First Case/Ruple collaboration officially debuts at BLADE Show ’24.

The combination of mechanical features, artistic design and choice of handle materials make the Bill Ruple x Case Axe Handle collaboration a unique knife for the user and collector.

Case Knives and BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-of-Fame® member Bill Ruple didn’t just bump into each other at the convenience store one day and say, “Hey, let’s do a knife collaboration.” That alone likely would have led to a great pocketknife, but no, there was a lot more planning and history that went into this new joint venture. We’ll talk about some of that but first let’s talk about the knife itself. It’s got some special character.

Case Axe Handle Design

Despite both being giants in the slipjoint field, Bill and Case sifted through some ideas and came up with a lockback pattern for an initial collaboration. It was not just one part but several features Bill combined together to make this knife unique.

As a man who had farmed the soil, he noted the end of the knife resembled the shape of an axe handle, thus the name. The upward curve of the handle butt provides some useful ergonomics but also strategically holds the tail of the lockbar. In this location, there is resistance to accidental unlocking of the blade while it’s in the open position. As well, it eliminates the need for a thumb cutout in the handle to release the blade. With an upward curve partially concealing the lockbar plus the absence of a thumb cutout, the handle makes the knife appear not to be a lockback pattern at all. In fact, since at first glance it seems to be a slipjoint, it has a bit of the trick-knife or mystery-lock character.

Initial prototyping by Bill in his shop hit a snag in that the slipjoint knives he’s used to creating have a rear bolster. That did not fit the artistic design for the new collaboration. However, Bill cleverly overcame the so-called snag by using a feature called a scissor spring (see illustration, page 40), which rests on a bushing to provide the needed tension to work the lockbar. Bill has prototyped knives for Case and also assisted with some aspects of manufacturing just as his Case collaboration predecessor, mentor, very close friend and fellow Cutlery Hall of Famer, Tony Bose, had done. Bill stated that nobody could replace Tony Bose and Case misses him. (Don’t be at all surprised if Case makes a commemorative knife in honor of Tony in the future.)

Both Case officials and Bill say Tony would be pleased with the new collaborative effort. The initial run will be 1,000 knives. Then the model will be made in a traditional slipjoint pattern. There is an aim at “near custom maker quality” for the first run, glibly naming the process “almost custom,” beginning with the parts being wire cut. That’s the cool way to say electrical discharge machining, or EDM. Production is assigned to a specific group of three workers only. No one else will work on the knives. That sort of consistency helps maintain quality control in manufacturing the knives.

MORE TO COME
Is this collaboration just an outlier or will there be more Case/Ruple lockbacks in the future? Interest in the knife at BLADE Show 2024 (page 26), where the knife was officially introduced, was quite favorable. Both Bill and Case officials were pleased with how things have turned out, so expect to see another collaboration introduced at next year’s BLADE Show. That knife likely will be a slipjoint. Another lockback might be seen in the future, though a bit further down the road.

As collaborative efforts go between manufacturer and custom maker, the Axe Handle knife is a superlative effort. And there is strong motivation to produce more collaborations, both commemorative and unique.

Ruple’s First Case

Does BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-of-Fame® member Bill Ruple remember his first Case knife? Is Texas big?

“Oh yeah,” the good-natured, award-winning knifemaker and South Texas Slipjoint Cartel trail boss said. “My dad gave me a Case knife when I was 9 or 10 years old, and it was a yellow handle Case trapper. And man, in about a month I had sharpened the blades completely out of that knife. And he gave me another one, and so he told me not to sharpen it quite as often. But yeah, a long time ago.”

Case Axe Handle Specs
Knife type: Lockback
Designer: BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-of-Fame® member Bill Ruple
Blade length: 3.46”
Blade material options: Wire-cut 154CM stainless steel or damascus
Rockwell hardness: 57-59 HRC
Blade grind: Flat taper
Blade @ thickest: .126”
Blade pattern: Clip point
Blade finish: Satin
Handle material options: Natural birdseye maple, Rogers jig chestnut bone, standard jig antique bone, marbled black carbon fiber, abalone, English walnut
Lock: Lockback
Opener: Nail nick
Pocket clip: None
Weight: 4.21 ozs.
Closed length: 4.4”
Carry: Suede leather taco pouch
Special features: One-piece designed backspring & lock mechanism.
Country of origin: USA
MSRP: $599.99 to $774.99
Available: Late Summer 2024

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