I think I found the right pattern for me (The Peanut Challenge)....

M

MacTech

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Jan 7, 2006
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Yesterday, I was at my local Ace hardware store, getting some seeds for my indoor container gardens and the outdoor raised bed I'll be planting this spring, when I saw a Case promo pack on the counter, the "Making a Case for America" package with a red bone Case SS Peanut, collectors tin, and Brooks & Dunn CD, they had two left

I inspected the knives as well as I could from behind the clampack, one of them had sharply pointed blades, but the shield was stamped a little deeper than normal, the other had slightly rounded tips (they didn't have a splinter-picker tip) but a normal appearing shield

the deep stamped shield appeared to have a better edge grind on both blades, and since this was to be a user knife, not a safe queen, I went with the knife with the splinter-picker tip and deeper stamped shield

Once I got it out of the package (I really feel nervous opening clampacks with a slippie, I really could have used my PE Spyderco Dodo here, that thing *slays* clampacks) I was quite impressed, of my small collection of three Case knives (yellow CV Trapper, Pocketworn red bone SS Stockman, and this Peanut), the Peanut was easily the sharpest of the three, Scary Sharp right out of the package, right up there with my Spydies in sharpness, this is my first Case that I didn't have to touch the edge up right out of the factory

I'm really loving the Peanut pattern too, small enough to disappear into the pocket unnoticed, yet large enough for most of my general cutting needs (opening mail, cutting open packaging tape, etc...), and it's size, shape, and colour make it nonthreatening to sheeple, they think it's "cute", yet it can take a truly wicked edge

I think I'm really going to challenge myself, limit myself to just the Peanut and see how long I can get along with only this one knife, sure, I'll carry backups, I'd be crazy not to, I will be toting along either the Stockman or the Trapper to back up the Peanut, but all my cutting will be done with this Peanut....

Can I do it, or will I succumb to the temptation of using my other knives?

Now, all i need to do is to get a Case Peanut in CV steel (maybe a CV Key Lime Peanut), and I'll be set....
 
Now you've gone and done it, Mac!

I feel morally obligated to telling you that the peanut is one of the most bewitching of patterns. Strong men have been known to grow addicted to them. It's the little knife that can. It's real world cutting power in a small package that raises no alarms, even gets compliments of being "cute" or "pretty" by church ladies.

The peanut will do 99% of what you have to do with a knife. For anything else, just have a sodbuster around. :thumbup:

Both need to be the yella handle CV type of course!;)

Ps- This man I knew who carried one from 1938 to his passing in 1981, kept the main blade very sharp, and the pen blade a steeper utility edge for scraping, stripping wire, other rough work that would wreck a real sharp edge.
 
Peanuts are good pocket knives and like Jackknife said they will handle most day to day cutting chores easily. I was suprised at just how much I could with just my peanut.
I have the yellow cv model as well as the red bone in stainless, and a few others. More often than not I reach for the red bone one. I really like it.
When I need something a little bigger I usually reach for a one or two bladed trapper to back my peanut up. Enjoy your peanut, I bet you end up getting at least one more.
Jim
 
The Peanut is the next pattern on my list so I will be anxious to hear your findings. I think I will try the Chestnut Bone CV model myself.
I carried a 2-blade Case Pocket Hunter (2.75" closed) every day for 2 years and it has about the same size main clip blade. I can't remember really ever NEEDING anything bigger (but I also carried mid sized Spydies, Benchmades and the like anyway;)).
 
MacTech said:
Once I got it out of the package ... I was quite impressed, of my small collection of three Case knives (yellow CV Trapper, Pocketworn red bone SS Stockman, and this Peanut), the Peanut was easily the sharpest of the three, Scary Sharp right out of the package, right up there with my Spydies in sharpness, this is my first Case that I didn't have to touch the edge up right out of the factory.
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Just curious, when were your yellow CV Trapper and Pocketworn red bone SS Stockman made?

I'm not surprised to read that about your new p'nut, by the way. From what I've seen (and read repeatedly here on bladeforums), the knives that Case is putting out these days are top-notch and sport a great edge.
 
Yes, I definitely plan to get another Peanut, most probably the classic Yellow handled CV model, I just wish my local Ace hardware had a better Case selection, they basically carry four models, pocketworn SS Trapper and Stockman, small Stockman, and Yellow CV Trapper, the other Ace (there are two in my immediate area) only had the "Case for America" package, the rest of that store's knife selection was cheap Chinese Winchesters and Gerbers
 
I have been carrying a peanut for the past week or so. I do carry a "back up". Only once did I grab the backup. To split a chicken breast. Maybe the peanut could have done it. But I was hesitent to test it. So I used my Copperhead.

DPP_100.jpg


I need to sharpen it.

Bill
 
MacTech said:
Yes, I definitely plan to get another Peanut, most probably the classic Yellow handled CV model, I just wish my local Ace hardware had a better Case selection, they basically carry four models, pocketworn SS Trapper and Stockman, small Stockman, and Yellow CV Trapper, the other Ace (there are two in my immediate area) only had the "Case for America" package, the rest of that store's knife selection was cheap Chinese Winchesters and Gerbers
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Shepard Hills is a great place to buy online from & they have a nice selection of Case patterns. I highly recommend them.
http://www.casexx.com/
 
Mick57 said:
Shepard Hills is a great place to buy online from & they have a nice selection of Case patterns. I highly recommend them.
http://www.casexx.com/
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I will second that. I have spent a lot with them. Also Bluegrass Knives http://www.bluegrassmountainknives.com/store/

I think Bluegrass Knives has better communication. You get emails from them about when shipped with tracking and such. With Shephard Hills, you don't get that. That would be my only complaint. But not one that keeps me from buying from them.

Bill
 
I keep eyeballing the Case Purple Bone Peanut I bought my girlfriend a couple weeks ago. I think I may have to break down and get one for myself.
 
It looks like the factory edge on the Peanut was rather thin, after cutting a few things with the peanut, the factory edge on the main blade lost some of it's sharpness, not enough to be noticed by the average knife user, but for a sharpening fanatic like me, it needed to be touched up, as it was no longer popping hairs

so I dug out my Sharpmaker and went to town, putting a 30 degree edge (15 per side) back on the main blade, then stropping it on my three-stage pine board and leather scraps strop

not only is it back to hair-popping sharpness, but when I inspect the edge with my Vic Champ's magnifying lens, the edge is *mirror polished*, I cannot see any microserrations, the entire edge gleams! looks like Tru-Sharp isn't too bad a steel after all, especially if it can take a mirror edge with my simple, unsophisticated sharpening supplies
 
My amber bone Case peanut or GEC #25 Nothfield Barlow are my edc choices for work, where I need something elegant and easy to carry in dress pants. I carry one or the other five days a week, ten months a year. The rest of the time I carry a Vic Spirit.
 
As for usefulness, there's at least one fella on the boards here who has cleaned a deer using a peanut.

As for opening clamshell packs with a slippy, don't use the point. The front and back of a clamshell pack are bonded at the edges. Cut into the edge of the pack as if you were whittling on a stick. Once you trim off the edges on two sides, it'll just pull open.

I've not seen a lime green CV Case.
 
As far as clampacks go, I have yet to find a knife that can slay them as effectively as a Spyderco Dodo, no it's not a "classic" knife, but in this case, it's the right tool for the job

I just performed a little impromptu test, grabbed a vine-ripened cherry tomato off my Aerogarden, the tomato was perfectly ripened, just slightly soft, bright, almost flourescent red, the Peanut's mirror-edged blade sailed through the tomato with just the weight of the knife itself, and I was able to make gauzy, thin slices of that perfectly ripe, juicy tomato without squishing it, the knife sailed through the tomato effortlessly
 
MacTech said:
As far as clampacks go, I have yet to find a knife that can slay them as effectively as a Spyderco Dodo, no it's not a "classic" knife, but in this case, it's the right tool for the job

I just performed a little impromptu test, grabbed a vine-ripened cherry tomato off my Aerogarden, the tomato was perfectly ripened, just slightly soft, bright, almost flourescent red, the Peanut's mirror-edged blade sailed through the tomato with just the weight of the knife itself, and I was able to make gauzy, thin slices of that perfectly ripe, juicy tomato without squishing it, the knife sailed through the tomato effortlessly
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Now all you need is some fresh mozzarella, olive oil, kosher salt, black pepper, and perhaps a touch of balsamic vinegar and you got yourself a delicious Caprese salad.

Man, am I hungry...
 
MacTech said:
As far as clampacks go, I have yet to find a knife that can slay them as effectively as a Spyderco Dodo ...
Click to expand...

Next clampack you come across, try the pen blade of your new peanut. I'm serious! It's my blade of choice when heading into battle against clampacks (either the pen blade on my peanut or the pen blade on my 33OT Old Timer). And with three kids in the house, I spend a lot of time dealing with clampacks, believe me.
 
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I ended buying one of the Brooks and Dunn/Case Peanut combo packs on my way out of Ace today. Like Mactech, I found the edge was sharper than most Case knives I've seen, however I still felt the need to reprofile and polish the edge. Now it's screaming sharp. I'm amazed at how useful a Peanut is, even though it is a rather tiny knife.
 
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