AFAustin
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2004
- Messages
- 2,479
One thing I enjoy is to take in a knife which has been a user, and may've suffered a bit in the course of its labors, and spiff it up a little. I have neither the talent nor the tools to turn such a knife into a museum piece, but it is surprising and gratifying what a few relatively simple procedures and tweaks can do.
I recently took in a Case Humpback Stockman in ebony from a fellow forum member, who had used and enjoyed the knife, and it had the battle scars to prove it---nothing bad but plenty of sharpening and other scratches, a little blade rub, in need of a good sharpening, etc. But it was a fundamentally sound and attractive knife, and I was particularly happy to get one with ebony scales, which seem to be a little scarce (Ive seen Frank post pics of his nice one in ebony, though).
So, I got to work. First off was to address all the blade scratching. I know there are gents with the skill and patience to restore a mirror polish, but Im not one of them. An easy alternative is simply to do a horizontal (length of the blade) satinizing, which I did here with a couple of grits of Scotch Brite pads (#7447 maroon "Very Fine", followed by a #7448 gray "Ultra Fine).
Next was a good overall polishing to bring some lustre backeither Flitz or Mothers Mag will do the trick here. This was followed by a thorough wash and dry, with special attention to getting any gunk out of the joints. And finally, the nice ebony scales got an application of lemon oil and a good rubdown.
Theres not much blade rub with this knife because the blades are offset (not crinked), but the small spey did have some towards the tip where it was hitting the sheepfoots nail nick when opening/closing. A little sanding down of the edge of the sheepies nail nick helped with that.
Next, there were two small mods to do. I had a Humpack Stockman once before, and then as now, there are a couple of aspects I dont like: the high riding sheepsfoot and the lack of utility (for me) of the small spey. Starting with the latter, I'll say that for my purposes, the small spey isnt very useful and I much prefer a pointy pen blade. Converting this one from spey to pen is a pretty easy task and Im likewise pleased with the result. One thing Ill say about both the secondary blades on the Humpbackthey are extremely thin and so, when sharpened up, become little razors.
Now on to the high riding sheepsfoot. I know many don't mind this with a stockman, but the sheepie is uncomfortable to me when using the other blades, and the Humpbacks sheepie protrudes quite a bit. So, a two-step process was called for: round down the spine and lower the kick. As to the former, I learned a lesson with my earlier Humpback: I overdid it and intruded a bit into the nail nick, and I was determined to not make the same mistake twice. So I took a more conservative approach with my Work Sharp KO and Im happy with the result---the shape is fine (to my eyes anyway) and the sharp hump in the spine is smoothed out. The Work Sharp makes the metal removal easy, and the finer grit belts are great for rounding and re-polishing the portion of the spine which was worked on. There is also, happily, plenty of extra kick on the sheepie and I was able to also take off a good bit from there. In fact, I kept going, very very gradually, till I got just the slightest flat spot at the base of the blade when closing, and then I stopped (and later sharpened that out). The knife is now more streamlined, much more comfortable in hand, and I barely feel the sheepie when Im using the other blades.
I should also mention here that the lowering of the kick on the sheepie has to be done in conjunction with the modding of the spey into a pen. As the sheepie kick is lowered, the sheepie nail nick would normally sink down below the top hump of the spey and become inaccessible. But once you have ground off that little hump in making your pen blade, the lowered sheepie nail nick should remain exposed, so problem solved. As with the blade rap issue, this is another reason why lowering the sheepie kick needs to be done very gradually---so as to frequently check that the nail nick is still accessible.
The final step was a good sharpening of all 3 blades, courtesy of the Worksharp KO with an assist from my Sharpmaker, and finished with denim + compound on wood strops. All 3 blades will now pop hairs with the best of them, but as I mentioned, the thin blade stock of the sheepie and pen make them something special in the cutting department.
I know I should've taken "Before" pics, but I didn't. However, I have a NIB unmodded Humpback in harvest orange pocket worn bone which shows how these look when stock. There are a couple of small differences, though: the ebony scales are thinner than the bone, and the sheepie on the ebony has a deeper nail nick (which is helpful to my clumsy old fingers).
I really like this pattern and, with the spa treatment and small mods that this one received, I am truly enjoying it. Its a great size at 3 5/8" closed and 2.3 oz. (vs. 2.5 oz. for the stock bone model), and it feels smooth and comfortable in the hand and in the pocket. The pulls on all 3 blades are "Goldilocks right" for menot too stiff, not too soft with no half stops. The blade combination (post mod) is varied and useful for a wide variety of tasks. This is just a great companion knife and if you get a chance to snag one, I'd recommend giving it a try.
Thanks, guys, for reading and looking.
Andrew
I recently took in a Case Humpback Stockman in ebony from a fellow forum member, who had used and enjoyed the knife, and it had the battle scars to prove it---nothing bad but plenty of sharpening and other scratches, a little blade rub, in need of a good sharpening, etc. But it was a fundamentally sound and attractive knife, and I was particularly happy to get one with ebony scales, which seem to be a little scarce (Ive seen Frank post pics of his nice one in ebony, though).
So, I got to work. First off was to address all the blade scratching. I know there are gents with the skill and patience to restore a mirror polish, but Im not one of them. An easy alternative is simply to do a horizontal (length of the blade) satinizing, which I did here with a couple of grits of Scotch Brite pads (#7447 maroon "Very Fine", followed by a #7448 gray "Ultra Fine).
Next was a good overall polishing to bring some lustre backeither Flitz or Mothers Mag will do the trick here. This was followed by a thorough wash and dry, with special attention to getting any gunk out of the joints. And finally, the nice ebony scales got an application of lemon oil and a good rubdown.
Theres not much blade rub with this knife because the blades are offset (not crinked), but the small spey did have some towards the tip where it was hitting the sheepfoots nail nick when opening/closing. A little sanding down of the edge of the sheepies nail nick helped with that.
Next, there were two small mods to do. I had a Humpack Stockman once before, and then as now, there are a couple of aspects I dont like: the high riding sheepsfoot and the lack of utility (for me) of the small spey. Starting with the latter, I'll say that for my purposes, the small spey isnt very useful and I much prefer a pointy pen blade. Converting this one from spey to pen is a pretty easy task and Im likewise pleased with the result. One thing Ill say about both the secondary blades on the Humpbackthey are extremely thin and so, when sharpened up, become little razors.
Now on to the high riding sheepsfoot. I know many don't mind this with a stockman, but the sheepie is uncomfortable to me when using the other blades, and the Humpbacks sheepie protrudes quite a bit. So, a two-step process was called for: round down the spine and lower the kick. As to the former, I learned a lesson with my earlier Humpback: I overdid it and intruded a bit into the nail nick, and I was determined to not make the same mistake twice. So I took a more conservative approach with my Work Sharp KO and Im happy with the result---the shape is fine (to my eyes anyway) and the sharp hump in the spine is smoothed out. The Work Sharp makes the metal removal easy, and the finer grit belts are great for rounding and re-polishing the portion of the spine which was worked on. There is also, happily, plenty of extra kick on the sheepie and I was able to also take off a good bit from there. In fact, I kept going, very very gradually, till I got just the slightest flat spot at the base of the blade when closing, and then I stopped (and later sharpened that out). The knife is now more streamlined, much more comfortable in hand, and I barely feel the sheepie when Im using the other blades.
I should also mention here that the lowering of the kick on the sheepie has to be done in conjunction with the modding of the spey into a pen. As the sheepie kick is lowered, the sheepie nail nick would normally sink down below the top hump of the spey and become inaccessible. But once you have ground off that little hump in making your pen blade, the lowered sheepie nail nick should remain exposed, so problem solved. As with the blade rap issue, this is another reason why lowering the sheepie kick needs to be done very gradually---so as to frequently check that the nail nick is still accessible.
The final step was a good sharpening of all 3 blades, courtesy of the Worksharp KO with an assist from my Sharpmaker, and finished with denim + compound on wood strops. All 3 blades will now pop hairs with the best of them, but as I mentioned, the thin blade stock of the sheepie and pen make them something special in the cutting department.
I know I should've taken "Before" pics, but I didn't. However, I have a NIB unmodded Humpback in harvest orange pocket worn bone which shows how these look when stock. There are a couple of small differences, though: the ebony scales are thinner than the bone, and the sheepie on the ebony has a deeper nail nick (which is helpful to my clumsy old fingers).
I really like this pattern and, with the spa treatment and small mods that this one received, I am truly enjoying it. Its a great size at 3 5/8" closed and 2.3 oz. (vs. 2.5 oz. for the stock bone model), and it feels smooth and comfortable in the hand and in the pocket. The pulls on all 3 blades are "Goldilocks right" for menot too stiff, not too soft with no half stops. The blade combination (post mod) is varied and useful for a wide variety of tasks. This is just a great companion knife and if you get a chance to snag one, I'd recommend giving it a try.
Thanks, guys, for reading and looking.
Andrew
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