Case Stockman sheepsfoot sits high

J

James Y

Joined
Feb 18, 1999
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I own 3 Case medium stockmans...the first two were bought in the '90s, and the sheepsfoot blades are in normal position when closed. The one bought around 2007 or 2008, the sheepsfoot sits high when closed...much higher than is necessary. Is this common, a newer trend for Case stockmans? If I were to open the clip and spey blades, the tip of the sheepsfoot is above the handle boundaries.

I know I could file down the kick a little, especially if/when the sheepsfoot eventually gets sharpened down after enough use. But I don't have the confidence to file it down; worried I might somehow ruin the temper(?) of the blade, though that seems highly unlikely. Any advice on safely doing so if/when it comes to that? Or doing it anyway, as the high-sitting sheepsfoot makes it a bit less comfortable when using the other blades.

Jim
 
I might have one of your period as well. Mine also sits pretty high and proud. The tip of the sheepfoot blade is also above the handles, but during use this has no effect; one of the other two blades is closed anyway. So the danger of injury is not really there.

I would let it as it is and try to file around.... just my two cent.
 
Just do it slowly and check frequently if it's in its right place for you, you can wet the blade kick during filing but that is not really necessary as you need very little filing to put it down enough. I've done it many times no problem at all.
Mike
 
All of these Case Stockman knives are built on a serpentine frame. You can see where the sheepfoot blade point sits in the curve of the frame and thus is above the frame when closed. Case's 18 pattern's sheepfoot blade sits very high on that pattern.


CV Case 6347 from the 1940 through 1964 era (CASE XX).
case6347stockman1.jpg


case6347stockman2.jpg


SS Case 3347 manufactured in 2011
case3347ssyellowdelrins.jpg


case3347ssyellowdelrins.jpg


Case CV 6347 5-dot (1985 manufacture)
casexx5dot19856347stock.jpg


Case 3318

0mq5.jpg


f3ak.jpg


Straighten out the frame on all of the above knives and the point of the sheepfoot blade would sit into the well of the frame.

I guess the way some of the sheepfoot blades spines sit high might cause some discomfort to some while using the knife but the fact that the blade point and edge sit high should not be a problem while using it as the other blades are closed and prevent contact of the sheepfoot blade point and edge to the hand.

I do not file the kick on my stockman knives. I let them ride high as they do not present a problem for me.
 
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yep work slowly and check often , not only where the blade sits when its closed but when open too. and check for blade play (up and down) when the blade is open. sometimes you cant get the blade to close all the way without lowering the back spring so that its is no longer flush when open or closed. i use stones for this work but a file will do if you go slow
 
James Y said:
... Any advice on safely doing so if/when it comes to that? Or doing it anyway, as the high-sitting sheepsfoot makes it a bit less comfortable when using the other blades.

Jim
Click to expand...

I used a coarse DMT stone to reduce the kick on a GEC 66 stockman sheepfoot. I just kept doing a few passes and checking. I think it's safer than a file. I dropped the blade just a little, no more than 1/16" because I wanted to make sure it didn't hit the backspring.
 
mike Berkovitch said:
Just do it slowly and check frequently if it's in its right place for you, you can wet the blade kick during filing but that is not really necessary as you need very little filing to put it down enough. I've done it many times no problem at all.
Mike
Click to expand...

This ^^^ :thumbup:
 
James Y said:
I own 3 Case medium stockmans...the first two were bought in the '90s, and the sheepsfoot blades are in normal position when closed. The one bought around 2007 or 2008, the sheepsfoot sits high when closed...much higher than is necessary. Is this common, a newer trend for Case stockmans? If I were to open the clip and spey blades, the tip of the sheepsfoot is above the handle boundaries.

I know I could file down the kick a little, especially if/when the sheepsfoot eventually gets sharpened down after enough use. But I don't have the confidence to file it down; worried I might somehow ruin the temper(?) of the blade, though that seems highly unlikely. Any advice on safely doing so if/when it comes to that? Or doing it anyway, as the high-sitting sheepsfoot makes it a bit less comfortable when using the other blades.

Jim
Click to expand...

Filing the kick by hand will do no damage whatsoever to the heat treat. And even if using a powered grinder, the tang portion of Case's blades is always annealed (softened) a bit during production, to facilitate some of the bending/krinking sometimes needed for fitting blades into multi-blade patterns. Even if the kick were to overheat a bit, it likely wouldn't affect the temper of the cutting portion of the blade anyway. That being said, one would have to work pretty hard at ruining any temper at all, in the simple task of filing the kick down. I used a Dremel to file down the kick on a Queen stockman's sheepfoot blade (D2); I just made sure to only grind very lightly for 2-3 seconds at a time, then pause a few seconds to let any residual heat dissipate before grinding again.

Just take a little steel at a time, and keep re-checking the closed position of the blade. Also check to see if the backspring has sunk into the handle (with blade closed), after filing the kick; some will do this, and some won't. Also keep an eye on the positioning of the blade's nail nick, as some stockman patterns won't have much room to adjust blade height without the nail nick lowering behind an adjacent blade, and becoming inaccessible. Because most sheepfoot blades sit so high, there's almost always a lot of room under the edge of the blade, so there's little chance of the edge lowering into contact with the backspring (but it never hurts to watch for this).


David
 
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Thanks for all the great info, guys.

For now, I plan to keep it as is, but at least I have helpful info now, should I eventually decide to reduce it a tiny bit.

Jim
 
Of the two Case Medium Stockman patterns that I have regularly carried (63032 and 6318), both of them have had that feature with the sheepsfoot blade edge tip is exposed if both of the other blades are opened (which would normally never occur during anything but cleaning or display).

I just used a small hand file and the medium stone from my Sharpmaker and filed down the kicks a bit more to my liking. Nothing really wrong with them before, to be honest, just a preference for carry profile and how much blade spine was sticking up when I was using the main blade.

If they'd just turn the serpentine around the other way (or do like Buck and hinge the sheepsfoot at the other end) then it wouldn't be a problem.
 
jc57 said:
If they'd just turn the serpentine around the other way (or do like Buck and hinge the sheepsfoot at the other end) then it wouldn't be a problem.
Click to expand...

Ya know, I would actually prefer it if Case switched the positions of the sheepsfoot and spey blades. They'd just have to put their nail nicks on the opposite sides.

Jim
 
I file down the kicks,on all my stockman pattern knives, until the nail nick is just above the blade next to it. If you use a file, there's no way you can affect the temper of the blade
 
A small flat chain saw file is perfect for this, it takes very little to drop the blade a lot, so don’t go crazy with it and check after every pass or three.
 
This was a legit enquiry from a new member seeking advice :thumbsup: I use one of those very small cheap diamond files you can buy in an assortment. Remember to flush out with warm water & soap afterwards in case metal filings have got in the pivot area.
 
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