sodbusters

When I was a kid, seems like we all had a Case Sodbuster in our pockets. I found a '74 vintage one the other day that I've had since I was in high school. I sharpened her up and carry it again on occasion-it goes into San Antonio a lot as they don't care for lockblades there.

????

I have live here in San Antonio for over 40 years. I have and do carry all manner of lockbacks from little ones to my Junkyard Dog and Tyrade.

Have you heard something I haven't?

Robert
 
Check out Chapter 1, Article 1, Section 21-17, San Antonio Code of Ordinances.

Sec. 21-17. - Certain knives prohibited generally; exceptions; penalty for violation.

(a)
It shall be unlawful for any person to intentionally or knowingly carry on or about his person a knife with a blade less than five and one-half (5½) inches in length, which knife is equipped with a lock mechanism so that upon opening, it becomes a fixed blade knife.
(b)
The above prohibition set forth in subsection (a) shall not be applicable to a person carrying such a knife:
(1)
In the actual discharge of his duties as a peace officer, a member of the armed forces or national guard, or a guard employed by a penal institution;
(2)
On his own premises or premises under his control;
(3)
Traveling;
(4)
Engaged in lawful hunting, fishing or other lawful sporting activity; or
(5)
Using such a knife in connection with a lawful occupation, during such utilization.


I've not personally heard of anyone getting pinched for this, but...
 
Check out Chapter 1, Article 1, Section 21-17, San Antonio Code of Ordinances.

Sec. 21-17. - Certain knives prohibited generally; exceptions; penalty for violation.

(a)
It shall be unlawful for any person to intentionally or knowingly carry on or about his person a knife with a blade less than five and one-half (5½) inches in length, which knife is equipped with a lock mechanism so that upon opening, it becomes a fixed blade knife.


OK... that one. If I recall correctly, that one passed sometime in the early 80's or late 70's, when the Buck craze hit and everyone had a 110. Just about everyone I knew had one of those 110s on their belt, even if they just needed it to open their mail. At that time, the cops didn't even carry utility knives.

A few idiots that used them to cut up steaks at a nice restaurant, folks that whipped them out at inappropriate venues to hear the little girls gasp in fear, and ............. tada! A new ordinance.

They were also quite popular when that nasty movie "Urban Cowboy" came out. Suddenly, being country was cool, and a lot of folks I knew developed a strange mish mash of Texas drawls.

Thank God that is all gone.

Fast forward to now. Discretion is all you need. That law is there to give the cops some kind of teeth to use against the local gangbangers and junior ninjas. My two cop buddies (that love some of my knives) have told me that don't hassle anyone about their knives as long as they aren't being a problem. Neither have arrested anyone for simply having a lockblade.

Odd though, read the ordinance carefully. (This is typical city ordinance style reasoning). It says that it is illegal to carry a knife with a blade UNDER 5 1/2" that locks.

So some of the locking monsters from Cold Steel, United, and the TV blade guys we see should be just fine.

Maybe the solution to following the law is to get a bigger knife!

Thanks for the follow up.

Robert
 
I thought that under 5 1/2" rule seemed strange too and as a former NYC LEO. I had to see why they put that in there. The answer is the state law says anything over 5 1/2 " is an illegal knife in the entire state, so they added the locking under 5 1/2" to ban all locking knives in their city! I thought you guys in Texas were pro weapon!!!! Here is the link to the state law:

http://knife-expert.com/tx.txt
 
The German Eye Brand are great Soddies. Hammer forged carbon steel and flat ground blades where as some of the Case are hollow ground blades. Which ever you get a Soddie is a hard knife to beat.
 
Not to get off topic, but that ordinance is fatally flawed. The last portion of sub paragraph A states, "that it becomes a fixed blade knife".

I don't know of any magical process by which any folding knife with or without a lock becomes a fixed blade. Now a folder with a locking mechanism with the lock engaged does become fixed in an open, engaged or locked position, but the knife is still a folding knife and is effectively broken in the middle at the pivot. Its just a matter of fact that a folder cannot be turned into a fixed blade by simply opening the knife and or engaging the lock. Quite simply the definition of a folding knife with or without a locking mechanism is totally a completely different from the definition of a fixed blade knife. These are simply two separate and distinct types of knives. The ordinance is worded very poorly and would in all probability be tossed out even in front of a very liberal judge.

That ordinance is so full of holes from a semantic stand point which is all legalese is to begin with, just a word game, you could drive a bus through it. Its obvious that not many people have been charged with that yet, because the second someone with a good legal counsel gets that charge, its over.
 
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I thought that under 5 1/2" rule seemed strange too and as a former NYC LEO. I had to see why they put that in there. The answer is the state law says anything over 5 1/2 " is an illegal knife in the entire state, so they added the locking under 5 1/2" to ban all locking knives in their city! I thought you guys in Texas were pro weapon!!!! Here is the link to the state law:

I can tell you that as a weapon carrying Texan, you only have to do a few things to be able to walk around with just about any weapon you can imagine.

- Don't wave it around
- Don't take it to school
- Don't threaten anyone with it
- Don't give them to kids ( although technically a Buck knife falls into the weapon category, I cannot imagine a father not being able to give his son a 110 - never happen(ed) )
- No switchblades. Period. Underline.

I have never, ever heard of anyone getting in trouble for the singular reason of having a lock blade knife. As as posted above, the ordinance is a joke, not even a concern. There are plenty of large lockbacks on belts around here anywhere you go except probably the dinner theater.

Back onto the soddie topic.

In agreement with an earlier post about "EYE" brand knives, I had a large EYE soddie for years. That thing had some kind of quick rusting carbon steel blade, but it was a cutting machine. I carried it around for years off and on, and finally the handle broke off. I was tired of the knife at the time and I traded it off. It was kind of a crude work knife compared to my CASE knives, but it never failed until the wood handle cracked and went to pieces.

I have seen the newest offerings from them at a local dealer in the last couple of months. I can understand the fact that they are selling the idea that these are poorly finished knives made to be used and not looked at, etc.

But the ones the dealer had were really rough. We looked at several he had, and they were all the same. To me, they almost looked like the old Pakistani knives. He assured me the blade quality was just fine (I have no reason to doubt this guy - he's a straight shooter) but he didn't care for the F/F himself. It is slimmer than my Queen soddie, so I was interested in it for a different kind of fit in the pocket.

But the soddies he had in black were wood handled only. Been there, done that. Worse, they were $35. I paid $22 plus shipping with another order to get my yellow Queen in D2, and I can get a CASE at Bass Pro shops for $33 all day long.

Before I bought my Queen, I looked at a LOT of soddies. The first thing I noticed that the quality of the assembly was all over the place on every brand.

In my personal opinion, these are the order in which I would buy these brands of soddie knives. Not a scientific test, just my opinion. As always, your mileage may vary.

First picks: CASE or QUEEN. Overall, F/F good to pretty good. Queen got me with the D2 blade and it is ground to be a slicer. The finish on the yellow handled knife I got was great. However, I will probably get the CASE in black pretty soon. I would put the Bulldog soddie in this group, and I am suspecting that the Bulldog is made by Queen.

Second picks: EYE brand (pick through to get a good one). I will put Kissing Crane in here, and if I recall correctly, they are made in China. The fit and finish was great (overall better than the EYEs I looked at), they are very inexpensive, and locked up tight. The only downside was that no one had a clue what steel it was or how hard it was. But the ones I looked at were only $8 - $12.

Rough Rider has their model of sodbuster as well, and I have to say the knife was VERY WELL finished, ground, and assembled. Better than than the QUEENS and CASES. Still haven't taken to the Rough Riders yet, though. Maybe soon.

Third picks: Boker. The F/F was all over the place. They are made in Argentina, and these are obviously considered an afforable work knife. The blades wobbles on some, tight on others, grinds all over the place, not much lined up after assembly and the examples I looked at were dirty (probably polish/buff compound) right out of the box. Selling point would be they are cheap.

I know there are other brands out there and the quality of this pattern of knives seem to be all over the place. But there are some real winners, too. Since I just finished this process, I thought I would tap this quick opinion out.

Robert
 
With regard to the Bulldog soddies:

I recently purchased some of the Bulldog sodbusters (a couple each of the large and small versions), and I noticed that, in size & shape (dimensions), they are IDENTICAL to the Eye Brand Delrin handled soddie (I have one of those also). The Bulldog version has a highly polished carbon blade, and can be had in at least 3 colors that I know of (yellow, green or red Delrin). The Bulldog also features the same 'matchstriker' nail knick/pull as on the Eye Brand. A dealer I dealt with in purchasing these knives indicated to me that they (the Bulldogs) are imported from Germany by Jim Parker (who owns the Bulldog brand). For these reasons, I'm inclined to believe they were produced by, or in the same factory as, the Eye Brand soddies. I'm not aware of any involvement by Queen in the production of the Bulldog knives.

My impression of the Eye Brand in Delrin is very favorable. I had been tempted to purchase one of theirs in the wood handle, but in light of the earlier comment about the wood handle breaking, I'm kind of glad I didn't. I have some other wood handled, bolsterless folding knives, and I've noticed that they inevitably end up cracking and or splitting apart at the pin locations. I wish the makers would use laminated wood and/or stabilized wood to produce the handles on these. That'd go a long way toward minimizing the cracks, I'd think...
 
I'll look also into the Buldog and Eye Brand soddies :thumbup:

Could you educate me on the case pattern numbers?

CA095 is the jr ?
CA092 is the larger ?
2137 : 21 for black and 37 for jr?
2138 : 21 for black and 38 for the larger?
3137 yellow jr ?
SS stainless steel version
CV chrome canadium

Ok, now I've been looking at case's website.

The black ones come in large and junior version (John Deere is same as junior???) but only in stainless?
The yellow ones come in SS and CV but only in a junior version?
Is this correct?

There also appears to be a blue handled American Workman Sod buster in SS (4138)
The blue one seems also a bit cheaper ,than even the jr so different quality?
 
Here is a new large soddie from Case.


ca13007.jpg


(photo from NGK)
 
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I also like sodbusters. Here is a picture of my old Friedrich Herder. It has a wooden handle and a carbon steel blade of 9 cm length.

FriedrichHerderSmall.jpg


Here's a newer one, a smaller one (blade length is 7.5 cm), also German made.
HomeijKnifeSmall.jpg
 
Case Soddies? Great.
Queen? Amazing (till you lose em like I did... make sure to get yella handles!)
German Boker? Also great.
Rough Rider? Great work knife.

Bear and Sons? HORRIBLE. I've read some bad reviews about them before, but turned my head when I saw a lockback soddie. Big mistake. The Scales weren't pinned on all the way (as in one of the scales lifts off, only the big main pin holds it on), the blade was overly tight, the blade was BENT IN THE MIDDLE.

I haven't had any issues like this (these being other than cosmetic or the tight blade) with any other soddies from other companies, not even the 5$ Kissing Crane Mule (which was pretty good honestly).
 
I got today Böker Caucho Jr Sodbuster with High Carbon blade made in Argentina. Good knife. Almost identical to Case Sodbuster Jr SS I have except Hollow grind in vs vs Flat grind in Böker and Stainless vs High Carbon.

Böker was harder to sharpen but took sharp endge enough to shave.

Blade spine was pretty sharp and blade was stiff. It has very loud snap. Scales are yellow polyurethane or some sort of plastic alloy. Its more grippy than Case's. Cases Fit and Finish is better but Böker seems to be very nice work knife.
 
I had better luck with Bear & Sons than Javelin did, but only by a little. In my case, it took a little careful stoning to get the lock to disengage properly. I would not suggest that company.

Rough Rider and Indian Head (seem to be the same knife) are good value. The Chinese 440 steel ain't bad. Might need a touchup a little more often than some others, but it'll take an edge easily and hold it long enough for my needs.

I'm another who likes those yellow handles on a work knife. My work habits are not the neatest and it helps to have handles that jump out at me when I'm trying to remember where I put the knife down.
 
So the Boker Cinch are flat ground? My Case is hollow ground and I prefer flat, anyone know whether the Queens are flat or hollow?

I like Case sodbusters I'm just not a fan of hollow ground blades.
 
So the Boker Cinch are flat ground? My Case is hollow ground and I prefer flat, anyone know whether the Queens are flat or hollow?

I like Case sodbusters I'm just not a fan of hollow ground blades.

All the Queens I have seen (including the one I own) are full flat grind.

Makes that D2 sing!

Robert
 
It makes a difference when you use the knife to do some camp chores (fuzz up some tinder), then turn around and cut up a chicken and then a pile of veggies.

How the heck do ya cook a whole chicken with a camp fire?


You know it's coming..... there is only ONE choice.....

Buy both! :D

At the prices both Queen and CASE get for these knives, they are a steal. I think I paid $22 for my Queen.Robert

Agree, agree, agree! Because they are so (relatively) inexpensive, I went haywire and ordered the Case CV, SS and Queen D2 Country Cousin all at once. I was so excited to be getting Sods in three different steels. But when those taxes, exchange rates and shipping charges get piled on, it can make ya cringe. I still say get both!:D

BTW, anyone else find the Queen handles to be a bit fat? It is actually wider than it is taller.
 
How the heck do ya cook a whole chicken with a camp fire?

You cut it up so you can cook the whole chicken. If I have a chicken, that means I am on an overnight with my SO, or with the guys camping/hunting and we have a cooler.

So we also have some kind of pans. Cut up the chicken to make soup, stew, or to separate the pieces and grill it over a chunk of wire mesh (my favorite way!) over a wood fire. Any way it's cooked, it is easier in at least halves or quarters, if not for cooking, for serving.

BTW, anyone else find the Queen handles to be a bit fat? It is actually wider than it is taller.

Nope. Like I said before, the Case and its flatter friends ride better, but the fatter, rounder handles of the Queen make it much more comfortable to actually use and hold in my hands.

Robert
 
I have a ton of sod busters. The German Eye Brand and Case are the best, but some old Weidmannsheils are right up there too! The Kissing Kranes are a good value, including the cheaper plastic handle ones that are made in Italy for them. The German Bull are also well made. The Rough Rider and Indian Head sold by SMKW are good values for the price, but be warned the liner locking models of these have the softest metal liner locks you will find anywhere, and I have had a few not hold at all right out of the box! The back springs are strong, so the knives are safe as long as you understand the liner locks are a joke! Finally stay far far away from Bear & son! I waited for the lock back version over a month on back order from SMKW and when it arrived, I found it to be one of the poorest made knives I have ever seen. Blade wobble, bad grind, bad lock up, fit and finish suck, and those were the good things about it! Sad as I would have bought more USA made ones from them....The real value on a cheap one is sold by SMKW and is call a Rite Edge sod buster for under $4 with a wood handle.
 
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