Has Case gone all to hell?

Brownshoe, I can't return the knife as it was a prize in a shooting match.

I would never have bought it if I had seen the fit.

But no return possible. It happens to be the one that came with a silver dollar so it has stuff printed on the blade. Well.....it's ....supposed to be printed, but it looks sorta silk screened. Can't be as it is IN the metal but really sloppy.

I just am disappointed in them because I (remembering the old ones) sorta "expected" them to be fairly good and I see em on the Chris Kirk knife show and he slobbers an rants about em an ....well.....I just expected some quality.
 
My advice to everyone is go to a Knife show and buy at least one MINT 1970 or prior Case knife in the pattern of your choice, and compare it to a new Case knife every time you think about buying one. Even with the ever increasing prices of older mint Case knives, they are an absolute value. Then you'll see what some of us are talking about. I prefer the little 6333's, and even if you pay the upper end of the current prices they are worth it. As mentioned earlier, you can honestly compare the fit and finish of these to some of the better custom makers...
 
brownshoe said:
Don, By non-knife people, I didn't mean ignorant. I just meant not wanting one hand opening, the latest style blade/grind, and the new wonder handle and blade materials. They prefer the traditional styles.
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Poor choice of words then. A bit offensive in fact. Just because I prefer traditional styles of KNIVES, I'm a "non-knife" person? I don't think so.

As to Case quality, I agree that its not that great. Schrade had them beat hands down and Queen still does. Queens are the best value in modern slip-joints, IMHO. I do have some modern Case knives, but they don't see much use. Whittling is one of my hobbies, and Case SS just dosen't stand up well to any but the softest woods. My Hobo sees the most use. I use it for food prep when having a snack in front of the computer. My grandfather had some of the older Case knives and there is no comparison between those and Case's modern production. Sad, but true.

Leo
 
marsupial,
I think you have bad information about Case knives. :(

My opinion is they are usually pretty nice for the price, but that quality control lets some knives pass that could have been readily made right. Their CV carbon/chrome/vanadium beats their stainless, but the stainless performs OK for most everyday chores. Tumbling the blades with so-so QC, leaves many with a poor factory edge or point.

Bill
 
Case knives from the 1990's and later come without points on clip or pen blades. Backsprings routinely are NOT flush when blade is open. Case claims that in latter the knives are within tolerance. Bravo Sierra. Buck, Camillus and Queen can do better. Steel from these three beats either steel Case puts out.
 
No sir I can say with about 99% certainty that case knives are stamped in china and assembled in the US.I will double check this info to be sure and may eat crow if I have to,but I know this because I sell Case knives and I believe my salesman told me this.I will double check to be sure.
 
I carry a Case sowbelly, and it seems to be a little higher standards than most regular production knives. Most TB collaborations are. As for the SS steel, If you put your own edge on it, it works well. Its not hard to use a stone and do it, or a machine.
And if you dont treat a slipjoint, like its a slipjoint, your probably using it wrong which is why you have problems. And as for scales not matching, if you mean both sides dont look the same, thats what you get when you use natural materials. If you maen they are not fit right on the liner, I have NEVER had or seen that problem.

Tyler
 
jhwh1937 said:
Buck, Camillus and Queen can do better. Steel from these three beats either steel Case puts out.
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cough!.... I just posted this under the Case CV steel thread and feel this should be addressed -

I have only one Case knife and it's in CrV steel - one of the main reasons I bought this knife was because a long established and well respected* member of rec.knives regards the Case CrV steel very highly and actually carries and uses a Case CrV model.

This person who shall remain
Alvin Johnston
does a lot with steels including tempering and experimentation in treatments - he considers Case CrV steel to be one of the best steels used in a production knife.

Of course he regards all stainless steels as "junk" steels -
told you he is *well.... respected :)

(just in case (pun) of any misunderstandings I regard Alvin as a good friend -
and am unceasingly impressed by the way
his head gets stuck to a bone magnet :D )

I do believe Alvin about his opinion on the Case CrV steel -
I just prefer to use a steel that has low maintenance and I know I can get real sharp ie: Victorinox SAK (INOX) steel.

--
Vincent

http://UnknownVincent.cjb.net
http://UnknownVT.cjb.net
 
the possum said:
Once you see a good specimine made in the 1930's, and realize they used to churn out knives that would give Tony Bose a run for his money, your heart will also be saddened.
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Hear, hear! I've three Tested knives, one of which is about a shade off of mint. I'd willingly drop $100 for another one, new. Half stops that lie flush in all three positions, gorgeous bone, crisp grinds, and snap like a bear trap. :D
 
Just out of curiosity, I e-mailed Case Consumer Relations. In less than two hours, I received an e-mail from Jim in Consumer Relations. He informed me that ALL tooling, blades, and components are manufactured and assembled in Bradford, PA.

marsupial, still would be interesting to hear what your man says. Let us know.

As I said earlier, I don't think they have gone all to he!!, just some room for QC improvement, in my opinion.

Bill
 
masterxx said:
I carry a Case sowbelly, and it seems to be a little higher standards than most regular production knives. Most TB collaborations are. As for the SS steel, If you put your own edge on it, it works well. Its not hard to use a stone and do it, or a machine.
And if you dont treat a slipjoint, like its a slipjoint, your probably using it wrong which is why you have problems. And as for scales not matching, if you mean both sides dont look the same, thats what you get when you use natural materials. If you maen they are not fit right on the liner, I have NEVER had or seen that problem.

Tyler
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Tyler, I guess I'll respond since you seem to be addressing me with a few of those comments. :)
I have not gotten to hold one of their Tony Bose collaberations yet, but it's quite apparent even from pictures they put a lot of extra effort into those. I like that. It's also proof that they're still capable of making good knives; they simply choose not to. Now, stop to think that in times past, that kind of quality was standard.
I have no trouble sharpening anything with stone or machine. But as stated, their standard stainless is too soft for my purposes, and I've had high carbon blades that had the temper burned out of their edges.
FYI, the Sharktooth is a large lockback folder, ala the Buck 110. I used it hard, but not wrong. There is a difference. It just wore out in a couple years.
Though I realize natural materials will be variable, on limited run knives you'd think they could put in just a little bit extra effort to get two sides that look remotely similar. As I said, that used to be standard. As far as fitting flush with the liners & bolsters, well, they may be flush, but they've done so with the absolute minimum possible work. And these radiuses never match up from one side to the other. I guess they figure an extra six seconds on the belt sander would affect the bottom line too much.
 
the possum said:
I guess they figure an extra six seconds on the belt sander would affect the bottom line too much.
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I would bet on this. I'm certain that not only the company but the employees have a certain number of knives they are required to make in a specific time. Not individually but as a whole for sure. Time is money you know?
 
Ok, I see where you are coming from now! I have been working on a 1979 6332, it was kind of dull from the rust and my grandpa (who gave it to me) cleaned it with steel wool, the blades at least. I sharpened and can see that the stainless sharpens, but is not as easy to get a RAZOR sharp edge.
As for the extra 6 seconds, if they divided that time between all processes it wouldnt hurt.

Thanks
Tyler
 
El Lobo,if thats what Case told you then it is of course correct.I hear alot of things and I may have dreamed this info up.My apologies to Case and please forgive my incorrectness,I like Case knives and would not want to do anything to hurt their rep at all. :footinmou
 
I have a couple of good examples from the 70's and they are very nice knives. Stuff I've bought in the past 10 years has lacked the same attention to detail as the earlier stuff.

I will say that I bought a Seahorse Whittler in ATS-34 and am HIGHLY impressed with the quality. It did cost quite a bit more than the standard models, but it has been well worth the extra biscuits. I have found a renewed love for whittling as a result of this knife.
 
Funny you should mention Alvin, he is the one who convinced me to buy my first Case (with Cr-V, of course!). That was a 6375, and it has good fit and finish, good enough to compete with most slipjoint makers today. The heat treat on that one was good, too, it holds a good edge. I later got a 63032, and the fit and finish was not so hot, the blades were not well ground, and the heat treat was not as good, either.

A couple weeks ago I was by the knife display in our local Lowes when a farmer started looking for a replacement for his well-worn Case XX USA stockman. He looked at the amber bone, 6.5 bone, and yellow versions of the trapper, and settled on the 6.5. I handled all three of those, too, and the two bone versions had good fit and finish, good snap, and the blades were well ground. The yellow one was just a little rough on opening. I told him that the stainless would not work as well for him (he said it was mostly for cutting twine on haybales), but he liked the bone handles enough that he took the looks over the Cr-V yellow. I wonder if he is disappointed in the performance, especially since it replaced a Case from the good years.
 
I'm a little surprised to hear all the negative comments so I went out and bought a med. stockmen today. For $35 at Lowes I'm really impressed with the quality. It isn't perfect of course, but for $35 it is more then I would expect. The blade finish is excellent, good walk and talk, very sharp edges on all three blades and reasonably good fitment of the handle scales (small gap on one side) It may not be up to the standards of the pre-1970 knives but for 2004 I'm really surprised I can buy a knife of this quality that is US made for only $35. Maybe I just got lucky, maybe some others are much worse, I don't know. They were busy so I didn't want to waste the guys time looking at every knife they had, I just took the first box he handed to me.

Just thought I would share the experience since this thread is what got me to go check it out.
 
Ok so I fit into the "Old Timer" catagory - I have several case knives that were my father's and grandfather's and go back to pre-WWII days - even they are not "perfect" in spring to blade fit and they tend to rust if damp and the "barf-bone" as someone called it wears and the color fades - but I'll tell you both Dad and Grandpa were carpenters and hunted and fished a lot.. and dad's Case 61111/2L is still pretty and tough! I've noticed that the CKRT M-16 or the KISS or the Spyderco Delica or the Gerber AR 3.0 ( and yes I like it) and all the SAK's that I have and use are all fairly comprable!
If you don't like your new case - please - send it to me I"ll give it a home! along with the old stag handled cases and Ka-bar's and Shrade's that I already have!
 
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