All About Pocket Knives

Thanks Jerry & Joe,Joe it is a hair over 3",check out the top bolster! Bill.

Here is another not often seen. Only made in TESTED era in Christmas Tree and Green bone. Not made before or after TESTED era. Not to be confused with the 042 pattern. This is a RM242. I just notice the top center handle pin is in different location on mark side versus the pile side. Yet I cannot see any extra holes on liner interior or evidence it has been apart. Who knows...

Jerry

Rare indeed Jerry. The pins wouldn't bother me. Those old knives are a breed of their own. I like the RM handles as well.

I will post one of my old knives, a W R Case & Sons 6383 Whittler. Note it has the pattern number stamped.

Tom

olderdogs1 wrote:
I will post one of my old knives, a W R Case & Sons 6383 Whittler. Note it has the pattern number stamped.

Tom

Wow Tom, that's one of my "Grail" knives. Always interests me how some of the old early pre-tested era 83 patterns had an almost square-looking bolster on the master blade end. Later they were more rounded. Thanks for the pictures.

Ken

Thanks Tom. Not worried about the pins either based on what I see in hand.

Interesting and pretty knife Tom! Please take no offense but very curious about the mainblade nail nick location. Can you please post a pic of the mark side blades closed. What do you know about this regarding learning purposes for myself. Probably just lack of knowledge on my part...

Regards, Jerry

Jerry, I like to learn, far from being an expert. I am posting a picture of 3 W R Case & Sons knives that I have. The whittler, a W R case & Sons 6100 in Rogers Bone, and a W R Case & Sons 5375 in Stag. I have never been crazy about that pull on the whittler but have seen at least one other example that had the same pull, although I believe that knife had pearl handles.
I can not attest as to its authenticity because as I said, not an expert.

Tom

Thanks Tom. I am certainly no expert nor was I trying to imply anything regarding authenticity. Beautiful Saddlehorn by the way. I had forgot the saddlehorn that I owned had a nail nick location like yours and I always thought it was slighty odd but intended to be that way for a reason and certainly original to the knife. Probably a leverage thing. Thanks for the pic. Beautiful knives.

Jerry

Great knives Tom. Jerry I think you're onto something with the leverage comment. Makes a lot of sense considering the backsprings of some knives. Some old split backspring whittlers are very difficult to open the master blade. Although I haven't seen it before, doesn't mean Case didn't do it. Haven't seen that many old W.R. Case knives anyway. Would be a lot easier to open if the nail nick was nearer the end of the blade. Wonder you don't see it more.

Ken

Very nice trio Tom

Another Case Whittler, this one a Case Bros Springville with ebony handles. Thanks for looking.

Thanks for the input on these knives. It is much appreciated.

Tom

AWESOME Tom, a Springville knife is very rare
Larry

Real nice oldie Tom! I really like the bolsters and shield. The bottom bolster reminds me of the old 58 pattern like Ken and I posted on page 1 (I think). Rare stamp and knife indeed.

Here is an old pearl. J.D. Case Kane P.A.

J.D. CASE CO. KANE PA 8363 Lobster knife. 3-1/4" closed. All blades have following stamp dated at 1908' to 1911' if I recall correctly...

J.D. CASE
-- CO. -- (dashes are solid line, no breaks)
KANE, PA

Stamp is lengthwise on the 2 secondary blades. Interesting notch in the kick the is consistent with Sarge's book on secondary blades. looks like smoked pearl in the pics but I would consider it somewaht smokey! Liners are milled all around. Only knife I own with this stamp.

Some scrathes on the pearl tal end but this was a Gentlemens Knife so who knows what else rode in the pocket with it. Still not bad for over 100 years old.

Regards, Jerry

Alright Jerry, now this thread is titled "the rarest case knife you have?" And this is like the gazillionith knife you've posted. C'mon.

J/K........ Yer talkin one of a kind now!!!

Yer killin me. Super ultra stuff.

Springville and Kane! Wow - you just don't see those hardly ever. This thread is gettin like the All Scout Knives thread was when ronfish and scoutknives showed up and made the rest of us into pikers! I love it! Who has a Gowanda?

Ken

Edit: we all need to post pics of these whittlers over on the Vintage Whittlers thread. Seriously.

Great ebony whittler and super pearl lobster.

Just a bunch of GOOD knives it this thread. I like them all. Almost never see anything like this in my area.

Harold

Ok, Ken, You wanted to see a Gowanda. Here is a Case Bros & Co. Gowanda, NY jack. Obviously heavily used to say the least. I assume Platts made this knife.
Thanks for looking!!!

Tom

That is a hard one to find in any condition Tom,as I would guess you know!I`ll take that condition on a stamp that rare anyday. Bill

I have this old Case Tested XX navy knife ?
Not sure how rare it is ?

Thanks Tom, for showing that rare Gowanda. This is an awesome thread and could be the primer for anyone wanting to know the history of Case related tang stampings. By my reckoning (hope I didn't miss any) in addition to some very rare, wonderful old knives (and Jerry's donkey knife ) this thread has examples of the following tang stamps:

Case Bros. Little Valley N.Y.
Case Tested XX
Case XX
W.R. Case & Son Bradford PA
Case's Bradford, PA
Case XX U.S.A.
Case Bradford, PA
W.R. Case & Sons Bradford, Penna.
W.R. Case
Case XX U.S.A. 10 dots
Case XX Metal Stampings Ltd.
Case's Stainless
Case Bros. Springville N.Y.
Case & Sons Bradford PA
Case XX Stainless USA one dot (plus donkey)
Case XX ("pirate crossbars" font, as Jerry described it)
Case Mfg. Co. Little Valley N.Y.
Case & Son's Bradford PA (with apostrophe)
Platts Bros. N.Y.
W.R. Case & Sons
J.D. Case Kane, PA
Case Bros. & Co. Gowanda, N.Y.

Plus of course Lyle's Clement farmer's Whittler (we all know his agenda - to get a farmer's Jack mention on every thread ).

Thanks to all who posted so far, for a great show! Hope we see some more postings of rare Case knives.

Ken

ScoutKnives wrote:I have this old Case Tested XX navy knife ?
Not sure how rare it is ?

Scoutknives, looks like you posted this while I was typing my post. Nice old knife! It's a 6299SHR pattern (SH for the sheepsfoot master, and R is the Case designation indicating the knife has a bail). It's not a very commonly seen pattern from my experience. Made between 1920-1940. Sargent's 7th edition has a photo of one in green bone on which he has put a value of $600 (mint) if that helps. Maybe someone that knows more will comment. Fits in fine with this thread IMHO. Thanks for showing it.

Ken

Nice knife Scoutknives!!!!
Here is a rare one, again you need to ignore the condition, I just love the old survivors. This is a 6345 on the whittler frame with the bomb shield. The pull on this one is forward as on some of the other knives I posted. None of my other 6345's have this pull.
Thanks for looking!!
Tom

Tom, I also have a Tested XX 6345 1/2 SAB that is stamped on all blades. I hope that my redundant posting of a knife in this pattern does not negate the "rare" designation . If these are easy to find, then I am a very poor searcher. My example has been used and sharpened, but I believe it is uncleaned.

I have been building a small collection of vintage Case 45's with thanks to several AAPK folks for helping me.

I will post a group picture of my 45 Cattle knife collection someday soon.

Wish mine looked as good as yours, Ralph. I think they are rare!!

Tom

Ken, thanks for taking the time to summarize all of the tang stamps that have been posted in the thread. There is also a wide variety of handle material. Here is a horizontal glitter stripe example on a Tested 050.

Folks might recognize this knife picture from a thread that discussed the proclivity of celluloid to off gas. i believe this knife is stable and was well cared for before I became the guardian. However, i keep it stored away from all my other knives. It is my only celluloid.