W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery Company is an American manufacturer of traditional
pocket knives
A pocketknife is a knife with one or more blades that fold into the handle. They are also known as jackknives (jack-knife), folding knives, or may be referred to as a penknife, though a penknife may also be a specific kind of pocketknife. A ty ...
, fixed blades/sporting knives, kitchen knives, limited edition commemoratives and collectibles. The company originated in
Little Valley, New York
Little Valley is a town in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. The population was 1,672 at the 2020 census. The town is named after its local geographical setting, a relative comparison of two tributaries (the other being the neighbor ...
, around the turn of the 20th century, before relocating to its current home,
Bradford, Pennsylvania
Bradford is a city in McKean County, Pennsylvania. It is located close to the border with New York state and approximately south of Buffalo, New York. Bradford is the principal city in the Bradford, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area. The popul ...
, 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.
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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
Western New York (WNY) is the westernmost region of the U.S. state of New York. The eastern boundary of the region is not consistently defined by state agencies or those who call themselves "Western New Yorkers". Almost all sources agree WNY i ...
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. The company's original factory in Little Valley, New York
Little Valley is a town in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. The population was 1,672 at the 2020 census. The town is named after its local geographical setting, a relative comparison of two tributaries (the other being the neighbor ...
, burned down in 1912.World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Case has made military knives for U.S. servicemen including the M3 Fighting Knife
The M3 trench knife or M3 fighting knife was an American military combat knife first issued in March 1943. The M3 was originally designated for issue to soldiers not otherwise equipped with a bayonet.Trzaska, Frank, (1996), U.S. Fighting Knives ...
and the V-42 stiletto
The V-42 stiletto was a fighting knife issued during World War II to the First Special Service Force (1st SSF or FSSF, also known as Devil's Brigade), a joint American/Canadian commando unit.
Design and features
Based on the Fairbairn–Sy ...
(the latter, for the Devil's Brigade
The 1st Special Service Force was an elite American–Canadian commando unit in World War II, under the command of the United States Fifth Army. The unit was organized in 1942 and trained at Fort William Henry Harrison near Helena, Montana ...
). During the 1965 flight of the ''Molly Brown
Margaret Brown (née Tobin; July 18, 1867 – October 26, 1932), posthumously known as "The Unsinkable Molly Brown", was an socialite, American socialite and philanthropist. She unsuccessfully encouraged the crew in Lifeboats of the RMS Titanic# ...
'', astronauts Gus Grissom
Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom (April 3, 1926 – January 27, 1967) was an American engineer, pilot in the United States Air Force, and member of the Mercury Seven selected by National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) as Project Mercur ...
and John Young John Young may refer to:
Academics
* John Young (professor of Greek) (died 1820), Scottish professor of Greek at the University of Glasgow
* John C. Young (college president) (1803–1857), American educator, pastor, and president of Centre Col ...
used special Case knives on a NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...
space mission.
The company, alongside Alcoa, founded the Cutco
Cutco Corporation, formerly Alcas Corporation, is an American company that sells knives, predominantly through direct sales or multi-level marketing. It is the parent company of CUTCO Cutlery Corp., Vector Marketing, Ka-Bar Knives, and Schilling ...
brand of cutlery in 1949 under the company name Alcas (its name being an amalgamation of Alcoa and Case); Alcoa would purchase Case's stake in the company in 1972, and Alcas' management bought the company from Alcoa in 1982, and is now simply known as the Cutco Corporation.
The Case Company is currently owned by Zippo
A Zippo lighter is a reusable metal lighter produced by Zippo Manufacturing Company of Bradford, Pennsylvania, United States. Thousands of different styles and designs have been made in the nine decades since their introduction, including milita ...
Manufacturing Company, another business based in Bradford.alloy
An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductilit ...
or stainless steel, and hardened using proprietary heat treatment
Heat treating (or heat treatment) is a group of industrial process, industrial, thermal and metalworking, metalworking processes used to alter the physical property, physical, and sometimes chemical property, chemical, properties of a material. ...
methods. Knife handles or scales are made of a variety of materials, from the more common synthetic materials to natural materials like Brazilian cattle bone, India stag, buffalo horn, ancient mammoth ivory, mother of pearl
Nacre ( , ), also known as mother of pearl, is an organicinorganic composite material produced by some molluscs as an inner shell layer; it is also the material of which pearls are composed. It is strong, resilient, and iridescent.
Nacre is f ...
, exotic hardwoods and precious stones
A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, a ...
on the more expensive collector's knives. Brass
Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wit ...
and nickel 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, Trapper, Tiny Trapper, Baby Doc, Tribal-Lock, 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.
Case licensed knives
Case has regularly manufactured knives under licenses with American icons like Elvis Presley Enterprises
Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. (EPE) is a corporate entity created by "The Elvis Presley Trust" to conduct business and manage its assets, including Graceland. , Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...
, Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation founded in 1892, best known as the producer of Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola Company also manufactures, sells, and markets other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups ...
, Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded ...
, Ducks Unlimited
Ducks Unlimited (DU) is an American nonprofit organization 501(c) dedicated to the conservation of wetlands and associated upland habitats for waterfowl, other wildlife, and people. It has had a membership of around 700,000 since January 2013.
...
, John Deere, Sturm, Ruger & Co., National Wild Turkey Federation
The National Wild Turkey Federation is an international non-profit organization whose mission is 'the conservation of the wild turkey and the preservation of our hunting heritage.' It currently has more than 250,000 members in the United States, ...
, John Wayne, Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. (born October 10, 1974) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, team owner, author, and an analyst for '' NASCAR on NBC''. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving ...
, Johnny Cash and Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn are an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, both of whom are vocalists and songwriters. The duo was founded in 1990 through the suggestion of Tim DuBois. Before their formation, both members were so ...
. Case has also partnered with custom knifemaker Tony Bose to produce new designs.
Steel types
Chrome vanadium (CV)
Chrome vanadium
Chromium-vanadium steel (symbol Cr-V or CrV; 6000-series SAE steel grades, often marketed as "chrome vanadium") is a group of steel alloys incorporating carbon (0.50%), manganese (0.70-0.90%), silicon (0.30%), chromium (0.80-1.10%), and 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.Damascus steel
Damascus steel was the forged steel of the blades of swords smithed in the Near East from ingots of Wootz steel either imported from Southern India or made in production centres in Sri Lanka, or Khorasan, Iran. These swords are characterized by ...
s 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 many thin layers of metal that are forged together to form a laminated solid. Designs take shape as layers are folded in then welded together by forging; while creating an intricate design and strong blade.
BG42 (BG42)
BG42 is a domestic alloy steel. It is an aeronautics bearing-grade composition with added carbon and vanadium.
154CM 154CM is a type of stainless steel developed and manufactured in the United States by Crucible Materials Corporation (now - Crucible Industries). Crucible 154CM is a modification of martensitic stainless steel type 440C to which molybdenum has bee ...
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
The Blade Show is an annual tradeshow for the cutlery industry. It is the largest event of its type in the world. The show is owned by Caribou Media Group and is hosted by Blade Magazine. The event has over 1,000 exhibitors and is the host for i ...
held in Atlanta, GA; the Case Family Brands Encyclopedia Set was awarded the ''Blade'' Investor Collector Knife of the Year at the same show. The Case SlimLock won an Editor's Choice Award from ''Popular Mechanics
''Popular Mechanics'' (sometimes PM or PopMech) is a magazine of popular science and technology, featuring automotive, home, outdoor, electronics, science, do-it-yourself, and technology topics. Military topics, aviation and transportation o ...
''. In 2008 Case won "Collaboration Knife of the Year" at the Blade Show in Atlanta, GA with a Tony Bose designed piece named the "Arkansas Hunter".ADDY award
The American Advertising Federation (AAF), headquartered in Washington, D.C., is the oldest national advertising trade association in the United States. The AAF also has 15 district operations, each located in and representing a different region o ...
for creative excellence in 2006.
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. As of 2016,
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:W. R. Case and Sons Cutlery Co.
Knife manufacturing companies
Manufacturing companies based in Pennsylvania
Manufacturing companies established in 1889
1889 establishments in New York (state)