I started collecting Case knives in the mid 1980’s, mainly because as a young firefighter making $12,500 a year I couldn’t afford to buy many guns. The Case knives from the 30’s-60’s could still be bought at reasonable prices. I had a local knife dealer that would sell me mint Case XX marked knives (1940’s-1950’s) for $30-$45 on a regular basis. I just recently got around to taking some photos of them. All shown are 1930’s through 1975. Hope you enjoy these and I welcome pictures of your Case knives.

These are 30’s-50’s (Case XX) with maybe one 60’s in the group with a few original green and red bones amongst them.



These are 1950’s-1970’s



A couple of red bone XX’s. The bottom knife is my best 3 Blade XX true Redbone.



1974 Case Doctors Knife-



1950’s-



Two well used Case knives, one green bone Tested marked (30’s) and one XX red bone (50’s)



1950’s XX red bone and 1960’s stag handle.

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Wow! That is a nice collection of Cases! So I am sure I have read about the Xs before but what does XX signify?
Ed

From the early days of Case when blades were tempered and tested not just once (X), but twice (XX).

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When you love your knives it tells, and they are the best! Great collection. Thanks for sharing.

Most impressive collection! Thanks for sharing!

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Dave Brown
SWCA #3279

Beautiful collection! Cannot really say more.

That 30's Tested Green Bone really brings back some super painful memories. One just exactly like it was given to me by my Father who passed away in 1974, and he had carried it since brand new. I had just started my Field Service Engineer duties in early 1974 which required some sort of "fine finishing tool" to scrape the last couple thousandths out of a 8, 10 or 12 inch diameter Babbitt bearing before putting $250,000 worth of equipment on the line. Any of you from the Millwright trades know exactly what I mean to say about bearing "patterning" that final scraping that was more art than science by the old timers.

That Case knife was the ONLY tool that did the job properly.

Sadly...........going to a job in 2003 passing through Cleveland Hopkins airport, a dang TSA agent saw the Case in my carry-on on X-Ray and confiscated it on the spot. I asked if I could have it and go to a Fed-Ex kiosk or something and have it sent home, but alas...those days 9-11 was still too fresh and the Case went into the large metal "hopper" (meaning grinder) also located right there at the check in line and disappeared forever.

So...a family treasured heirloom and faithful pocket knife gone forever and even though I have searched flea markets and even fleabay....never run across an exact duplicate.....but here on this Forum.....there one is!!!!

Thanks for the post, thanks for the memories, you have some real treasures there.

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Charlie B
SWCA#3083, SWHF#570

I as well like older Case's and have spent more than I should have over the years. I am presently carrying a W.R. Case and son made before 1920. Great little folder with green bone handles. You have a great collection.

Beautiful, I love Case knives and have carried a Muskrat for over forty years. Oh my have they went up in that time.

What a marvelous collection of Case knives. They are one of the national treasures, and you have some beauties there. Thank you for sharing with us.

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

That's a great collection of Case xx Knives you have,jsfricks.

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I accumulate knives and yours are pristeen my favorite Case era are pre 80's.

Very nice collection. I like the case doctor's knives and bright colors, but mostly have reds, browns and bones too.

That is a great collection of knives. Thanks for the pics!!!

Awsom thanks for pictures

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Spin The Wheel

Those came from a time when Case made high quality pocket knives. I can't sharpen the stainless steel garbage they produce today.

Bluegrass Cutlery has made, and may continue to make, reproductions of old Case designs. They seem to be of good quality, but they aren't quite the originals.

I bought a Case trapper with stag at Cabela's quite a few years and I haven't been able to get a real good edge on it. when did they go to sst blades and wondering if that is part of my problem getting an edge on it? is there a marking on the blades for which type of steel in the blades?

Depending on year, if it’s stainless steel it should have an SS on the tang.

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on the clip blade there is an "x dot x" and the spey blade there is an "SS" which I guess would stand for sst. there isn't a "SS" on the clip blade

On current knives, Case marks their carbon steel blades CV (for the small amounts of chrome and vanadium that are added to the alloy). The CV appears right below the model number on the tang of a secondary blade (except of course on a single blade knife). CV knives are relatively scarce compared to the SS blades, appearing on a limited number of variants, and not all models.

Th conventional wisdom holds that the stainless, which Case calls Tru-sharp, performs about as well as the CV, and takes about as good an edge, but I don’t buy that for a minute. Given the choice, I will take the carbon steel, just as with Mora and Opinel.

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What I read is that the Tru-Sharp blades are relatively soft, not a bad thing in itself for an edc knife, but they tend to develop a wire edge or burr in sharpening, which has to be removed to get a good edge. Suggested techniques are stropping, using a steel, or even drawing the blade through wood.

This is not of my own knowledge, but merely based on my reading, so I offer it for what it is worth. Also FWIW, drawing through wood has not done anything for me, and I am not equipped for really effective stropping. I have had my best results with a steel. YMMV. “They” insist that Case stainless can take as good an edge as the CV.

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I bought a Case back in the early 80's. Haven't seen it for a while. At least not since the kitchen fire that had us move out with everything in boxes. I know it wasn't damaged as it was in my bedroom (somewhere) so I'm going to have to try to find it.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

the number "65254" is also stamped on the spey blade. is this the model number for my trapper?

This stuff is not too hard to look up. Case model numbers are usually four digits. The first digit indicates the handle material, second digit the number of blades, last two digits the frame model.

Special handle materials may have an extra digit and a decimal point. Your number probably has a decimal point: 6.5254
6.5 indicates a burnt stag bone handle. A regular bone handle trapper would bear the number 6254.

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I believe:

65254 = 6.5 Bone Stag Handle Material/2 Blades/54 is the Trapper Model (Pattern) Number

The numbers indicate handle material, number of blades, pattern number.

that is the trapper I have. I will keep trying to get a good edge on it

Well some collection you have there. Very nice. My father had a collection similar to that but to make a long story short my brother got all of those when my father passed. So I am starting over now that I have the time again.
I just ordered a new one and I have one old one. I will post the new one when I get it but until then here is the old one.

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That’s a good start. That ones from 1972.

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Thank you for the information. I haven't even had time to look up anything on it yet.

I grabbed this Folding Hunter from '65-'70 a few weeks ago from a dealer at a Sunday show. It was in a plastic wrapper with the wrong Case identification card. I told him it was a stag hunter but he insisted it was amber bone. Marked 5265SAB. I relieved him of it.

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Nice Case collection! I’d like to find a fixed blade Case sometime

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Some Might Say.

Beautiful collection. I love Case knives, especially the older ones.

Model 60 from 1976, Case lockback from 1978 (two dots). The gun has the original grips and the knife the original edge.

Beautiful handles on that one!

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I love knives, especially ones with real handles, the classic ones, not the modern plastic ones. Great post! I have a couple of Case knives I will have to post one of these days.

I have eight or nine Case knives. Three are yellow delrin (with CV steel),classics in their own right. Three out of these five are Case, the peanut at the lower left, the medium stockman, and the Sodbuster at the upper right.

(The large stockman is a Rough Rider. The not-so-large one is a Ranger, made in Providence, so probably an Imperial or Colonial.)

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Just bought 2 Case knives (yellow handled Medium Stockman's in CV) a few weeks ago to give as Christmas gifts - which I did. They are not the quality with the fit and finish they use to be - that's for sure! Not terrible but compared to vintage versions - nowhere near as great IMO. If I buy a Case again I will either order a "Select" version or a vintage one.

Agreed, 100%. I'd take a well heat treated 1095 or Case CV carbon steel blade over any stainless in a pocketknife or, except for Bark River's A2 tool steel, a fixed blade.

Oops, forgot the Opinels, which are 1090 steel. And a hell of a value.

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Oh well, what the hell.

This '40-'64 Canoe was a gift from my hunting buddy at my half century mark.

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Before I ask this question, I realize that very few of you folks have a crystal ball. With that in mind, I would like to start a collection of Case Knives. There must be a million different types. Because of their costs, I don't think I will start out collecting vintage knives.

I am sure there are many ways to start a collection. I figured I would choose between choosing a model and then buying the many different handle materials offered or I can choose a favorite handle material and then buy the models that use it.

I want to collect what I like to look at. I like stag. Case seems to offer a ton of different stag handles too. Which stag do you folks like best? I think I like the Peanut, Stockman, and Trapper models the best. Are the knives made in a limited number and does Case tell that informations? Do low numbers mean greater value? For you collectors, what advice would you give me? Where is the best place to but and not pay full retail? I got a catalog in the mail a few months back that had a ton of Case knives in it. I think the place was Shepard Cutlery or something like that. jsfricks you have a very nice collection and the way you started is what I probably need to do. Post some more pictures of what you folks like please!
Larry

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Miss My Buddy crsides!!

If I were to start collecting now I would start with the older ones, 1979 and older. Prices on the 60’s and 70’s knives are still reasonable and I believe will hold their value better than what they have made in the last 20 years or so. I’m not sure how those made today will hold their value or increase but for those the best bet would be the limited editions, which are always numbered on the blade. My Father in law signed himself and my son up for the Case Collectors Club many years ago and when he passed I inherited a lot of duplicates in their metals boxes and these are limited editions, but I don’t think they’ll gain in value much in my lifetime. Picking stag handles is a good direction to go. The older stag looks better to me but I really like the older knives. Buts it’s really what does it for you. If you think quality instead of quantity the older knives will be the way to go in my opinion. My greatest interest when I was buying years ago was Case Red bones. You can find Case knives in a lot of different colors nowadays but the Green bone from the 30’s and 40’s and the Red bone from the 40’s and 50’s was actually a mistake and was suppose to be black. That’s why the early Green and Red bone bring more money than the same pattern from the same years in black bone. And going with a certain pattern is a good way to do it too. Maybe collect Trappers or Muskrats from the 30’s until now. But I like most any of the old Case but my favorite are the Case XX marked knives, which are from 1940-1964. I have a few marked Case XX USA which are from 1965-1969, and a few marked Case XX USA 10 Dot through 1 dot which are from 1970-1979. I can’t really help you on the newer knives or the best place to buy them. But whatever you decide good luck with it and have fun!

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