Case CV or Queen D2

kamagong

kamagong

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I am thinking of picking up a stockman. It's a toss-up between the Case Amber Bone or the Queen Bone Stag. Which would you recommend?

I don't have any experience with the steel from either company. Which takes the finer edge? I won't be using the knife for utility, just for whittling so sharpness and edge retention are the primary concerns for me. To be honest I'm leaning a little bit towards the Case. Despite what I've heard about Case, I think that an old design like the stockman looks best with carbon steel. I'll save the stainless and tool steels for my other knives.

One question though. I've noticed that Case CV also comes in yellow handles. What are the handles made of? Plastic, bone? Although yellow isn't my favorite color, I'll seriously consider it if it's made of bone. If it's made of plastic or celluloid forget it.
 
IME you have to be really careful with the Case CV I left mine for 2 weeks in a draw and it came out pitted :grumpy: D2 Will hold up much better.
 
Go with the Case. D2 is too much like stainless steel to be worth anything. If you go with the Case, buy nothing but the CV. Those yellow handles on the Case are made from plastic.
 
cattleking said:
Go with the Case. D2 is too much like stainless steel to be worth anything. If you go with the Case, buy nothing but the CV. Those yellow handles on the Case are made from plastic.
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D2 is a superb blade material, I can't understand why you dont rate it. :confused:
 
Moore Maker is another option that you might look at;

Moore Maker is a Texase company that caters to real cowboys and ranchers and they have traditional slipjoints made for them by Queen and by Camillus.

Since they cater to real working cowboys, they offer a great selection of stockman patterns.

Their Queen-made knives are higher $$ and are offered in yellow genuine bone handles, either smooth or jigged. Very high quality knives in 1095 carbon stee.

Their Camillus-made knives are offered in a choice of smooth yellow plastic handles or genuine black buffalo horn handles. Again 1095 carbon steel.

www.mooremaker.com

www.bigbendsaddlery.com (dealer)

www.cumberlandknifeworks.com (dealer)
 
I don't have any knives in D2, but I love my Case CV. I've never had a single instance of pitting, just a nice patina that says "this knife gets used and loved." The way a good blade steel turns darker over time is part of the charm, for me. Like the way my Schrade OTs turned black-ish after a while.

Peace.
 
I haven't used D2 either but I can say that Case's cv is good stuff .
 
D2 is a great steel, but is tough to sharpen without a diamond hone. In slippies, I much prefer Case CV or some kind of 1095.
 
So cattleking, I really don't understand your position on 1095 steel. You're saying it's good...?
 
Ryan8 said:
So cattleking, I really don't understand your position on 1095 steel. You're saying it's good...?
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Not just good--great. And 1095 or CV are the only steels to accept when you buy a knife.
 
I prefer Case Cv over Queen D2. Try to inspect the Case before you buy, as fit and finish can really vary from excellent to merely adequate.
 
Coonskinner said:
D2 is a great steel, but is tough to sharpen without a diamond hone. In slippies, I much prefer Case CV or some kind of 1095.
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I will grant you that, I like Queen's D2 and it does hold an edge well, but it is enough harder to sharpen that it might balance the scales.

Case CV has never let me down so all things considered this would be a tough choice when I think about it.

One thing in the Case CV favor is that they run about 20.00 less than a Queen.
 
hmmmm. Well the D2 will hold an edge much much long, by at least 10+ times than the CV, but it is more difficult to sharpen. The case CV is much easier to sharpen holds a decent edge, much like 1095, however it will rust easily also, if you do not take care of it. It will also darken like 1095 with age, but more so.


Ive used both, it depends on what you want. The one thing you have to be careful about is, D2 is hard, it can also be "somewhat" brittle, especially if you will be doing fine work with the blade tip. The CV will work fine, it will not hold an edge as long, but will work for what you want. it will be much easier to sharpen.

Personally I would rather much use the CV, or another carbon steel as its easier to sharpen, and if you have a big project, it will be nothing (take not time) to get a strop, or stone out and touch it up as you go. The D2 requires more care when sharpening. Also using the harder steels takes time to get use to, that is as for as sharpening techniques.

Personally this is just my experience and opinion.
 
rev_jch said:
Personally I would rather much use the CV, or another carbon steel as its easier to sharpen, and if you have a big project, it will be nothing (take not time) to get a strop, or stone out and touch it up as you go. The D2 requires more care when sharpening. Also using the harder steels takes time to get use to, that is as for as sharpening techniques.

Personally this is just my experience and opinion.
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rev_jch, I am glad you chimed in, I was searching through some old post looking for information and reviews of the Case 6375 Large Stockman in CV, and saw an old post of yours where you had just bought one.

After having for a little while, what are your impressions of it?

I am debating between in and a Queen D2 Cattle King Stockman.
 
I ordered a combination coarse/medium EZE-LAP diamond stone today. This should solve any problem with sharpening D2.

Small diamond hones can be had for relatively little. Even the larger ones can still be cheaper than a large, high quality translucent Arkansas stone.

Don't let the sharpening thing affect your decision IMO.
 
I recently bought a Queen D-2 and I absolutely love it, no trouble at all sharpening with a diamond hone and then finishing on a Spyderco Ceramic. I got the Trapper and the blades are thin and sharp!:D :cool:

I got mine from Cumberland, cheapest place I could find and excellent service.:D
 
Cumberland is the best I've found, you can get either Case or Queen there as well as some limited edition runs. Great service too.
 
I agree about Cumberland -- great place to get Queen knives. Quick shipping and low prices. I think a good test of a dealer is how they handle a return. I had a problem with a knife I got from Cumberland and Bill Horn handled it perfectly.

I recently reprofiled the blades on my Queen Cocobolo whittler. I did the coping blade first, and used an old course carborundum stone, and finished with a Spyderco Sharpmaker. Then just this week I got a new extra course DMT diamond hone, and reprofiled the pen and master blades. At the same time, I reprofiled some 1095 blades. Yes the D2 took longer, but we're talking 20 minutes as opposed to 10 minutes. Don't let the so-called difficulty of sharpening stop you from getting D2. Once the D2 is reprofiled, it's easy to touch up.

I've been using 1095, CV and D2 side-by-side whittling. The edgeholding on the 1095 and CV seem about the same to me, but, as you'd expect, the D2 keeps going much longer.
 
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