- Joined
- May 8, 2001
- Messages
- 536
I LOVE this knife of the week thread and have learnt a lot from the previous weeks threads and wanted to chime in with my favorite pattern.
The stockman seems to be one of the most collected, talked about and used slipjoint patterns certainly here at Bladeforums and judging by the number of production models available in the world at large.
Here's what I (think) I know. If I am wrong I stand corrected. The stockman was and is the traditional knife of the cattle rancher or cowboy or stockman. It has three blades: a clip blade for general use, sheepsfoot for leather and rope and a spey, as its name suggests for castrating or speying livestock. There are also versions where either the spey or sheepsfoot blade is substituted for a leather punch.
The original stockman knives, so I believe, were around 4 to 4 1/4" closed and quite a handful. However there are scaled down versions available more suitable for todays suit/khaki pockets from 2 1/2 closed all the way up to the 4 1/4" versions.
When I first became interested in slipjoints this pattern pulled me in like a magnet. At first, and I think still, the cowboy imagery grabbed me - the American cowboy out forging a life on the tough western frontier. In the middel of the prairie, cattle drive or out on the ranch he needed a knife that could handle anything and a knife he could depend on. To me this knife sums up the American spirit and is itself an American classic.
I have a modest collection of stockmen, most of which are collectors pieces but I carry them as users, for the same reason that the cowboy chose it as his companion - it can handle anything! Granted the tasks are different - at my desk I don't tend to do very much livestock castrating
I usually don't carry a second or back up knife, don't feel like I have to!
OK fellas lets hear your opinions, anecdotes, feelings on the stockman. I would also like to include the cattle knife in this discussion as they are very closely related.
The stockman seems to be one of the most collected, talked about and used slipjoint patterns certainly here at Bladeforums and judging by the number of production models available in the world at large.
Here's what I (think) I know. If I am wrong I stand corrected. The stockman was and is the traditional knife of the cattle rancher or cowboy or stockman. It has three blades: a clip blade for general use, sheepsfoot for leather and rope and a spey, as its name suggests for castrating or speying livestock. There are also versions where either the spey or sheepsfoot blade is substituted for a leather punch.
The original stockman knives, so I believe, were around 4 to 4 1/4" closed and quite a handful. However there are scaled down versions available more suitable for todays suit/khaki pockets from 2 1/2 closed all the way up to the 4 1/4" versions.
When I first became interested in slipjoints this pattern pulled me in like a magnet. At first, and I think still, the cowboy imagery grabbed me - the American cowboy out forging a life on the tough western frontier. In the middel of the prairie, cattle drive or out on the ranch he needed a knife that could handle anything and a knife he could depend on. To me this knife sums up the American spirit and is itself an American classic.
I have a modest collection of stockmen, most of which are collectors pieces but I carry them as users, for the same reason that the cowboy chose it as his companion - it can handle anything! Granted the tasks are different - at my desk I don't tend to do very much livestock castrating
I usually don't carry a second or back up knife, don't feel like I have to!OK fellas lets hear your opinions, anecdotes, feelings on the stockman. I would also like to include the cattle knife in this discussion as they are very closely related.
