I like W.R. Case Knives because of a story my Dad told me. He had a Case copperlock that he liked because it had an orange handle so it was easy to see in if you put it down in the woods or darkness. One day while working on a deer he broke the mechanism, the blade went over backwards. He called Case and told them about it. Dad was not the buyer or original owner and he said it was several years old and had gone through almost 100 animals when it broke. Case sent an envelope to send the knife back. They fixed it and put a brand new blade on it at no cost. That stuck in my memory as a brand I will do business with when I am older. They are made in USA (In Pennsylvania) and they have a huge assortment of colors and material on the handles and a bunch of styles. I thought I would like the Russlock because it is a medium size and I thought I could "flick" it open. Well, you cannot flick it open and it doesn't work the way I thought. You don't flick it with your pointer finger, you roll it open with your thumb. It opens smoothly and quietly but no quickly. The liner lock lines up good and has a lot of meat on it to keep it safe. I really like this color they call Bermuda Green and this one has a clip on the other side. It is a really nice knife but it is not the hunting knife I wanted it to be.
The Cheetah is a lock blade with a lock in the middle like a copperlock. What is really cool about the Cheetah is that it has a little guard that travels with the blade. If you have smaller hands like me or if you have really big hands you might slip onto the blade when working with the knife. The guard protects this from happening. When I get a knife bloody I seem to slide up the grip towards the blade because of my size and strength. My parents preferred that I use a fixed blade with a big guard. The Cheetah is about a 4" blade but in a folder that has a collapsible guard. It comes in a lot of colors but this is a burnt bone one. It is wicked sharp and pointy (the tip is surprisingly sharp and pierces skin real easy).
These Case knives are just a few of them. They have two new Kickstart knives that are assisted opening but I can't get either of them to open for me because my hand is not big enough or strong enough. I like that they have a lifetime warranty and good old Made in USA. Lots of color choices too.
I used to have a Case knife growing up as a kid. The only problem with knives back then,they weren't lock back blades. I don't know how many times I cut my fingers when the knife closed up while cleaning and skinning game. Still enjoyed carrying one though.
