I Got My Grail Knife

Buck_Fan

Buck_Fan

Joined
Oct 14, 2008
Messages
1,247
To say I am excited about this one would be a huge understatement. For me it is a grail knife. I know some want their grail knives to be perfect. If I could afford it I would have a perfect one then one a little less to carry. But if it is only one, I will have the imperfect one to carry. But I think this one is perfect. I love it when an old knife shows some age. I had to do some TLC. And I did more then I initially planned. I was going to leave more of the patina on it. But I got carried away sanding and polishing. But more patina will come. The color in the bone is amazing. I wanted a year knife barlow saw cut red bone. Well I was born in 1967. So I had to go with a 1965-69. Close enough for me. Yes the saw cut is worn. But I like that. It is pocket worn. Plenty of blade left. I still need to sharpen it. It had a fair amount of blade wobble. I got it out and did sanding to lower the pins. I could have made then disappear but on the show side I didn't want to sand much with the stamping and the pocket wear has it not to deep. It is good enough for me. I can always do some more if I want to down the road. I think I have said enough about this knife for now. Thanks for putting up with my excitement. These are just cell phone photos. When I get good light I will do some DSLR shots.

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Nice, Bill, that is beautiful color! I have the same knife, and mine has a different nail nick position on the clip main.
I wonder if any of our Case experts could narrow down the 1965-'69 time frame based on that nail nick difference???

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Buck_Fan said:
To say I am excited about this one would be a huge understatement. For me it is a grail knife. I know some want their grail knives to be perfect. If I could afford it I would have a perfect one then one a little less to carry. But if it is only one, I will have the imperfect one to carry. But I think this one is perfect. I love it when an old knife shows some age. I had to do some TLC. And I did more then I initially planned. I was going to leave more of the patina on it. But I got carried away sanding and polishing. But more patina will come. The color in the bone is amazing. I wanted a year knife barlow saw cut red bone. Well I was born in 1967. So I had to go with a 1965-69. Close enough for me. Yes the saw cut is worn. But I like that. It is pocket worn. Plenty of blade left. I still need to sharpen it. It had a fair amount of blade wobble. I got it out and did sanding to lower the pins. I could have made then disappear but on the show side I didn't want to sand much with the stamping and the pocket wear has it not to deep. It is good enough for me. I can always do some more if I want to down the road. I think I have said enough about this knife for now. Thanks for putting up with my excitement. These are just cell phone photos. When I get good light I will do some DSLR shots.

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She’s a looker! Congratulations on scoring your grail!
 
Thanks everyone. Narrowing it down by the nail nick would be nice. Is it okay if I copy your photo so I can share it to others to help narrow it down? Maybe contact Case.
 
Is it more likely that the other nick position came first because it's not what we see today, or maybe that they tried this nick position but went back because it didn't work out ?
 
Beautiful knife - congratulations on finding your Grail. As I recall the difference in nail nick placement is to address the preference some buyers had for having the pen blade in front of the main and having both nail nicks on the same side of the frame (Jeff’s Barlow). Bill’s Barlow has the nail nick for the two blades on opposite sides of the knife, thus the traditional location of the nick on the main blade on his knife. I do not know if one is more common than the other or if they were made at different times in the 65-69 time span. Either way, a nice knife to own. OH
 
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