JIGGING PATTERNS or WHAT IS THIS HANDLE MADE OF?

We are often asked what the handles of Case XX knives are made from. The bone for most handles comes from the shin of the Zebu cattle found in Brazil. Case uses the Zebu bone because it is bigger, denser, and contains less marrow of most other cows. The bone is shipped to Pennsylvania, where it is cut into squares. If you see a Case knife with a smooth bone handle, you know it is made from one of these smooth squares. Not all knives have smooth handles. Many are jigged, which gives the handle a textured look and feel. A machine notch out pieces of bone, using a rocking motion designed to create a specific pattern. Every jig pattern is different with its own unique look and feel. The jigged handles are dyed into lots of different colors.

The most common jigging patterns used by Case are the Peach Seed, Corn Cob, and Standard. However, there are many different jigging patterns. It's a long list and includes Barnboard, Crow's Feet, Heritage, Impala, Jagged Saw Cut, Saw Cut, Pine Bark, Rogers, Rogers Corn Cob, Second Cut, Vintage, Winter Bottom, and Worm Groove. There are also the Case Family Brands jigging patterns, including Crandall, Kinfolk, Platts', and Russell.

Here are some photos of some of the common, and not so common, jigging patterns used at Case. It is difficult to choose a favorite. You can see many of these, in varying colors, in our auction listings.

Peach Seed                  Barnboard

Corn Cob                      Standard  

Rogers                         Vintage      

Heritage                        Impala    

Saw Cut              Worm Groove   

As you can see, all the jigging patterns pictured here are brown. However, not all Case XX jigged handles ARE brown. The brown pictures are representative of different jigging patterns, but are not all the colors that are available in knife handles. For example, a Peach Seed jigged handle can be found in the colors of amber and dark red, among others. A Barnboard jigged knife handle can be black, brown or olive green. Jigged handles can be violet, orange, green, blue, red and many other colors.

We hope that we have helped you to see understand what jigging or jigged means when it comes to Case XX knives. Please visit our About Me page to learn more about Case XX knives and to ask us any further questions you may have.