Case tested with hour bomb shield

[58chevy348]

This is the only Case knife I have with the hour bomb shield. I have heard this shield was only used for a short time early in the tested era. Does anyone know the exact years this shield was used?

[RalphAlsip]

58chevy, nice knife! My belief is that bomb shield like yours with the raised lettering was used between approximately 1914 to approximately 1925 which corresponds to the "Case Bradford" and the early "Case Tested XX" era. I have knives with both of these markings that have this shield. A smooth bomb shield (I.e., with no lettering) was used on knives from the WR Case & Sons era (1905-1914).

Another clue that your knife is from the early Case Tested XX era is that both blades are marked with a tang stamp.

My guess is that your knife is a 06245. Is it 3 5/8" long when closed?

[58chevy348]

I found this information here on the AAPK forums:

[RalphAlsip]

There is a bunch of good and useful information in the AAPK Research section of the web site - glad you found it!

I noticed that one of your Case Bros Little Valley knives in another thread has a Propeller shield. The Case shield samples you found on AAPK appear to begin with the Bradford era.

Here is a picture of a WR Case & Sons knife with the smooth bomb shield.

[espn77]

There is a bunch of good and useful information in the AAPK Research section of the web site - glad you found it!

I noticed that one of your Case Bros Little Valley knives in another thread has a Propeller shield. The Case shield samples you found on AAPK appear to begin with the Bradford era.

Here is a picture of a WR Case & Sons knife with the smooth bomb shield.

Jerry, were do you date that knife?

[RalphAlsip]

Keith, the WR Case & Sons marked knife that I posted a picture of dates from 1905-1914. 58chevy's Case Bros Little Valley knife that I mentioned with a Propeller shield dates from approximately 1900-1912.

The Case Bros marked knives used a wide variety of shields with no lettering. You will even see Federal shields like a lot of your Remingtons have.

[espn77]

Thanks Jerry. I appreciate the information

[58chevy348]

Thanks so much! I love learning more about these early Case knives!

[gsmith7158]

Here are some more old shields. A bomb shield like yours on a tested era 6151L. A blank oval on a W.R. Case and Sons 6393P. And a federal shield on a Case Brothers 6293J.

[gsmith7158]

Almost forgot about this good old arrowhead shield on this tested 6100.

[58chevy348]

Gsmith those are some beautiful knives! Thanks for posting them!

[RalphAlsip]

This has turned into a good display of old Case shields. Here are some to add that I don't believe have representation either on real knives or the AAPK shield list. The first is an oval shield with raised lettering. The 2nd is the Propeller shield that was mentioned on a knife in another thread. Third is a plain bowtie.

[gsmith7158]

Jerry those Case Brothers knives are spectacular!

[58chevy348]

Wow! Makes you wonder how in the world those early Case knives survived in such pristine condition for 100+ years!

[RalphAlsip]

Thanks Greg. The knives you contributed are spectacular, too. The 6293J is incredible!

[steve99f]

This thread just made my day, thanks guys, those are some fine knives!

[knife7knut]

Interesting thread and some really beautiful knives displayed here.
Although I have quite a few Case knives I haven't really studied all the nuances associated with the brand so I cannot claim to know a whole lot about them. That being said I offer this up: Somewhere in this forum I seem to recall reading that the plain bomb shield could possibly have been just a regular shield that had been mounted upside down for whatever reason. Has anyone ever removed one of them to see if this were the case?
I also offer up my one and only bomb shield knife: a 5165 that has a bail attached. I have also read that Case never offered a bail on these knives and that it must have been an aftermarket installation. Well this is the story of this particular knife and I will leave it to your judgement as to whether this was the case or not.
I received this knife along with several others from an acquaintance in exchange for some repair work I had performed on a hundred year old draftsman's case that was covered with ray skin. This knife had belonged to his father-in-law and they had found it and the others in his cellar while cleaning it out after he had passed away. It apparently had been submerged in water for a period of time as the knife was rusted shut and was only able to be opened after soaking for several weeks in penetrating oil. When I finally did manage to pry it open I tried cleaning it to see what the tang stamp was but to no avail. The prolonged soaking had also darkened the stag considerably. I managed to clean the corrosion from the blade and put a decent edge on it.
As a collector piece I doubt it has much value but I like the story behind it and it will be included in the book I have been trying to write for the past several years.
Many Case collectors have said that the bail is not original to the knife but it was on there when I got it over 30 years ago and it doesn't look like someone had added it. So that is the story and I'm sticking to it!

[Berryb]

K7K: thats a really nice knife. But I gotta ask; how did you clean it up so much without it looking "cleaned"?
Bruce

[gsmith7158]

Ray I believe Case would ad bails on special orders. There is a pic in Sargents 7th of a case with about 27 patterns with bails also Steve confirms that in this thread.
viewtopic.php?f=17&t=46841&p=481082&hil ... ls#p481082

[knife7knut]

K7K: thats a really nice knife. But I gotta ask; how did you clean it up so much without it looking "cleaned"?

Bruce

There is an incredible amount of pitting in the blade and I basically just started sanding it out using 220 grit wet or dry paper on a flat surface using 3-in-1 oil for a lubricant.After removing as much of the pitted steel as possible without seriously compromising the shape(it still has a lot removed)I switched to 320 grit and then to 400 grit to finish it up. There is still a lot of pitting that cannot be removed but it makes a nice carry knife. The stag is in beautiful shape and the color is perfect for my tastes.
EDIT: Here are some close up pictures of the blade and handles.

[58chevy348]

Love that stag! Great knife (and they're always special when they have a story to go with them!)