Green Bone or Brown Bone? Union Cutlery

[Pile Driver]

Was Case the only company that had "Green Bone"? or is it an industry term for this brown bone?

[KleenCut61]

Hubba Hubba Nice Pile To my Understanding Union/Ka-Bar Had a Patent Bone Stag. Clearly A Brand Name Process of dye and Jigging on there Part , Perhaps a clearer more indepth explanation from The( Elders ) No Offence ,Can bring your Question to the Light , I Would Love to understand More on the Handled ka-bar as well as the green , I have seen Case green Bone very similar to Ka-bar in color , Not jigging Thou The Case jigging is pretty well Defined , all I got K.C.

[btrwtr]

I'd have no problem calling those green bone. Beautiful bunch!

[doglegg]

What ever the color, I like them.

[Mumbleypeg]

The term “green bone” is a description coined by Case collectors, to describe the bone used during the Case Tested era. Many Case purists have strong feelings about it and maintain that it applies to Case only. To my knowledge Case never used the term “green bone” in their old catalogs (it was simply described as “bone”) and has no copyright on it. “Red bone” and “pretty bone” have the same origin (Case collectors) and the same situation (not originated by Case company).

Largely because those knives tend to bring premium prices among Case knives, sellers on eBay and other places have appropriated the terms to other brands in an attempt to bring higher prices for what they are selling. IMHO the terms have become widely misused. Even applied to knives - both Case and others - that are absurd abuses of the terms. The situation is on the verge of it becoming a useless and worthless description.

Ken

[tongueriver]

Ken, thank you for an informative answer. I have a question which on the face of it may be stupid, but I am red/green color blind except when I can view them in large area and good light. Is the CASE 'green bone' green?

[jlw257]

Here we go again

[edge213]

The term “green bone” is a description coined by Case collectors, to describe the bone used during the Case Tested era. Many Case purists have strong feelings about it and maintain that it applies to Case only. To my knowledge Case never used the term “green bone” in their old catalogs (it was simply described as “bone”) and has no copyright on it. “Red bone” and “pretty bone” have the same origin (Case collectors) and the same situation (not originated by Case company).

Largely because those knives tend to bring premium prices among Case knives, sellers on eBay and other places have appropriated the terms to other brands in an attempt to bring higher prices for what they are selling. IMHO the terms have become widely misused. Even applied to knives - both Case and others - that are absurd abuses of the terms. The situation is on the verge of it becoming a useless and worthless description.

Ken

[edge213]

Ken, thank you for an informative answer. I have a question which on the face of it may be stupid, but I am red/green color blind except when I can view them in large area and good light. Is the CASE 'green bone' green?

No

[Mumbleypeg]

Ken, thank you for an informative answer. I have a question which on the face of it may be stupid, but I am red/green color blind except when I can view them in large area and good light. Is the CASE 'green bone' green?

Only if you have a good imagination.

Here we go again

Yep - there must be at least a half-dozen threads on this subject. Here’s one of them viewtopic.php?f=4&t=56564&hilit=Green+bone#p638855

Ken

[wlf]

Looks like it to me D.

[Mumbleypeg]

Looks like it to me D.

I agree. I should have added that if you’re going to apply the green bone term to knives other than Case, those in the OP would qualify IMHO. Certainly a lot more deserving than many I’ve seen it used on.

Ken

[RalphAlsip]

Regardless of the descriptive label applied to the bone color, old Union bone and old Case bone share similarities.

[tongueriver]

And regardless of the label, color, etc., those are beautiful knives! I mean REALLY beautiful!

[jlw257]

Most Case Greenbone look different when the background is lighter.
Here’s a picture of a Tested 6249 that I took on my desk top.

[Mumbleypeg]

That is a great example Larry. Imagination or not, you can almost see the green shades in it.

Ken