In the interest of full disclosure, I thought I'd update my Case report. After receiving two perfectly built large stockmans, I decided to order one more as a Christmas gift. It arrived today and is a complete letdown. It's a Monday or Friday knife for sure. It's not the worst job I've ever seen, but it's definitely a user grade and not one to admire when pulled out for use. It'll cost more than it's worth to ship back to Case, so I'll toss it in the knife box as a future gift to someone who isn't cursed with an attention to detail.
So in my recent sample of three, I'd give two knives an A+ and one a C-. Knives like these still have quite a lot of hand work, which is increasingly rare in todays tool world. It's one of the things I love about slip joints, but it also adds risk to buying knives sight unseen. Paying a little more at the local feedstore/lumberyard is probably smartest approach.
