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Case Stockman Knives

Case Stockman Knives

Knife size

For the purpose of testing I tried to get knives of nearly the same size from all For the purpose of testing I tried to get

knives of nearly the same size from all makers tested. Turns out that that is not completely possible. The “large” stockman knives from Buck fall between the Case large Stockman and medium Stockman. I chose a Case large Stockman and a medium Case Stockman for testing.

Country of origin

Since all Case knives are made in the United States, I had no foreign version with which to compare them other than those made by other manufacturers. I will do those comparisons after I am done with the initial articles.

Blade material

I chose knives with stainless steel since all the other knives we are comparing are stainless steel by default.

Handle scale material

I chose bone handle scales since I wanted bone handled Case Stockman knives for my collection.

I will note here and elsewhere that as a matter of sheer practicality, I consider the yellow Delrin scales which Case uses for many of its knives to be about the best handle material made. It does not easily crack, nor easily melt, and it does not seem to shrink, warp or deteriorate. It is impervious to water, and while not bright in color, it is still easily found if dropped among the leaves of the trail.

The medium Case Stockman knife is an attractive jigged amber bone knife. It has a very nice fit and finish, blade travel is good with no grit or rough spots, it has a good pinch, and there is a good crisp snap when locking open or closed. The bone handle scales are a thing of beauty, well jigged and very nicely polished! There is a bit of a problem with the shield though, it protrudes almost the width of the shield from the right side. It has not been a problem yet, but if I know knives, (I do) it will one day be a problem, catching on a piece of cloth and pulling loose.

Large Case Stockman Knives

The large stockman pictured is one with which I have had a long history! The original bone stag handles were nice, but had a

crack from pin to bolster on one side the day I first bought it! I had had a difficult experience with sending back another case knife for repairs (it came back in worse condition than when it left) so I called and emailed the company beforehand to make sure we were not going to end up in the same quagmire. Unfortunately, we did, and the knife came back with a quarter inch wide scale on one side, and a half inch scale on the other. We went through the process again, and after they kept the knife for almost a year (it had been more than a year since the process had started) and several unanswered emails and some ineffectual calls, they finally returned the knife in its present condition, even handle scales, variable blade tension, horrid pinch, blades rubbing against each other, and a relatively poor finish. I gave up and decided to keep it. It is a beautiful knife but for practical purposes, it is not workable. I do hate to report this because I have carried Case knives for 6 decades, and it is hard to see an icon go downhill!

The blades on both Case stockman knives are highly polished, which I deem to be a slight advantage over other brands finish, but I am not sure that it is enough to cover some o the other issues. We will go into more on the issues with these knives as we run an overall comparison on all the knives tested in a future article!

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