Case Ebony Humpback Stockman

supratentorial

supratentorial

Joined
Dec 19, 2006
Messages
8,210
Case recently released the humpback stockman in ebony as a SFO. With a shape similar to the Norfolk knife, the humpback pattern looks rather elegant all dressed up in black. In my opinion, it is one of the coolest "new" (newly re-birthed) patterns from Case. There have already been several posts about the humpback pattern but I thought I'd share some feedback on this SFO. The humpback stockman pattern has two springs rather than three thin springs like the current production 47 pattern. The blade mechanics is very good. The sheepfoot is crinked and there is no rub between the blades. One criticism that some people, including myself, had with some of the humpback knives is that the spey blade was difficult reach since it sits too low to reach the nick even though there is a recess in the handle. This problem appears to have been solved since the nail nick is easy to reach on my example from the SFO. The fit and finish is very good. My example has some brown streaks in the ebony which some may view it as character and some may not. One thing that I wish that Case would change is the length of the main blade. It seems somewhat short to me. Actually, the main blade on my example from the SFO is slightly shorter than the blade on my other Case humpback. Maybe someone with knowledge of knife making could comment if there's a reason for the short blade but it seems that there is enough room to make the main blade at least a little bit longer. The blades were all sharp out of the box. Overally, it is certainly an attractive well made knife. I would probably choose a less expensive yeller handled stockman with a longer main blade as a work knife. But in my opinion, it is very nice Sunday knife that is capable of real work. I'll post some photos shortly.
 
089_2.jpg


The obligatory well shot. No blade rub! :thumbup: Notice that the main blade is much shorter than the handle.
095_2.jpg


Humpback stockman (far left) with some other ebony handled Case knives. The stockman has some brown streaks in the ebony. The others are jet black (the grey streaks are reflections of light)
102_2.jpg


Comparison of the main blade on the humpback stockman, humpback whittler (heavily used), GEC Calf Roper, and Case 3347. (top to bottom)
img576.jpg
 
Last edited:
I don't know why, but I always loved knives with ebony handles; also, they "age" better than bone (personal opinion). Your humpback stockman is no exception: I like it.
Surely the main blade could have been a bit longer, and personally I'm not a fan of the stockman pattern...that's why I find your ebony Swayback and Saddlehorn really awesome :)

Fausto
:cool:
 
Thank you, Fausto. Ebony certainly ages well (see oldies pictured below). The Norfolk is my favorite of the bunch but they are very different patterns with different uses. Except for the stockman, the others are either Case collaboration or Case regular production patterns from Tony Bose -- can't go wrong with one any of those!

Maher-Grosh-3.jpg

schrade-electrician-0.jpg
 
The Humpback Stockman is among my favorite patterns from Case. I have been carrying one with Rough Black scales for almost a year now and there are a lot of things that I like about it. Good size, cool shape, spear master blade, nice tight blades with excellent snap on all three, sunken joints, and I could swear there are PB bushings in the joints. My wife and her sister both say that it looks like the knife their father used to carry which makes me feel even better about the knife.

As for the short spear blade, mine is the same. There is a good 3/8 of an inch of empty space in the channel with the blade closed. I have also wondered why they didn't make it a little longer but I have never wished for a longer blade when using mine.

My example has a fairly good size gap between the backspring and liner on the pile side. Doesn't bother me and it is really the only fault I can find on the knife.

It's an interesting pattern and I'm glad Case brought it back into production. I am perfectly content with my Rough Black version but if the Ebony would have been available a year ago when I got mine, it would have been a tough decision between the two.

Nice knife, Jake, and great pics!
 
Great thread, Jake - thanks for the pictures and review -

best regards -

mqqn
 
Thank you, guys. :) Rick, You hit the nail on the head. "Good size, cool shape, spear master blade, nice tight blades with excellent snap on all three, sunken joints, and I could swear there are PB bushings in the joints." It's neat that your father in law carried a similar knife. :cool:
 
Thanks for the great pictures of this knife! I have a humpback whittler which I like quite a lot. I imaging the stockman version is a bit thinner with its 2 springs instead of 3. I have also wondered why Case did not make the main blade a little longer, but it is no big deal, as Railsplitter said. That is a great looking knife and the group shot of ebony knives is excellent.

I believe I heard that Case is using a Bose-style bushing for the pivot on these humpback knives, but I am not sure if I am remembering that correctly...
 
Upon further inspection of my Humpback Stockman I think I may have come up with a reasonable explanation why the spear blade cannot be any longer.

The backspring that the spear blade rides on takes an abrupt turn upwards just past the tip of the blade as shown in the pic.

IMG_1517.jpg



Apparently the backspring needs to be curved in this manner to act as a pivot anchor for the spey blade.

IMG_1521.jpg


If the blade was any longer it would contact the backspring when closing and if the backspring didn't curve up like this there would not be enough metal to serve as the pivot anchor.
 
supratentorial said:
Thank you, guys. :) Rick, You hit the nail on the head. "Good size, cool shape, spear master blade, nice tight blades with excellent snap on all three, sunken joints, and I could swear there are PB bushings in the joints." It's neat that your father in law carried a similar knife. :cool:
Click to expand...

Jake, thanks for the review and your pictures are always great to look at:thumbup: I know when I rec'd my black composite handled Humpback like Rick's I had mentioned as well that I thought mine had PB bushing---Rick confirmed that his did also. Kinda neat i think.

Thanks again!

Paul
 
That humpback stockman is very nice but I just cant take my eyes off the humpback whittler! Great thread
 
Nice Thread Jake! Knives look great! I love Ebony myself,
It's very "Old School" It's cool how it gets better with time!
Thanks for sharing...

Jason
 
Jake, great shot of the ebony handled knives! I recently bought a couple knives with ebony handles and really like the old school look of black and silver together.

Rick, wonderful detective work and explanation of why the main blade has to be kept a little shorter.

What's the "PB" in PB bushings stand for? :confused:
 
Thanks, Nick! That TB link is great for explaining why bushings are better, too! :thumbup:
 
Really nice Jake, and this has become a very good Case Humpback thread all the way around! My Case humpback whittler has become one of my personal favorites, just a great all around pocket knife!
 
A humpback stockman in Harvest Orange bone was actually my first case knife.
Oh boy talk about a good first!
She is literally perfect, no gaps, ruff edges, great spring tension. I dug through about 30 knives at my regular dealer until I found it.
 
Good choice, TheSharpStuff! Thank you guys for your comments and thank you Rick for the excellent explanation and photos. I'm totin' the ebony humpback stockman today and think it will become one of my regulars.
 
I've been totin' the ebony stockman on and off for a while now and I liked it so much that I decided that it needed some company.

case-ebony-humpbacks.jpg
 
Sweet family shot, Supratentorial! This pattern rules; I carried the rough black example for most of the year. The ebony example is my Christmas request from my girlfriend. Can't wait to slip this one in pocket :thumbup::thumbup:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top