W.R. Case Press Room - Blogs

Spring?

no@spam.com (Tom Arrowsmith) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

It's April 16th and Spring may be finally arriving in Bradford. Today is going to be 60 degrees and they're threatening that tomorrow is going to reach 70. About time! A few more days like this and the buds may even appear on the trees.

It has been way too long since I've written anything on this blog but it has been a busy time. The beginning of the year is always busy as we shift our production to focus on the new items. I trust most of you have seen both of our catalogs and agree that we are doing some really nice things again this year.

Preparing for the Collector Appreciation Weekend has also taken a lot of our time so far this year. I think we have all the plans in place now. I am really excited about our schedule. We are packing a lot of activity into two days. The auction has been moved to Friday night and everyone is invited. If you've never been to one of our auctions you'll be amazed at some of the things we will offer for sale and the enthusiasm they will generate among the bidders. Even if you aren't going to bid you should plan to come and enjoy the auction.

You can see the entire schedule by clicking on the Collector Appreciation Event tab on the home page. If you haven't been there you should take a look.

I hope you will plan to join us here on July18th and 19th.

'Tis the Season

no@spam.com (Tom Arrowsmith) — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Winter hit Bradford last night. We awoke to about a foot of snow this morning. Some of you will be surprised to learn that nobody missed work because of the weather. Everyone is here! The schools did have a two hour delay to allow the highways to be cleared before the school buses hit the road. Clearly we have learned how to deal with winter weather around here.

We are in the middle of the Christmas season and that has everyone busy on many fronts. We are still working overtime to fill orders as we try to be sure that no one is disappointed on Christmas Day. Last Saturday we had the annual Case Children's Christmas Party. I'm including a picture of Santa who just happens to be holding my grandson Ryan. (Incidentally Ryan and his Mommy and Daddy are currently snowbound in Bradford. Too bad!)

This Saturday evening we will celebrate at the Case Associate Christmas Party. We will all get dressed up a little and celebrate at the local social hall. There will be food, music and even a little karaoke contest. Maybe I'll enter this year.

I hope your preparations for this Holiday Season are progressing.

Tom

Happy Thanksgiving!

no@spam.com (Tom Arrowsmith) — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

On behalf of the Case Associates I want to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving! This Thanksgiving I will be giving thanks for many things. I am, as always, grateful for family and friends. I am also thankful for the opportunity to be associated with Case. In turn that association makes me grateful for our terriific associates, fantastic dealers and incredible consumers. It is truly an honor to share a love for Case with all of you.

I hope you all enjoy this special holiday! Safe travels!

Tom

Late Fall

no@spam.com (Tom Arrowsmith) — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

October has given way to November and we are still having almost summer like weather here in Bradford. We did have our official first frost one night this week but the following day saw temperatures almost reach 70 degrees. The mountains, however, are taking on a different hue as Mother Nature's colorful fall show is over and most of the leaves have fallen. Another change is just around the corner as Accuweather is predicting snow in the "higher elevations" next Wednesday. We've been expecting it as it is unusual to go through October without seeing snow. Maybe we'll have another mild winter. That would be fine with me.

Things in the factory are much more normal though. We have been extremely busy all year but October and November are traditionally our biggest months for shipment and this year won't be an exception. We have added many associates to respond to the inceased demand and are gearing up to add more next month.

Our dealers are well prepared. They have lots of knives and are looking forward to the rapidly approaching holiday season. They are ready to help you whether you are shopping for yourself or looking for the perfect gift for a loved one.

If you haven't heard about the "bigfoot" sighting in our area you should go the www.bradfordera.com and put Bigfoot in the search area. I'm sure you will enjoy reading the articles. We have both sceptics and believers around here. You can judge for yourselves!

Finally enjoy the attached pictures from the Case Children's Halloween Party.

Wesson Ace

no@spam.com (Tom Arrowsmith) — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Shirley Boser, Erica Runyan and I were at Wesson Ace Hardware in Wesson, MS on Saturday for a Treasure Hunt stop. We had a great time and saw a bunch of nice people. Some of them were old friends and some of them were folks we were happy to meet for the first time. It was a big day in the town of Wesson where they were celebrating their annual fall festival. Tim, the owner of Wesson Ace, had a significant portion of his collection on display and it was really impressive. Shirley brought a few of her razors one of which, a J.B.F Champlin, dated back to the 1880's. Erica brought a few of the exotics from her collection and I brought my complete Quality Test Run collection. We had fun showing them off. This concludes the Treasure Hunt events for me but you still have the opportunity to attend an event as there are two Historian events and an Artisans event scheduled in November.

On our return trip we flew into Bradford in daylight and were able to really enjoy the "flaming foliage". The trees are ablaze with color here and it was impressive to see it from the air. We are enjoying the unseasonably warm weather here this fall and hope that it continues for a while longer.

October Arrival

no@spam.com (Tom Arrowsmith) — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT

It's another beautiful fall day in Bradford. The hills are ablaze with color as the leaves are changing. Today may be the peak of the season for leaf lookers.

Its always busy at the Case factory this time of year. It seems that when the first leaves start to fall it signals the beginning of Holiday ordering for our customers. This has already been a very busy year for us and we expect that it will continue to be hectic here. We have been working overtime for several weeks and look for that to continue right through December. We hope to produce a lot of knives in the remainder of the year.

I'm pleased to announce the newest Junior member of the Case Collectors Club. Ryan Vukovcan was born on October 13th at 10:53 PM. He was 6 pounds 13 ounces and 21 inches long. My daughter Julie and her husband Mike are the proud parents and Patsy and I along with Rich and Jackie Vukovcan are the proud grandparents. He is a perfect little boy and arrives at a wonderful time for us filling the void left by the passing of my father-in-law. Now I need to decide what his first knife will be.

Case Blogging

no@spam.com (Tom Arrowsmith) — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT

I found a definition of blog that said that blogs frequently function as personal online diaries. I am hoping that this blog will function as a Case Company diary of sorts, in which people can post their Case-related reflections. I believe that some of our associates who work here in Bradford and at our sales office in Knoxville will be posting soon. I look forward to many of our loyal Case enthusiasts doing so as well.

Let me kick things off by saying that 2007 has been an unbelievable year at Case. We are experiencing unprecedented demand for our products and have had a difficult task increasing our output quickly enough to meet that demand. Most of you know that the essence of our product is in the hand work that is done in finishing our knives. That is a skill that takes time to develop in new associates. In addition, already skilled associates must spend a substantial amount of their time mentoring new associates and ensuring the quality of their work. We have hired many new associates this year but we think we have turned the corner in our current training effort and hope to be able to produce a few more knives every day.

On to some news from outside these walls. It was interesting to see that the essence of the agreement that GM reached with its union revolved around job security. The owners and managers at Case think that is a critical issue as well. We value our skilled artisans and don’t believe that Case knives can be made anywhere but here in Bradford, PA., USA. All of us here are committed to continuing that tradition.

On a personal note, I mourn the recent loss of my father in law. He was a simple, working man with a ready smile and a kind word for everyone he met. He was almost 90 yet hundreds of people filed by the casket to pay their final respects to this seemingly ordinary man. Our family will miss him.

I’m looking forward to a busy time here at Case as we head toward the holiday season...and to your comments here.

Thanks,
Tom