W. R. Case & Sons Cutlery Co.

W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery Co.

Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Pocket knives
Founded	1889 (1889)
Headquarters	Bradford, Pennsylvania
Products	Cutlery
Number of employees	over 350
Parent	Zippo
Website	www.wrcase.com

W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery Company is an American manufacturer of traditional pocket knives, fixed blades/sporting knives, limited edition commemoratives and collectibles. The company originated in Little Valley, New York, around the turn of the 20th century, before relocating to its current home, Bradford, Pennsylvania, in 1905. The company's namesake, William Russell Case, first made knives with his brothers under the name, Case Brothers Cutlery Company. His son, John Russell ("Russ") Case, worked as a salesman for his father's company before founding W.R. Case & Sons.^[1]

History

The company’s roots extend back to 1889, when the Case brothers – William Russell (W.R.), Jean, John and Andrew Case, formerly of the Cattaraugus Cutlery Company – began selling cutlery from the back of a wagon in various small western New York villages. In January 1900, the brothers incorporated to form Case Brothers Cutlery Company.

John Russell Case, who named the company after his father, William Russell ("W.R."), formed W.R. Case & Sons as it is known today. By the time the company moved to Pennsylvania in 1905, the four Case brothers had established their brands.

Beginning with World War I, Case has made military knives for U.S. servicemen and women including the M3 Fighting Knife and the V-42 Stiletto (the latter, for the Devil's Brigade). During the 1965 flight of the Molly Brown, astronauts Gus Grissom and John Young used special Case knives on a NASA space mission.^[2]

The Case Company is currently owned by Zippo Manufacturing Company, another business based in Bradford.^[3] Unlike many knife manufacturers today, Case is exclusively produced in the U.S.

Case knives are made with blades stamped from domestic steel and hardened using proprietary heat treatment methods. Knife handles are made of a variety of natural materials like Brazilian cattle bone, India stag, buffalo horn, ancient mammoth ivory, mother of pearl, exotic hardwoods and precious stones. Brass, nickel, and silver metals are used to make the knives' other component parts.

Many people collect Case knives as a hobby. This practice arose from the unique tang stamp dating systems employed by the company beginning in the late 19th century. Today's Case Collectors Club is made up of 18,000 members.

Case knife patterns

The list of Case knife patterns has remained fairly consistent throughout its history, although a number of new Case designs have been patented in recent years. Some of these include: The SlimLock, Tiny Trapper, Baby Doc, CopperLock, RussLock, Baby Butterbean, Cheetah, Cheetah Cub, Hobo, Sod Buster, Mako, Mini-Blackhorn and XX-Changer.

The Hobo

When the Hobo (54HB) is closed, it resembles a regular Trapper. The handle splits apart revealing a separate knife, fork, spoon and bottle opener. Case produced two variations of the Hobo ('51 and '52) from the early 1900s-1940. These were made with two to four utensil implements using a can opener, soup spoon, three-pronged fork, and knife blade. Case re-introduced the Hobo (54) in 1983.

The CopperLock

In 1997, Case introduced the CopperLock. Designed by Tom Hart, the CopperLock (549L) combined elements from older Case knife patterns to make an entirely new knife with a fully locking blade.^[4] Case celebrated the 10th Anniversary of the CopperLock in 2007. This pattern was retired to the Case XX Vault in July 2008.

The SlimLock

The SlimLock was originally produced in 2005 as a tribute to John Russell Case. Each knife carries a “JRC” (John Russell Case) tang stamp and a liner that locks. The first featured BG-42 steel blades. A second family was released in 2006 that featured ladder patterned Damascus blades.

The Cheetah

The Cheetah is a single-bladed knife that has a swing guard. Throughout its existence, it has been manufactured with or without a swing guard, and with and without a locking mechanism. Some of the more recent knives are stamped with an "L" after the pattern number, which signifies that the blade locks when opened in 2002, after a 20-year hiatus.^[4]

The RussLock

The RussLock (953L) debuted in 2000. This pattern features a liner lock and a gimped lever for convenient one-hand opening. The RussLock was inspired by the Jack Knife (028), a pattern that has been retired for over 40 years. It was designed by the late Case master knifemaker Tommy Hart, who named it after William Russell (Russ) Case. The pattern number (1953) represents the year Russ Case died.^[4]

Case licensed knives

Case has regularly manufactured knives under licenses with American icons like Elvis Presley Enterprises, Coca-Cola Company, Boy Scouts of America, Ducks Unlimited, John Deere, Sturm, Ruger & Co., National Wild Turkey Federation, John Wayne, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Johnny Cash and Brooks & Dunn. Case has also partnered with custom knifemaker Tony Bose to produce new designs.^[5]

Steel types

Chrome vanadium (CV)

Chrome vanadium is a special formula of alloyed cutlery steel known for its ease of re-sharpening. (CV blades require extra care. A thin film of oil should be kept on the blade to maintain the polished finish of the steel.)

Case Tru-Sharp Surgical Stainless Steel (SS)

Case Tru-Sharp Surgical Stainless Steel is a high-carbon steel. It offers excellent blade strength and corrosion resistance.^[4]

Damascus (DAM)

Damascus steels date back to the Crusades, and are named for the famous Syrian city where some of the first man-made metals were traded publicly. It consists of thin layers of metal that are heated together to form a laminated solid. Designs take shape as layers are folded in then welded together by forging.

BG42 (BG42)

BG42 is a domestic alloy steel. It is an aeronautics bearing-grade composition with added carbon and vanadium.

154CM

154-CM is an American-made stainless alloy. It combines three principal elements: carbon, chromium, and molybdenum. Added levels of carbon and chromium are also used. Re-sharpening can require extra effort, but is needed less often.

Awards

W.R. Case & Sons has been the recipient of awards in the cutlery industry over the years. In 2004 Case was awarded the Industry Achievement Award at the Blade Show held in Atlanta, GA; the Case Family Brands Encyclopedia Set was awarded the Blade Magazine Investor Collector Knife of the Year at the same show. The Case SlimLock won an Editor's Choice Award from Popular Mechanics Magazine.^[6] In 2008 Case won "Collaboration Knife of the Year" at Blade Magazine's Blade Show in Atlanta, GA with a Tony Bose designed piece named the "Arkansas Hunter".^[7]

Case has also won awards for advertising and marketing, for instance its packaging designs won in two categories at the North American Packaging Competition for Excellence: Best Family Packages and General Superiority According to End-Use Household. The Case website won an ADDY award for creative excellence in 2006.^[8] A Case packaging design won the Best of the Show Award at the North American Packaging Competition for Excellence in the Collector's Item category.

Case Collectors Club

In 1972, Dewey Ferguson, a Case knife collector and author, wrote to Case President Bob Farquharson about forming a knife collectors association for the W. R. Case & Sons Cutlery Company. The Case Collectors Club (CCC) was established in 1981. A newsletter was introduced in March of that year to formalize communications between Case and its club members. The first edition of the newsletter was in black and white and had eight pages. During the same year, the first Case Collectors Club Annual Club Knife, an Appaloosa Bone Large Trapper (A6151 SSP), was made available to club members. The club began with 426 charter members in 1981. Today, there are nearly 18,000 members. Ferguson was listed on Case's "Wall of Fame" in 2001.^[1]

References

1 2 Boser, Shirley; John Sullivan (2006). W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery Company. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-3937-9.
↑ Price, C. Houston; Mark D. Zalesky (2008). Official Price Guide to Collector Knives (15 ed.). Random House Digital. p. 499. ISBN 978-0-375-72280-6.
↑ "The Zippo/Case Museum". Blade Magazine. 2006-08-01. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
1 2 3 4 Hollis, Durwood (2003), "New Sporting Folders", Sporting Knives 2003: 74–79, ISBN 0-87349-430-X
↑ Winter, Butch (2003), "Collaborations with Custom Knifemakers", Sporting Knives 2003: 154–161, ISBN 0-87349-430-X
↑ Feightner, Fred (2007-05-14). "W.R. Case and Sons' Damascus-bladed SlimLock Receives Popular Mechanics' Editor's Choice Award at National Hardware Show". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
↑ "2008 BLADE Magazine Knife of the Year Award winners". Blade Magazine. 2008-07-22. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
↑ Feightner, Fred (2006-04-06). "Case Cutlery Website Honored with ADDY Award". Popular Mechanics. Retrieved 2010-02-13.

External links

Zippo

Subsidiaries	Ronson W. R. Case & Sons Cutlery Co.

People	Louis Vincent Aronson George Grant Blaisdell

Events	Zippo 200 at The Glen Zippo Manufacturing Co. v. Zippo Dot Com, Inc.

Knives and daggers

List of daggers List of blade materials

Types of knives	Aircrew Survival Egress Knife Athame Balisong/Butterfly Ballistic Ballpoint pen knife Bayonet Boline Bolo Boning Boot knife Bowie Bread knife Cane knife Cheese knife Chef's knife Cleaver Clip point Combat knife Commander Corvo CQC-6 Deba bōchō Diving knife Drop point Electric knife Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife Gerber Mark II Ginsu Grapefruit knife Gravity knife Gunong Hunting knife Jacob's ladder Karambit Kīla Kirpan Kitchen knife Kukri Laguiole knife Machete Mandau Mezzaluna Misericorde Mora knife Multi-tool Nakiri bōchō Navaja Neck knife Nontron knife Opinel knife Palette knife Pantographic knife Parang Penknife Penny knife Pocket knife Putty knife Puukko Rampuri Resolza Sabatier Sami knife Santoku SARK Scalpel Seax Sgian dubh Sharpfinger Shiv Sliding knife Smatchet SOG Knife Straight razor Strider SMF Survival knife Swiss Army knife Switchblade Taping knife Throwing knife Tomato knife Trench knife Tumi Ulu Utility knife Warrior knife X-Acto Yanagi ba Yatagan

Types of daggers	Anelace Applegate–Fairbairn fighting knife Arkansas toothpick BC-41 Bagh naka Baselard Bichuwa Bollock dagger Cinquedea Dirk Ear dagger Emeici Facón French Nail Hachiwara Hunting dagger Janbiya Kaiken Kalis Kard Katar Khanjali Khanjar Kris Mark I trench knife Ocean Edge Knife Parrying dagger Poignard Push dagger Rondel dagger Seme Shobo Sica Stiletto Tantō Marine Raider stiletto V-42 stiletto Yarará Parachute Knife Yoroidōshi

Knife manufacturers	Aitor Al Mar Knives American Tomahawk Company Bear MCG Benchmade Böker Buck Knives Caber Camillus Cutlery Company Cattaraugus Cutlery Company Chris Reeve Knives Cold Steel Columbia River Knife & Tool Cuisinart Cutco Cutlery DOVO Solingen Dexter-Russell Dirte Knives Eikhorn Ek Commando Knife Co. Emerson Knives Erizo F. Dick Fällkniven FAMAE Fiskars Füritechnics Gerber Legendary Blades Global Golok Hanwei Imperial Schrade J. A. Henckels Ka-Bar Kershaw Knives KitchenAid Korin Japanese Trading Company Kyocera Leatherman Mad Dog Knives MercWorx Microtech Knives Morseth Murphy Knives Ontario Knife Company Opinel Pro-Tech Knives Randall Made Knives Ranz Rigid Knives Rösle SOG Specialty Knives Sabatier Aîné & Perrier Spyderco Strider Knives Survival Aids TEKNA Thiers Issard Tramontina Victorinox Vox Knives W. R. Case & Sons Cutlery Co. Walther arms Wenger Western Knife Company Wilkinson Sword Windlass Steelcrafts Wüsthof Yarara Ltd

Knifemakers	A.G. Russell American Bladesmith Society Rex Applegate James Black Blackie Collins John Nelson Cooper Ernest Emerson Jerry Fisk Phill Hartsfield Bill Harsey Jr. Gil Hibben Knifemakers' Guild Zanjan Knifemakers Jimmy Lile Bob Loveless Bob Lum William F. Moran Ken Onion Ralph Osterhout Bo Randall Chris Reeve Jody Samson William Scagel Mike Snody Robert Terzuola Michael Walker Buster Warenski Daniel Winkler

Book:Knives and daggers Category:Knives / Daggers

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