Question about antique pocket knife can openers

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jpvjr71

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Feb 3, 2025
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My gf has her grandfathers Case scout knife from WW2.
None of us can figure out how to use the can opener.
It looks like 2 skinny fingers.
If it helps, the model is 6445R.
 
Picture may help....but I think I know what you mean, a kind of prong like thing? You stab the lower point into the inside rim of the can/tin and use it as a lever to go round the metal. Some knives even had a blade as an opener which looks like a thumb stud on it, this too acted as leverage. Awkward and sometimes hazardous times ....:eek::D
 
jpvjr71 said:
My gf has her grandfathers Case scout knife from WW2.
None of us can figure out how to use the can opener.
It looks like 2 skinny fingers.
If it helps, the model is 6445R.
Click to expand...
You pierce the sharp part into the top of the can close to the edge and just rock it up and down all the way around.
You'll be holding it in the same orientation that you would to cut something or use the cap lifter, the sharp part will be the longer " finger " of the can opener.

I have not seen a Case with this style of Can opener though, I've only seen the late war / modern claw style and the older spear point style of can opener.
 
BEWARE If you use that can opener it pushes the sharp edges UP not down, like the modern "safety" can opener.
During WW 2 (and probably WW1 and before) cuts from opened tins were the most common injury during the war.

I suggest wearing leather or cut-proof gloves when using the various old style can openers ...
or better yet, use the raptor's beak type "safety can opener" on your back-up post 1947 "Boy Scout" camp utility/"Demo" knife/multi-tool, or Vic/Wenger, and fake "Swiss Army Knives".

Think about it. The troops using the various old style can openers were used to them. They were the only types of tin openers avaiable until the "bird beak" safety can opener was invented during the closing years of WW2.
Yet cutting themselves (severely enough medic attention was needed to stop leaking red stuff) on their K-Rations tins was common.
The US military required the then issue pocket "scout/camp/utility" knives equipped with can openers to use the safety can opener design on military issue knives, soon after it was invented

FUN FACT:
The tin can was used for food preservation since at least 1772.
(1810 for non-seafood items.)
The first can opener was invented in 1855.
wiki can opener info
 
One thing that may help, I saw a video once and someone said that after you jab the long "claw" into the top just inside the rim, then you should angle the knife out away from the can at a 45 degree angle. I wish I could find the video, but cannot seem to locate it at the moment.
Having the knife angled away from the can helps to keep it engaged near the rim and use the second shorter piece on the rim for leverage, and if it slips you hand doesn't hit the top of the can and slice you open.
 
Ok we watched about 4 or 5 videos.
My gf, the quad, and the pretty Marine decided once they/we figure it out, they'll open my skull to see IF I have a brain (99% chance no according to the quad) & If I do is it connected to anything (100% no according to the quad).
 
afishhunter said:
BEWARE If you use that can opener it pushes the sharp edges UP not down, like the modern "safety" can opener.
During WW 2 (and probably WW1 and before) cuts from opened tins were the most common injury during the war.

I suggest wearing leather or cut-proof gloves when using the various old style can openers ...
or better yet, use the raptor's beak type "safety can opener" on your back-up post 1947 "Boy Scout" camp utility/"Demo" knife/multi-tool, or Vic/Wenger, and fake "Swiss Army Knives".

Think about it. The troops using the various old style can openers were used to them. They were the only types of tin openers avaiable until the "bird beak" safety can opener was invented during the closing years of WW2.
Yet cutting themselves (severely enough medic attention was needed to stop leaking red stuff) on their K-Rations tins was common.
The US military required the then issue pocket "scout/camp/utility" knives equipped with can openers to use the safety can opener design on military issue knives, soon after it was invented

FUN FACT:
The tin can was used for food preservation since at least 1772.
(1810 for non-seafood items.)
The first can opener was invented in 1855.
wiki can opener info
Click to expand...
okeydokey
This old style openerworks perfect for a lefty like me, BUT I had to take my gf to the hospital for stitches when she just tried it.
17 in all
 
I was going to make a video for you but if you've got it sussed..no worries.
BTW ..canned food mostly has ring pulls nowadays..
There is a great show on netfllix...
The Terror...about the HMS Terror and the quest to find the nw passage in the 1840s...the ill fated crew beset by hallucinations and madness....likely caused by the cans of bullybeef sealed with Lead which leaked into the food.
If only they'd had a proper tin opener.
 
Hickory n steel said:
I had never seen a Case like this and couldn't turn up any examples for some reason.
You sure got a nice one.
Click to expand...
Thanks. It's unused, I think. I grabbed it because I thought and think that Case doesn't do a full sized scout anymore.
I got it for an outrageous price from a guy who can't have looked at it very closely.
Somebody on the forum knows the model number, but it isn't stamped on the knife, and I've forgotten.
 
screened porch said:
Thanks. It's unused, I think. I grabbed it because I thought and think that Case doesn't do a full sized scout anymore.
I got it for an outrageous price from a guy who can't have looked at it very closely.
Somebody on the forum knows the model number, but it isn't stamped on the knife, and I've forgotten.
Click to expand...
I don't even know the last time Case offered one, but it's probably been long enough that they no longer have the tooling.
If I remember correctly the 6445 was their premium scout, then they contracted out their other more affordable version to maybe Camillus ?
I don't think there are any scout pattern knives being made in the US today aside from maybe the Case JR.
 
Last edited:
Hickory n steel said:
I don't even know the last time Case offered one, but it's probably been long enough that they no longer have the tooling.
If I remember correctly the 6445 was their premium scout, then they contracted out their other more affordable version to maybe Camillus ?
I don't think there are any scout pattern knives being made in the US today aside from maybe the Case JR.
Click to expand...
Her grandfathers is stamped 6445R.
 
jpvjr71 said:
Her grandfathers is stamped 6445R.
Click to expand...
That would be the premium scout which they made in house then.

BTW were you serious about the stitches ?
I'm trying to imagine how one can get cut this badly using a can opener.
Granted 12 years ago I never would have expected in a thousand years that I could put a screwdriver all the way through my hand like I did , and it goes to show that you just never know the ways you can injure yourself and how badly.
I know those old style can openers were responsible for a lot of injuries, but I never knew how bad.
 
Warning! Knife abuse content ....( or is it simply bush craft applied within the house?)
I'm opening myself up for fire here, I have plenty of Scouts, and we have an electric can opener stashed away somewhere, but I made a small knife in a knife making day my daughter bought me for my birthday, Its a small stout blade and I use that - I bang that blade through the lid and cut around the can with 6 or seven purchases on the knife, it's not tidy but effective - and the knife is as sharp as it was before I started.
 
Hickory n steel said:
That would be the premium scout which they made in house then.

BTW were you serious about the stitches ?
I'm trying to imagine how one can get cut this badly using a can opener.
Granted 12 years ago I never would have expected in a thousand years that I could put a screwdriver all the way through my hand like I did , and it goes to show that you just never know the ways you can injure yourself and how badly.
I know those old style can openers were responsible for a lot of injuries, but I never knew how bad.
Click to expand...
Yep.
It cuts upward so the sharp can rim is exposed.
 
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