All About Pocket Knives

Greetings,
After several years of putting aside this great hobby, I’ve started getting back into my collection and rediscovering some oldies but goodies. Here’s a Case Tested Stag Rail Splitter without a brand shield. I have never seen one like this except in Steve Pfeiffer’s book, “Collecting Case Knives” (1st edition, pg. 244). I’m assuming it must be a rarity and interested in hearing if anyone has one or knows much more about it. The bolsters and liners look to be made of iron. It’s a handful and still a very tight knife! Thanks much for your feedback.
Sal

Welcome back. Hate to be the bearer of bad news but those handle covers are not original to the knife. Case did not use that “fat” Sambar stag in the tested era. Note how on the example knife pictured in the book the covers are thin, as evidenced by the lack of severe hafting near the bolsters (the dark streaks in the stag run into the bolsters). On your knife the stag is so thick it had to be sharply tapered during hafting, to make the covers match with the thickness of the bolsters. That thick stag and resulting aggressive hafting did not appear until late in the XX era at the earliest and became commonplace during the U.S.A. era and by the 1970s dotted era.

Hope that news doesn’t scare you back into inactivity.

Ken

Hello Sal and welcome back! As Ken said, the knife probably has been rehandled, but I think its still a gorgeous piece. 99's are among my favorite patterns and I have a modest collection of them, but only one Tested in stag. As you can see from my poor pictures, the thickness of the stag on mine doesn't extend too far beyond the bolsters. Most of my other 99's had deteriorating yellow celluloid when I got them (they were relatively inexpensive) and I have restored them with a variety of materials for the scales. Since these knives are so big to begin with, I tend to prefer fatter scales on them, like your example.

Thanks much for the quick reply, fellas. It’s good to get back in the saddle with my first post!
The insight is much appreciated on the Rail Splitter. I’ve owned it for a long time and always wondered if the handles were original to the knife. It’s still a keeper as I really like the pattern and heft of this old boy. The only other Case stag I own that come close to the thickness of this stag (and jibes with Ken’s comments) are Trappers from red letter and blue scroll series. In any case, I’m looking forward to catching up, having some fun with it and learning more from the group.
Enjoy the weekend!
Sal

Glad your with us Sal. Great looking old knife.

Great looking knives, guys.

I had a stag -99 once, with decent blades, traded it for something with an AAPK guy. Kinda wish I had it back.