What happened to Case?

Tony Bose is way out of my league. I wish they'd make a Eureka jack at a lesser-mortal price point.

The only Case I have that I don't like is the shadow stockman with the thick synthetic checkered slabs for covers. Mine is badly fitted, and they were charging as much as for properly made knives. I bought mine when it came down to $25. For $15 I'd be happy.

My burgundy synthetic 18 had a lot of blade rub, but the Alpine green one I bought later did not. I fixed the rubbing with a needle file.
Should Case have done the file-work? Ideally, yes. But would that drive up their prices to GEC heights? If so I'd rather do the file-work myself.
Especially considering that the GEC Churchill I bought at GEC prices had terrible blade-rub on a knife that doesn't have the excuse of being crinked.
 
Quiet said:
Gah, I don't know how to think about this either. I mean, the knife appears to have great fitment otherwise, and it's definitely a rarer TB/C model you don't see many of...but that shield would irk the hell out of me. I'd always be wondering if today was the day it was going to snag on something and pop off/out. A beautiful knife, but yeah, at the price these command, that thing better be perfect.
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It does irk me, but at least it is pinned. Sanding it down might take away the peen that is holding it on, buffing the edges to smooth the feel may be an option. It's kinda like a big ole wart on a beautiful face...
 
Or, you could pay $65-70 and get one of these Swayback Jacks.
The crimson bone is amazing in depth of color. The jigging looks almost of custom quality, and the pins are finished out correctly.
No gaps at springs, and the secondary spring is a polished wrap-around. Blades are almost perfectly centered, with both springs flush at half-stop. Walk and talk is excellent.
And in my experience (I have three of them) this is not an anomaly. This is what Case can do.... why they don't achieve this with all of their knives is probably a multi-issue answer.

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hornetguy said:
Or, you could pay $65-70 and get one of these Swayback Jacks.
The crimson bone is amazing in depth of color. The jigging looks almost of custom quality, and the pins are finished out correctly.
No gaps at springs, and the secondary spring is a polished wrap-around. Blades are almost perfectly centered, with both springs flush at half-stop. Walk and talk is excellent.
And in my experience (I have three of them) this is not an anomaly. This is what Case can do.... why they don't achieve this with all of their knives is probably a multi-issue answer.

Kit7Gg2.jpg
KjGkINn.jpg

hmGDtgT.jpg
aCooYqW.jpg
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I still miss my Swayback Jack, it was as you describe yours, pretty much perfect in every way. Mine was a nice looking sea green color in SS. Case really nailed it on those, and also in my opinion the Sow Belly stockman knives. I have handled three of them and all were great knives.

If Case is making millions of knives per year, there is no way they can meticulously inspect every one before it goes out the door. I assume they must do batch testing...so many units per whatever number they decided on. With that in mind, a few are going to slip out the door in less than perfect shape.
 
I recall that when I first started posting here hundreds of year BC (Before Covid...) some knife-makers claimed that raised shields were a feature of very old Traditional knives and that Collabs deliberately followed this. Both My Norfolk and the Pruner have distinctly raised shields rather than inlet ones, not disturbingly so but still sharp around the edges. I took a leather strop to the shield and this softened the sharpness but not to the detriment of the scales, mater of taste I suppose.

My custom Ohta has a raised shield, as do most Black Box Winchesters.

Early GEC knives sported raised shields, as in this very early 73 in stainless whose Acorn is well proud. Then GEC began to inlet shields deeply and achieved very impressive results with Stag knives, only to cease making Stag knives with shields, a loss in my opinion.

vdvfrre.jpg
 
Will Power said:
I recall that when I first started posting here hundreds of year BC (Before Covid...) some knife-makers claimed that raised shields were a feature of very old Traditional knives and that Collabs deliberately followed this. Both My Norfolk and the Pruner have distinctly raised shields rather than inlet ones, not disturbingly so but still sharp around the edges. I took a leather strop to the shield and this softened the sharpness but not to the detriment of the scales, mater of taste I suppose.

My custom Ohta has a raised shield, as do most Black Box Winchesters.

Early GEC knives sported raised shields, as in this very early 73 in stainless whose Acorn is well proud. Then GEC began to inlet shields deeply and achieved very impressive results with Stag knives, only to cease making Stag knives with shields, a loss in my opinion.

vdvfrre.jpg
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Hmmm...good to know that, I must have gotten a really good one then.
 
Will Power said:
I recall that when I first started posting here hundreds of year BC (Before Covid...) some knife-makers claimed that raised shields were a feature of very old Traditional knives and that Collabs deliberately followed this.
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I don't own any very old knives, but I do have a good number of very old straight razors. On examples that date to the 19th century, shields are almost always raised. In fact, I've never seen a flush shield on a razor from that era that had a handle made of stag, picked bone, or mother of pearl. I've seen a very few flush shields on examples hafted in ivory or smooth bone, but those pieces definitely stand out as an exception.
 
Shurke said:
I don't own any very old knives, but I do have a good number of very old straight razors. On examples that date to the 19th century, shields are almost always raised. In fact, I've never seen a flush shield on a razor from that era that had a handle made of stag, picked bone, or mother of pearl. I've seen a very few flush shields on examples hafted in ivory or smooth bone, but those pieces definitely stand out as an exception.
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Cute, good to know. One man's defect, another man's historically accurate feature.

My early Bose/Case has a slightly raised shield but the one 18y later in the same bone is inset more. My ebony Bose/Case knives have flush shields. The shields are steel except for those with ebony, they are nickel silver.
 
Going by this, I suppose when your shield falls out of your Case knife, it's just an historically accurate feature? :D

JK... I like Case knives...
 
I’ve been pondering this thread and and wonder if Case’s real problem is this; they’re attempting to mass produce “handcrafted” knives. Victorinox is another mass producer (albeit larger) but unlike Case, is able to give the user a product that is almost consistently flawless. GEC on the other hand gives the user a knife that feels like it was actually made by craftsmen rather than assembly line workers. Case seems stuck in the middle.

Despite this, I can’t write them off. It seems that every once in a while (or oftener) they produce a truly beautiful knife at an unbeatable price.
 
Country_Squire said:
Victorinox is another mass producer (albeit larger) but unlike Case, is able to give the user a product that is almost consistently flawless.
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I'd use the word "consistent", not "flawless". ;):thumbsup:

Country_Squire said:
It seems that every once in a while (Case) produces a truly beautiful knife at an unbeatable price.
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Yes, that's exactly what keeps bringing me back to Case knives.
When you get a good one, you have a really good knife at a very good price.
 
Just a side note, but the original poster joined just to start this thread and has not been back since that first day in August. Wonder why.
 
brownshoe said:
Just a side note, but the original poster joined just to start this thread and has not been back since that first day in August. Wonder why.
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Maybe it's because you attacked their character that same day (in post #24), all because they have had quality problems with a brand you like. Might have made it seem like an unfriendly place to them.

-Tyson
I support this site with a paid membership
 
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