Uses For The Stockman

[Brad "the butcher"]

Honestly just carry it for awhile solo and let the knife show you what it can do....
A lot!

 

[TheFactor]

This is what I use mine for

and sometimes just a glamour shot striking a pose

 

[JPD1998]

I have a bunch of large Stockman knives and found out years ago it's all you need for most chores.
The Case large stockman in the picture below is usually in my pocket even if I have another knife with me.

I use the sheep's foot blade for just about everything, it sits the highest and is very versatile.
If it dulls, I have two other blades to use.

 

[midnight flyer]

Honestly just carry it for awhile solo and let the knife show you what it can do....
A lot!

Agree! I have carried them since the early 60s, and that is the only knife pattern that always finds its way back into my pocket. I prefer the larger CASE, but have several others including a mid size with the main being a Persian influenced design, down to a small Robert Klass that is about the size of a pen knife. All of them have great utility value, not just good lookers.

Robert

 

[Blues]

It is by far the pattern I have more of than any other...along with its "cattle knife" sibling. They are simply awesome...both custom and production. (I too have carried them since the late 50's / early 60's. They still have the same allure.)

 

[jackknife]

Honestly just carry it for awhile solo and let the knife show you what it can do....
A lot!

Best advice in the whole thread!!!

 

[Boattale]

Here's one I have yet to see on BF. Nothing fancy but it is USA made - in Mt. Ida Arkansas. Totally serviceable.

My Case is a nicer slightly smaller version.



I do like a stockman. Missing the old Buck that I carried for years, but has somehow gone missing.

There's one more use from my youth that discretion prevents me from describing in detail. But that use is at least partly why so many of us carried the stockman style of knife.

 

[Bigfattyt]

I do like a good stockman.

It was my first traditional pattern.... lots of uses. Piercing with the clip point, boxes/packages with the warncliff/sheep's foot. Whittling, it gives three different blade shapes to make different cuts.

I like spey blades. Larger spey blades like onba 23 trapper or 73 trapper get the most use from me. Great sandwich making blade!! Slicing cheese, spreading peanut butter, or mayo, tomatoes, apples

Spey blades do, indeed work well for castration.

I also find that Spear points work well for castration. I've used sheep's foot, drop points, spey, scalpel, warncliff, sodbuster, trapper, and others. Spey woek great, but honestly a nice blunt point sheep's foot or even rounded off nose works even better.

Less point/less chance of poking your self. Calves like to move, and try to kick you if the guy holding the rear legs slips up.

I've been kicked right in my testicle by a large calf (he dropped several weeks before rhe rest of the calves came) while I was castration him. Ironic...

Old Timer Stockman getting warmed up near the hot irons....

53 stockman at supervising the irons.

 

[SVTFreak]

What blades are in it are not so important when all it’s doing is keeping you coming while waiting on foot bones to heal up.

 

[Tyson A Wright]

I've only ever had a very small stockman (a Camillus-made Buck 303), and I used the main blade until it was dull, then sheepsfoot, then the spay. If I noticed the main blade dulling in time to sharpen it before that, I would go a really long time without using either of the smaller blades. I should note, I'm not a cowboy; I just used it for casual EDC.

-Tyson

 

[Brad "the butcher"]

I don't have a pricey one but for 14 years or so been using a camco workhorse stockman
For like 14 or 17 dollars.....brass bolsters and black McCarty.....darn autocorrect MICARTA LOL
Looks alright and works well BUT WISH I HAD A NICE CASE, QUEEN OR GEC in better steel
Surprisingly the cheap camco holds an edge alright...nothing to write home about except for performance for price category

 

[JTR357]

That is pretty much how I always used mine. Sold off the brood cows a few years ago so i don't really need to cut bull calves these days. I can remember when Case sold stockmen with the spey blade etched "for flesh only". Very thin scalpel edge.

I remember seeing that too, on the older knives!

 

[midnight flyer]

I don't have a pricey one but for 14 years or so been using a camco workhorse stockman
For like 14 or 17 dollars.....brass bolsters and black McCarty.....darn autocorrect MICARTA LOL
Looks alright and works well BUT WISH I HAD A NICE CASE, QUEEN OR GEC in better steel
Surprisingly the cheap camco holds an edge alright...nothing to write home about except for performance for price category

The CAMCO should be a pretty good work knife. According to another knife site that is all about pocket knives, they say that they were actually made by Camillus. Not great, but pretty good.

After a weekend of hard carpentry work for a friend, he borrowed my CASE stockman so much I told him to put it in his pocket and give it back at the end of the day. He didn't, I forgot, and later after he told me he was carrying it a lot to "keep it safe", I told him to keep it. I had owned many CASE stockman patterns, and thought of them as a good work knife, nothing too special.

So when I went to replace it about 10 - 12 years ago, it seemed to me that the CASE knives had taken a dive in quality. Growing up, I proudly carried only CASE folders, only having my first non CASE, a Boker, that was received as a gift. I was spoiled. I was used to picking the scales I wanted from out local sporting good store, then putting my edge on it, then in the pocket it went, ready for work. Over the years I had several.

But looking for a new one that had the same quality, the heavier blade (the XL or XXL pattern) was tough. In some weird way, I remember the pricing being about what it is now, only about 12 or so years ago. So $60 - $75 for an unadorned model (not a commemorative, no fancy scales, not a limited edition - thanks, Zippo) was a fair lick at pricing when I was buying knives like my RAT 1 for $25. Back then, never found a CASE that didn't have a couple of half peened pins, maybe the shield sticking out on one side, a blade that wouldn't open like the others, a cracked scale, grit in assembly, poor grinds, etc. I vote with my feet, and didn't bite.

A contractor buddy of mine bought me a Remington set, based solely on the name. It had the perfect stockman pattern I like, and a peanut knife together. He bought them for about $20 for the set. It has black dymond wood scales dyed though, and 440a (a guess) blades. I could not have been more surprised at the quality. It is great! The hardness of the steel is a little harder than the CASE ran theirs, it doesn't rust, all blades still snap closed, and I liked it enough I went to the same store and bought two more sets. It is exactly what I wanted, just not from the maker or country I preferred. They have performed as well as any CASE I have ever owned, which makes me sad.

So no CASE. I bought a Queen, but the main blade was a little flimsy for me. Could never, ever get a GEC, even with one of the BF folding dealers keeping an eye out for me. Those GEC collectors seem to buy all the knives as released and preorder as much as possible. Doubtful at this stage of the game I will ever wear one out, and since I have two (one gets dull, I get the other one) I am pretty sure I am set.

Good news though, I have recently seen some really gorgeous knives, well made and the fit and finish excellent from the CASE guys that weren't prohibitively expensive. I think everyone that likes the pattern and appreciates it as a work knife should own a CASE, a BUCK or an old Schrade stockman.

Robert

 

[DMG]

When I was a kid I had the Buck stockman pattern knife that was one size up from the regular stockman. I hope I can find it in my old gear somewhere.

 

[Brad "the butcher"]

Yah midnight the camco workhorse surprised me, glad I bought 2 but always on the lookout for a better one
Camillus is still a brand at least