It pains me to say it, but quality control on modern Case pocketknves is spotty at best. Of the 5 new yellow-handle Case knives I bought on my "knife kick" ~5 yrs ago, only one is without problems. That's a lousy batting average.
At almost age 30 I had an epiphany- most of the time, when I used my pocketknife(the 2nd Case XX Stockman, pattern 47 I think), I didn't really need a knife, but a screwdriver, or a punch, or scissors, or- well, you get the idea.
A month or two after that I found myself looking at Swiss Army Knives. I bought a Victorinox Climber model- you can look it up. I noticed two things immediately when I took it to work on the constuction jobsite:
1. Everyone made fun of it.
2. Everyone wanted to borrow it! Usually for the scissors.
When I began teaching in the fall of 1994, it wasn't hard to see that carrying my regular size knife - either the Vic Climber or the Case Stockman(~3 7/8" long closed)- was probably a bad idea. I looked for something that should scare or offend no one, & bought a Wenger Esquire(2 1/2" long closed, a "keychain" knife)). It served me amazingly well for about 14 years, until my brother's kids made it disappear. I've carried another since then, & have a couple mre, NIB, in my SAK shoebox.
These days, I like Swiss Army knives- both Victorinox & Wenger- and Opinels. I just recently bought a few new Opinels.
If you want a regular knife, I recommend a Swiss Army knife first- those extra tools are just *Way* too handy. If you want the bang for the buck champ in a cheap single blade knife -that sharpens & cuts better than most people will believe- get an Opinel in whatever size you like. I routinely carry a #6 Opinel in the pencil pocket of my overalls, and it is *very* sharp and very easy to keep sharp.
If you want something you can open one-handed, with a lock- I'd look at Kershaw first. Benchmade is nice but $$$. You could get a nice Kershaw Chill for ~$20 or less, less than 4" closed, very lightweight, blade ~3". If you're right-handed, the old reliable Kershaw Vapor is a good reliable choice too, and it's all SS construction makes it very strong.
Don't get hung up on the idea of "miracle blade steel", keep price reasonable, & you should have no trouble finding something you like. And if you do decide on a Case or other traditional slip-joint knife- buy it in person. That way you can check it for snap, walk & talk, fit & finish- and the most prevalent & worst fault of all in my experience, lateral play. And if you can find a yellow-handled Case pattern 47 Stockman that passes inspection- and you don't want it for yourself- please tell me about it!
