1 00:00:02,890 --> 00:00:07,270 There's a town at the base of the Alleghenies where talk might center 2 00:00:07,270 --> 00:00:10,150 blade patterns just as easily as weather patterns. 3 00:00:10,670 --> 00:00:15,570 Where the introduction of a new shield design can cause almost as big a stir as 4 00:00:15,570 --> 00:00:17,150 Walt Sanderson's new truck. 5 00:00:17,630 --> 00:00:22,490 It's a place where they've been making knives by hand for 107 years. 6 00:00:23,110 --> 00:00:26,950 So yes, you could say the good folks in Bradford know a thing or two about 7 00:00:26,950 --> 00:00:29,650 knives. But then again, you don't have to. 8 00:00:30,170 --> 00:00:32,490 A case knife says that all by itself. 9 00:01:27,500 --> 00:01:32,520 I think my first tool was a knife. The first one was a rock, and it broke, and 10 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:34,280 it had a sharp edge, and then it was a knife. 11 00:01:36,780 --> 00:01:42,960 I take pieces of steel and handle material and make dust out of everything 12 00:01:42,960 --> 00:01:45,140 that's not a knife by hand. 13 00:01:46,500 --> 00:01:51,000 My name is Bill Ruppel. I'm a custom knife maker from down in South Texas. 14 00:01:53,100 --> 00:01:56,560 The first knife I ever owned, my dad gave me a case trapper. 15 00:01:57,080 --> 00:01:59,320 The first knife I made was a case trapper. 16 00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:05,360 As you progress as a custom maker, people see what you make, and a lot of 17 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:07,180 will call you an artist that knife. 18 00:02:07,620 --> 00:02:11,380 You know, my father told me when I was a kid, if you'll do what you love, people 19 00:02:11,380 --> 00:02:17,340 will love what you do. And I've taken that to heart. That moment when I finish 20 00:02:17,340 --> 00:02:22,640 knife and I look at it and I think, wow, I can't believe that I just did this. 21 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:29,080 Pretty knives won't cut better than an ugly one, but it'll sell better. 22 00:02:29,300 --> 00:02:35,700 And so over time, I feel like that my knives have gone from being a functional 23 00:02:35,700 --> 00:02:38,660 piece of work to functional art. 24 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:43,700 I may start with a quarter pound of stuff and end up with a few ounces. 25 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:51,680 I make around probably 50, 60 knives a year and go to knife shows and sell 26 00:02:52,890 --> 00:02:54,930 It's just been quite a ride. 27 00:02:59,130 --> 00:03:01,270 This is a knife I designed for Case. 28 00:03:01,550 --> 00:03:08,010 My relationship with Case as a custom maker is I present them knives for them 29 00:03:08,010 --> 00:03:13,490 build, a knife that matches my taste, something that I would want to carry. 30 00:03:13,730 --> 00:03:19,130 I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be working with Case. 31 00:03:19,710 --> 00:03:24,470 Wow, what an honor that is. I'm 73 years old. How many companies were here 32 00:03:24,470 --> 00:03:28,110 before I was born and are still here and still top of their game? 33 00:03:28,590 --> 00:03:31,130 Case is one of those companies. There's not a lot of them left. 34 00:04:06,190 --> 00:04:11,330 The Case brand gets its start in 1889 with four Case brothers who were making 35 00:04:11,330 --> 00:04:16,870 and selling knives, and one of those four brothers was W .R. Case, William 36 00:04:16,870 --> 00:04:17,870 Russell. 37 00:04:18,190 --> 00:04:23,190 Russ Case, W .R.'s son, starts working for his dad and uncles, learns a bit 38 00:04:23,190 --> 00:04:27,190 about the industry, decides to start his own company in 1902. 39 00:04:27,670 --> 00:04:31,730 As every brand or every company gets its start, they have to figure out how 40 00:04:31,730 --> 00:04:33,010 they're going to position themselves. 41 00:04:33,250 --> 00:04:38,350 And our founder, He decided that WR Case and Sons Cutlery Company was going to 42 00:04:38,350 --> 00:04:40,590 be a legacy brand from the beginning. 43 00:04:41,930 --> 00:04:47,410 He did a few strategic things. The first was using his Grandpa Job's image. 44 00:04:47,650 --> 00:04:52,130 So Grandpa Job was this older gentleman, big, long, white beard, because he 45 00:04:52,130 --> 00:04:55,610 looked like this guy who's been around for a while, and you're going to trust 46 00:04:55,610 --> 00:04:59,610 what he says. The other thing that he did was name the company for his father, 47 00:04:59,930 --> 00:05:00,930 WR. 48 00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:06,060 So that automatically sets up the brand as having three generations. 49 00:05:06,420 --> 00:05:09,400 Well, if you've got three generations, you have to have been around for a 50 00:05:09,700 --> 00:05:15,300 And then in 1905, WR Case and Sons Cutlery Company comes to Bradford, 51 00:05:15,340 --> 00:05:17,200 Pennsylvania, and they've been here ever since. 52 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:26,100 If you want to claim your history as being significant, you have to know it. 53 00:05:26,100 --> 00:05:30,480 can't have that legacy. You can't claim that historical significance if you 54 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:32,180 don't have and know your history. 55 00:05:57,710 --> 00:06:00,550 Every day we're essentially creating tomorrow's history. 56 00:06:01,070 --> 00:06:05,810 We've got a 15 ,000 square foot building because we want to store anything 57 00:06:05,810 --> 00:06:09,450 that's representative of the company. We want to have room for everything we've 58 00:06:09,450 --> 00:06:12,170 done in the past and then everything new we're doing today. 59 00:06:12,410 --> 00:06:16,570 Part of my job is going through all the old paper assets and pulling any 60 00:06:16,570 --> 00:06:20,930 information that I can from them to be able to answer questions or share 61 00:06:20,930 --> 00:06:22,430 information, tell stories. 62 00:06:23,150 --> 00:06:26,570 And there's a few reasons why this one is my favorite. 63 00:06:27,180 --> 00:06:32,220 For a while, we used the tagline, the world's finest cutlery, but this one was 64 00:06:32,220 --> 00:06:35,440 right around when we were introducing the astronaut's knife. 65 00:06:35,660 --> 00:06:40,400 So I love that little addendum, the world and space's finest cutlery. 66 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:46,360 NASA actually approached CASE and sort of gave us some specifications and 67 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:51,220 requirements, and we were able to come up with this knife that went on every 68 00:06:51,220 --> 00:06:54,100 manned Apollo and Gemini mission into space. 69 00:06:54,750 --> 00:06:57,490 That's when collecting case knives really started to take off. 70 00:06:58,010 --> 00:07:02,890 So prior to that, most people were purchasing knives exclusively to use 71 00:07:03,390 --> 00:07:07,370 In about the 70s and the 80s, there started to be knife collector guides 72 00:07:07,370 --> 00:07:08,370 published. 73 00:07:08,590 --> 00:07:11,770 People decided that this is something that could maybe hold value. 74 00:07:12,130 --> 00:07:15,770 They'd already been given as gifts, especially in the South. It's like a 75 00:07:15,770 --> 00:07:18,110 rite of passage, almost like a coming of age gift. 76 00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:24,380 Some collectors collect just the pattern. Some collectors collect just 77 00:07:24,380 --> 00:07:25,139 handle material. 78 00:07:25,140 --> 00:07:28,100 You know, maybe they like abalone. They might collect abalone or sack. 79 00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:32,940 Some have a handful. Some have rooms that are devoted to collecting. 80 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:35,460 Some have vaults. And they know every knife they have. 81 00:07:35,780 --> 00:07:41,240 We describe a knife as, you know, a working functional tool. They describe 82 00:07:41,240 --> 00:07:42,099 eye candy. 83 00:07:42,100 --> 00:07:44,600 They don't just carry that knife. 84 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:48,940 They love that knife. They sit it on their shelf. They admire that knife. 85 00:07:48,940 --> 00:07:52,180 pass them from generation to generation, and they wish we'd make more. 86 00:07:58,520 --> 00:08:02,180 To me, it's a tool. You know, it's a utilitarian tool. 87 00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:08,260 And it's one of the first tools ever, if not the first tool. 88 00:08:09,060 --> 00:08:12,480 So knives have been around for centuries. 89 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:17,800 You have to have a good blade. You have to have a good heat treat in that 90 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:22,900 product. When I first started here, one of the slams against Case Cutlery was 91 00:08:22,900 --> 00:08:24,660 that they weren't sharp out of the box. 92 00:08:25,500 --> 00:08:30,940 So I reached out to a gentleman at... University of Pittsburgh in Bradford 93 00:08:30,940 --> 00:08:34,120 him if he would come look at our heat treating process and tell me what was 94 00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:39,480 wrong with it. So he did, and we made changes to the heat treating process to 95 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:44,520 eliminate as much of the retained austenite, and that's a metallurgical 96 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:50,560 that we possibly could after we did this edge retention and went through the 97 00:08:50,560 --> 00:08:51,560 roof. 98 00:08:58,260 --> 00:09:01,420 There's a lot of blood, sweat, and tears goes into that product too. 99 00:09:02,620 --> 00:09:08,220 Very proudly made in the United States of America by normal everyday people. 100 00:09:09,080 --> 00:09:10,660 And that's what we do for a living. 101 00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:30,260 Dave Skaggs, I'm the technical engineering manager for Case Colory. 102 00:09:30,260 --> 00:09:35,800 there for 32 years, and I have three days left of employment with Case 103 00:09:36,900 --> 00:09:38,300 And then I'll be retired. 104 00:09:40,040 --> 00:09:46,220 Since I've been 18, an adult, an official adult, I've never been 105 00:09:47,620 --> 00:09:49,820 I've worked my entire life. 106 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:52,700 I've never gotten a handout. 107 00:09:54,790 --> 00:09:55,890 No food stamps. 108 00:09:56,130 --> 00:09:57,890 I don't have people paying my bills. 109 00:09:58,750 --> 00:10:04,570 I'm proud of myself that I did it. I put the work in, and nobody can take that 110 00:10:04,570 --> 00:10:05,570 away from me. 111 00:10:06,590 --> 00:10:12,810 Retired in the military in 2002, and then I've been working for Kay since 112 00:10:13,410 --> 00:10:17,790 And I started out right at the bottom. No matter because you have education or 113 00:10:17,790 --> 00:10:19,530 whatever, I just wanted a job. 114 00:10:20,460 --> 00:10:24,240 ran what they called nickless taper grinders. They're manual gear machines. 115 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:29,240 You turn a wheel, you throw the switch, and it goes in and it grinds the blade. 116 00:10:29,380 --> 00:10:30,380 Miserable job. 117 00:10:30,820 --> 00:10:35,140 You'd leave after a 10 -hour shift, and it's all over your body. 118 00:10:35,620 --> 00:10:41,160 And then Rich Brandon put up a bid for an engineering technician. 119 00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:42,880 I applied. 120 00:10:43,120 --> 00:10:44,140 I got the job. 121 00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:49,480 And then it was me and Rich, the only people who had engineering staff in that 122 00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:50,480 whole facility. 123 00:10:51,820 --> 00:10:53,040 It was a great career. 124 00:10:53,260 --> 00:10:54,760 I learned a lot. 125 00:10:55,800 --> 00:11:01,800 Obviously, going into knife making, they don't teach that in college or trade 126 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:03,820 school. So I had a lot to learn. 127 00:11:04,280 --> 00:11:10,240 They sent me to different schools for how to do computerized machinery. 128 00:11:10,960 --> 00:11:14,600 Then we started retooling the factory in 1996. 129 00:11:15,260 --> 00:11:21,400 But the way George did it was we'd bring in fancy machines, and it would 130 00:11:21,400 --> 00:11:23,620 do the job of 13 workers. 131 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:31,280 And his promise was nobody would lose their job over us bringing in the newer 132 00:11:31,280 --> 00:11:35,560 machinery. And to my knowledge, nobody ever lost their job. 133 00:11:36,650 --> 00:11:41,510 We've been changing the machines and bringing newer machines in and making 134 00:11:41,510 --> 00:11:46,610 better quality Just because you had the better technology to do 135 00:11:46,610 --> 00:11:49,370 What 136 00:11:49,370 --> 00:12:02,110 case 137 00:12:02,110 --> 00:12:03,350 really makes is a tool 138 00:12:04,820 --> 00:12:06,480 and an heirloom product. 139 00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:11,080 So, in some sense, we make memories, too, because people, there's a lot of 140 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:12,740 nostalgia around this brand. 141 00:12:12,940 --> 00:12:16,660 There's a lot of people who have had an amazing life experience with this brand 142 00:12:16,660 --> 00:12:21,080 or, you know, got it from their grandpa or whatever, gave it, their child, their 143 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:21,839 first case. 144 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:26,700 But we don't know if somebody's going to put that knife, you know, in a display 145 00:12:26,700 --> 00:12:30,100 case or if they're going to use it every day. So every knife that goes out here 146 00:12:30,100 --> 00:12:32,340 has to be incredibly functional and durable. 147 00:12:32,979 --> 00:12:35,660 yet beautiful, because if it's not beautiful, we're getting it back. 148 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:41,600 You'll notice as you go through the factory, when you look at how a knife is 149 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:46,280 built, it still blows my mind the number of people who touch that knife and what 150 00:12:46,280 --> 00:12:50,100 has to happen to that knife and how that knife looks through the process, right? 151 00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:54,840 When this thing comes out, when it's pinned together initially, it looks like 152 00:12:54,840 --> 00:12:56,380 it's just this rectangular. 153 00:12:58,250 --> 00:13:04,650 weight almost like a wafer you know and that has to be formed and turned to the 154 00:13:04,650 --> 00:13:09,750 right shape and uh the amount of people who are involved in that and it's it's 155 00:13:09,750 --> 00:13:16,670 just amazing the 156 00:13:16,670 --> 00:13:21,710 cool thing for me here is just the difference in technology that we have 157 00:13:21,710 --> 00:13:26,490 know having been in business for 135 years you know we have technology like 158 00:13:26,490 --> 00:13:32,100 automated welder that is essentially days old versus some other technology in 159 00:13:32,100 --> 00:13:36,280 the factory that's 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 years old. 160 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:41,520 Anything metallic essentially starts here, and it's going to actually go 161 00:13:41,520 --> 00:13:43,600 one of the three presses that you see. 162 00:13:45,300 --> 00:13:48,300 So now we're in our grinding section of the factory. 163 00:13:48,540 --> 00:13:53,420 So this is actually where the blade itself starts to take shape. So coming 164 00:13:53,420 --> 00:13:56,480 of the press through profile grind, through surface grind. 165 00:13:56,890 --> 00:13:58,090 We have a consistent thickness. 166 00:13:58,590 --> 00:14:03,590 So after it goes through taper grinding, we're getting this taper or V -cut 167 00:14:03,590 --> 00:14:05,250 grind in the blade itself. 168 00:14:05,770 --> 00:14:09,490 So it actually starts to form the shape of the blade at this point. 169 00:14:11,090 --> 00:14:16,170 The second leg coming out of one of the three presses is to actually make a 170 00:14:16,170 --> 00:14:19,070 coverage scale or a handle of the actual knife itself. 171 00:14:19,550 --> 00:14:23,470 Behind me over here is the actual brand new piece of equipment. It's our 172 00:14:23,470 --> 00:14:24,570 automated welder. 173 00:14:24,860 --> 00:14:29,980 And what this will do is actually weld the two bolsters to the brass scale 174 00:14:29,980 --> 00:14:30,980 itself. 175 00:14:33,220 --> 00:14:35,180 So now we have an uncovered scale. 176 00:14:35,580 --> 00:14:40,860 So we have to get some sort of handle material on the uncovered scale itself. 177 00:14:40,860 --> 00:14:46,720 we have a variety of options, whether it's plastic, tyranite, G10, wood. 178 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:49,780 But the majority of what we use is bone. 179 00:14:49,980 --> 00:14:53,100 And it's actually cow bone from the leg of a cow. 180 00:14:54,320 --> 00:14:58,460 We have a certain number of what we call patterns. So that's the model number of 181 00:14:58,460 --> 00:14:59,119 the knife. 182 00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:02,680 And then from there, how do you make each one different? You make each one 183 00:15:02,680 --> 00:15:07,840 different by changing up either the blade configuration or the actual handle 184 00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:08,840 material itself. 185 00:15:09,040 --> 00:15:12,680 So that's why we have a variety of different colors of bone, a variety of 186 00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:14,780 different colors of plastic, wood, etc. 187 00:15:15,060 --> 00:15:18,140 It's to give that variation to the consumer. 188 00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:23,440 A lot of the bone handle knives that we have, we actually burn in. 189 00:15:23,850 --> 00:15:26,810 an enriched color in the bone itself. 190 00:15:28,950 --> 00:15:32,130 So it'll just darken them up, give it a different color contrast. 191 00:15:35,370 --> 00:15:39,070 So for what we can use CNC equipment for, we can. 192 00:15:39,770 --> 00:15:44,710 Otherwise, it's a manual process. On the fabrication side, it's mainly CNC 193 00:15:44,710 --> 00:15:49,690 equipment. On the completion side, it's mainly manual operation. 194 00:15:50,030 --> 00:15:53,050 The next step after assembly is hefting. 195 00:15:54,480 --> 00:16:00,080 So in hefting, when a knife comes out of assembly, it's all squared off, has 196 00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:04,740 brackered nail heads on the bolsters. So here we actually shape the handle of 197 00:16:04,740 --> 00:16:05,399 the knife. 198 00:16:05,400 --> 00:16:11,740 So either with a sandpaper belt or a grease buff wheel, they're going to 199 00:16:11,740 --> 00:16:18,620 actually hand grind the knife, turn off the sharp corners, remove the nail head, 200 00:16:18,800 --> 00:16:21,500 and take the knife from here to here. 201 00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:30,040 As you can see, kind of this whole completion side process, the majority of 202 00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:35,260 work that we're doing is that hand craftsmanship, the artistry of working 203 00:16:35,260 --> 00:16:36,260 your hands. 204 00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:38,460 Not all knives are the same. 205 00:16:39,480 --> 00:16:44,140 You know, each knife has its own individual nuance, whether it comes from 206 00:16:44,140 --> 00:16:50,480 hefting, whether it comes from imperfections in the bone, the way we 207 00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:51,480 bone itself. 208 00:16:51,770 --> 00:16:54,590 So it's almost like each one's your own little snowflake. 209 00:16:57,390 --> 00:17:01,270 In addition to the manual hefting process, we do have robotic hefting. 210 00:17:02,330 --> 00:17:05,829 You know, hefting is one of our most difficult jobs. 211 00:17:06,089 --> 00:17:07,470 It's hard on the body. 212 00:17:08,190 --> 00:17:10,810 You know, we produce about 6 ,000 knives a day. 213 00:17:11,369 --> 00:17:17,010 Each hefter, they can only heft about 125 knives a day. So the role of the 214 00:17:17,010 --> 00:17:21,089 is a little bit different than the role of our manual hefters. 215 00:17:21,290 --> 00:17:26,150 Our manual heifters, they work on, you know, the higher dollar, the tougher 216 00:17:26,150 --> 00:17:30,950 handle materials, you know, and the tougher patterns themselves. 217 00:17:31,350 --> 00:17:35,850 The robotic hefting, they essentially add volume to us. 218 00:17:36,050 --> 00:17:41,010 It's the higher volume patterns like the Trapper, the 54. 219 00:17:41,350 --> 00:17:45,190 Behind me, you see yellow 37 Sidebuster Juniors. 220 00:17:45,410 --> 00:17:47,650 So it's essentially just adding volume. 221 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:50,900 versus the manual hefters where they add all the value? 222 00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:57,220 We've got the flip joint knives. We've got the more modern EDC. We've created a 223 00:17:57,220 --> 00:18:00,460 line that's in the middle called the bridge line, which melds both of those 224 00:18:00,460 --> 00:18:01,459 worlds together. 225 00:18:01,460 --> 00:18:05,840 We've got six blades we need to think about. We've got new handle materials, 226 00:18:05,840 --> 00:18:10,480 seals, you know, all kinds of new material finishes. All those things 227 00:18:10,480 --> 00:18:12,580 something unique every year. 228 00:18:23,980 --> 00:18:29,260 I've been here for 35 years, and I know where my work ethic came from. I grew up 229 00:18:29,260 --> 00:18:30,260 on a family farm. 230 00:18:30,520 --> 00:18:34,200 You didn't call an electrician. You didn't call a plumber. You didn't call a 231 00:18:34,200 --> 00:18:35,200 contractor. 232 00:18:36,340 --> 00:18:40,600 You either fixed it or adapted and overcame. 233 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:46,020 Bradford's really a blue -collar town. 234 00:18:46,340 --> 00:18:52,060 The work ethic is unbelievable around here because that's what you have to do 235 00:18:52,060 --> 00:18:53,060 survive. 236 00:18:53,290 --> 00:18:57,470 People that are willing to work for a living, and there are a lot of people in 237 00:18:57,470 --> 00:19:01,870 this area that that's all they've ever known. It's bred into the population 238 00:19:01,870 --> 00:19:03,470 because of the need. 239 00:19:04,010 --> 00:19:07,150 I want my daughter to have a better life than I had. 240 00:19:07,670 --> 00:19:12,930 And in order to do that, yeah, you've got to put in the hours. Are the people 241 00:19:12,930 --> 00:19:17,410 Bradford proud of the fact of who they are, where they're from? 242 00:19:17,670 --> 00:19:18,670 Absolutely. 243 00:19:21,900 --> 00:19:28,320 What's very unique about Case and Bradford and small towns like this is 244 00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:31,100 work as a bit of a family here. 245 00:19:31,820 --> 00:19:37,420 Bradford is like the little hometown America. It really is about commitments 246 00:19:37,420 --> 00:19:39,940 family and making memories. 247 00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:44,780 Bradford is a great place for... 248 00:19:46,659 --> 00:19:51,840 Anybody hardworking to raise a good family with a good income, it's hometown 249 00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:53,480 secure. 250 00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:59,980 You can leave your door unlocked and your neighbors are watching over you. 251 00:20:00,980 --> 00:20:02,880 You feel safe. 252 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:09,420 People are very much committed to the community, their families, to helping 253 00:20:09,420 --> 00:20:12,760 other here, and it's wonderful. 254 00:20:13,610 --> 00:20:19,150 It's not all about the big house or whatever. It's about are we living life 255 00:20:19,150 --> 00:20:24,870 well? Are we enjoying it along the way? And I think people here are.