When do you think Case took a turn for the worse?

I have mixed feelings about Case. I love the fact that they are an American company making traditional knives. Their congress has my favorite blade combination; spear, sheepsfoot, coping and pen. The Seahorse Whittler and Russlock are great paterns too, IMO. Case also puts out some very pretty bone.

Now the bad. I hate the heat treat on their Tru-Sharp blades. The 420HC itself dosen't bother me. When done right, it is a perfectly serviceable steel. Case dosen't do it right. The blades are just too soft. From what I understand, their Chrome Vanadium blades are better, but I don't have any of those. I may try picking one up sometime to see for myself, but maybe not too. The patern choice is very limited.

Yes Case knives look nice and they have some nice paterns. Still, until they improve the quality of their blades, I will continue to view Case as a company that makes collectables, rather than a company that makes using knives.

Leo
 
Don't know what no pundit is, :confused: and am not so interested as to look it up in Webster's. Do know that the ones I have had were pretty! None of them would even come close to my Schrade OT or even my Camillus Yello Jaket for edgeholding in light to moderate cutting chores. :rolleyes:

Several years ago, I purchased 2 Case Barlows :mad: (cheap and cheep on sale gifts for non using relatives) with Appaloosa Bone scales, and the scales fell away from the liners on BOTH of them because the pinhead assemblers buffed the scales rivets pins flush. No extra work here like peening and spinning the pin. :rolleyes:

I know the Case collectors will appreciate my not buying them up, leaves more for them. Just don't let one of them ask to borrow a knife from me, I say let them suffer, use that collector's Case. :barf:
 
You know what truly annoys me? I got a new Shepherd Hills catalog today. I like paging through, but this one fact drove me nuts. The 88? Only in SS, and only then in some strange collector's setup. The Gunboat? SS, and you pay HIGH dollar. Even my favorite patterns, like the Sodbuster and the large Stockman, are disappearing in CV. :(
 
I had this discussion with a HARD CORE Case collector/vendor at the Pasadena Knife Show last weekend. He agreed with the '70s as the start of the slide for Case - but also said that the good '70s knives were the best value (most undervalued) out there right now. Now, how to tell the two apart :confused:

Jeremy
 
Inspection. It's the only way. I've seen some real gems, but for every one of those, I've seen 20 clunkers that don't meet my standards.
 
Bought it at a gun store in York, PA on Rte 30. Decided I wanted a Mid Folding Hunter instead. Now, after I sold the Copperlock, I've decided that I don't like the MFH, and want my Copperlock back. Well, I've still got the box, maybe I'll pick up a used Copperlock :) .
 
To me, the Case XX knives I own are very nice knives to this day. I've got a 4 blade congress and a copperhead that are very well made and I still carry them. I had a few from the 70s/80's and they were pretty pathetic. As far as the new ones go... I'm still kicking myself for not getting the Case/Bose dogleg when I had the chance.
 
I got a medium Case amber bone stockman with cv steel recently via internet purchase and was taken aback at a scale with a faint gap between it and the liner on one end. And worse, the wharncliff has a scratch that won't go away because the blade rubs against the spey blade and pushes it over when it is put into the closed position. This was not a very expensive knife, but it was still surprising to experience. I wonder if this is cause to return it to Case to fix or replace? Will I be trading one problem for another?
 
The worst years appear to have been in the 80's. However, the fit and finish on the brand new knives may be the best ever. The several new knives I have purchased are extremely well put together. I don't care for the stainless steel they use in most of their knives, but the fit and finish is still better than anything else I have looked at including Queen and Boker traditional folders. Everything on the new Case knives is polished inside and out, with no gaps and extremely tight clearances and surfaces that mate close to perfectly. When you combine Case's cv with the current quality level I think they can meet all comers. I have compared the current Case knives side by side with several of my father's old Case knives from the 1960's and I think the fit and assembly quality on the new ones is slightly better. From reading all of the bad things about Case I see on these forums I can only conclude that Case has really improved quality over the last couple of years. In fact, I recently bought a 95 Case stag, damascus canoe and it is not as well made as my brand new amber bone canoe.
 
dleaton@wideopenwest said:
The worst years appear to have been in the 80's. However, the fit and finish on the brand new knives may be the best ever. The several new knives I have purchased are extremely well put together. I don't care for the stainless steel they use in most of their knives, but the fit and finish is still better than anything else I have looked at including Queen and Boker traditional folders. Everything on the new Case knives is polished inside and out, with no gaps and extremely tight clearances and surfaces that mate close to perfectly.
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I can't argue with you about the current Case CV knives, however, have a look at this photo of a Case knife (left) and a $6 (YES $6) knife I just received.

w1-end1.jpg


One of the tests that I do with any knife, is to see how clean the ends are. Hold any knife end-on against the light and look at the reflections, and at the cleanliness of the edges. It tells you a lot!


The knife on the left, (a brand new 2004 trapper from Case) has over polished edges that are soft, and very uneven and unequal. The reflections show that the radiusing of the end is both variable (stepped) and tilted. And there are scratches too. Now look at the other one on the right. Perfectly horizontal reflections, and edges that are clean and precise, with an imperceptible radius on the edges so that they are not sharp to the touch.



Just look at the nickel silver, brass and steel sandwich. And the fit between the layers!

You choose! As you will see, there just isn't any contest! And folks, the whole knife is to that standard of workmanship. I had better say it again just to remind you. The knife on the right is a $6 knife!

I did a review of it here on this web page.

Rod
 
Rod, thanks for the link and the review. I just ordered three of them (Green Saddlehorn, Red Toothpick & Brown Stockman) to see how they look.

For $23 shipped what the heck :)
 
Mr. Neep, I think you are looking at two different styles of finish and you like one better, that doesn't make the other style "bad". I believe that Case has the rounded edges on bolsters, liners, backspring on purpose. You are not the only person who dislikes this practice, but I believe Case does it so the knife has no sharp edges.
 
I beg to differ, from the picture it is quite clear which finish is better.
The knife on the left illustrates sloppy work. I am curious as to it's manufacture date.
 
Bastid said:
I beg to differ, from the picture it is quite clear which finish is better.
The knife on the left illustrates sloppy work. I am curious as to it's manufacture date.
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The Case Trapper is a 2004 knife. (And I didn't pick it out of the drawer because it was bad - I picked it because it was a single ended knife with the same type of end as a direct comparison).

Cheers
Rod
 
Gentlemen,

I had this same complaint in another thread a couple of months ago and got blasted. Those photos tell an awfully lot. I really want the American Companies to win out so I spend my money there, but gosh the workmanship just has got to improve overall to compete with knives like the ones in the photos. No I won't buy one for myself, but I certainly wouldn't have any trouble telling someone else to consider them. By the way, the review was done with excellent professionalism. Good Job.

This is coming from a die-hard Pennnsylvania Knife collector
 
What about the design problems of the Frost blade? Did you notice the covered nail knick, the huge belly on the spey blade and the fat clip blade? Is that present in your case?

The thread on this page about case EDC indicates that there are few people who believe case still provides value.
 
That's because, aside from the CVs and other good pieces, they don't. Why buy Case when I can buy Queen for the same $ and get better steel?

Riding in my pocket right now is a Queen #11, in red Delrin. $25 new, the fit and finish is better than some Case knives I have at twice the price. My Q whittler? At $50, it beats all the modern Cases I have except one.
 
brownshoe said:
What about the design problems of the Frost blade? Did you notice the covered nail knick, the huge belly on the spey blade and the fat clip blade? Is that present in your case?
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The clip isn't particularly fat. The Spey blade is. It didn't worry me. In fact I thought it was a neat feature.

Covered nail nick? It is perfectly easy to get a nail in there to open it. Is that feature present on a Case trapper. Yes. Yes indeed. If anything, more so. But it still doesn't cause any problem when opening the blade.

I didn't mention anything about these features in my review, because it wasn't necessary to do so.

The thread on this page about case EDC indicates that there are few people who believe case still provides value.
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Sure! I have four Case knives in my EDC pool too. But they were somewhat more expensive than that Saddlehorn that I reviewed, and if I am honest with myself, of lower quality.

Regards
Rod
 
Buy your Queen, but as soon as they get dull, have fun reprofiling their edge. Their edge is too obtuse and their D2 steel takes forever to reprofile. I don't think D2 is the best choice for a slipjoint; its not the optimum compromise. It doesn't offer the stain resistance of stainless and it doesn't offer the good edge and sharpening characteristics of carbon steel.
 
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