All About Pocket Knives

Sometimes I see a Case XX USA ‘65-‘69 pocket knife with a typical Case oval shield, but the oval is missing around the Case stamp. Is that a true variation, or has the shield been polished down thereby removing the oval?

It’s possible the shield is “pocket worn” to the extent the oval is worn away. Without seeing a picture of the knife it’s difficult to say.

Starting in the 1970s shields without the oval stamp were used on knives having “non-bone” handle covers. It’s sometimes referred to as the ”Delrin shield”, or “composition shield”. Case supposedly introduced it due to complaints from folks unable to differentiate between genuine bone and Delrin. However it was also used on knives having yellow synthetic, Pakkawood, and other non-natural covers.

Here a post with pictures of the two shields. viewtopic.php?p=1000007#p1000007

Ken

A Delrin shield… interesting. Thanks Ken!

Any idea how long the practice of having a composition shield distinct from the shields installed in natural materials continued?

Changing the topic, I vote the silver script "shield" that spelled Case was the coolest shield ever.

Modern Slip Joints wrote: ↑Sat Jul 27, 2024 7:46 pm Any idea how long the practice of having a composition shield distinct from the shields installed in natural materials continued?

The "Delrin" shields went away when Case started using the "raised letter" shields on standard product knives in 1987. They used the same raised letter shield on all handle materials.

In 1989, when Case returned to the use of the traditional oval shield, there were no more special Delrin shields, EXCEPT for the three knife patterns that were made by Camillus (640045, 62031 LR, 61011). Those continued to use the Delrin shields until those patterns were dropped due to Camillus going under.