The Case Barlow is BACK

David Lowry said:
Flawless compared to what?

You don't see mine because you're new here. Case knives of 15-20 years ago were great. Not so much anymore. I don't accept it when a company's product gets worse in the quality department over the years. Everything should be improving. I have owned plenty of them and I have also handled about 40 of them in the last 5 years at a local store. Every single one has blade play and uneven grinds and are generally sloppy compared to the Case knives of old. It's a shame.

A guy I work with just bought a patriotic kirinite Barlow from Case. Scales look good but it has blade play and the grinds are poor.

Case still rounds the tips on many of their knives due to lazy sharpening.
Click to expand...

Well, I agree I hate to see them go downhill, and those defects you mentioned are unacceptable and preventable. However, sounds like you have a case of perpetual bad luck.
 
I've never had a Barlow and I wasn't sure I'd like the pattern, but I just picked this one up and I like it very much.

33784745818_cc2902abae_b.jpg
 
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David Lowry said:
Flawless compared to what?

You don't see mine because you're new here. Case knives of 15-20 years ago were great. Not so much anymore. I don't accept it when a company's product gets worse in the quality department over the years. Everything should be improving. I have owned plenty of them and I have also handled about 40 of them in the last 5 years at a local store. Every single one has blade play and uneven grinds and are generally sloppy compared to the Case knives of old. It's a shame.

A guy I work with just bought a patriotic kirinite Barlow from Case. Scales look good but it has blade play and the grinds are poor.

Case still rounds the tips on many of their knives due to lazy sharpening.
Click to expand...

Here's another view...

First, 1999-2004 ain't that old... unless you were born in about 2005. What I consider "Case knives of old" would be the Tested XX era/Case XX era and not many knives from 1980 to the present will match knives from that era.

I've handled dozens and owned dozens from the time period referenced above and I've bought at least 2 dozen recent production Case knives in the last year or two alone. It's been my experience that the overall quality is better than 15-20 years ago. Not on the level of GEC, but then lately, IMHO, some GEC knives have not been on the level of GEC... e.g. in the last couple of years, I have had quite a few GEC knives with proud tips, weak pull and anemic snap.

BTW, every single recent production Case knife I own has been bought online. No blade play. A couple with uneven grinds, but nothing very noticeable. Maybe I'm just lucky.
 
David Lowry said:
Flawless compared to what?

You don't see mine because you're new here. Case knives of 15-20 years ago were great. Not so much anymore. I don't accept it when a company's product gets worse in the quality department over the years. Everything should be improving. I have owned plenty of them and I have also handled about 40 of them in the last 5 years at a local store. Every single one has blade play and uneven grinds and are generally sloppy compared to the Case knives of old. It's a shame.

A guy I work with just bought a patriotic kirinite Barlow from Case. Scales look good but it has blade play and the grinds are poor.

Case still rounds the tips on many of their knives due to lazy sharpening.
Click to expand...

In the past year I have bought about 2 dozen new Case knives online...… Most needed the cutting edges touched up to remove the burr.... All blades were deadon centered exc 1 which was slightly off but not rubbing the liners..... Handles fit well with no burrs, snaggy rivets, cracks or other gigs..... Most have been clean in the bladewells with a couple having a little polishing compound trapped that I removed with a toothpick...… I have not seen any bladeplay or looseness in either the axial or radial direction(s)….. Problems with blade actuation have been nil...…. They all go through the detents fine with walk, talk & snap as designed... I don't ask a dealer to Cherry Pick for me...….. These are sight unseen just as Case makes them.....
 
I'll tell ya what, I just ordered a Case Barlow in dark antique bone. I hope I'm wrong because then I get to own a nice Case knife again. I have no problem eating crow when I have to. I'll report back with what I get. I am starting to wonder if maybe the local store by me doesn't get new knives and just has a bunch of stagnant stock from some point in time.

I hope to be pleasantly surprised. ;)
 
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David Lowry said:
I'll tell ya what, I just ordered a Case Barlow in dark antique bone. I hope I'm wrong because then I get to own a nice Case knife again. I have no problem eating crow when I have to. I'll report back with what I get. I am starting to wonder if maybe the local store by me doesn't get new knives and just has a bunch of stagnant stock from some point in time.

I hope to be pleasantly surprised. ;)
Click to expand...

David, I hope you get a nice knife that will be up to snuff.... I have been happy with my Case purchases, so I hope my good fortune carries over to you!!
 
Well folks, I'm here to eat crow. Mine arrived today and I'm very pleased. Amazing snap, and no blade play. Fit and finish is really good. Much nicer than I expected. Nice job Case! No snaggy pins, just a really nice knife. For the price, it's darn nice. I did sharpen it, as no traditional I've ever received has been sharp enough for me. She's in my pocket now and will be for a while, I can tell. I'm going to adjust the blade shape slightly so that the tip is more pointy. Not sure how much yet. I'll post pics when I do it.

I'll be buying another Case this week. :)

Here are some pics...

glDBwFk.jpg


1iKAOmU.jpg


u0YlYDa.jpg


g9my5TK.jpg


y8dOUmF.jpg
 
David Lowry said:
Well folks, I'm here to eat crow. Mine arrived today and I'm very pleased. Amazing snap, and no blade play. Fit and finish is really good. Much nicer than I expected. Nice job Case! No snaggy pins, just a really nice knife. For the price, it's darn nice. I did sharpen it, as no traditional I've ever received has been sharp enough for me. She's in my pocket now and will be for a while, I can tell. I'm going to adjust the blade shape slightly so that the tip is more pointy. Not sure how much yet. I'll post pics when I do it.

I'll be buying another Case this week. :)

Here are some pics...

glDBwFk.jpg


1iKAOmU.jpg


u0YlYDa.jpg


g9my5TK.jpg


y8dOUmF.jpg
Click to expand...


That's a beautiful knife David!!……….. I'm glad you are happy with it....
 
MerryMadMonk said:
Here's another view...

First, 1999-2004 ain't that old... unless you were born in about 2005. What I consider "Case knives of old" would be the Tested XX era/Case XX era and not many knives from 1980 to the present will match knives from that era.

I've handled dozens and owned dozens from the time period referenced above and I've bought at least 2 dozen recent production Case knives in the last year or two alone. It's been my experience that the overall quality is better than 15-20 years ago. Not on the level of GEC, but then lately, IMHO, some GEC knives have not been on the level of GEC... e.g. in the last couple of years, I have had quite a few GEC knives with proud tips, weak pull and anemic snap.

BTW, every single recent production Case knife I own has been bought online. No blade play. A couple with uneven grinds, but nothing very noticeable. Maybe I'm just lucky.
Click to expand...

I agree with you on every point. I stopped buying Case knives altogether during the early 2000's, due to terrible quality. I started again maybe 6 or 7 years ago, and quality had improved to the point where I once again became interested.

Now in the last couple years, I'm buying more and more Case knives, as I'm becoming increasingly disappointed with GEC's offerings. Way too many walk and talk issues coming from GEC, while Case knives are becoming consistently nice.

I'd go as far as to say that from the knives I've purchased in the last two years, Case is now the more reliable manufacturer. When GEC gets it right, it's a better knife than Case ever produces. But from what I've purchased lately, I've loved pretty much every Case, where I'm batting maybe .500 with GEC.
 
David Lowry said:
Well folks, I'm here to eat crow. Mine arrived today and I'm very pleased. Amazing snap, and no blade play. Fit and finish is really good. Much nicer than I expected. Nice job Case! No snaggy pins, just a really nice knife. For the price, it's darn nice. I did sharpen it, as no traditional I've ever received has been sharp enough for me. She's in my pocket now and will be for a while, I can tell. I'm going to adjust the blade shape slightly so that the tip is more pointy. Not sure how much yet. I'll post pics when I do it.

I'll be buying another Case this week. :)

Here are some pics...

glDBwFk.jpg


1iKAOmU.jpg


u0YlYDa.jpg


g9my5TK.jpg


y8dOUmF.jpg
Click to expand...
Looks nice. I’d love that one with the clip point.
 
I don’t see that Case has a current run of the Barlow in CV? I figured they would at least do one in smooth yellow, if they did make one I can’t find it. I’d jump on a CV single clip blade Barlow in pretty much any scale. I am going to pick up a mini copperlock in CV just to see how it compares to the current GEC’s in terms of fit and finish. If it’s similar to Augie’s Barlow above ⬆️ I’ll be thrilled...
 
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