Sod Busters

I

Irish Sentry

Joined
Feb 9, 2005
Messages
114
Looks to me like the best one's out there are Mooremaker 1095HC, Queen d-2, and Eye Brand.

Anybody know much about Boker or Kissing Krane? I think I might start collecting these under the justification "I can carry it if I want".

What is the most you would pay for a Sod Buster knife?
 
Have you owned a mooremaker? I have. I didnt like it much, back spring doesnt compare to a german eye. It doesnt come sharpened.

Go with the queen, even though it really is a sodbuster junior.
 
Ah, soddie's, the love of my knife heart!

No I've never had a Moore Maker, I just can't see an expencive soddie. I've got Case, Eye-Brand, Queen, Boker, Kissing Krane, all in large and small. All are very good knives, some better than others but none bad.

The best one out of the bunch, but not my favorite, is the queen in D2. Fit and finish is good, but not great, on par with my Case soddies. But where the queen country cousin has it, is in a bit better edge holding. Under a weekend long outing with the family it will be a bit sharper on Sunday night, but also there's the other side of the coin- with the D2 its definatly harder to sharpen than the others.

My favorite is a toss between the Case CV and the German Eye-brand, with a slight edge (no pun intended) to the Eye-Brand. Both my eye's were purchased in the 80's, and since then I have put them through alot of work. Nothing seems to phase them, they are the same now as then. Holds a good edge very well, but is easy to touch up as my Case CV's which are close enough to the Eye-brands that their're nipping at their heels. All my Eye-Brands and Case soddies are yellow delrin handle.

The Boker yellow handle soddie is a good knife, but I don't think its quite up there with the Eye's and Case. But its a good knife and I do carry it and use it with no shame what so ever! The carbon blade is good, and touches up easy.

Last but not least at all are my brown mules by Klass. They are a bit rough and crude compared to the others, kind of like the red headed step child from the other side of the tracks, but is a soddie none the less. The blade itself on the Kissing Kranes is good. Gets scary sharp with little effort, holds it well enough to get you through the day, and costs less than all the others. A very servicable knife to experiance the essence of soddie without alot of out lay to see it you like it. BUT! The Klass can be cleaned up like that stepchild with some after purchase care. A little 500 or 600 grit paper, some scotchbrite, some linseed oil, and your Klass can look alot better. And like the orphaned step child you never knew you had, its just as easy to love as the others.

They are all good using knives.

How much would I pay for a soddie? Very tough question since 1. I'm kind of frugal to start with and living on a fixed income retirement sure dos'ent make me feel generous, and 2. I also have the old timers curse- "why I remember when they cost..." Youre talkin to a guy who bought a brand new Chevy C10 pickup at the dealership with sterio and twin tanks for 3800.00 dollars in 1977. My Ruger standard model pistol was 39.95.

Check out the Smoky Mountain site and the yellow Case CV soddies will be priced about 18 bucks for the small and low 20 something for the large. Thats very good for the quality of knife you get and rugged constuction of the Case. Twenty something dollars for a good soddie is about right. The ey-brand is getting into the low thirty something range, and thats a wee bit high, but they ARE a great knife. I'd go that today if I lost my old Eye-Brand.

At 7 to 10 dollars out of Smoky Mountain the Klass brown mules are a steal. I buy alot of these as loan outs. I think I've converted at least a half dozen to a full dozen young guys to traditional knives by loaning them a brown mule for a month. One guy I loaned one to, a young 20 something, it was stock. I had not done anything to it. I loaned him the knife and some 600 paper and a small container of linseed oil and told him to rub down the handle down at night and buff it off in the morning. Well he must have got into working on the knife because at the end of a month he gave me back a new one from Smoky and kept the old one that he had polished and groomed into a nice knife. He also had bought a large and small yellow Case CV and sold off his tacticals. The brown mules by Klass have a tiny bit thinner blade than some of the other soddies, and a sharp mule will slice through cardboard breaking down boxes like you've never felt.

Okay- 10 bucks for Kranes very good deal. A steal.
20 something for a CV case is good.
30 something range is getting a bit high, but the German Eye's are worth it.

Hope I helped.
 
The German Eye sodbusters are my favorite--great fit and finish and one heck of a strong backspring. Case and Queen are highly recommended as well. Kissing Crane are very good working knives but not much in the fit-and-finish department. Moore Makers, while having great eye appeal, have a rather limp backspring.
 
I'm kind "boggled" at Moore Maker asking so much for a Soddie, I have 2 Case Sod' Jr.s one stainless and one CV and they are awesome!

I think Soddies are the true work-horses of the knife world.
 
You don`t wanna spend a fortune and don`t need a fancy outfitted knife but need a strong and well cutting tool? Then get you a Klaas! ;) :cool: :thumbup:
 
I have the Case yellow handled, CV, Soddie Jr. and all three sizes of the Klass, Kissing Crane, Brown Mules. If I like the Case as a good, solid knife that has a little finish to it. On the other hand, the Brown Mules are not only a little truer to the original penny knife concept, but are a darn good deal for a real working knife. All mine have strong springs that snap crisply closed. The edges tune up nice, and they are light weight. I sometimes carry the smallest one, the KC37, for EDC.

Someday I would like to have one of those Stag, Queens in D2, mainly cause I like stag and soddies. However, I feel closer to the roots of the knife, and well served with the Case or the Kissing Cranes.
 
Amos Iron Wolf said:
Someday I would like to have one of those Stag, Queens in D2, mainly cause I like stag and soddies..
Click to expand...

Hey Amos,

Did you say that you like Stag & Soddies..:rolleyes:

Queensodbuster.jpg

GermanBullsodbuster.jpg

Casesodbuster.jpg

EyeBrandSodbusterFront.jpg
 
LOL, sure Sunburst, go ahead, torment me. Well, I have been doing that to the old man over a bolt action .22 I picked up and he wants bad. Anyway, nice stag soddies! I've also seen that saw blade Eye brand around. That's also on my cool to have list. Ever since I used the saw on my first SAK, I've been attracted to pocket knives with good saw blades in them. I have a Schrade (USA) Buzzsaw Trapper.

I like the stag on the Case KY best of the bunch I think.
 
Ahh shucks Amos, I would never do something like that!!! :rolleyes: :D

One thing I have found out on the saw blades is they will cut you and make you bleed even if you leave them in the box..OUCH!!

I agree that the older Case has the prettier stag..I missed that same model Case soddie with a set of stag scales that would put most custom knives to shame by one dollar on ebay before I bought this one...I am still mad about that lost love affair...



Sunburst
 
Is the term "sodbuster" specific to Case Knives or is it a generic term?

I have a Case Sodbuster Junior in CV with yellow scales. It's a great little no-nonsense knife.

I should have a Queen Country Cousin in D2 and Smooth Black Cherry on the way but haven't confirmed the sale yet.
 
Best price on German Eye>? I am probably going to get a Queen and a German Eye...anybody know who has the Queens left?
 
The only person who ever sold the Queen #70 Stag Sodbuster was pgquickco(Ebay site) , to the best of my knowledge.Here is his Ebay address

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZpgquickco

I see he does not have any listed at this moment, I don't know if he has anymore but I would recommend dropping him an email to see. If I remember correctly these were Special Factory Order knives produced for him.

Good luck,

Sunburst
 
The Queen stag soddies were a special order knife by a private individual. I've lost his number now:( !
He sells them to Greg Quick, a dealer. Someone might step in here and give you a contact, jk.

Oops, I see sunburst already got there. A couple of glasses of Cabernet, and I'm no longer the designated driver:o !
 
Irish Sentry said:
Actually I meant the Queen Black Cherry.....where do you guys buy your Eye brand 'busters?
Click to expand...

Smoky Mountain knifeworks has the "big boy" soddies in both the yellow delrin and wood handles for about 30 dollars. This is a big soddie, almost 5 inches closed, but it carries nice in the side pocket of jeans. I think they also have the 3 5/8 ones. :thumbup:
 
My SBC Country Cousin arrived! It was not super sharp out of the box but a bit of work on the Sharpmaker improved things. I can't get the D2 as sharp as CV or Victorinox steel but it's sharp enough to get the job done.

I thought I wouldn't be able to find a Country Cousin in SBC anymore but Cumberland had some. :thumbup:
 
Sod busters are just great tools with character and soul to me.
I do not "collect" these to admire - instead having more than one of these Sod Buster tools to respect proven reliability, performance, comfort, and confidence.

My top favorite is the Case Yellow Handled Sod Buster Jr with CV blades.
The Jr fits my hands real well, easy to carry , easy to maintain.

Next up is the full size Case Sodbuster Yellow Handled with CV Blades.

Now the Case Sod Buster and Sod Buster with Tru-Sharp have given me good service, used as backup, or just kept in various places - just I prefer the CV.

Why Case and none of the other brands for me? I grew up Case, and I still like to buy from a local Mom & Pop Hardware Store , Feed Store, Farm/Ranch Store.
I believe in the Mom&Pop.
I also like taking in do-nuts to these places, drinking their coffee, shooting the breeze and picking out from the Case Display the knife I want.

I also pass this "tradition" forward .
Not long ago a young man asked me to assist him/ go with him and his mom to pick out his first knife.

He did not get a Sod Buster for his first knife "but I want one of them Sod Buster Jr's for sure when my hands get bigger!"

Price? I forget.
One cannot put a price on supporting Mom & Pop businesses, getting free coffee , spending time with like minded folks.
Young man got a free Coke " now this is pretty cool!"
Yes it is I would have to agree - no matter how "big" a "kid".



I didn't grow up - I just got bigger

;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top