Both CV and SS in one Case knife?

supratentorial

supratentorial

Joined
Dec 19, 2006
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Got a new knife in the mail today -- an amber bone Case 6318PU CV. It's the 18 pattern with spey and punch secondary blades.

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After opening the box and unwrapping the knife, the first thing I did was check out the punch since I haven't seen many Case knives with one. I was surprised to find it marked SS since I had thought that I had ordered a knife with CV blades. Was the wrong knife shipped? I took a look at the box to double check the pattern number and it was supposed to be CV.

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So then I opened all three blades and sure enough the pattern stamp is CV.

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So... Is the punch marked incorrectly? Or did I get some strange hybrid knife? Or are the punch blades normally SS on Case knives with CV blades?

Best of both worlds?
 
Yep, that's normal for that pattern -- I had one made in 2001 that was made the same way.
 
That really is a nice unique pattern. Great score.......thanks for posting it.:)

Steven
 
Yep, I had a Queen made RAT stockman with a punch blade, where the blades were D2 but the punch was stainless steel, so it ain't just limited to Case. I wonder what the reason for doing this is though... maybe the punch blade would be too brittle in D2?
 
The old time (pre-1940 era) punch blades were often blued at the factory. IIRC, certain older Buck stockman patterns had stainless blades and a carbon steel punch. So the punch seems to have a tradition of oddity (not to speak of the umpteen patented variations on its construction in the old days).

And remember, the springs on modern Case knives are stainless, whether they have SS or CV blades. (Though Case patterns made by Camillus or Queen may or may not be this way.)
 
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This must be intentional on some stockmen. This A.G. Russell stockman that I have had for years has carbon blades, which have developed a nice natural patina, while the punch is as shiny as a new dime. Clearly stainless. It doesn't bother me one bit but I have always wondered about it.
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Pretty cool find, man! I've seen a few Case stockman models that are CV but have a stainless spey blade marked "for flesh only", (which is a little creepy) but that's the only combo that I've seen.
 
I don't have anything to add except that those are some nice knives.
I have to confess that I don't really like the stockman pattern, but for some reason I really like it in that blade configuration.
I can see that punch blade being really useful.
 
This also reminds me of some 'premium' scout-style knives, with the main blade made of a higher-end steel, and the 'tools' (can opener/bottle opener/screwdriver/awl) made of lesser steel. Sort of makes sense to me, considering these tools aren't expected to do the same fine cutting/slicing expected of the 'real' blades. They're more-or-less just 'blunt instruments' for doing the jobs we wouldn't (or shouldn't) ordinarily do with a fine-edged blade.

I don't mean to imply that Case's stainless is 'lesser' in some way, but from a manufacturing point-of-view, it seems reasonable that they'd pick one 'flavor' of steel for all, and it'd perform just as well for the assigned tasks. Less of a premium on how well it holds a fine edge, so I'd guess they don't have to worry so much about fine-tuning the heat-treat, either.
 
zerogee said:
The old time (pre-1940 era) punch blades were often blued at the factory. IIRC, certain older Buck stockman patterns had stainless blades and a carbon steel punch. So the punch seems to have a tradition of oddity (not to speak of the umpteen patented variations on its construction in the old days).

And remember, the springs on modern Case knives are stainless, whether they have SS or CV blades. (Though Case patterns made by Camillus or Queen may or may not be this way.)
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Regarding the older Bucks, my 307 stockman (made for Buck, by Camillus) has stainless blades and carbon springs (which take a nice, dark patina).
 
This hybrid combo of blades on Case knives is nothing new. I've seen several examples over the years. I think it was really common in the 80's
 
I have an older Case slimline trapper, brown delrin scales. The main blade has patina, marked CASE XX/ USA/.. (two dots) not stainless. The other is a long spey type blade marked 62048SP and clearly different (stainless) than the main. I always thought it was a modified knife,but the fit is good, so maybe not? Is this a production knife or a home brew mod??
 
Thanks Jake, will try to get decent pics for the BRL forum. And sorry, didn't mean to hijack the thread, just triggered something that I was curious about.
 
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It can happen as an "oops" also, the large yellow jack in this picture was made in the 70's by Case, and has a SS main blade, and a CV pen blade.

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I sent pictures to Case and they "think" what happened, was the main blade was supposed to have been in a single blade jack of the same patten, in SS, and accidentally got into this knife, as they were not making this model in SS at the time.
 
newadventure, It's an open discussion so no worries. But BRL may be the best person to ask though.

That's pretty neat, Chris!
 
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