Case XX 25 1/2 Handle Material Question

[DMLEATH]

Good morning- this 1977 knife has handle material that I am needing some help on. What is the material used? Thanks for any input!

[Mumbleypeg]

Not sure, maybe Corelon. But I am pretty sure the knife did not leave the Case factory in 1977 with those covers. At some point afterward it was re-handled. JMO

Ken

[treefarmer]

DMLEATH,
Adding to what Ken said about Corelon, I have several Case knives that have similar handles as you posted. The boxes are marked indicating the what, who and how it came to be:

Hope this helps.
Treefarmer

[edge213]

Did some Case knives have the shield upside down?

[DMLEATH]

I noticed also that the shield was upside down- I couldn’t find any 25 1/2 knives sold with these handles on EBay. Makes sense that someone rehandled it

[Mumbleypeg]

Did some Case knives have the shield upside down?

Not intentionally. I’ve seen a very few that were possibly factory errors but most I have seen were re-handle jobs.

Adding to what Philip posted, my understanding is Corelon is an acrylic developed by DuPont - the Corelon trade name is owned by Frost. I’m not sure when it was introduced but the earliest Frost Corelon knives were done without license or authorization by Case. Most of the knives had come from the factory having yellow synthetic covers which Frost (actually their sub-contractor) removed and replaced. Which is why you find knives with acrylic covers (Corelon) having pattern numbers with a “3” handle designator. It was not readily obvious that the knives Frost distributed were re-handled aftermarket.

Case began receiving Frost-rehandled returns requesting warranty repairs (the re-handle work technically voided the factory warranty). The knives’ owners, not aware their knife was second-hand (re-handled) were upset if Case declined to repair it under the Case warranty. Subsequently Case and Frost negotiated a license agreement requiring Frost to label their boxes accordingly (see Philip’s post above). Part of that agreement also is that Case now sells otherwise complete knives, sans covers, to Frost who then affixes covers to them. A few years ago (looong after 1977) Case released their own in-house made acrylic covered knives (Case uses the trade name “Kirinite”, but I don’t think it belongs to Case). A search of the official W.R. Case & Sons site www.caseknives.com will find no “Corelon” knives, but will find “Kirinite” knives. Full disclosure - I have no insider information nor have I seen any official documentation - the foregoing is based on my own detective work.

If you don’t have the labeled box, one way to tell whether the knife was done by Case or aftermarket is that acrylic covers done in-house by Case are pinned on. Those done aftermarket are glued on (no pins). Examples of both can be seen on the SMKW site. Shepherd Hills is an exclusive Case dealer - you’ll find no Corelon knives there, but you will find Kirinite. BTW Case uses the handle designator “10” in the pattern number of Kirinite knives.

Ken

Edit: sorry for the lengthy post - I get carried away sometimes.