What is going on at W.R. Case and Sons

Rochauler1

Rochauler1

Joined
Jan 12, 2009
Messages
29
First let me state I'm not a huge Case fan. It's not that I don't want to be, it's just every time I start looking at a knife of theirs to buy, there's something wrong with it. Now to be clear whats wrong with a particular knife could be the color of the covers or the blade configuration or overall size. Granted these types of things are personal likes and dislikes and Case can't read my mind. The deal is I can find what I'm looking for at GEC, Queens and others but it never seems to come together for me with Case. If I am attracted to a knife of theirs the lack of quality for the price always kills the sale. Here is a example.

Bad Case by whill44, on Flickr Bad Case by whill44, on Flickr

I just got this in. Now CollectorKnives is going to make it right for me I have no doubt and Case would fix this if I sent it in I'm sure. What I'm saying is this should have never left the factory. The box is in good shape (not crushed) so it wasn't shipping, CollectorKnives packaged everything right. It took me one sec to see what was wrong. I guess what I'm trying to find out is am I the only one to keep having these bad experiences with Case.
 
So it's not an off-center blade, but a bent frame? Never seen that before.

I don't know how to answer your "am I the only one to keep having these bad experiences with Case" question because I don't know what things you consider unacceptable that I either wouldn't notice, wouldn't care about, or could fix myself. That particular issue (bent frame) would go back, either to the dealer or the factory.

Otherwise, I have in general been satisfied with my Case knife purchases and tend to carry one most days. Most of mine were factory new sight-unseen new-in-box. I've never gotten one that had problems that needed to be sent back in to repair.
 
Looks like somebody carried it around in their back pocket for a couple years. :D The only issue I've personally had with Case is offset blades.
 
I like the cv yellow sodbuster. I've bought a few as gifts and they have been great for the price . I received a stockman a couple of years ago and it wasn't build well at all . Gaps between every liner. I'm not a big fan of the mordern script shield or the jigging either . I like the idea of case , it's what the men I looked up to as a kid carried but their not the same . Love their vintage stuff.
 
Is that an optical illusion from the blade being offset, or is the whole handle got a curve in it?:eek:
 
The last few I've gotten have had off center blades, but I've never seen a bent frame like that. None of my older Case knives have any issues but as of late, I'm starting to wonder where their QC is at.
 
THIS is nothing more than luck of the draw, Ol' Pard. In my Case [ pun intended..] I've bought three [3!!] colt PYTHON pistols over the years and all three were bad shooting turds that would have been more helpful if they'd have had 4' barrels so I could have pounded 'em into the ground and grown tomatos upon them. Luck of the draw, nothing more nothing less and still damned aggravating !
And so it goes...
 
I've purchased a few Case knives recently. They seem to be better than ten years ago, but still not excellent. I bought eight knives total, two of each of four patterns. Four of those knives had blades with what I consider to be loose pivots. I hate loose pivots. It's a pet peeve of mine.

I also don't care for excessively buffed jigging and springs, which Case gives you lots of.

The four other knives that I purchased were quite good. A sawcut bone Seahorse Whittler. A yellow Delrin Fishing Knife. A black G-10 Backpocket knife, and a Carharrt Rugged Duck Medium Stockman. So I'm averaging 50/50 with Case this year.
 
I understand sending that one back. Though if the blade is straight and doesn't hit the liner I'd be tempted to keep it, personally. I'd tell people it's a limited edition Salvador Dali model.:D
 
Last week at a consignment shop I found a 1977 (as near as I can tell) Case 4 blade congress. After looking it over I quickly bought it. I am not a congress type of guy but the quality of this knife was perfect. I believe it is new old stock, never carried, some patina on the blades and a hint of rust in the nail flicks but over all fit and finish is above average. This is the first Case Knife I've owned..
 
I've bought a several over the past three years and I haven't had any issues. A couple I'd even say have exceptional finish. All have good action, blades centered, handle covers match up with liners and bolster, back springs sit flush.

med stockman delrin CV
sm Texas jack amber bone CV
swayback jack chestnut bone CV
baby butter bean blue lagoon bone

The swayback jack and baby butter bean are little above the others, but its just small details. Like the edges on the tang are smooth. The bolsters are finished to match perfect to the jigged bone.

- Rex
 
The one you show is awful and low QC will eventually catch up with them...

That said, all the CASE knives I've bought over the last year, about 5, have had very nice fit&finish and I am very pleased with them indeed. The more so, as I have to buy online and live in Europe aka sending them back would be very troublesome and costly.
 
Many of you guys are posting positive experiences with Case and I now know I just need to keep looking. I'm a long time zippo user and was just wanting to support them and of course USA made products. I just felt like I am working to hard to give them my money.:(
 
In my experience, Case is hit or miss. I bought a tiny delrin toothpick $30, perfect. I buy a buffalo handled saddlehorn around $90, HORRIBLE! scale were coming off, bevel non-existent, side-to-side play and to top it off I sent it to case to be fixed and they said it was within tolerance and what exactly do you want them to do. I won't be buying a Case anytime soon
 
I agree, that should have never left the factory. That said, I did have to send two Peanuts back for rework last year. Case Repair had great communication, fixed the Peanuts no questions asked and finished a week ahead of what their repair site estimates for repairs. The Peanuts were returned and the repairs exceeded my expectations. The packaging, trip to the post office and postage to send them back plus the wait for their return was a bummer though.

Now, I have a bone handled Sod Buster Jr. and the biggest issue I've had with the knife is the blade edge hitting the back spring on hard close. I thought a little sharpening would clear that up. Took more sharpening than I thought it would and while it's much better now, I still have to ensure I carefully walk the blade down.

In spite of all that, I have high regard for Case. If I started talking about each of the various branded pocket knives I've purchased in the last year, I could tell you something wrong with each one. Not one of them is perfect, but they are all usable and serviceable. Their minor flaws are "acceptable" ... but if I had one as pictured in the OP, yep, it would go back for sure without a second thought.
 
Unfortunately just one poor quality experience hurts. I'd communicate to the dealer so they are aware of it - they might make closer inspection to their stock. But I'd have the mfr fix it. That will give them the opportunity to do right by you and hopefully put a light on their process. They need see this kind of return to so they know what went out the door.

I work in mfg and I see some crazy stuff sometimes that gets returned from a customer. You think who in the world let that out the door. The folks who are on the hook for customer satisfaction and factory quality will light a fire to make sure we get replacement product to the customer ASAP and even upgrade the product in some situations. Next will be forensic investigation to find out why it got out the door to the customer and how to keep it from happening again. That's how my company would handle it.

No good company willingly allows quality like your example to go to the customer. Unfortunately it does not always get contained. But a good company will respond quickly and make you happy in the end. Case has such a good reputation, I think they'll do you right.

Good luck.

- Rex
 
BrotherJim, I should probably clarify that in my experience, It was 50/50 chance of me having an acceptable one, it didn't have to be perfection. While the other half should have never left that factory, like the one that Roch got.
 
That knife should have been caught. I like to handle a Case before I buy, but it's not always possible. Case isn't as consistent as GEC, but they are about 1/2 to 1/3 the price. For the most part, they make a knife worth the cash paid or even better. Case has great customer service. I would like to see them step up the quality and get their bone dye right. I still buy them though. I might buy more if they could make a few improvements.
 
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