New slipjoints

B

Bo T

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Feb 12, 2011
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I've been looking at the new slipjoints on the market. Schrade is made with some no name stainless. Case has 'surgical' stainless. The only one that I found that advertised the steel was 'Queen'. Are these knives any good? I like the medium stockman.
 
Case's Tru-Sharp is pretty much like Victorinoxes steel. Compeared to the CV of Case Tru-Sharp won't hold edge quite that well but is tad easier to sharp.

Queen is very fine, I'd just get them in person or get seller check their condition. D2 is very fine steel, it just can be real pain in the neck to sharped or reprofiled without experience or right tools but it holds working edge so well.

new Schrades are china-made and their steel is probably 420 or 440a class. If your budget holds, I'd check if I were you: GEC: most knives come in good oold 1095 carbon steel and some patterns are 440c. GEC has good heat treatment for both steels. Makes excellent users and collectibles.

Schatt&Morgan uses 420HC but is brand name. Its Fire&Wile tested series (now I am not completely sure was it fire & file or what) but is the high end series with ATS-34 blade steel on them.

now I can't be sure if Schatt&Morgan has medium stockman., GEC has Cuban stockman and Cattle Rancher's series based on #53 frame but they're closer to the Case' big stockman with closed length of 4.1"

Queen Definately has some nice looking medium stockmen in D2 but Queen is pretty notorious of comming butterknife sharp out of box and with D2 it might be quite hard to get edge on it, though when you get good edge on one, it will hold working edge for long.

Now you may want to check MooreMaker (made by QUeen was it) They have some nice stockmen in their prodoction listing. They use good steels like 1095.
 
Are you only looking for stainless steels? Or are you open to carbon steel as well?

Quality stainless steel medium stockmans (~3.5" closed) :

Queen (D2)
Schatt & Morgan 043155 Series XVII (420HC)
S&M 043160 Series XVIII 3 blade Sowbelly (420HC)
Various Cases (420HC?)
Boker (440C)
Colonel Coon (made by Queen) (420HC)
Northwoods (made by Queen?) (D2)

If you can open up to a 4" closed knife, you can add Canal Street (440C), Robeson and Cripple Creek (Queen made, 420HC?)

There's also a bunch of whittlers at 3.5" that have similar blade selections as the stockman, just in a different arrangement.
 
Schatt & Morgan 043155 Series XVII (420HC)
Fine steel holds a very good edge
Without a slanging match, I find it sharpens the best and stays the sharpest out of all the simple SS in the crowd

picture.php
 
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Case 63032 Amber Bone Medium stockman 3 5/8 in. Can't go wrong with CV, takes a good edge and easy to sharpen.
 
dispatch 510 said:
Case 63032 Amber Bone Medium stockman 3 5/8 in. Can't go wrong with CV, takes a good edge and easy to sharpen.
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I'll have to vote for this one too even though I like the two blade Texas jack a bit better (personal preference of jack over stockman) which is built on the same frame. To me that's about the perfect size stockman. My hands are not like catcher's mitts though.

Ed
 
thejamppa said:
Schatt&Morgan uses 420HC but is brand name. Its Fire&Wile tested series (now I am not completely sure was it fire & file or what) but is the high end series with ATS-34 blade steel on them.
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Jani, that's File & Wire. I believe that means the steel passed the file test after hardening (file slides off without filing any steel off the blade), and I guess the wire means the sharpened edge can cut a certain gauge of wire without deforming? Probably gonna get schooled on that wire though ;).

Bo T, to answer you directly, one of my favorite knives is a Queen Mini Trapper (the top one):

3354863346_82afd164df_z.jpg


I am carrying it today in fact, and will say that yes, Queen makes a great knife. Like this Canoe in Birdseye Maple:

4242741441_f412c01597_z.jpg


But I have also gotten real junk from them as well (I will spare you the pictures), so while I will definitely buy more Queen knives, I will now not buy them sight unseen. I would at least try to speak to any dealer before you buy and see if they are willing to inspect the knife for any obvious flaws before shipping the knife.
Just my 2 cents.
 
I like the 63032 Medium Stockman in Chestnut and carbon. Big reason I like this is because it sports a Pen blade instead of a Spey, much prefer this.

Schatt&Morgan did a Large 4" Stockman in ATS-34 in one of their Series knives, probably IX that had a small Clip instead of Spey, really impressed me from the pics.

All the stainless steels used by CASE, Böker, Schatt&Morgan, G.E.C. and Rough Rider are all decent pocket knife steels that work&sharpen well. No junk here at all.
 
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I don't want to be left out of the playground kickball game.........

Buck Stockmans, are 420hc stainless, heat treated using method designed by Paul Bos, a generally considered expert. Three blades come in one smaller size than the 301 pictured. The 303.
300/ch

301Group.jpg
 
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FLymon said:
Jani, that's File & Wire. I believe that means the steel passed the file test after hardening (file slides off without filing any steel off the blade), and I guess the wire means the sharpened edge can cut a certain gauge of wire without deforming? Probably gonna get schooled on that wire though ;).
Click to expand...

Stu, thank you so much for correcting me and telling me this. I need to get sometimes Fire & Wire model :D
 
Thanks for all the information. I've checked out several of the companies listed and I like the Queen large stockman and the Buck 301.

I wasn't attracted to the Moore Maker knives but just due to looks not function. Although, anyone have any experience with their Sportsmans 12" axe (hatchett)? I might get one of those.

I'll check out Boker and Case later.

As an aside, Bucks' website states that 420HC can be hardened to 58, are the blades of the 301 this hard?

Thanks again for the info.
 
Bo T said:
Thanks for all the information. I've checked out several of the companies listed and I like the Queen large stockman and the Buck 301.

I wasn't attracted to the Moore Maker knives but just due to looks not function. Although, anyone have any experience with their Sportsmans 12" axe (hatchett)? I might get one of those.

I'll check out Boker and Case later.

As an aside, Bucks' website states that 420HC can be hardened to 58, are the blades of the 301 this hard?

Thanks again for the info.
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Yes they are. I have tested blades from 3 different 420HC Buck knives (two 301's and a 303). I measured each at 59 HRC.
 
No,there are others that do a good job on 420.I just happen to be biased toward Bucks 420,pardon me.
 
Thanks again for your help. I just got a Queen large stockman. I chose the Queen because of the D2 steel, and the shape and profiling of the clip point. It is a little lighter than my 61OT. I am not very good at taking pictures. This one of the Queen stockman with my other traditional knives turned out the best.

IMGP0533.jpg
 
Nice set there. That's truly a group of iconic knives. The D2 that Queen uses is some good stuff. Once you get it sharp it stays that way for a while. Does that one have Birdseye Maple scales?
 
Maybe knarfeng can verify this from his own testing, but I have read that Queen's D2 is run at 60-61 HRC.
It takes a little patience to sharpen properly, but it holds an edge very well. Good choice, Bo.
 
dannyp said:
Nice set there. That's truly a group of iconic knives. The D2 that Queen uses is some good stuff. Once you get it sharp it stays that way for a while. Does that one have Birdseye Maple scales?
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Yes it does.
 
I don't have any traditional knives with ATS-34, but from my experience with it, I'd certainly have to recommend it. I have a Benchmade mini-AFCK (and some Gerbers) with it and ATS-34 is a great knife steel. I'd love to see our traditional makers use this steel more often. I've got to come up with one of those S&M F&W knives!!!

Ed J
 
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