Great clearance price on a Case Trapper...

PocketKnifeJimmy

PocketKnifeJimmy

Joined
Aug 4, 2013
Messages
3,989
I found this 'Case' brand Trapper model today at a big box hardware store. This American made knife usually sells on average for about $40 (before taxes), but I picked it up on clearance for just over $15 (before taxes). Case is one of the last sources for USA made traditional pocket knives. That said, I have noticed that less and less people seem to be willing to fork up the extra dollars for the Case brand over the much more common, and much cheaper priced, Chinese and Taiwan imports. I kinda see the writing on the wall for the Case Cutlery Company. I can't see them continuing for much longer as an American made manufacturer... Especially with a likely smaller and smaller collector group. If the name survives, it will most likely do what others have done to compete, having to go with manufacturing abroad. Only time will tell, but I know this clearanced priced Case knife was an absolute bargain, (priced like a much cheaper foreign knockoff), and it had to come home with me to be added to my "Man Gadget Collection" 👍😎👍
Some companies (not custom made) that are left in the USA that still produce American made traditional pocket knives...
*Case
*Buck
*Great Eastern Cutlery
*Queen
*Utica
*Canal Street
*Bear & Son
I believe that's about it, though I may have missed one or two firms. The above companies usually make knives under different in house brand names, and make them under contract for some other companies that don't actually make any knives at all, but those above are pretty much it for true USA made traditional pocket knife manufacturers. In their heyday, there were probably hundreds of US manufacturers producing traditional pocket knives in America. More modern types of knives, foreign manufacturers, and stiff price competition, has placed the American made traditional pocket knife in the catagory of almost extinct. I still appreciate and love their charm, and my collection houses quite a few 🔪 😎🔪

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Unfortunately Canal Street is no longer in business.

We live in a world in which quality isn't exactly the biggest concern. Instant pleasure has taken place of lasting appreciation, so build isn't the main concern, price point is. It takes a very selective market in order to have consistent business which is why so many American based companies are failing. As much as I hate to say it, I respect a companies decisions to closer their doors more then I respect the idea of sending the work overseas. Times are changing, but we can still support what means the most to us!

Buy American and give those companies a reason to improve and compete!

P.S.
This "porch" seems not to be afraid to support American based companies in the least, I'm proud to be apart of that!
 
Canal Street is gone and there are a couple more on that list that it would not surprise me to see fade away if any economic downturn arises. But Case still makes a great value knife, especially in their CV series; thus they may have to layoff and shift things around, but I don't see their demise anytime soon.
 
Like some others mentioned, I think Case manages to hit a lower price point than some others, such as GEC. This plus the fact that they have name recognition helps them reach the non knife knut community, AKA the general public. But, this also means they don't have as good of fit and finish, which is often the reason knife guys won't buy them unless they can see them firsthand. Personally, I love some of Case's more traditional patterns, but they also have many that I find kind of tacky, such as the holiday knives and some of the odd colors, etc. My point is, they reach a massive audience and appeal to many different 'demographics':thumbup:
 
Please talk about the knives.
It's OK to say you like to buy USA-made knives.
It's not OK to start talking about why.
 
Wow, what a steal. I don't think I have seen the Trapper packaged like that before, only the Sodbuster.
 
Had not realized that Canal Street was gone. I only have a few of them in my collection, and will certainly be holding on to them to keep their representation within it.
 
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Personally I have zero problems if a knife is made overseas, so long as it's made right. If Case were to outsource some of their production, it would not bother me as a consumer one bit. (I have Rough Riders that are superior to Case knives in every way.) However, I think it's a slippery slope, as of course this is said with the caveat that they preserve their current production in the US -and therein lies the difficulty. If the customer is accustomed to buying a fine, cheap knife that is made elsewhere but still says Case, it's harder for them to accept a less fine knife made in the USA, that says Case too, but costs noticeably more. This would put a lot of pressure on Case to either outsource more production, or up its USA quality, and probably increase the price too. That might be fine, but it's a risk, since they already have a market niche that seems to work, and moving into the one currently occupied by GEC and Queen might not be a wise move.
 
knifeswapper said:
Canal Street is gone and there are a couple more on that list that it would not surprise me to see fade away if any economic downturn arises. But Case still makes a great value knife, especially in their CV series; thus they may have to layoff and shift things around, but I don't see their demise anytime soon.
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GEC and Queen have weathered this most recent economic downturn. I hope that they last.
 
I do buy new knives but I get a thrill out of finding NOS USA made knives. I also buy older. used USA made knives. With Case I do like to see the new ones first but with GEC I will pull the trigger sight unseen with confidence. As far as imports I buy them sometimes just to check out a particular pattern or for hard use so it don't matter if I need to chunk them because of their price point or to check out the brand. I usually give them away at some point but I am in the process of buying tools to try my hand at some modding and the ones I have are going to be used to practice on.
 
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I remember starting my collection of pocket knives with only some USA Utica knives. Then, other US made knives came along for the ride... Case, Buck, Schrade, Colonial, Queen/S&M, Tidioute (GEC), Canal Street, Camillus, Craftsmen (Camillus). But, my reading some posts here about such brands as Rough Rider, Opinel, Mercator, Victorinox/Wenger, Forge De Laguiole, and others, had me evolve into a collector of knives from all sorts of different countries. Here is a picture (terrible shot) showing two of my favorite Trapper pattern knives side by side. One made in the USA by Canal Street, the other a Rough Rider made in China. Love that sawcut bone look of the Rough Rider 👍😎👍

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As for yesterday's purchase of my bargain priced Case Trapper, it has found a home here within a display full of other American made gadgets...

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American made brands represented in the display above are...
Schrade
Buck
Ontario Knife Company (NY)
Case
Utica
Estwing
Queen's Schatt & Morgan
Queen
Colonial

The black handled Schatt & Morgan in the above display was gifted to me by a fellow board user here on Bladeforums. He goes by the screen name zippofan. If he runs across this posting, thank you again for the wonderful gift!... It meant alot to have received it from you, and, as you can see... I proudly display it with honor. 👍😎👍
 
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I went to the same big box hardware store again today to pick up some brass plated decorative nails. I decided to check out their limited knife selection again, figuring why not, I'm there anyway. Anyhow, behind a CRKT knife they had there, was one Case brand Peanut model with amber bone scales. Yup, you guessed it, it was also on sale. They had it marked at a clearance price of $22 and some change before taxes (down from their original $45 price). The only other peanut I have is a Colt branded Chinese made version, and for this bargain price, now this Case. I did scavenge through the rest of the knives to see if any other deals were to be had... But I think I picked up their last two Case knives (and they only costing me $38 plus tax). Maybe they are no longer going to carry Case knives. It may explain their low prices, them possibly doing away with carrying the brand altogether.

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silenthunterstudios said:
GEC and Queen have weathered this most recent economic downturn. I hope that they last.
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I think, and this is just a guess, the reason they can weather economic downturn is they have stayed small. Staying small allows for higher quality as well.

I only have a few Case knives, and luckily those knives' F&F is pretty dang good. Case is pretty large having established itself over many decades, they cater to a higher demographic with their specialty series, and are able to exploit a niche market from time to time. I know several folks who are not knife nuts, but they've heard of Case.....or they equate "pocket knives" with that company.

Case knives are great and a good value, and I think they will around for a while longer. I found a SBJ in a big box hardware store and it was not on clearance. Good find on your part.
 
Tdhurl1103 said:
I think, and this is just a guess, the reason they can weather economic downturn is they have stayed small. Staying small allows for higher quality as well.

I only have a few Case knives, and luckily those knives' F&F is pretty dang good. Case is pretty large having established itself over many decades, they cater to a higher demographic with their specialty series, and are able to exploit a niche market from time to time. I know several folks who are not knife nuts, but they've heard of Case.....or they equate "pocket knives" with that company.

Case knives are great and a good value, and I think they will around for a while longer. I found a SBJ in a big box hardware store and it was not on clearance. Good find on your part.
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I agree with you on the small company thing, for sure. I mean, yes, smaller companies usually means much lower total sales, but also alot less overhead in plant size, machinery, and employees.
I think maybe the big box hardware store may be eliminating the carrying of Case knives, and that again may be because the average Joe/Jane is opting to buy the lesser priced import when they need some sort of folder. I doubt too many collectors are seeking out these big box hardware stores, so I guess it would make sense that they do away with carrying them. I also picked up a Case yellow delrin handled Trapper, not too long ago, at a big box sporting goods store. They too were clearing out their Case knives, and even at half off their fairly priced regular tags, they were not moving very well (since I seen them linger on their shelves for quite a while). Imo, it seems to be more and more of a reality that the strongest buyers of Case are their collectors market. And although Case collectors are out there, Case has had a fair share of regular Joe/Jane buyers as well. Many brick and morter stores are seemingly doing away with Case knives, in favor of more modern and less expensive foreign knives. These tend to sell more regularly, so the Case company may have to downsize soon, imo, to lower the overhead that the former sales used to help in keeping them going. I could see a day (shortly coming) where Case has to make drastic changes in the size of their operations, or face insurmountable cost in operations. Obviously this is all just my guessing, and it is based on only my limited experiences of what I see out there, but also the history overall of how the traditional knife manufacturing world has gone in the USA. It's almost come to the point where you can count all the remaining American made traditional pocket knife manufacturers with one hand.
 
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Most big box companies put stuff on Clearance to make space for new models. You got good deals.
 
Big retailers will vary up their product mix to gauge interest in a particular market segment. If it performs well they expand into it more. If not they will eventually decide to "close out" that product line and at that point just want it out of their inventory. If they can sell them for anything at all they will take it. If not, it may get returned to the manufacturer, sold in bulk to a liquidator, or just destroyed.

I wouldn't read a lot into that regarding the state of the global manufacturing economy. So what you are seeing there is a normal product cycle going on. It's just part of retail.

Good that you picked up a couple of bargains there. I find the Case Peanut and Case Trapper models to be very versatile carry knives and are among my more frequently carried slipjoint patterns, though they obviously occupy different niches in my usage needs.
 
Today I went to my local national giant hardware store to see if I could if I could find any Case knives on clearance and I did not have any luck. It may very well be I was looking at the wrong chain of stores, but they had no Case knives at all and only a few foreign made Bucks and the 110. Everything else was foreign made "tactical" looking stuff from SOG and Coast. Funny thing is that this is a place that I had bought a Case previously (the only one there at the time). So I don't know if this has any long term implications or if they just haven't restocked them.
 
jstrange said:
Today I went to my local national giant hardware store to see if I could if I could find any Case knives on clearance and I did not have any luck. It may very well be I was looking at the wrong chain of stores, but they had no Case knives at all and only a few foreign made Bucks and the 110. Everything else was foreign made "tactical" looking stuff from SOG and Coast. Funny thing is that this is a place that I had bought a Case previously (the only one there at the time). So I don't know if this has any long term implications or if they just haven't restocked them.
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The store I bought them at is probably the second largest hardware/home improvement chain in the country. No Case knives left whatsoever in the store that I got the deal at (my taking their last two Case knives). About two years ago, while there, I picked up a Case Sodbuster Jr. As for Bucks, a few were there, but not the American made models. I did see a Buck 110 at THE king of box stores the other day. Nylon sheath instead of leather, but only about $27 at their regular price. Amazing how Buck can make such a nice knife and market it low enough to be sold so cheaply (and still US made).
 
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Yes that is the same one I went to then and they had nada. The one I did buy several weeks ago was also a Sodbuster Jr. I am afraid it looks like they wont be getting anymore as I don't even see a spot for replacement Case models now :(
 
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