Shortly before heading into the new year, the knife world lost a true pioneer. A man whose name had become legend in the world of honed edges. Tony Bose. He passed away at the age of 74 and he will be sorely missed by friends, family, fans and Case.
The Tear Drop is one of the latest patterns to join the Case family; though not an entirely new pattern. Built on the #028 pattern, Case has produced two others prior to the launch of the current Tear Drop in 2014. This newest pattern was one of Case's many collabs with the legendary Mr. Bose.
The Tear Drop is a Jack Style knife featuring 2 blades on one bolster. Sometimes (as pictured to the left), they are produced with only 1 blade.
The oldest knives produced on this #028 pattern measured at 2 7/8" long. They featured 2 blades; a Spear and a Clip.
The second version to be produced was slightly larger. It measured 3 1/2" long and usually had a Clip and a Pen blade, though some featured a Punch instead. These second version #028s featured a "1/2" after the pattern number and were no longer in production by 1964.
In 2014, the Tear Drop Jack gained new life as a Tony Bose collaboration knife. The newly launched design is 3 1/8" long and features a "TB" before each pattern number, signifying it as a true Tony Bose Tear Drop Jack. Most produced today feature the long Spear master blade and a short clip secondary. Single blades are also produced now as well as knives featuring only 1 bolster.
The name "Tear Drop" is fairly self explanatory once you look a the knife. It has a very distinct tear shape, starting slim on the blade hinged bolster, fattening along the spine and belly before quickly slimming to a point on the rear bolster.
In October 2020, we held our annual Case Knife Event at our brick-and-mortar location, General Building Supply. Due to Covid concerns, this year's event was largely digital and we featured a live stream for the event. Within that live stream, we were fortunate enough to have a short greetings clip from Tony wishing everyone well. Thank you once again to the folks at Case and Jessup for helping us set that up.