I just acquired an old "beater" of a Case knife.

M

mrapino

Joined
Aug 21, 2014
Messages
26
Hey guys,

I just acquired a beat up old Case "Sod Buster". It is all scratched up, has rust spots, and isn't very sharp.

I was wondering what you all would do to this knife (if anything) to "spruce it up"?

First off, at the very least, I'd like it to be sharp, so I can use it. I am a complete newb when it comes to sharpening, so perhaps you can point to toward some of your favorite sharpening resources?

I have 3-in-one household oil that I rubbed all over the knife to polish some of the rust off, but that's about all I did.

Here are some photos for your viewing pleasure:

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Still ... a free knife is a free knife, am I right?

I look forward to hearing from everyone.

Cheers!
 
That's a nice find, especially for FREE! :thumbup:

Looks like 1970s vintage (how many 'dots' are there under the 'U.S.A.' mark?); appears in pretty good shape, considering it's age, with lots of blade left. The rust pitting doesn't look too bad; some WD-40 scrubbing with fine steel wool, or a wire brush, should clean up any red rust left. Could also use some metal polish, like Flitz or Simichrome, for that.

Do you have any sharpening gear? If so, what do you have? These old Case knives will be pretty easy to sharpen up on most any stones or other tools, like wet/dry sandpaper, for example.


David
 
Hey, I took a couple extra photos. The first is a close-up of the dots. There is a rust spot, but I am pretty sure it is 7 dots. The second photo is a shot on the blade of the knife on top of the only sharpening device I have ... a very small sharpening stone, with only one grit size.

Thanks for the reply! I'll try your suggestions and post new photos when I get the knife a bit more cleaned up.

I need to really get better sharpening tools, and learn how to sharpen before attempting to have a go at that.

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Cheers!
 
Think I see 7 dots (at least), meaning it's 1973 vintage. If eight dots, it'd be a 1972. Case's 1970s-vintage blades started with 10 dots in 1970, subtracting one dot for each following year, finishing with only one dot visible in 1979. Their 1980s blades used the same 'dot dating' convention, though the 'CASE' and 'U.S.A.' marks would've been in a different, more angular/blocky type-style, with the trademarked 'lightning S' in the 'CASE' name. The steel on your knife is the predecessor to what Case now calls their 'CV' steel (non-stainless). Not certain if it's exactly the same makeup, as Case didn't actually start using the 'CV' designation on their carbon steel until later (think late '80s or early '90s). Still some decent & simple-to-live-with carbon steel though; sharpens up very easily.

That pocket stone you have might work for it, at least in terms of putting a good working edge on it; may be aluminum oxide or silicon carbide. I have a similar small stone from Sears, in aluminum oxide. It's not bad on simpler steels, in smaller blades; works quite fast on these steels. I can sympathize if you want to get some practice in, on other blades first; always a good idea when starting out. Whatever you choose to use, just keep in mind you won't need anything fancy to maintain this blade, if you don't want to spend much $$. Diamond hones and similar tools can work, but won't be necessary for this one. Might also look into stropping options and compounds; some white or green compound on firmly-backed denim would work very well for steels like this (it's what I've been using, with the white on denim, and the green on an old leather belt of mine).


David
 
Sharpen it up (your stone will do just fine), oil the joint (your 3-in-1 will work just fine). pocket it and use the heck out of it.
 
You could clean it up with a variety of stones to remove the scratching (you'll lose the etch). I really like the DMT aligner and a hand held lighted microscope to profile and sharpen a rough blade. I'd also look at buying the black stone to go with the DMT kit. Wire brush all the metal and polish. You might even think about reworking the handles with some steel wool..... or even rehandle it with some ebony.
 
Get a leather strop (an old leather belt glued to wood works fine) and some black stropping compound from stropman.com and strop the blade laid flat to get it cleaned up. With patience this will also remove the scratches. Sharpen it then oil the joint. If you want to clean up the handle rub it with Flitz or some toothpaste on a cloth.

Those 1970s Case knives are some of the best knives ever made by any knife maker.
 
davek14 said:
Can you even still get a black handled Sodbuster in carbon?
Click to expand...

Not a current model, anyway. All the current-generation models with black handles are in stainless. Good news is, there are still plenty of the 'old' ones out there, even some in like-new condition. Don't know if any of the black-handled carbon steel versions extended past the '70s, or at least past the very early '80s anyway.


David
 
Oh boy. Be mighty careful using that knife. If you push it hard, you might only get 30 or 35 years out of it! ;-)

Seriously, though -- Sweet knife! Use it in good health.

-- Mark
 
Really like that knife. Back in the early 70's I picked corn for a farm and with the money I made that day I bought a Sod Buster Jr. by Case. Carried that knife for almost 10 years as a Forest Ranger. Had a leather pouch for it on my belt. Paid $9.95 for it. Still have it. Seeing yours sure brings back memories. Thanks. Modoc Ed has it right.
 
Nice Sodbuster! All advice for it's been given. Now just enjoy it and share some more pics when u get her cleaned up? :)
 
Truly a nice find. What's said is right on. I'll only add that in more current production the famous yellow handles in CV. Wonderful knives. SJF
 
I set this post to email me when there were replies, but I never got any emails. Sorry for not posting again! Thanks for all of the great suggestions ... I have been doing some research and getting ready to clean this knife up. I am really excited from all of the comments about how great this knife is. This knife has some great snap in the locking spring ... very tight lock.

I will surely post more photos when this guy is all cleaned up. The etching is all there, however, the scratches go right over it. I am going to try to remove the scratches without removing the etching. I love how the etching looks.

I found a pretty nice, in-depth article about sharpening your knives, for those who are interested: http://mybestpocketknife.com/how-to-sharpen-a-pocket-knife/

We'll see how it all goes.

Cheers!
 
Check this out. I have a Dremel, and I started steel wooling the handle and then buffing out the fine scratches with a buffing wheel with my Dremel on a low speed. I am posting a before and after. I will continue this process until I have a mirror finish again.

Before:
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After:
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knarfeng said:
ummm... Not to be a bother but we have an entire forum dedicated to knife sharpening, maintenance and such.

Forum > Knife Specific Discussion > Maintenance, Tinkering & Embellishment
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/794-Maintenance-Tinkering-amp-Embellishment
Click to expand...

Not a bother. I posted to show off the knife I just acquired, and as conversations go...it evolved a bit. Since there was mention of some sharpening thoughts for this knife in particular, I thought I would share a link related to sharpening for someone who stumbled across this thread, and didn't want to go looking somewhere else for a link like that.

Thanks for mentioning that there is a whole section dedicated to sharpening. That's a great help.

Cheers!
 
mrapino - Don't take that as a personal hit. You are new here and we generally don't reference other sites for information we have in-house. The forum Frank referenced ("Maintenance, Tinkering & Embellishment") not only has information on sharpening but almost all things when it comes to taking care of knives.

Nice job on your knife so far.
 
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