knife was exposed to the elements for quite some time, as the aluminum pommel and guard were pitted and covered with corrosion and the stacked leather handle was discolored, brittle, and falling apart with several pieces of leather missing. The knife blade itself seems to be in good shape, and fairly sharp, considering how much it has been abused.
I got online on the W R Case and Sons web site http://www.wrcase.com/support/warranty/ and found that the Pennsylvania company has a pretty comprehensive warranty program, with every knife guaranteed for the life of the owner: "We warrant each and every Case knife to be free of defects in material and workmanship for the life of the owner, and we will repair or replace with a new Case knife, at our option, any Case knife that is defective. That's how strongly we feel about the quality of
our cutlery. Case does not warrant its products against normal wear or misuse. Case knives are not intended to be used as hammers, chisels, pry bars or screwdrivers. If your knife was damaged due to misuse, our repair department can analyze the damage and repair it for a reasonable fee."
Obviously this is not a warranty repair, so I wrote to Case explaining that I had found this knife on my property and I was happy to pay the repair charges. I explained that this knife gave me a sense of history in that someone was using our land, probably as a hunter, well before we became the landowners. I hoped Case would be able to work their magic on this little discovery. I packaged up the knife and my letter with a copy of their repair form that was on their web site and sent the package off to W R Case in Bradford PA.
About a week later I got a post card that the knife had been received at Case and the repair costs would be $35. I called up Case and spoke to a lady in their maintenance department to give her my credit card number for the service charges. I also asked, if possible, would they include a leather sheath for the knife. She said she would see what sheaths they had on hand. Service was expected to take about 2-3 weeks. Sure enough, the knife arrived in the mail yesterday. As you can see from the pictures, the knife looks brand new, with new pommel and guard and a new stacked leather handle. The blade was sharpened and it shines. Included was a new leather sheath for the knife.
This was a fun experience working with a company that is proud of its product, proud enough to warranty it for life, stands behind the product no matter what, regardless of what a fault is or who caused it, and is willing to repair any break at a very reasonable price, with a courteous and efficient customer service staff. And, it's just down the road in Bradford, PA, to boot. What a deal!
