What Do Case's Bone Handle Names Mean?.

Smooth or Jigged, and one code for both

Case records the finish apart from the material. Its product pages carry a "Handle Finish" line reading "Smooth" for its Natural Bone and Chestnut Bone handles and "Jigged" for its Amber Bone.

Case's handle key gives one code, 6, to "Smooth/Jigged Bone (Various Colors), Jigged Synthetic (Various Colors), or Jigged Laminated Hardwood," so in Case's usage jigged names a finish that synthetic and laminated hardwood handles can carry too. Reading the rest of a stamped number is the job of how to read a Case pattern number; jigging in general belongs to the jigged bone entry, and bone as a material to the bone handle entry.

Case's named jigs and finishes, in Case's words

• Peach Seed. Case says "Our Amber Bone color and Peach Seed jig are signatures of the Case brand," and calls a Peach Seed handle "jigged for a great feel in the palm."
• Gator. Case says its Old Red bone handle is "specially jigged to evoke the rugged texture of alligator skin" and "provides a tactile grip for your hand."
• Platts. Case calls this jigging style "a tribute to the work of Charles Platts," a Sheffield cutler who, Case says, joined his company with Case's in 1905.
• Second Cut. Case says the handle is "specially jigged to look like the handle was cut by hand two times," a technique Case ties to early American knife making.
• BoneStag. Case calls it "genuine bone," jigged and hand-flamed "to look and feel like authentic stag antler."
• Pocket Worn. A hand-finish, not a jig: Case's "special Pocket Worn® hand-finish" gives "the comfortable, smoother feel of a Case® knife that has been carried for years."

Peach Seed, BoneStag and Pocket Worn appear in the product data for Case knives on this site; Gator, Platts and Second Cut are names from Case's own pages.

What the names leave to Case

No Case page cited here says how a jig is cut: even Second Cut is jigged "to look like" hand cutting. The "Handle Material" line, not the jig name, says what a handle is made of, and the bone and stag care answer covers the upkeep. For what a name meant on an older knife, the source is Case itself.