[Cougfan2]

Hi guys, I'm seriously thinking about starting to collect Case knives. The first really good pocket knife I owned was a Case my father gave me on my 10th birthday. Just ordered a Sod Buster Jr. from Smoky Mountain Knife Works. They appear to have a HUGE inventory. Are there others out there that are as good or better?

[hso]

You have just stepped off the bottomless precipice of knife collecting.

Come to East Tennessee for the Parker Knife Show during June 12/13/14 and you'll find more Case knives to collect that your wallet will allow.

[Cougfan2]

You have just stepped off the bottomless precipice of knife collecting.

LOL When I told the wife last night that I was thinking about starting to collect them you could see the horror wash across her face! :D

[hso]

Contact Deepak Chopra Cutlery and Accessories. I know Deepak got a great deal on a bunch of Case knives last year about this time and he may have a bunch left that he'd sell for wholesale. That would jumpstart your collection.

[Cougfan2]

hso Thanks for the tip. I will contact them.

[sm]

<Rod Serling voice>

Cougfan2 innocently thinks he has only started a journey of collecting Case knives.
His wife already has a look of horror on her face , perhaps she knows her husband will use a CV Case knife and be found sitting with the Geezers whittling out front of the General Store...forever lost in the Twilight Zone...

</off>

[ArfinGreebly]

. . . sitting with the Geezers whittling out front of the General Store . . . forever lost in the Twilight Zone

Hey!

You say that like it's a bad thing!

:D

[sm]

Not me...

I am equal opportunity stir-something-upper.

Ya know...a lot folks that collect Case Knives, get into collecting old sharpening stones, shoot 28 gauge shotguns ( be sure to let the wife handle these), and appreciate a quality custom fixed blade and ...

*innocent wittle boy wook*

[Jimmie]

http://www.agrussell.com/knives/by_maker/a_through_d/case.html

25% off if you're mil, LEO, fire, EMT.

[Brian Dale]

I think that A.G. Russell is great. Be aware, though, that the Case knives that they list have stainless steel blades. I don't see any chrome-vanadium bladed Case knives at their site.

I sure like their Small Paring Knife and the Woodswalker, though.

[sm]

Brian is correct in checking with A.G if you want CV blades.

These folks are real nice folks:

http://www.newgraham.com/

http://www.vintageknives.com/tek9.asp?pg=products&grp=43

[Valkman]

I buy most of mine from www.collectorknives.net

Mike is a great guy and I don't have to worry about fakes on ebay.

[beemerphile]

I prefer Shepherd Hills Cutlery...

http://www.casexx.com/?gclid=CKXW6cq2tpMCFQUpgAodFzekDg

[sm]

Valkman,
Thanks a lot for that link. *rut-roh*

They got( or had) the Hen & Rooster Stag handled Stockman with carbon steel blades like I had...
Sixth row down, first one on the left - ID :HRJV383CDS
Oh boy...they gots other stuff too.

[ties rope to self then to tree so as to not get lost wading into that site]

[Valkman]

Mike also has LOTS of stuff not listed... :evil:

[sm]

Cougfan2,

Do you see how my friend Valkman is treating me?
[Granted you should see how I treat him behind the scenes...]

There is a whole lot more to this Case knife collecting bit...
Oh it starts with just collecting one pattern, or one set of handles , or era, or...

Then that sexy Camillus in a mini-skirt catches your eye...
The Old Timer in a back pocket of tight fitting jeans...
Shrade Walden in a tank top...
Hen & Rooster in a Sun Dress in a convertible...
Boker in a stretch limo...
Queen on a Harley...

Eyes wonder, you get distracted and get totally bumfuzzled and walk smack dab into Shatt & Morgan .

Knives are tools, and humans are tool users...
Sometimes this gets flip-flopped and knives use humans as tools.

*yep*

[sixgunner455]

I are one of the confused tools of knifedom.

Case knives will spend all your money for you, cut up all your whittling wood, and demand to be taken out for steak on a regular basis.

And they get lonely. One is never enough because there are so many different interesting models, and two begets three and four and ...

[sm]

Seriously - network.

Find some trusted friends that are into collecting.
These that collect Case, can mentor and assist with counterfeit knives and how to keep from being taken, both at shows, and buying off the Internet.

Network with those that are into collecting other brands, such as Imperial, Old Timer, Shatt & Morgan, Robeson...etc.

Granted I read your post to mean new knives, still one will be looking for one to complete a set.

There is a "shopper's phenomenon" , which is, when one wants something, they cannot find it.
I tease about this with folks I know, still it is true and shown to be true numerous times and still does.

Invariably if one needs something, and they go to the store, the store is out of stock.
I suggest not going in with that item on the mind, instead set on the back burner of the mind, and most times that item is in stock.

Networking is more than one set of eyes and ears.
Your buddy might find that knife that completes a set for you, and you run across that Old Timer Gunboat Trapper they needed.

Respectively looking for these - they were not to be found.
Networking - these just jumped out and was what the other one needed.

[Cougfan2]

SM My mind has already started to go down the path of collector knives and imagining how I will display my collection. Tis indeed a sickness, but one I am growing fond of. Haven't even received my Sod Jr. yet, but already planning my next purchase.

Is there no release?

[sixgunner455]

Is there no release?

Only you can free yourself, and most have not the strength.

Fear not my brother, the sickness is not unto death. The wise brother will set unto himself a budget (bud-jett) and not exceed it without extreme cause. Thus will he maintain equilibrium and peace in his home.

Verily, thus it is.

[Cougfan2]

It's gettin' chest wader deep here!

I haven't whittled since I was a boy scout, but I'm having visions of sitting by my fire pit of an evening and making tiny kindling.

I wonder if this is how meth users start??? Soon I'll be robbing people at the MAX stations and running down to oldtown to score another Mini Trapper. :p

[sm]

Cougfan2,

Yes there is a release, if you choose to go into this collecting with certain attitudes.

Do not go into this with the "Gotta-Haves".
Do go into this with the attitude of Preserving and Passing Forward.

Sometimes one has to be selfish, in order to preserve, pass forward, and protect the values, history, and sentiment of life.

i.e Some folks collect only Case knives from an era, such as from 1960-1970.
Sure, these have monetary value, what they also have are materials and craftsmanship from a time gone by.
Those that view these in a collection, even just pictures, will see grandparents, neighbors they grew up with, parents, that hunting trip, parents, and all sorts of things that are a part of their life and have sentimental meaning.

i.e Advertising knives.
Some choose to not collect Case, and other brands.
Instead the old knives that Feed&Seed Stores, Auto Parts Stores, Businesses used to give out free.

Sounds dumb, still I remember these, and it means something to me, that folks have collected, and preserved this part of my life's history.


In anything, it is a buyer's market.
What is someone willing to pay you for what you have?


I am known to carry a Case Peanut, Yellow Handle, with Chrome Vanadium blades, and a Barehead Slimline Trapper, in this set (yellow handle, CV blades)
I had a set of these two, along with a Mini-Trapper, Sodbuster Jr, the Big Stockman and Medium Stockman.

I had all but the Peanut off site. All these were destroyed by fire.
Now these and the Peanut, I can still get new.
New Peanut is about $35 at the local Feed&Seed store.

I lost that Peanut during tornado's and all the stuff I was doing.
Just a dumb old yellow knife to some folks.

Not to me.
Ian is dead now he was originally from South Africa, and lived in the UK.
He gave me that set, in Jamaica too many years ago.
I have never been to South Africa, and never will.
My Peanut has been, and has been in the UK, New Zealand and other places.

That knife has cut folks' seat belts, assisted in emergency first aid, been on hunting trips, and the folks are now gone. Fishing trips, in my pocket when I gave a lady away as her dad was passed, the birth of a baby,....
If that knife could talk...

Folks associate through me, and that Peanut so much.
I am the link to some to their kinfolks.
Sounds dumb, but if a 30 year lady wants me to whittle a hot dawg fork for her kid, with that knife or one like it - it is the link of her dad now passed doing that for her, and me doing for a grandkid, that never knew a grandpa.

Ian's gift, that Peanut, was one knife I did stuff with that young ladies grandpa.
That dove and quail on the mantle a taxidermist did, was the game her mom took and that Peanut was on the hunts.

Just me take...collect for other reasons besides the idea of making a profit of money.
The dividends of preserving and passing forward are greater.

[Cougfan2]

SM One of my favorite knives is one I got from my Uncle who was a farmer. He had a poultry operation with thousands of chickens in big battery houses. It was a two blade promotional knife from Purina with the red and white checkerboard handles. Really just a cheap knife, but every time I look at it I think of visting my cousin during the Summer and lugging 50 lb bags of Purina "Chicken Chow" to stoke the chicken feeders.

You're right. It's about the memories as much as it is about the hardware. :)

[sixgunner455]

Being serious here, what I said before is a little bit funny, at least to me, but if you are going to be a collector or accumulator, is how to get along without causing strife or poor budgeting.

Collecting and accumulating is fun. Difference between the two is, accumulators get whatever catches their eye or that they think they need or can use. Varied purposes. Collectors tend to have a focus and goal to their acquisitions, centered on a theme in the collection -- the stuff.

Stuff is just stuff, though. Memories, people, associations, are what is more important.

My opinion: a person needs/should have two personal knives -- one medium to small pocketknife, and one large pocketknife or small sheath knife. Between those two knives, a person can accomplish most any needed task in day to day life.

Beyond that, if you can afford it and like it, go for it. I got a knife in the mail last night that is very similar to one that my dad loaned me when I was twelve. I had one little whittler pattern pocket knife to my name, and I was going on a week long camping trip. He pulled this large Schrade out of his pocket, and handed to me. His own, daily use knife (though he is like me -- or I am like him! and usually has at least two on him).

Could I have made it through my trip with just that little knife I owned? Probably, but that wasn't the point. Dad trusted me with that knife, and knew that it would come home unbroken, sharp, and clean. Meant something big to a twelve year old kid with no friends (boys in my scout troop were a band, I was the new kid and so forth), to know that at least my father loved and trusted me.

This beat up Old Timer with a carbon steel blade I got yesterday is now sharp, clean, oiled, and ready for use. It's in my leather working bag. Not because I needed another knife, or something to put in that bag, but because I needed that connection to my dad again.

That is when stuff means something. Otherwise, it's nice, but it's just stuff, and mostly replaceable.

[Omaha-BeenGlockin]

Surprised nobody mentioned Ebay yet.

I limited myself to CV Trappers---otherwise I'd be in the poor house in no time.

[Valkman]

I collect Trappers, 048 Trappers, Seahorses and what nice Hobo's I can get.

For new knives any site will do - SMKW will have patterns for them only and is a good place. Just google and get the lowest price usually, and I have used ebay also.

But for older knives or out-of-production knives, that link I gave to collectorknives.net is the bomb. :D

At Knifeforums there is a Case sub-forum and that's a great place to talk about these knives as Shirley Boser is there and some very knowledgable collectors. They have roundtables where we all send knives to each other and it's a great place. I got a oatmeal bone Hobo last time! :D

[sm]

Once upon a time, I had a slew of Case Knives.
Including Displays.
Mentors knew folks in various Mom&Pop businesses, including pawn shops.
Mom&Pops would get a new display, and Mentors would get these.
Pawn Shops would find someone going out, or someone going through a divorce or something and get a collection.

I inherited some of this.
You don't understand, I mean walk into a place I had stuff stored, and there would be a dozen Case displays, with the knives, and the knives in stock!

*Dude! This was Cool!*

I mean someone would say they collected Case knives.
So if a buddy of mine knew them, or I gave permission, this person would walk into this walk in vault essentially and basically have a serious case of knee wobbles, and all sorts of "reactions".

Quite a few were looking for St. Peter, and wanting the keys to open the displays cases. *smile*

Imperial counter top cardboard displays, with knives, and Old Timer small display cases as well.

The old boy that had this setting, was a Jewish Uncle of mine.
He collected mechanical banks.
Put in a coin and the bank would do something.
Or.
One of my favorites was this puppy. Put the coin on the puppies tongue, and "shake" his paw, and he pulled his tongue in, and the coin went into his tummy "bank".
It does not take much imagination as to how one got the coins out...*smirk*

The old boy sold the building and he was getting on in years.
So all this was moved to where his good looking daughter , my Jewish Cousin
[I am not Jewish] had a place.

Some were kept elsewhere. All this off site, some out of town, even out of state.

As time went by, some of this stuff was given to folks related to mentors.
Grandkids and the like.
These were mine, still I felt the kids should have these.

Mine...I actually got physically sick the first time this happened, later I would just get numb...
Tornadoes ripped through, the site was hit by lightening and I lost a LOT besides these knives.
Guns, like dozen ARs, dozen 1911s, BHPs, and every bit of 200 USGI 7 round mags, and...and...

I missed the mentors that were gone, this stuff meant the world to me, as it was my attachment to them.
I just got sick.

This sort of thing would happen again, and again.
This explains why my take is what it is on life, on life matters at times.

All one has is that which don't burn.

Evil black rifles...
Mentors paid about $175 for these NIB Colt ARs.
I lost a dozen all at once.
Case Trappers, ever bit of 200 of those were lost.

Give me my mentors and the people back and you can have the ARs and Trappers!

I only have one Case knife that I know for sure I have.
Hopefully...I have some off site still.
I just lost more stuff off site due to tornadoes and all...Life is hard.
Reality is Real.

I have my last Peanut, sentimental, and that is all I carry.
Experiments ? Such a I am doing at BFC, not for me.
I have gone extended periods using only one knife.
It ain't the knife, it is me being able to use a tool, how raised and mentored.
I have to pass this forward, I have to...



Scissors.
This is funny!

I have a mustache...and always liked having a Case knife with scissors as it does not matter if one trims a mustache, there will always be some hair that appears and going "boiiiiiing!"

This morning a gal mentioned I had a wild hair.
"Use your SAK Classic" she said.

"I don't have one, I thought I had one in a shaving kit, but the gremlins ate it" I shared.

There was a serious bet , that I could not attend to that wild hair with a Case Peanut.

I won that Dr. Pepper...
"If you cut yourself, and bleed to death, don't coming running to me" she said.

Ya know, guys will freak out if a lady is in the Men's room, when they enter.
"Don't mind me guys, I am just here to watch him trim his 'stache with a pocket knife".

It is all good....
Just don't get too caught up and forget what is important in life.

[sixgunner455]

If it's sharp, it'll do. :D

But the scissors are easier.