Case knife pattern

[miked32]

What pattern would this knife be?

Has half stops. Not sure if the main blade is original. Can’t see a stamp. Not even a trace.

[Mumbleypeg]

Probably a 5202-1/2, which did not have a cap bolster.

Ken

[miked32]

Thank you sir.

I appreciate it.

[Modern Slip Joints]

The 02 pattern's list of handle materials in the AAPK reference section does not include stag but the original poster's knife's sides look like stag and I doubt it's been rehandled. Is it not an 02 or is the reference section incomplete? My uneducated guess is the latter.

[Mumbleypeg]

The latter. There is a 5202-1/2. Tested XX.
viewtopic.php?p=683812#p683812

viewtopic.php?t=48951

Ken

[knifeaholic]

Updated below.

[knifeaholic]

It is a 52031 1/2, 3-3/4" long closed. The 02 was never made in stag, never made with long pull. And the OP knife appears to be 3-3/4" closed.

[Mumbleypeg]

From Sargent’s 7th edition, page 209.

Pocket Knife Trader’s Guide by Jim Parker, Volume 5.

It very well could be a 52031-1/2. For sure it is, if it’s 3-3/4. That’s why an actual measurement of a knife’s closed length is critical. Simply laying a knife beside a ruler is a poor way of giving a measurement. Camera angle can distort the length, plus you’re relying on the viewer’s judgement.

AAPK’s reference section is pretty good, but it has some omissions especially when concerning older Case knives (Tested XX and older). No reference is perfect, that’s just how it is.

Ken

[Modern Slip Joints]

Without a measurement we trust we still have the pull.

[...] The 02 was [...] never made with long pull. [...]

The AAPK reference section's coverage of modern knives could be more complete as well. For example, the Case lockback with interchangable blades that's been on the market since the late 1980s, the XXChanger, is not in it anywhere.

[knifeaholic]

OOPS!!! My bad, Ken. I should have double checked on the 5202 1/2. I could recall seeing a 5214 1/2 but not a 5202 1/2.

[Mumbleypeg]

Steve, I don’t have to tell you, but for others benefit, at a time during the TESTED XX era Case was making over 200 different patterns. Of those the “sweet spot” seems to have been 2-blade patterns between 3 and 3-3/4 inches closed length. They made a bunch of different ones. Single-end, double-end, cap bolster, barehead, and so on. On some of them, the only obvious difference was 1/4 inch in length. Reference books like Sargent’s Premium Guide have pages of pictures and Iistings for Case 2-blade jacks. Others have pages of them with no pictures, just the closed length!

Which is why on old collectable knives an exact length measurement is important. Simply laying the knife beside a ruler is often insufficient. Laying the knife beside a ruler at some random point and expecting the viewer to figure it out is downright lazy. Might be okay for some modern tactical knives, or a box cutter, but not for a collectable old knife and especially not for Case TESTED XX knives, most of which have no pattern number stamped on them. Which is why there are so many questions like the OP in this thread.

Measurement using calipers is best, but not everyone has calipers.

Very carefully measuring the knife’s closed length from end-to-end with a tape measure, is good.

Standing the knife on end on flat surface, with the ruler or tape behind it and touching it the full length, is better. Sorta like when you’re at the doctor and they measure your height against a ruler marked on the wall, standing straight with your heels against the wall!

Ken

[miked32]

I’m gonna have to learn to take better pictures.
I thought I was doing good. I had to find that tape measure and everything. Can’t call that being lazy.

I just thought the extra pin in the handle, shape and overall appearance of the knife might be enough.

[Mumbleypeg]

I’m gonna have to learn to take better pictures.
I thought I was doing good. I had to find that tape measure and everything. Can’t call that being lazy.

I just thought the extra pin in the handle, shape and overall appearance of the knife might be enough.

What you did isn’t what I was describing as being lazy. Your picture has the end of the tape and the end of the knife both more or less together. What I was referring to as being lazy is the multitude of eBay sellers who take pictures of a knife by a ruler, with the knife being at some random point along the ruler, not at the end. Leaving it to the viewer to try to guess the approximate length at best. Like the example below from a current eBay listing.

What I wrote was intended as an explanation why the actual length is important when identifying a knife. And especially so on a TESTED XX knife. It isn’t about your specific post.

Ken

[miked32]

It’s a cool old knife. I like the old dirty ones better than the untouched shiny ones in most cases.

And I truly appreciate everyone’s input. I’ve been a member here for 17 years. And have learned alot and still learning. I did not know during the tested area they were making over 200 patterns. So I learned something else. Hahah.

[Modern Slip Joints]

The desk droor in front of me will slide in further than flush leaving a small shelf that I rest the end of a ruler on. I lay the pocket knife on the ruler with an end touching the droor and look straight down at the end near my belly. I use a ruler on which the first 1/16" line actually is 1/16" from its end. Since we only measure to 1/16" walking out to fetch a pair of calipers is not significantly more accurate.

The ruler was 25 cents in the thrift store that sold me two wood step ladders for $5 each an old but still shinny bright carbon steel Old Timer Barlow for $8. I suspect the Barlow's soild steel bolsters and bright polised blades identify it as older but haven't researched it. Since it's very unlikely they'll ever have a knife that cost much when it was new I'm happy with my find.