CASE fixed blade - Date?

This forum is for discussing and sharing pictures of anything that relates to fixed blade knives.
Post Reply
User avatar
TripleF
Bronze Tier
Bronze Tier
Posts: 18499
Joined: Mon Feb 14, 2011 3:42 pm
Location: West Central FL
Contact:

CASE fixed blade - Date?

Post by TripleF »

Wondering if anyone could tell estimated production of this knife. I looked in WR CASE site but this stamp doesn't appear.
Attachments
IMG_4314.JPG
IMG_4317.JPG
SCOTT
HOME OF THE BRAVE! (not the scarety cats)

Colonial Knife Company History ebook:
https://gumroad.com/l/ZLDb
User avatar
jerryd6818
Gold Tier
Gold Tier
Posts: 39163
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2009 5:23 am
Location: The middle of the top of a bastion of Liberalism.

Re: CASE fixed blade - Date?

Post by jerryd6818 »

Scott, reference Ken's (Mumbleypeg) last post in this thread..........
https://allaboutpocketknives.com/knife_ ... 66&t=44579
Forged on the anvil of discipline.
The Few. The Proud.
Jerry D.

This country has become more about sub-groups than about it's unity as a nation.

"The #72 pattern has got to be pretty close to the perfect knife."
--T.J. Murphy 2012
User avatar
TripleF
Bronze Tier
Bronze Tier
Posts: 18499
Joined: Mon Feb 14, 2011 3:42 pm
Location: West Central FL
Contact:

Re: CASE fixed blade - Date?

Post by TripleF »

I was involved in that thread heavily.....still, stands, that stamp isn't found on CASE'S website....

It looks exactly like a Kinfolks K380
SCOTT
HOME OF THE BRAVE! (not the scarety cats)

Colonial Knife Company History ebook:
https://gumroad.com/l/ZLDb
User avatar
#goldpan
Posts: 1891
Joined: Sat Mar 29, 2014 6:00 pm

Re: CASE fixed blade - Date?

Post by #goldpan »

Nice knife Scott! I looked in three books for that stamp and I don't see it bud.... Now there's a mystery!
User avatar
Mumbleypeg
Gold Tier
Gold Tier
Posts: 13408
Joined: Fri Apr 18, 2014 1:28 am
Location: Republic of Texas

Re: CASE fixed blade - Date?

Post by Mumbleypeg »

Scott, I'm no expert on Case fIxed blades (or anything else). I do have some reference books with info about them and will be glad to research them though. There's no single definitive source, including the Case web site. (The info in my post Jerry linked above came from Sargent's 7th edition). Seems Case used stamps both with and without serifs (those little thingys on the ends of the letters) at various times and sometimes at the same time depending on the knife pattern. ::shrug:: Your knife looks to have stacked leather handles.

What is the blade length and over all length? If you can give me that I'll try to decipher it later this evening. Right now I've got to go climb back in a tractor and get some work done - it's supposed to rain later today! ::pray::

Ken
Member AKTI, TSRA, NRA.

If your religion requires that you hate someone, you need a new religion.

When the people fear their government, that is tyranny. When government fears the people, that is freedom.

https://www.akti.org/
Gunsil
Posts: 2760
Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2014 5:25 pm
Location: Lower Hudson River valley, N.Y.

Re: CASE fixed blade - Date?

Post by Gunsil »

First of all Case fixed blade markings run at different times than folding knives. Your knife is not the same as a Kinfolks K380 in that it has a nickel guard and the blade profile is similar but not the same. Nearly all the Kinfolks made Case hunters (1926-1932) will have aluminum guards as do nearly all Kinfolks hunters, and the same goes for Catts produced by Kinfolks from 1926- just after WW 2. The main exception is the bowie hunter series by Case, where some made by Kinfolks will still have nickel guards. Brad Wood, the Case hunter expert who wrote the Case hunter section for Sargent's books and is also the main Kinfolks expert believes the CASE serif mark begins circa 1932-1933, and your knife does not seem to have a chromed blade, so it would seem to fall in the 1932-1934 period. The same model is also made with a chromed blade and the CASE serif mark, but would be a little later than your knife. Another note is that Brad has found a lot of old Kinfolks factory letters and papers which prove some of the "facts" in Dean Case's book on Kinfolks to be incorrect. I regard Dean a friend, and Brad is a good friend and we share all our solid original Case, Kinfolks, and KA-BAR factory letters, correspondences, and catalogs/brochures.
Most hunting knives marked by retailers and hardware stores (ie Shapleigh, Valacut) and many others can be attributed to Kinfolks by the aluminum guards. The LL Bean bowie hunters long attributed to KA-BAR were also made by Kinfolks, they have aluminum guards and three pin jigged bone scales and KA-BAR/Union Cut did not use aluminum guards or three pins on their bowie hunters.
User avatar
TripleF
Bronze Tier
Bronze Tier
Posts: 18499
Joined: Mon Feb 14, 2011 3:42 pm
Location: West Central FL
Contact:

Re: CASE fixed blade - Date?

Post by TripleF »

Thanks Gunsil

It definitely has a chrome blade, I held the camera at an angle so it wouldn't reflect the image of the camera or flash.
The guard is aluminum as far as I can tell....


OAL is 8.5"
SCOTT
HOME OF THE BRAVE! (not the scarety cats)

Colonial Knife Company History ebook:
https://gumroad.com/l/ZLDb
User avatar
Mumbleypeg
Gold Tier
Gold Tier
Posts: 13408
Joined: Fri Apr 18, 2014 1:28 am
Location: Republic of Texas

Re: CASE fixed blade - Date?

Post by Mumbleypeg »

Scott, given your input that the knife has chrome plating and length is 8-1/2 inches, here's my semi-educated guess. ::hmm:: Using the resource books I have, your knife looks to me like a 92 pattern probably made sometime between 1938 and 1942. In his article in Sargent's 7th edition Brad Wood says the 92 was introduced in 1934 with a blade design that was modified in 1938. The revised blade version first appeared in 1939-1940 catalog and in addition to the revised blade pattern has stacked leather washer handles. The 92 was not in the January 1, 1949 catalog. Wood says he believes the knife was "most likely a casualty of the WWII commercial production shutdown". (I'm interpreting this to mean it was discontinued closer to the beginning of the war than to 1949). ::shrug::

The serif stamp on your knife looks (to my admittedly untrained eye) like the stamp on the 92 pattern in the picture in Sargent's on page 346. The caption under the picture says this is the "Last configuration of the 92 pattern" and "the blade design is identical to a USA 5361." The 5361 is an 8-1/2 inch knife.

Hope all that makes sense. That's about the best I can come up with. Below is a picture of the knife shown in Sargent's.

Ken
image.jpeg
Member AKTI, TSRA, NRA.

If your religion requires that you hate someone, you need a new religion.

When the people fear their government, that is tyranny. When government fears the people, that is freedom.

https://www.akti.org/
User avatar
TripleF
Bronze Tier
Bronze Tier
Posts: 18499
Joined: Mon Feb 14, 2011 3:42 pm
Location: West Central FL
Contact:

Re: CASE fixed blade - Date?

Post by TripleF »

Perfect sense. Thanks Ken.
SCOTT
HOME OF THE BRAVE! (not the scarety cats)

Colonial Knife Company History ebook:
https://gumroad.com/l/ZLDb
stagman
Silver Tier
Silver Tier
Posts: 1323
Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2006 4:37 pm
Location: ARIZONA

Re: CASE fixed blade - Date?

Post by stagman »

After they made this pattern, they came out with the 5361 in the 1940-60
era....stayed the 5361 right thru the mega popular 1960's U.S.A. era
Makes no matter, a very popular pattern that has always brought good money
if in you were selling em, and a great piece to trade as well

Stag
http://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/stagman
Gunsil
Posts: 2760
Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2014 5:25 pm
Location: Lower Hudson River valley, N.Y.

Re: CASE fixed blade - Date?

Post by Gunsil »

I see green verdigris on the guard, aluminum doesn't get that. Case knives in the chrome blade era have nickle guards, only the Kinfolks era Case knives utilize the aluminum guards and none of them had chrome blades.
johnburrell
Posts: 109
Joined: Wed Mar 17, 2021 8:18 pm

Re: CASE fixed blade - Date?

Post by johnburrell »

Gunsil wrote: Tue Oct 31, 2017 8:10 pm First of all Case fixed blade markings run at different times than folding knives. Your knife is not the same as a Kinfolks K380 in that it has a nickel guard and the blade profile is similar but not the same. Nearly all the Kinfolks made Case hunters (1926-1932) will have aluminum guards as do nearly all Kinfolks hunters, and the same goes for Catts produced by Kinfolks from 1926- just after WW 2. The main exception is the bowie hunter series by Case, where some made by Kinfolks will still have nickel guards. Brad Wood, the Case hunter expert who wrote the Case hunter section for Sargent's books and is also the main Kinfolks expert believes the CASE serif mark begins circa 1932-1933, and your knife does not seem to have a chromed blade, so it would seem to fall in the 1932-1934 period. The same model is also made with a chromed blade and the CASE serif mark, but would be a little later than your knife. Another note is that Brad has found a lot of old Kinfolks factory letters and papers which prove some of the "facts" in Dean Case's book on Kinfolks to be incorrect. I regard Dean a friend, and Brad is a good friend and we share all our solid original Case, Kinfolks, and KA-BAR factory letters, correspondences, and catalogs/brochures.
Most hunting knives marked by retailers and hardware stores (ie Shapleigh, Valacut) and many others can be attributed to Kinfolks by the aluminum guards. The LL Bean bowie hunters long attributed to KA-BAR were also made by Kinfolks, they have aluminum guards and three pin jigged bone scales and KA-BAR/Union Cut did not use aluminum guards or three pins on their bowie hunters.
Prior to 1940 when he left Kinfolk’s, my dad Dean Wm. Burrell, called on Bean in Freeport, ME. One time Mr. Bean gave dad a ride from their office to the train station. Mr. Bean was on his way into town for a 2:00 poker game.
Regards,
John
Post Reply

Return to “Fixed Blade Knives”