What slipjoint am I looking for?

[OTguy]

Hi all,

Thanks for the good suggestions. I am taking a good look at the canoe and the gunstock patterns from Queen. I wonder though - is there a good source of information on the history of slipjoints? I am curious about the different patterns, the dates the patterns came into existence and the design rationale (or evolution).

Side note: I stopped by a local knife store today, and happened upon the Victorinox Soldier. Nice looking knife, and so I have purchased my first slipjoint!

Question: how will the silver Alox handles hold up in a pocket with keys?

Please keep the suggestions coming,

Matthew

You made a nice choice for your first slipjoint, many experienced knifers have chosen this as a EDC even though they have lots of others to pick from. Don't worry about those alox scales, they are made to take all the wear and tear you can dish out and come back for more. Short of taking a grinder to it or beating on it with a hammer, there's not much you can do to harm that alox. V-nox makes good stuff and the alox models are the best of the bunch. I have the Farmer model and I'm still amazed at the amount of quality packed into a 22$ dollar knife, you could have done ALOT worse for a first slippie, but in terms of usefullness, value, and quality you couldn't do much better.

 

[Starfish]

Thanks OTguy. It's kind of interesting to see this thread revived from the back pages, and take stock of where I am now. Since starting this thread, I've picked up a Case small Texas jack in CV steel and amber bone handles, a Case mini-trapper in CV-steel and yellow Delrin, and my latest, an A.G. Russell Cattaraugus sleeveboard whittler (an A.G. "seconds"). I love them all, but the Victorinox Soldier is still my EDC*! This is probably due to the "tool" nature of the Victorinox, which makes it a useful knife to have around.

*Not that I don't carry another knife along with the Soldier model

Matthew

 

[Spydiefan04]

I'll second the nomination for the Queen with D2 steel blades. Your only other choice in a canoe pattern from a US company would be Case....they offer it in 420SS or carbon steel.....the only downside is that their canoe has a much thinner blade stock.

Is the statment about Queen having a much thicker bladestock than Case accurate?????? Also, what would be the best handle material for a Queen USER, I've toyed with getting a Buck 501,503, or SAK Soldier instead, but have come back to thinking I want to try a Queen D2 Canoe, but I've never owned a Queen, used to Case CV. Also I don't think anyone has mentioned it, but if you want ATS-34 (high-end stainless) look at the Queen Schatt and Morgan line and a new line from Case (I forget its name but it is coming out this year).

 

[klattman]

Is the statment about Queen having a much thicker bladestock than Case accurate?????? Also, what would be the best handle material for a Queen USER, I've toyed with getting a Buck 501,503, or SAK Soldier instead, but have come back to thinking I want to try a Queen D2 Canoe, but I've never owned a Queen, used to Case CV. Also I don't think anyone has mentioned it, but if you want ATS-34 (high-end stainless) look at the Queen Schatt and Morgan line and a new line from Case (I forget its name but it is coming out this year).

I don't know about thickness. It would really depend... for instance I have a queen canoe (brand new ) and a queen small stock, and case russlock and small/med stock. The two stocks look pretty close (i have not measured them), the russ is quite thin and the Canoe main blade is thick.

The Queen Canoe (winterbottom delrin, wanted to get cheaper until I deceide if I like it), _main_ blade is quite thick...about 1/8" at the spine near the hinge and tapering down quickly, but I have convexed mine and it matches my SAK blades in performance thru cardboard (still no match for the CalypsoJr.) I suspect that the D2 will be sharp for a very long time, I've only had it for a couple days. D2 is hard stuff, but sandpaper and the sharpmaker do well. You absolutely must reprofile queen factory edges. The second, smaller blade is just under 1/16" and tapers off, it can be made into a nice, thin scalpel. Now if it was only one-handed

I think Ats-34 would be a great choice, but the stuff is so darn expensive, especially in trad. SJs.

 

[knifeaholic]

Is the statment about Queen having a much thicker bladestock than Case accurate?????? Also, what would be the best handle material for a Queen USER, I've toyed with getting a Buck 501,503, or SAK Soldier instead, but have come back to thinking I want to try a Queen D2 Canoe, but I've never owned a Queen, used to Case CV. Also I don't think anyone has mentioned it, but if you want ATS-34 (high-end stainless) look at the Queen Schatt and Morgan line and a new line from Case (I forget its name but it is coming out this year).

Hey, would I have posted that if it wasn't TRUE?? LOL

See for yourself....most Case patterns have blade stock that is too thin, IMHO...although their canoe is one of the worst....one difference is that Case makes their canoe with two backsprings, each blade rides on its own spring....so the stock has to be thinner or the knife would get too bulky.

The way that Queen tools up their canoe, there is one thick backspring on which both blades ride.....Case used to do theirs this way, too, up to the mid 80's.

 

[klattman]

Hey, would I have posted that if it wasn't TRUE?? LOL

See for yourself....most Case patterns have blade stock that is too thin, IMHO...although their canoe is one of the worst....one difference is that Case makes their canoe with two backsprings, each blade rides on its own spring....so the stock has to be thinner or the knife would get too bulky.

The way that Queen tools up their canoe, there is one thick backspring on which both blades ride.....Case used to do theirs this way, too, up to the mid 80's.

Good to know, now I'm glad I got the Queen canoe instead of the Case canoe.

 

[Spydiefan04]

Knifeaholic is totally correct about Case Canoe's blade thickness and single vs. double backsprings, what is funny is that I never paid any attention to that before, mainly bc all of my SS knives are kept locked up for collecting and never actually used. After reading what was posted I got out some of my newer SS canoes and compared it to a CV one my grandad gave me that was made in the 70s. Sure enough, the old one has 1 fairly thick backspring and a much thicker main blade, the SS ones have 2 thin backsprings, and a noticably thinner main blade. So I guess if I want a Canoe like my OLD Case a Queen is as close as I'll ever get. Thanks for the info

Blade thickness is not prob on the bigger Cases: Trapper, Large Stockman, but on the smaller ones even on the Russlock and Canoe, yet their a bit thin. I wonder why Case changed their Canoe design, you ofter see their SS Canoes priced as high or higher than Queen's with comparable handle materials.

 

[knifeaholic]

Case changed their design because it's easier to make the knife with two springs....you don't have to worry about adjusting the "blade fall".

Other examples where Case has done this...the new 64052 congress knives have four backsprings, one per blade, and the blade stock is paper-thin. The 6347 uses three backsprings and thin stock.