All About Pocket Knives

Posted: **Thu Mar 15, 2018 11:47 am**

I have a knife like this and took it to the knife club last night and showed it around. Any logical reason why it would have a short bolster on one side and a long bolster on the other? Most thought it was due to the stag. That the company had so many pcs of long and so many of the short and just decided to make them work by adjusting the bolsters. Does anyone have any other ideas?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Kase-Brand-Ger ... 1438.l2649

Posted: **Thu Mar 15, 2018 1:37 pm**

Not sure that explanation makes much sense, it would be a lot easier to adjust the stag to the bolsters then it would be to adjust the bolsters to the stag. And if you had 'x' amount of one size and 'x' amount of the other, why not put the long ones with the long ones and the short ones with the short ones?

I would think something more along the lines of a prototype, salesman sample or lunchbox knife. Or maybe a trainee/apprentice built knife, using odd parts? I can't imagine they were ever part of their regular production line.

WB

Posted: **Thu Mar 15, 2018 1:57 pm**

If you click on the link you can see the seller has 2 for sale. I have another one just like them and there must be more? That would seem to indicate the entire production run was made like this? That's kind of why at the knife club they thought they were trying to use the material they had on hand to get this pattern out the door? A lot of questions to be answered. Thank you for your input.

Posted: **Thu Mar 15, 2018 2:37 pm**

Guess I'm kinda slow, it still doesn't make any sense to me. If you have a hundred long slabs and a hundred short slabs, why mix them? Why not make 50 knives with the long and 50 with the short? The only other explanations would be a specific purpose for the long/short bolsters on one knife or an all out factory error. Puzzling for sure!

Nice looking stag though!

WB

Posted: **Thu Mar 15, 2018 4:51 pm**

I agree with WB.

Bolsters are not generally made on a per knife basis, but are stamped out in quantity and quite often by a secondary supplier, not the cutlery company.

Just cut the stag to fit.

Why they did what they did is a mystery to me.

Charlie Noyes

Posted: **Thu Mar 15, 2018 7:42 pm**

I agree with what has been said as well. I've been out walking the dog and can't get this knife off my mind. Here is what MAY have happened. Kase may be a small company and doesn't actually make the parts for its knives, but instead orders the components from other companies and when they arrive they assemble them. In the USA the McCoy knife was made with this process. So at Kase they start on this pattern and they have x number of blades, x number of springs, x number of liners, etc. Then they notice that some of the handle material is defective or has been cut wrong and isn't going to make the required length. What do you do? You don't scrap x number of blades, etc. because you don't have handle material for them. You don't have the machinery in house to cut down the blades and liners and you certainly don't want to go back to the same company and order more stag or maybe they don't have anymore on hand and can't get any more for 6 months. The most cost effective thing to do is add the longer bolster (easily obtained) on the back, use all of the material you have in house and get the knives to market where they can be sold and you can recover your money for the raw material. It all makes sense. I looked at other Kase knives on Google and Ebay. It looks as if they were all well made knives. Maybe just an issue with this one knife and I don't think they were designed this way intentionally. Anyone have any other ideas on what may have happened?

Posted: **Thu Mar 15, 2018 10:26 pm**

I have never heard of Kase knives before this thread. Here are my thoughts. The name sounds like Case. The shield looks like a Case shield. To me it seems as if Kase company is trying to piggyback on the success of the Case brand. I would not expect good stuff from a company that uses that tactic. Maybe the unequal bolsters just exemplify the quality of Kase knives.

Posted: **Thu Mar 15, 2018 10:45 pm**

If these were indeed salesmen samples,maybe to let the to be customer see the short boister and the long boister and conpare. The salesman carries less stock and the company does not have a lot of stock tied up. Everybody wins.

Posted: **Thu Mar 15, 2018 11:55 pm**

I'm ruling out salesman sample. I just don't think that's right. I found this on another knife forum with Google. If Olbertz made them they are quality knives and I thought that. Still doesn't explain the bolsters, because Olbertz made enough knives to do things right? This was posted by Bill DeShivs that also posts on AAPK. I don't think he would mind if I posted it?

The "Kase" knives were made by Olbertz in Solingen, Germany in the late 1970s. They have no relation to Case Cutlery co., though Case WAS originally an importer and imported knives from Germany before making their own. It's worth about $40 if it's in good shape.

Posted: **Fri Mar 16, 2018 12:59 am**

just bob wrote:I'm ruling out salesman sample. I just don't think that's right. I found this on another knife forum with Google. If Olbertz made them they are quality knives and I thought that. Still doesn't explain the bolsters, because Olbertz made enough knives to do things right? This was posted by Bill DeShivs that also posts on AAPK. I don't think he would mind if I posted it?

The "Kase" knives were made by Olbertz in Solingen, Germany in the late 1970s. They have no relation to Case Cutlery co., though Case WAS originally an importer and imported knives from Germany before making their own. It's worth about $40 if it's in good shape.

Okay - I will eat crow. The Olbertz knives I have handled are very good quality. The coincidence of the Kase name and the shield that resembles some Case shields gave me the wrong idea. I should have done some research before posting.

Posted: **Fri Mar 16, 2018 1:01 am**

I'm thinking "Kase Knives" is composed of a staff of one-eyed workmen that haven't been fully trained on how to adjust the machinery...

Posted: **Fri Mar 16, 2018 3:12 am**

It's hard to imagine any self-respecting knife factory, big or small, allowing those knives out the door, unless there was a specific reason for the bolsters being different lengths. Some special application that must be well outside of my imagination.

Then there's the hardware store or other retail outlet that would even accept them as sellable goods. I guess they could have been sold as seconds, but generally speaking the few times I've known of seconds being sold, they were well marked as such. Usually over the tang stamp, or at least on the reverse side of the tang.

I'd still vote something along the lines of lunchbox knives. Bits and pieces going out the door and maybe assembled and finished outside the factory. Knife factories that are trying to gain or maintain a reputation for quality aren't just going to throw knives together with mismatched leftovers and sell them on the consumer market.

JMHO

WB

Posted: **Fri Mar 16, 2018 11:00 am**

I'll bet it was handmade in Pakistan, trying to fool someone into thinking it was a CASE by using the KASE name and oval shield. OH

Posted: **Fri Mar 16, 2018 11:26 am**

Boy, seller just won't show other side of knife. Hard to see difference

Posted: **Fri Mar 16, 2018 11:41 am**

Perhaps it was a cost-cutting effort, less NS used on the rear bolster? Regardless, it is quite odd.

It does look German-made, the hafting of the stag certainly has that German look to it, and looks to be pretty decently manufactured.

Weird...

Posted: **Fri Mar 16, 2018 12:55 pm**

I think after having found out that Olbertz made this I am willing to accept it was designed this way. Maybe as a paring or carving knife and the longer bolster was designed to provide stability? It is odd and we may never know for sure. It may be as Glen said and they were trying to save a dollar or just using what parts they had on hand to complete the knife. Olbertz made a lot of high quality reproduction knives with stag handles in the 1970's and 80's that sold through SMKW. You might wonder if they didn't have something to do with the name Kase? Here is my knife with a picture of both sides to show the difference in bolster length. Thanks to all that commented on this. This is a great place to get information.

Posted: **Thu Mar 02, 2023 10:41 pm**

just bob wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 11:55 pm I'm ruling out salesman sample. I just don't think that's right. I found this on another knife forum with Google. If Olbertz made them they are quality knives and I thought that. Still doesn't explain the bolsters, because Olbertz made enough knives to do things right? This was posted by Bill DeShivs that also posts on AAPK. I don't think he would mind if I posted it?

The "Kase" knives were made by Olbertz in Solingen, Germany in the late 1970s. They have no relation to Case Cutlery co., though Case WAS originally an importer and imported knives from Germany before making their own. It's worth about $40 if it's in good shape.

Seen this thread and wanted to update if curious of new information, but the company who made “KASE” were actually BONTGEN & SABIN SOLINGEN GERMANY.

Posted: **Thu Mar 02, 2023 10:43 pm**

Seen this thread and wanted to update if curious of new information, but the company who made “KASE” were actually BONTGEN & SABIN SOLINGEN GERMANY.

Posted: **Sun Mar 05, 2023 7:30 pm**

The knife is a pill buster..use the butt end or the long bolster..which ever fits the need.

Posted: **Thu Mar 09, 2023 11:37 pm**

whitebuffalo58 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 1:37 pm Not sure that explanation makes much sense, it would be a lot easier to adjust the stag to the bolsters then it would be to adjust the bolsters to the stag. And if you had 'x' amount of one size and 'x' amount of the other, why not put the long ones with the long ones and the short ones with the short ones?

I would think something more along the lines of a prototype, salesman sample or lunchbox knife. Or maybe a trainee/apprentice built knife, using odd parts? I can't imagine they were ever part of their regular production line.

The knife is a pill buster..use butt end or larger bolster to crush pills
WB

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