All About Pocket Knives

I own one of the new Case gumfuddy knives and was wondering if any of the original Case gumfuddy knives are still in circulation? Can anyone offer any information about the history of the term "gumfuddy" as it relates to this handle material, or when it was used and for how long? Any pics? Just curious and trying to learn, thanks in advance.

Ain't Google great? ..................


The story behind Case’s Rough Black pocket knives begins in the 1940’s with the advent of World War II, when many raw materials used to produce consumer goods were diverted to support the war effort. Materials traditionally used to make pocket knife handles were no exception. A race to market knives with new, never-before-seen materials ensued between competing knife manufacturers.

In that search, Case product developers came upon a hard black synthetic material which demonstrated high durability, strength and overall appeal. A special jigging pattern was applied to the material surface to create the unique “Rough Black” knife handle slabs. The knives that resulted became known as “Gum Fuddy” knives at Case, a nickname quickly adopted by the consumer market as sales of Rough Black knives grew.

Case phased out production of “Gum Fuddy” knives after the war, as traditional handle materials made their way back to market. The knives have since become highly sought after collection pieces.

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Taken from the Case website. (Gum Fuddy google search.)

http://www.wrcase.com/pressroom/article ... Page1.html


Phil

That was a very informative post Phil. When I saw the term "Gum Fuddy" I thought PINK!! like bubble gum. Oh, I'm so ashamed. But hey, I learned something today and that is good.

Gum Fuddy was a new term for me too.

i have a few rough black handle case knives, but i never heard to the term gum fuddy either.. nice story behind that. thank you for the topic mike, and thank you for the info phil.

At $49.99 on SMKW for the 4 1/8" Humpback Stockman ($39.95 buy it now on eBay), it sounds like a good EDC series. I see no mention in Google of "Gum Fuddy" other than Case boilerplate and listings of knives for sale. A real knife from the 40's or more made up marketing B.S.???

Oh, there is a recipe for Gum Fuddy:

Ingredients:

2 8 oz packages cream cheese - softened
4 or 5 hard boiled eggs - chopped fine
1/2 green pepper, chopped fine
1 medium onion, chopped fine
1/2 tsp. salt
mayonnaise to taste

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together and top with fresh snipped parsley or chives - chill. This is great with celery sticks or other veggie sticks - as an appetizer

I'd only heard of the term recently myself. Before that, it had always just been Rough Black. I recently worked on my first smooth black from the Tested Era and found that it was celluloid. I would suppose they changed from celluloid to the same material as the rough black at some time just for the durability. Again, that's just my guess, but I know that I've worked on a lot of vintage slick blacks and this was the first one I'd seen in celluloid.

At any rate, the rough black is some of the toughest handle material out there and probably the toughest of it's day. If the new "Gumfuddy" is as durable as the old stuff, I'd say they have a winner on their hands for work knives.

Is the Rough Black/Gum Fuddy the same as black composit?

Thanks Phil. Info like that is why I love this site

I had never heard of the Case rough black material referred to as "Gum Fuddy" until recently when Case introduced the new line. I seem to recall that internally at Case they referred to it as "Plastag" - at least that is what I have read.

Based on my observations of vintage Case pocket knives, there were at least three distinct variations of the material that were used on the earlier knives. The most common material feels like a hard rubber type material with the jigging done in a "worm groove" style. The next variation seems to be more of a plastic with conventional jig patterns that are molded in. I have only observed this material on the 45 scout pattern and the 45 cattle pattern. The third type is only seen on a couple of military pocket knife patterns (31 jack and 45 cattle) and is also more of a hard rubber type material but with conventional rather than worm groove style jigging. My guess is that the two hard rubber type materials are the older ones and that the second one that I described (plastic type with molded jig pattern) was newer like 1950's era.

As if that is not confusing enough, then there were jigged black composition handle materials used later on Case patterns that were outsourced and made by Ulster, Utica, and Camillus - the 0035 jack patterns and the 0045 scout pattern. These were molded plastics and then later jigged brown delrin was used on the 0045 patterns made by Camillus.

Hey thanks for all the great info! I was familiar with the info from the Case website, but it seemed a bit lacking in details and I knew some of you fine folks here would be able to fill in the gaps. The current model that I have is indeed more of a traditional jigged style and more of a hard plastic rather than anything at all rubber like. Seems to be plenty tough so far, although I gotta admit I was a bit disapointed in the gaps between the liners, quite a bit of light shines through when held up to a flashlight, and it's been that way since I got it new a year or so ago.