De-Humping My Case Humpback Stockman

AFAustin

AFAustin

Gold Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2004
Messages
2,505
Well, I am in "de-hump" mode again. A while back, I was bothered by the hump in the spine of the clip blade on my Peanut, and so ground it down into sort of a California clip: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...ng-Down-a-Peanut-s-quot-Hump-quot-(Pics-Added) It came out pretty well, and so that emboldened me to do something similar on my Case Humpback Stockman. I just got this knife, and really like a lot of things about it: spear master; excellent F&F, with no gaps; pretty Harvest Orange Pocket Worn scales; nice medium pull w/o half-stops; and it sharpened up nicely.

But, one thing that really bothered me was the way the sheepsfoot dug into my hand when using the other blades. I decided to grind it down, and while I was at it, give it more of a wharnie shape with a more acute point. The limiting factor was the nail nick, and I decided to push the limits on that, even intruding on it a bit in order to reduce the hump as much as I wanted (still opens fine, though).

In addition, I decided to change the spey into more of a pen shape, which is more appealing to me.

I got busy this morning on my Work Sharp, and I am fairly pleased with the results (on the other hand, I sacrificed quality for speed on the pics, so please forgive me on that). It is definitely a lot more comforatble to hold and grip now, and I like the semi-wharnie and pen in place of the sheepie and spey.

Andrew


BEFORE

100_4294.jpg


AFTER

100_4402.jpg


BEFORE

100_4297.jpg


AFTER

100_4422.jpg


BEFORE

100_4290.jpg


AFTER

100_4407.jpg


BEFORE

100_4300.jpg


AFTER

100_4409.jpg


BEFORE

100_4307.jpg


AFTER

100_4417.jpg
 
I've got the same knife, very decent scales I think. Your mods are a real improvement! Can you still open that 'Wharnifoot' as the nick looks small? The appearance of the knife is really nice, it's more sleek and like you, I can use a Pen more than a Spey especially on a smaller Stockman such as this.

Grand job! I'll send mine in for pimping eh?

Regards, Will
 
Nice job. I routinely end up filing the sheepsfoot kick down on my stockmans. I hadn't thought about your mod, now I have some thinking to do.
 
Sorry, but I have to disagree. I would never take so much off the spine that I touched the nail nick. It looks nicely done, but I would have started forward of the nick, and if that wasn't enough, then take some off the kick as well to lower the whole blade.
 
Thanks for the comments, gents. Jeff, your point is well taken about the nail nick. I am still pretty new to this, and truth is, I had several bad experiences early on with blades that hit the backspring and so have been hesistant to take down any kicks. But, looking at this knife just now, it seems that there would've been plenty of room to grind down the sheepie kick. In fact, I just did a little of that as well.

This is a great place to learn. Thanks to you all.

Andrew
 
Looking good, Andrew! All of the mods I have seen you do look great. I'd say you are pretty good at it.

Nice knife too!
 
Hi there, Rick. I was almost afraid I'd hurt your feelings by messing with that nice fat sheepie!

I'm just a beginner, but I appreciate your kind words.

Andrew
 
At first, I thought "why would you ruin such a nice knife" but after seeing the pictures it looks a million times better. Love the pen blade from the spey. I've never liked spey blades on a knife with a sheepsfoot.
 
Nice work. The 046 stockman is one of my favorite newly rebirthed patterns from Case. It's interesting how compact you were able to get the knife without really losing much of the sheepfoot.

I sometimes modify the spey blades on my stock knives. A 046 pattern whittler was actually the first one I tried because the spey blade stuck out and it was uncomfortable when using the other blades ...but haven't modified the spey blades on my 046 stock knives since the blades are sunk.
 
Thank you, gents, for your posts. As said before, I should've started by reducing the kick on the sheepsfoot before taking quite so much off the spine. For you guys who own this knife, take a peek inside with the sheepie closed---it amazed me how far off the spring the blade rode---plenty of kick that can be removed. As I mentioned, I decided to take some off there as well, in order to sink the sheepie-turned-wharnie even farther and so make the grip even more comfortable.

Here are a few more pics which show the knife after taking the kick down---the sheepie/wharnie now rides well below the master.

Andrew

100_4488-1.jpg


100_4493-1.jpg


100_4514.jpg


100_4505.jpg



And with some Case cousins:

100_4538.jpg
 
Last edited:
That's definitely a low rider! Did the reduction of the kick create any blade rub?

Here's a photo of the humpback stockman with some other stock knives to compare the placement of the sheepfoot. ...it's about average but you definitely improved the ergonomics. There's also a humpback whittler in the photo... the edge of the spey blade cut into my hand during use. I had already rounded it before this photo was taken. I ended up turning it into a small clip blade. I finally got the knife where I wanted but ended up selling it after I got the ebony stockman which was a better fit for me. ...Sometimes I missed that knife though.

img576.jpg


I haven't had any complaints about the knife but I might try lowering the kick on one of mine.

case-ebony-humpbacks.jpg
 
Jake, no blade rub or blade hitting the spring. Look inside and you'll see what I mean----the sheepie rises up high off the spring with plenty of room to lower the kick.

Andrew
 
It does seem to have enough space. But lowering the sheepfoot blade will place its nail nick below the spey blade... your modification of the spey blade seems to fix it.
 
I have two Humpbacks. I love 'em. That spey to pen blade is a great mod. I do that with a lot of mine as well. I was just considering doing that to my humpback stockmans. Would look more like a cattle knife blade selection.
 
Thanks for the comments. The only problem now is that I'm liking this knife so much that I'm tempted to buy another one (and mod it, too)!

Andrew
 
Andrew,

It just occurred to me that I wanted to ask you if you can see the phosphor bronze bushing between the Sheepsfoot and Spear blades. (or should I say between the Wharncliffe and Spear blades) :)

Can you see the bushing on yours?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top