The proper designation of a type of traditional folder ...

[Luke_Chambers]

Could I ask for you experts' opinion.
There is the sodbuster. Everybody knows the sodbuster:

Then there is another type of knife. Quite similar, but there some differences to the sodbuster (as shown in the picture above):
- This other type of knife has bolsters,
- Tends to be a bit bigger,
- Slightly different shape of handle,
- Always a locking blade, and often has a top leaver to unlock the blade.

Now my question: Do you rate this second group of knives as a variant of "sodbusters"? Or is there a different designation?

Many thanks, all responses much appreciated.

 

[mrknife]

why not call it a sodbuster plus! everything you want in a sodbuster and more

 

[black mamba]

I think the frame usually takes precedent on naming patterns, so I would call the second group locking single blade trappers.

 

[Luke_Chambers]

why not call it a sodbuster plus! everything you want in a sodbuster and more

The question originated from a German forum on knives. At the moment, we are having an exchange on whether these knives are all the same or whether they belong to different "families". Alligators and crocodiles, so to speak. I myself use different names, but this could be down to the local dialect or could be faulty memory from the time I was little.
The knife collecting hobby is more established in the US than in Germany, with many more people taking an interest. So I thought, why not extend the question to here.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

I'd also go with the 'locking single-blade trapper' description for the 2nd group, owing to the frame and squared bolster specifically. They look essentially identical to all the large-framed, 2-blade trapper patterns out there, such as from Remington or Camillus, but simply excluding the secondary spey blade usually seen in the 2-blade trappers. One of my locking large trappers is pictured below: a double-locking pattern (made by Camillus) under the Moore Maker brand.

 

[Misplaced Hillbilly]

Not that I'm an expert by any stretch, but I agree with black mamba on this. I would call them jumbo trappers,the lever lock type seem to be popular in Germany. I think however the patterns are related. Think of the sodbuster type as a working knife, something a farmer or miner would carry. Though not directly related, I think the Opinel fills the same niche. The trapper version would be carried by someone of higher class than a farmer. Such as a Jägermeister or minor nobles such as barons,as a backup to fixed blade hunting knife. They may have been favored by master craftsmen. Think then the sodbuster would be the knife of the apprentice,and the better knife for someone more experienced. Perhaps a master would gift the trapper type to the apprentice upon reaching journeyman status. Maybe I just have an over active imagination

 

[flylock]

the sodbuster is a type of folding butcher knife. great for trappers, hunters or all around kitchen duties.

 

[dundak]

Single blade locking knives were usually named after their lock type.

 

[meako]

Isn't sodbuster a brand specific title? Case call it a sodbuster but GEC ..for instance...may not so they call it a farm n field tool...?

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Isn't sodbuster a brand specific title? Case call it a sodbuster but GEC ..for instance...may not so they call it a farm n field tool...?

Case trademarked the pattern name 'Sod Buster' (two words) for their pattern, specifically as it relates to knives. So, in that sense, the 2-word designation is or was legally theirs alone. As 'sodbuster' in one word, I think that term might be more generic in reference to knives anyway. And I think Case's naming of theirs was a nod to the old 'Sod Buster' plow by John Deere, as pictured on Case's blades.

 

[Will Power]

I assumed that Sod Buster was just CASE's version of similar European work- knives such as those shown- the Otter and Thiers Issard Mineur, I don't think CASE made them prior to the late 1960s? In the 1st edn of Levine he simply refers to it as a Farmer's Jack but this is generic and unintentionally misleading as he also shows the Farmer's Jack frame that later on GEC and Queen made versions of- GEC 38 with Pruner/budding or spey single spring. This make me assume that the term Sod Buster was marketing and had not yet caught on as a familiar name in the mid 1970s ?

The bigger knives with a bolster and locking mechanisms I would have thought of as Locking Hunters? I wouldn't think of them as locking Sodbusters as they are not Shadow (bolster less) knives except for the large locking version made by GEC in Shadow Micarta for Smith & Sons.