estate sale stockman

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Apr 23, 2002
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I have a friend that runs a small antique shop. As he looks for inventory, he occasionaly bumps into boxes with old knives that you all have not found yet. Most of the time they are well used and not really valuable, but interesting to have.

Recently, he gave me a Case 5 dot Stockman that I think is 1975? It is stamped 087HE on the tang. Looks like micarta? It is the rounded bolsters (serpentine) medium stockman. I opened it up, cleaned out the pocket lint, oiled it, and started wondering about the man that owned it.

Across the back springs, it is engraved J L Manuel.
It snaps open solidly, but is lazy closing. The very tip of the main blade is broken and it looks like he cut a lot of wire with it. It almost has a small notch in the base of the blade, perhaps from stripping wire?

The other blades have been sharpened, but don't have a lot of use.

It got me thinking about my knives. There are a few that have been carried longer than most, but most don't have the wear that would make someone stop and think.
Perhaps I have too many knives to appreciate the knives I have?

Anyway, I will try to post some pictures here in a bit.

As a side note, there was also a Foster Brothers Splitting Cleaver. Wow, what a chunk of steel that was! Hammer marks oon the spine from splitting carcasses. Interesting stuff.
 
Nice looking knife, Ed!

I can't quite tell from the pic but the scales look like they might be Slick Black. If they are then the pattern number would be 23087HE. I'm not sure what Slick Black is made of. Some type of composite material. Could be Micarta, I guess.
 
The tang stamp means 087 is pattern number of medium stockman, HE stand for sheepfoot and pen blades. Are you sure there are no other numbers beside 087? If there are they might indicate the handles material.
Mike
 
Hi Mike,
The only marking is 087HE
I have looked on the other blades for any other indicator, but to no avail. I will try to get a better picture with my camera rather than phone.

Ed
 
Hi Mike,
The only marking is 087HE
I have looked on the other blades for any other indicator, but to no avail. I will try to get a better picture with my camera rather than phone.

Ed

I'm certain it's a 23087HE (listed in some books as '23087 SH Pen' also). There's another one on the 'bay right now (4-dot, 1976), with exactly the same marking as yours ('087HE'), and specifically identified as 23087HE. The first two digits, although not specifically marked on the blade, are implied by the handle material ('2' = smooth black delrin, a.k.a. 'slick black' or 'black composition') and number of blades (indicated by the '3'). Here's an informative link, regarding the '087 pattern variations (there's a pic on p. 231, of the 23087 w/sheepsfoot & pen blades; appears to be identical to yours):

http://books.google.com/books?id=f4atWfxLacAC&pg=PA230&lpg=PA230&dq=087+case+xx+stockman&source=bl&ots=EknK3hlbHo&sig=AtsdJf1UmbXLvXhxMfU4TOF5Q_Y&hl=en&ei=iUDMTvX4GZLMsQKEoZX-Dg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CEwQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=087 case xx stockman&f=false
 
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