Case XX order / Horrible quality with pictures

[Meigscl]

I received a Case collectors club knife today I ordered and it came in and looks horrible. Both blades have scratches and I mean bad ones. This is the 2nd online order I have received in last year and was disappointed.
I sent them an email and I’m sure it will be a pain. I will attach pictures so everyone can see.
Brand new out of box and a knife I was going to put up for my collection. This is crazy

[Railsplitter]

Yeah, that does look pretty bad. Hope you can get a satisfactory resolution.

[Reverand]

I am concerned about their quality control. I understand that not every knife is examined by QC prior to shipping, and whomever wraps and boxes them does not inspect the knife. But I would think that someone polished that knife, cleaned it, and closed those blades at the factory while seeing those scratches.

Perhaps, like most businesses out there, they are trying to perform too much work from too few people. At some point it cannot be done without quality suffering.

[OLDE CUTLER]

I am concerned about their quality control. I understand that not every knife is examined by QC prior to shipping, and whomever wraps and boxes them does not inspect the knife. But I would think that someone polished that knife, cleaned it, and closed those blades at the factory while seeing those scratches.

Perhaps, like most businesses out there, they are trying to perform too much work from too few people. At some point it cannot be done without quality suffering.

Yes, that is a recurring theme from everything from fast food to automobiles.

[rea1eye]

Definitely poor quality. You should have no problem returning it
(AFAK). Let us know what happened.

Bob

[Meigscl]

Case is send me another knife and I’m shipping this one back. Interesting enough I asked about quality and they said “between us we have had lot of quality issues lately as we have changed hands” this sounds fishy and I could tell she was whispering. What does this mean? Are they no longer making their USA knives???

[Railsplitter]

Case is send me another knife and I’m shipping this one back. Interesting enough I asked about quality and they said “between us we have had lot of quality issues lately as we have changed hands” this sounds fishy and I could tell she was whispering. What does this mean? Are they no longer making their USA knives???

What did she mean by “between us” ?

[OLDE CUTLER]

Case is send me another knife and I’m shipping this one back. Interesting enough I asked about quality and they said “between us we have had lot of quality issues lately as we have changed hands” this sounds fishy and I could tell she was whispering. What does this mean? Are they no longer making their USA knives???

What did she mean by “between us” ?

Generally it means your not to tell anybody else. Oh, oh, you just did. lol My question would be who owns Case now if they just changed hands? You are right, fishy.

[Ivoryman]

Terrible. And sickening because this has been discussed here for years and years. I finally had to do as other wise men around here did. They told me years ago they would not buy anymore modern Case knives. Nothing made after 1978. I had bought a few, not many big problems until about 2017
THEN, the next few I bought over three or four years were terrible. Blades ground down so far the choil was gone, the egde was wavy. Run up so bad you could put a toothpick between tang and spring. Bad bad blade wobble. Centering so far off the blade hits the liner. And then three or four years ago I bought a #54 full size Trapper, 2020, ot 2021, and it had these problems bad AND one of the micarts scales was twice as thick as the other. When I contacted Case they ignored the problem, did not even acknowledge it, or fix the run up. So I followed the wise advice of Case collectors and afficionados here on AAPK and vowed never again to buy another Case made after 1978. Best decision I made in knife buying. Disappointment ended. Have never been that disappointed since. They know they are now building a lot of knives that are crap. They used to build great knives up till the 1970s and they quit. Stopped, ceased, started building cheap, lame, pathetic quality products and quit making their gorgeous old red bone so I am done with Case. They deserve to go right out of business because companies like Rose Craft, Brother, A G Russell, Rough Rider, etc, who have just started producing knives lately, did listen to their customers and did fix the problems and did HUGELY increase quality and make a better finished, better built knife. And I don't think those companies have all the skilled workers Case used to have, or a hundred plus years of building knives. I hate saying it but Case knives made the last few years suck IMHO. They know better, they know how to build great knives like the Tony Bose collaborations but they refuse to do it or listen to customer complaints. They have earned their loss of my business. GEC puts them to @#^&/%#! shame and they have only been building knives 18 years with the same good old American workforce. Just look at these knives, from a brand new company, Rose Craft. BLOWS CASE AWAY. Flawless, beautiful, less money. Save yourself future headaches and buyers remorse: don't support crappy knife makers. Case quality is now like Pakistani quality. Which sucks. But Pakistani makers only rip you off for about half as much money. And they don't lie to your face and insult you by telling you how great they are because they've been in business for 140 years or however long it is. Shameful. Disgusting. I could go on but you get the drift. Case does not get the drift.

[C-WADE7]

I’ve bought quite a few Case knives in the last 5-6 years and they have been pretty good short of one. That said comparing a company paying Chinese wages to on paying fair skilled labor wages in America isn’t fair. GEC are great but can you walk into a hardware store any where and buy one, I can’t even buy one new online. It’s a bit apples and oranges.

[Mumbleypeg]

I recently stopped at Shepherd Hills Cutlery in Lebanon, MO and while there examined and handled probably a hundred Case pocket knives, all in their stock and all made within the last couple of years, most this year. I did not see a single knife having cosmetic problems. Some had varying levels of walk-and-talk, even from blade to blade within the same knife, but none had a totally lazy blade. Some had blade rub and some had blades off center within the blade well. And some were excellent quality, essentially flawless knives. I’d gauge them overall to be about the same as knives Case has produced over the past 20-30 years. No worse. I was there with a friend and our two grandsons. We selected and bought one each - 4 knives.

Case’s problem as I see it is inconsistency. They can put out a hundred very good quality knives for every one lousy one. Those who got the good ones got about what they expected - they post them here every day! The lousy one should never have been let out of the factory, but when someone gets one they are justifiably disappointed. Then often they post them in threads like this one. Which prompts “piling on” posts.

I used to hear it said that if someone has a bad customer experience they will tell 20 people. Thanks to the internet that has expanded exponentially - now it’s told to 20 thousand people. All the more reason why the bad ones should never be made, and should certainly never leave the factory! The saddest part is, quality is not only free, it pays for itself.

Ken

[rea1eye]

Of course everyone is going to have different opinions. I bought
a 2024 Case Knife a few months ago (and posted here) that was
of high quality.*When I go to knife shows and look at new Case
knives in their box I find most of them, good similar to what Ken
said.

I think what has happened is a huge shift in what buyers require
or need from a Case knife. In the 70 and 80's there were few
collectors and most just wanted a Case knife to do a job. Now
many buyers are collectors and want a perfect knife to keep and
show.

Case should make a collectors line that would have good inspections
and QC so bad knives do not make it out of the factory. I know
it will be a fine line- you do not want to make the standard collectors
line be a minimum of 150-250 dollars.

Bob

* 2024 Zebra Wood Mini-Copperlock

[Reverand]

Real1eye and Mumbleypeg, I agree with you gentlemen. Another thing that contributes to this is online sales. When you walk up in-person to a display at a knife show, knife store, hardware store, etc, you can handle and inspect the knife before you buy it. You know the condition.
With online sales, you get whatever they send you. Even a reputable dealer probably doesn't open the box and inspect the knife before shipping it. You expect a quality knife, and it is very disappointing if it has problems.

[tvic]

I think what has happened is a huge shift in what buyers require
or need from a Case knife. In the 70 and 80's there were few
collectors and most just wanted a Case knife to do a job. Now
many buyers are collectors and want a perfect knife to keep and
show.

Case should make a collectors line that would have good inspections
and QC so bad knives do not make it out of the factory.

Excellent point, Bob! Never thought of that! But, you’re right. Maybe perfection wasn’t so important to the guy who wanted a user in the past, but it is to collectors. I recently ordered the 2014 60th Anniversary D-Day Trapper from Deadwood Knives. It had a chip at the center pin on the mark side.How did that leave the factory? I sent it back, got a replacement, and there was a chip in the center pin on the pile side on the replacement knife. What? Two got out of the factory like that? Problem for me was Deadwood was trying to pass off defective knives. To make matters worse, they refunded $71.00. The knife was was $73.90. I also asked that they either refund or credit me for the $16 I spent sending back defective knives. Two emails got no response. Sorry, but, yes, I did expect perfection in the knife - particularly one that is labeled a “collectors edition.”

[Meigscl]

The customer service rep said she was going to look at the replacement for me before they send so I should not have any issue with the replacement I hope. The main reason I wanted this Case Collectors knife is it's a canoe with 2 full size blades and only 350 are going to be made. I wondered if the scratches were dues to the design imprinted on the main blade. I definitely think it will be a good addition to my collection.

[Meigscl]

Update… received replacement knife today and you will not believe this but exactly the same. Same spots and all.
The case manager is going to call me on Monday as I said “I don’t trust another replacement to be any different” the manager has to call because they don’t refund shipping in returns (this is a defect) so she has to approve etc….
Attached pictures of replacement.

[Railsplitter]

You gotta be kidding me! Un-friggin-believable!

Sorry you are having so much trouble with this.

[Railsplitter]

My guess is that they are all like that. If that’s the case then they should have told you that instead of insulting you with a knife with the exact same issue.

If this is a single spring knife, they should have made it with two springs if they couldn’t squeeze the blades in there without causing this problem.

I can figure that out and I don’t even make knives.

[Sharpnshinyknives]

That is pretty bad and makes Case look bad. What a disappointment that is. I got disillusioned with Case many years ago and no longer blindly buy every CCC knife that comes out. I do occasionally buy one that interests me but when you compare the quality you get from so many others, they come up very short. My disillusionment started the day I bought my first Moki and saw how well a knife can be made. My biggest complaint with Case has been the lousy run up where the blade and back spring meet. I know Case tumbles their blades and that rounds off the edges and never gives you a good clean meet. Every Moki I’ve ever had has had such tight run up that you can hardly see any break. Now Rosecraft Blades is producing top quality knives with nice tight run ups and I’m very impressed with their knives. GEC also produces knives with good tight run ups and of course high quality. Case knives have gotten very expensive lately and I can’t justify the price any more for the low quality. The one thing that Case still has going and makes me consider buying them is that they have the best and most interesting bone handles in the business.
I also found that when you try to sell the knives from your Case collection, you will take a loss.

[Mumbleypeg]

That’s a strange one, because blades are tumble polished prior to assembly. Hafting, sharpening, and some minor buffing operations are typically the only post-assembly operations. Assuming they didn’t send back your original knife, that means both knives have similar scratch marks. They appear to me to have been inflicted during some post-assembly, or at least post-blade polishing, operation, like maybe being clamped into a fixture for etching or lasering.

Ken

[RedRaiderRick]

Looks like they sent back the same knife

[Modern Slip Joints]

It looks to me like in order to make something different to attract CCC buyers Case stuffed two long blades into an assembly they normally fill with a master and a secondary. The result is blade rub. Blade rub is common in stockmans, congresses and others that do not have a spring for each blade. While perfectly crinked rub free stockmans are a joy for collectors to find, as a rule, workmen never gave a hoot. I doubt there was a time when all Case, Buck, Schrade or Camillus stockmans had no blade rub.

RoseCraft recieved favorable praise above. What was written about RoseCraft is correct but does not mention that the vast majority of them are single blade and all RoseCraft's two blade knives have two springs. RoseCraft has yet to demonstrate they can make a knife with three blades. Could that be to avoid having collectors whine about blade rub on he internet?

RoseCraft knives have much in common with Rough Ryder's high end Reserve line. (RRR) Both use satin finished D2. Neither line includes any polished blades and the edges of their handles are not radiused like most Case knives are. On average both are thicker and boxier than similar Case patterns. To get no blade rub RRR knives have washer spacers between their blades and bolsters. While the extra thickness does not matter in a belt pouch it is less than ideal in the bottom of your pants pocket. Maybe a little blade rub is a fair trade for thinner handles with radiused edges?

[Railsplitter]

It looks to me like in order to make something different to attract CCC buyers Case stuffed two long blades into an assembly they normally fill with a master and a secondary. The result is blade rub. Blade rub is common in stockmans, congresses and others that do not have a spring for each blade. While perfectly crinked rub free stockmans are a joy for collectors to find, as a rule, workmen never gave a hoot. I doubt there was a time when all Case, Buck, Schrade or Camillus stockmans had no blade rub.

RoseCraft recieved favorable praise above. What was written about RoseCraft is correct but does not mention that the vast majority of them are single blade and all RoseCraft's two blade knives have two springs. RoseCraft has yet to demonstrate they can make a knife with three blades. Could that be to avoid having collectors whine about blade rub on he internet?

RoseCraft knives have much in common with Rough Ryder's high end Reserve line. (RRR) Both use satin finished D2. Neither line includes any polished blades and the edges of their handles are not radiused like most Case knives are. On average both are thicker and boxier than similar Case patterns. To get no blade rub RRR knives have washer spacers between their blades and bolsters. While the extra thickness does not matter in a belt pouch it is less than ideal in the bottom of your pants pocket. Maybe a little blade rub is a fair trade for thinner handles with radiused edges?

You make a very good point. I would personally rather have a thicker knife with little or no blade rub than a thinner knife with blade rub like that of the original poster’s knives.

Many folks carry keys on a ring in their pockets that are thicker than any two or three spring knife. And a thicker knife feels better in the hand.

[Meigscl]

Ended up just asking for refund as I too think it has to do when they etch blade especially since i knew was not same knife. They are pulling a few to check for quality issue so who knows what will happen. Guess I will just use my gift card when they determine what he new vault knife will be ir get stealths and such.