send that specific one out to me. So I guess it pays to ask questions sometimes.

x7jTFi8m.jpg


And you're totally right about the barehead looking better. I like the Tribals with end caps, but the bareheads have a ton of potential to be legendary knives. If case was able to do this kind of job on my saddlehorn trapper, just imagine what a Tribal could look like with the same treatment.

BKNYDcnl.jpg
 
Last edited:
I handled several tribals at a knife show recently and I was quite impressed. I'm not really a backlock guy, but I resolved to pick one of these up in bonestag. Cool knives. Sorry you got a lemon (as it would appear). :(
 
So tempted by the CV Tribal lock as well as the Teardrop but hate the bad dye jobs that are white at the bolster. I pretty much only buy secondary market now just to be sure of the exact knife I am getting
 
Great review. Thanks.

Unfortunately, I'm pretty much resolved to always needing to know what the bone looks like before I order a Case. They vary SO MUCH. Dying bone isn't really a problem for me, but it's nice if I don't have to. The whiskey bone looks like it will darken up nicely though. I'm a big fan of RIT liquid dark brown dye. On a CV knife, I can heat the stuff up in a cup, and then use a q-tip to dab it onto the scales, so I don't have to soak the whole knife. It may take a number of applications before the bone is nice and deep in color, but no rust worries. Hmmmmm........ I wonder if it would be effective to coat a knife with the SEAL1 CLP stuff that @knifeswapper sells, before soaking a knife in dye or tea. It could eliminate pretty much all corrosion worries.

With the seller I just ordered my bone stag Tribal Lock from, their ad showed a gorgeous bone stag with deep dark grooves and lots of burnt color. Gorgeous!!! The ad also showed them as having 8 knives left, so what I was going to receive was very questionable. :mad::mad::mad: They always photograph the best one of the lot. I went as far as to contact them, and ask if I would be receiving the knife that was photographed in the ad. Fortunately, they replied back that they still had the knife they used for the photographs, and would make sure to send that specific one out to me. So I guess it pays to ask questions sometimes.

x7jTFi8m.jpg


And you're totally right about the barehead looking better. I like the Tribals with end caps, but the bareheads have a ton of potential to be legendary knives. If case was able to do this kind of job on my saddlehorn trapper, just imagine what a Tribal could look like with the same treatment.

BKNYDcnl.jpg

Well that Bonestag is astounding, no question :cool:

Can't get RIT dye here, it's another thing that in our terror obsessed age cannot be posted overseas..that and some rubber boot preservative I ordered from Britain, only to be given the no no:(

Not sure if coating a cv blade would be good, it might leech off and then stop the bone from taking colour-you have to degrease it thoroughly to make it adhere. Don't mind as long as the blade doesn't pit. Here it is and I must say it slices very correctly, deals with these big oranges with no problem and starting to take on patina immediately. CASE's cv patinas more evenly than say GEC's carbon for some reason.

t5MwKKu.jpg
 
Well that Bonestag is astounding, no question :cool:

Can't get RIT dye here, it's another thing that in our terror obsessed age cannot be posted overseas..that and some rubber boot preservative I ordered from Britain, only to be given the no no:(

Not sure if coating a cv blade would be good, it might leech off and then stop the bone from taking colour-you have to degrease it thoroughly to make it adhere. Don't mind as long as the blade doesn't pit. Here it is and I must say it slices very correctly, deals with these big oranges with no problem and starting to take on patina immediately. CASE's cv patinas more evenly than say GEC's carbon for some reason.

t5MwKKu.jpg

That knife definitely has some potential for a dye job. I really like the shield that Case used on that one.

Is it just me, or didn’t Case give you an extra pin on that barehead?
 
I'll use this thread as a mini review for mine, it arrived today.

First of all it doesn't suffer from the issues that the OP's appears to have, sigh of relief.

It's very new as well 27th Feb this year is the production date, fresh batch.

OVERALL GOOD Extremely good lock-up, no blade play at all, plenty of 'snap' sound on return which is good for any lockback. Sharp tip, good grinds and very sharp out of the box. Both the engage & disengage work smoothly on this example. As with nearly all CASE knives, excellent pin-work aesthetically pleasing and a good looking shield. Radiusing of scales is excellent, no proud liners or anything uncomfortable in handling. Flush on open and closed. All good qualities.

OVERALL QUESTIONABLE I'm an unabashed fan of your American Whiskey/Bourbon-the Scots can drink theirs for themselves thank you;):D But this colour is nothing like any Whiskey I've encountered;) More like Orange juice or Fanta:eek: For fans of orange it will be a treat but I'm not in that stable at all...weak dye job with white showing at the liners, yet garish! Seems to be a CASE trademark these days, the more regrettable when one thinks of CASE bone of yore:rolleyes:

Looks like a trip to the Tea Bath is indicated, but I'm a bit hesitant when it's a cv knife, has to be done I hate the Tangerine Dream it's clad in:eek: Personal opinion mind, but who drinks bright orange Whiskey?? Blade is very much off centre with a major bias to the mark side. It does not however impede opening or closing, not too much of a gripe in my book but it's always more desirable if it is on centre. There are tooling marks or gashes on the lockbar and spring, irritating but I think paper, time & the strop will fix it. The lockbar protrudes slightly when the blade is open but I think can be smoothed down as well, no big fault.

OVERALL OVERALL A decent knife with good mechanical finish, not bad at 65 USD plus delivery. Those who like a lockback that's bigger yet slim (as it's planned to be) will get a boon, fans of Zulu Spear will appreciate it too. It has NONE of the issues I abhor in a knife e.g. blade-play, major gaps, spring not flush at open/close. The carbon blade is ground nice and thin and the patina should contrast well, this pattern is vastly better in Barehead as an end cap gives it a stumpy look. But that bone could be seen on Mars, dazzled:D:eek:
Congrats on the arrival of your Tribal Lock, Will, and thanks for the detailed review! :thumbsup::cool::thumbsup::)
Sorry to hear about the less-than-satisfactory dye job. I bought a harvest orange Tribal Lock about a year ago, and am surprisingly pleased with it, except for the bone dye. Doesn't seem very similar to a harvest orange humpback stockman I have! :eek: (Pics not taken at same time and place, so lighting is different, but still ...)
tribal.mark.closed.jpg
hump.mark.closed.sill.jpg

- GT
 
I am kinda leery about ordering Case knives from eBay.
Some purchases have been fine, but others have left me thinking I got a factory second. For this reason I'll only buy a new Case from an actual dealer.
Your mileage may vary.
 
That knife definitely has some potential for a dye job. I really like the shield that Case used on that one.

Is it just me, or didn’t Case give you an extra pin on that barehead?

As shown in my photo and the OP's the Barehead sports 5 pins as it has no end-cap.

Thanks, Will
 
By the way, that is a great looking group of knives!
I especially like that trapper on the top!!

Thanks! In that group, the Trapper is the cheapest because its used, while the rest are brand new (with Tribal Lock being the most expensive in the group).

Ironically, the Trapper is my #1 favorite because its the most solid feeling in that bunch, the way I imagined a Case pocket knife should be :thumbsup:
 
Guys, apologies for posting more about my Tribal Lock. It's growing on me (having a "character flaw") but I just want to put these here as a reminder to myself when buying online next time to trust but verify that items to be shipped are up to par.

GxELsoN.jpg


yqK9xOR.jpg


C0493mQ.jpg


Still, I will continue collecting Case and other US-made slipjoints :thumbsup:
 
My bone stag Tribal Lock arrived today. The bone stag is beautiful. Fit and finish is spot on. No gaps. Lock engages and disengages perfectly. No wobble.

The knife is an odd size. Not big enough to be a large single folder, but not small enough to be every guy’s EDC. Not really a second knife to carry with a smaller folder. Definitely designed to be carried alone. Not quite pocket sized, but not large enough to want to bother with belt carry. Similar in overall size and feel to a Copperlock.

The knife feels really good in the hand. The swell and jigging of the bone stag gives an wonderful grip.

My knife does have that weird uneven opening. I have to believe that is by design, to allow for a very easy pull, but ensure that it snaps closed nicely. It just feels kinda strange.

The tang is odd in that it sits above the edge of the knife. I normally feel for the hook in the tang to choke up on a knife by feel. That’s not really happening on the Tribal. Not a huge issue though.

The blade is kind of boring looking, but the shape is awesome. I love the shape. It’s just right. Nice thin grind too, at .020” behind the cutting edge.

I’ll post up some pictures tomorrow.
 
My bone stag Tribal Lock arrived today. The bone stag is beautiful. Fit and finish is spot on. No gaps. Lock engages and disengages perfectly. No wobble.

The knife is an odd size. Not big enough to be a large single folder, but not small enough to be every guy’s EDC. Not really a second knife to carry with a smaller folder. Definitely designed to be carried alone. Not quite pocket sized, but not large enough to want to bother with belt carry. Similar in overall size and feel to a Copperlock.

The knife feels really good in the hand. The swell and jigging of the bone stag gives an wonderful grip.

My knife does have that weird uneven opening. I have to believe that is by design, to allow for a very easy pull, but ensure that it snaps closed nicely. It just feels kinda strange.

The tang is odd in that it sits above the edge of the knife. I normally feel for the hook in the tang to choke up on a knife by feel. That’s not really happening on the Tribal. Not a huge issue though.

The blade is kind of boring looking, but the shape is awesome. I love the shape. It’s just right. Nice thin grind too, at .020” behind the cutting edge.

I’ll post up some pictures tomorrow.

I totally share your impressions. Spot on!
 
Last edited:
Yes, these are good slicers for sure and I always like that.

I tea dyed mine a couple of times and it's darker especially at the edges that were a horrible whitish colour..:eek: I put tape all over the blade to stop excessive blackening but getting the glue residue off even using WD-40 is a chore, not only this but I slipped and put a deep cut in the index finger in the process, yes slices well:D The shield worked loose during the dying, not surprisingly, but soon glued back. As I wrote earlier F&F are very good apart from slight off centre blade and the bone dye. Worth getting for sure:thumbsup:
 
The knife is an odd size. Not big enough to be a large single folder, but not small enough to be every guy’s EDC. Not really a second knife to carry with a smaller folder. Definitely designed to be carried alone. Not quite pocket sized, but not large enough to want to bother with belt carry. Similar in overall size and feel to a Copperlock.

Case makes an open top belt sheath that is perfect for the tribal lock. Drops in with just enough of the bolster exposed to grip the knife and pull it out.
 
Buzz, I think the Tribal Lock is the perfect knife for someone who only carries one. Everything about it is a compromise, which only makes sense, for one knife with one blade to do everything reasonably well. The Zulu spear is a balance between the slender slicer and the straight-edged cutter. The size is just small enough to carry well, and just large enough to do big knife work. The lock even allows you to stab, pick and prod without worry of it closing. It's the reason I don't have one yet, because I always carry multiple knives with multiple blades so I have the exact tool I want, not a compromise. But . . . I still appreciate it for the ingenuity of its design.
 
Here’s is my bone stag Tribal Lock. Pretty close to perfection execution from Case. I actually can’t find anything to nitpick regarding the fit and finish. They nailed it on mine.

mKD1DPLh.jpg

CypxquEh.jpg


Case makes an open top belt sheath that is perfect for the tribal lock. Drops in with just enough of the bolster exposed to grip the knife and pull it out.

Do you have a picture or a model number in that? I’m definitely interested.
 
Back
Top