All About Pocket Knives

Howdy! Just want to ask about the so called Second cut handles, some say they are just as good as the original handles, or is there another meaning to this? Thanks and have a knife day

I may be wrong but I was always under the impression that second cut is just a bit less quality than 1st cut. Just not as much grain or as gnarly. Still fine handles just maybe not as flashy!

I have a few second cut stags and see no degradation in quality associated with them. They don’t bring the premium price of stag but that doesn’t mean the material is of inferior quality. They’re just different, and therefore some seek them and collect them. JMO. Maybe it’s a difference in our definition of “quality”.

Ken

I have a Case Small Coke in second cut stag. It looks great, little difference
than my regular stag.

Bob

p.s. width of pic is a little distorted

rea1eye wrote: ↑Thu Apr 27, 2023 12:28 am I have a Case Small Coke in second cut stag. It looks great, little difference
than my regular stag.

Bob

p.s. width of pic is a little distorted

case5225.19.jpg

That is some nice stag on a nice looking knife.

I'll be the first to admit I don't know much about Case knives. However, when I look at the second cut stag Case, it looks to me as if they have taken the top bark off of a thick piece of sambar stag and jigged it and then dyed it to look like stag.
IMHO it is the same material as their stag, just that it doesn't have the bark and contours of the outside pieces. I think they use the part of the stag between the outer layer and the pith in the middle. I've never seen any pith showing on a second cut stag Case knife. They use solid stag then add jigging and dye to make it look like stag. Basically it's the same process cutlers have used for centuries making jigged bone.

I could be wrong on this, and would appreciate knowing for sure what it is if someone knows.
It just looks to me like jigged inner stag and not the outer layer.
The same thing is done with fossil ivory, though usually without jigging. The outer bark layer is removed, dyed various colors and stabilized. These are some of the most expensive and unique fossil Ivory handles. The inner layers are still used for handles, though they are generally less expensive because they don't have the exquisite characteristics that the outer layer has.

If anyone knows how the second cut stag is cut and prepared, please share it with us. I have often wondered how Case made their second cut stag?

My understanding of Second Cut Stag is the same as Orvet's. The outer bark layer has natural grooves and valleys. That outer bark layer was 'peeled' off and used on a Genuine Stag handled knife. The inner second cut material requires mechanical jigging, dyeing, or torching. Case had a very specfic jigging pattern they used on their Second Cut Stag up through the early 2000's. That is what is depicted above. Since that time, the jigging pattern they have used on Second Cut Stag looks more like a Winterbottom jig variant. Although I have not seen Case offer Second Cut Stag in several years, when they did offer it they also offered a Second Cut Red Stag variant.

What was written by Dale above is similar to what was written here on AAPK several
months ago ( could even have been same author)

Bob

I concur with what Dale and Gary said. Here’s an example I have that fits their description quite well. Slab has been jigged and torched to give it some color. The covers are as hard and rugged as any stag or bone covers. I can’t detect any degradation in functional “quality”. Whether or not you like the appearance compared to first cut stag or bone is subjective, in the eye of the beholder. Personally I can’t see any difference compared to jigged bone, but uncut and nicely hafted stag is unparalleled in appearance IMHO.

BTW I think this thread should be in the Case Collectors Forum. They’re not ”Customized Factory Knives”. These are factory knives, just as they were produced by the Case factory. This one was part of the Roman Numeral stamp SFO series that Case produced for Frost in the 1990s.

Ken Edit: Here’s another one I forgot I have. Red Second Cut, RSC06347.

Second cut stag is the inner part of the stag antler after the outer bark (premium material) as been sliced off. It's basically stag that looks like bone, it's smooth and white with no texture or character which is then jigged and colored similar to how jigged bone would be made to create a more attractive handle from what would otherwise be scraps.