- Joined
- Feb 25, 2001
- Messages
- 6,676
More and more of late, Ive been attracted to Case knives. I used to be rather critical of Case, back in the early to mid 2000s, after getting repeatedly burned. My knives had quality control issues all over the place. Wobbly blades. Absurdly light walk and talk. Crazy crooked edge grinds. Pins sticking out. You name it. There was always an issue or two or three on every knife. But Im happy to say that after collecting about 10 Case knives this year, mostly via mail order, theyve all been pretty darned good. The color of the bone is sometimes too light for my personal tastes, but they have otherwise been great knives. Not always GEC perfect, but definitely good quality for the easy to handle price tag. Its good to see Case stepping up to the plate.
My latest Case came to me about a week and half ago, while buying a new utility trailer at Tractor Supply. I dont go in there much, but I had to peruse the knife case on my way to the register. I was happy to see a good number of various yellow Delrin models in CV. So I promptly tortured the cashier by having her take out a ton of knives and letting me hand pick through them. For the most part, they were all pretty good. But the punch stockman really stuck out to me. All of the punch stockmans were pretty much absolutely perfect in execution. Great walk and talk. Not too screwed up edge grinds (I never expect high quality edge grinds on traditionals, ever). Minimal gapping in the brass liners. Really nice stuff. It was a pleasure to hand pick a knife. I get to do that maybe once every five years or so.
Im not normally a Turkish clip kind of guy. And I usually prefer large over medium stockmans. If I can manage it, Ill try for wood or bone scales over Delrin. So its pretty surprising how much I love this knife. Sometimes a design just comes together, I guess. The clip cleans book trout really well, with its pointy tip. Ive never met a sheepsfoot that I didnt like for utility work. And the punch is just to die for!!! If I had to find one nitpick with this knife, it would be how the punch sits in the knife when closed. The tip sticks inward a hair, causing the punch to scrape against the sheepsfoot. But then again, it seems like every sheepsfoot on every stockman Ive ever owned had one blade or another leaving scratch marks on it, so no biggie. It just sucks to be the sheepsfoot, I guess.
Im a scout pattern fan, so Ive been carrying a punch/awl/reamer in my pocket for a long, long time. Some awls are the classic shape with a scoop on one side. Others are merely sharpened pokey things. Im happy to say that Case punch stockman has probably got the best punch Ive ever used. Its just fantastic. The tip is nice and pointy. The execution of the swedge is amazing. The angle of the grind on the edge is just right. Where most companies will include something closely resembling a punch as an afterthought, Case has taken what could be described as a somewhat useless tool in a modern age, and actually made it work incredibly well. Ive used the tip for scribing marks on painted surfaces. Ive dug chips of safety glass out of a bike tire. The ground edge makes the punch an excellent package opener, so you dont have to get your blades all covered with tape adhesive. Ive stabbed soda cans with it, and even cut circles out of plastic bottles for DIY projects. This little tool is unstoppable. Heck, Case even made it out of stainless steel, so I dont have to worry so much about it rusting, like I would have to on the two other carbon steel blades.
For the time being, this punch stockman is going to ride shotgun with my Remington R-4. The R-4 has a spear, coping blade and no awl, so the punch stockmans clip, sheepsfoot and punch are a match made in heaven. Will this be a permanent carry combo? I dont really know. My love for the utility value of this punch is going to result in some soul searching on my part. I actually have a similar punch on a couple of my Case Junior Scouts. Ive never carried the Junior Scouts because I found them to be too small for regular EDC rotation. Thinking about it now though, the Junior Scout could be a great small scout knife to ride shotgun for a larger knife with a carbon steel blade. Maybe something like my GEC #42. Ill have to think it over some more, now that the seed has been planted.
But for now at least, Ill keep riding the wave with the R-4/Punch Stockman combo and see where it leads.
My latest Case came to me about a week and half ago, while buying a new utility trailer at Tractor Supply. I dont go in there much, but I had to peruse the knife case on my way to the register. I was happy to see a good number of various yellow Delrin models in CV. So I promptly tortured the cashier by having her take out a ton of knives and letting me hand pick through them. For the most part, they were all pretty good. But the punch stockman really stuck out to me. All of the punch stockmans were pretty much absolutely perfect in execution. Great walk and talk. Not too screwed up edge grinds (I never expect high quality edge grinds on traditionals, ever). Minimal gapping in the brass liners. Really nice stuff. It was a pleasure to hand pick a knife. I get to do that maybe once every five years or so.
Im not normally a Turkish clip kind of guy. And I usually prefer large over medium stockmans. If I can manage it, Ill try for wood or bone scales over Delrin. So its pretty surprising how much I love this knife. Sometimes a design just comes together, I guess. The clip cleans book trout really well, with its pointy tip. Ive never met a sheepsfoot that I didnt like for utility work. And the punch is just to die for!!! If I had to find one nitpick with this knife, it would be how the punch sits in the knife when closed. The tip sticks inward a hair, causing the punch to scrape against the sheepsfoot. But then again, it seems like every sheepsfoot on every stockman Ive ever owned had one blade or another leaving scratch marks on it, so no biggie. It just sucks to be the sheepsfoot, I guess.
Im a scout pattern fan, so Ive been carrying a punch/awl/reamer in my pocket for a long, long time. Some awls are the classic shape with a scoop on one side. Others are merely sharpened pokey things. Im happy to say that Case punch stockman has probably got the best punch Ive ever used. Its just fantastic. The tip is nice and pointy. The execution of the swedge is amazing. The angle of the grind on the edge is just right. Where most companies will include something closely resembling a punch as an afterthought, Case has taken what could be described as a somewhat useless tool in a modern age, and actually made it work incredibly well. Ive used the tip for scribing marks on painted surfaces. Ive dug chips of safety glass out of a bike tire. The ground edge makes the punch an excellent package opener, so you dont have to get your blades all covered with tape adhesive. Ive stabbed soda cans with it, and even cut circles out of plastic bottles for DIY projects. This little tool is unstoppable. Heck, Case even made it out of stainless steel, so I dont have to worry so much about it rusting, like I would have to on the two other carbon steel blades.
For the time being, this punch stockman is going to ride shotgun with my Remington R-4. The R-4 has a spear, coping blade and no awl, so the punch stockmans clip, sheepsfoot and punch are a match made in heaven. Will this be a permanent carry combo? I dont really know. My love for the utility value of this punch is going to result in some soul searching on my part. I actually have a similar punch on a couple of my Case Junior Scouts. Ive never carried the Junior Scouts because I found them to be too small for regular EDC rotation. Thinking about it now though, the Junior Scout could be a great small scout knife to ride shotgun for a larger knife with a carbon steel blade. Maybe something like my GEC #42. Ill have to think it over some more, now that the seed has been planted.
But for now at least, Ill keep riding the wave with the R-4/Punch Stockman combo and see where it leads.
