Got a new cutter.

SO, I’d been thinking last week, and some before, that I only ever use two blades on my EDCF stockman, the clip and the sheepsfoot. Never the small spey blade. And of the two I do use, very rarely the large clip. The small sheepsfoot gets 90% of the work.  

I started out as I have divided work on multiblade knives before, the main/long clip for general use; the spey left razor sharp for scalpel work, as an always sharp backup, or a clean food blade if needed; and the sheeps foot for rougher work, scrapping, more abusive work etc.

Well, as time went on, I tended to only use the long clip for food, or for where I needed reach, or a fine point… Then only if I needed reach. Which became very rare.  

I started needing a shorter shouter blade for heavier materials, and useing the sheeps foot as a rough use blade, against hard backing, or as a light scraper, then progressed to the blade i opened for any task…    Its a nice blade, short and stiff, narrow and thin, but strong. A fully straight edge is easy to control, and the acute tip is good at piercing, but not as fragile as a clip blade tip. And no curve means the point “moves” less as the geometry/angle of aproach in a cutting motion changes.

Which is all funny, since I used to Hate a sheepsfoot, or the similar profiled wharncliffe blade. A Colt COngress I got a few years ago changed that, and on that knife as well, I turned out to use the sheepsfoot more than any other blade.

 

Also, I’d been wanting to try a slightly larger stockman. The Queen EDCF knife is great, and perfectly addequate. But sometimes, its a bit small to grip, and the blades are generally narrow, which makes me nervous sometimes in really heavy materialls… You ever flex a narrow thin blade very far side ways and you think of these things.  Honestly, that is few and far between, and I’ve been using a Peanut for 8 years and haven’t broke a blade.

But, no real reason to Not try something a lil bigger either. 😉

The Queen is 3.25” and nice, but I wanted a little longer/wider. But I’ve really gotten used to the smaller knives, and the ones I have around 3–7/8” to 4.5” don’t see much use because I find them too big these days.  So I was looking at 3.5” to 3–7/8” stockmans.  

After deciding I wanted a 2 blade knife, a clip and a sheepsfoot,  I started looking for a jack knife, (two blades, one big, one small hinged at the same end) or a 2 blade double end(one blade hinged at each end) around 3.5” to 3.7/8” max.

I also decided I wanted the blades on opposite ends, since I’ve had a few “jackknives” with a big and little blade on one end, and the Peanut is the only one of that arrangement I’ve ever really liked… Not sure why but any bigger, and I just don’t get along with the style.

That blade combo is almost impossible to find. Especially in current production knives. And even harder for a opposite ended blade arrange ment, AND even harder with the size constraints.

So, I started looking at two blade knives in the right size, and style, with a pen/spear secondary blade, that i could then bob the tip off of, making a straight edge only sheepsfoot from it.

Choices there aren’t real common either…

But I stumbled onto a pattern I had been intrigued by before, a few years ago as a stockman.  I passed on it then because at the time, the stockman 3 blade format, and frame style didn’t agree with me.  They also make them in a 3 blade whittler arrangement of blades, but again, a style that didn’t agree with me, being close to a stockman.

But, I just happened to notice they offer it in a Half whittler; two blades at opposite ends. A clip main and pen secondarry. And its 3–5/8” long. Perfect!

And, the draws I’d seen in the pattern before, were an un common(now of days… its actually an Old design) frame shape, that looks to be easy and comfy to grip, while still being pleasing to the eye.

And sunk joints.   Sunk joints mean the pivot of the blades sit lower in the frame, and the area of the blade spine where it drops into the notch where the spring engages, sits below the edges of the bolsters/frame, covered. Most traditional forder have that part of the blade exposed when closed. No real functional difference, but itbreakesup the flowing line of the frame, and some don’t like the sharp corners sticking up, they can eat pocket linings(I’ve never had that trouble.

But for me, sunk joints mean low set blades; One draw back to any multi blade knife is that in using any one blade, part of your grip is the outer back edges of the other blades. Depending on the design, and blade styles/widths, this can actually be pretty uncomfortable.  Sunk joints drop more of the blade int the frame, keaving les sticking up into your grip.   And on this example, it actually drops the blades almost completeny into the frame, so far that they provided finger notches in the frame to access the nail nicks to open the blades.

Great! 

All of the features I wanted, in a nice style, great size, and some bonus features. All I had to do was pick a bone color…. That took a while. 😉   I finally opted for something a little different for me, that I’d previously steered clear of. the white/light bone with a amber almost stag look to it… Never really apealed to me before, but this particular run/color set really stood out to me.

So, I have ordered, and recierved, a Case 2012 Golden Rod Bone -Bradford Cutlery Shield – Humpback Half Whittler Model # 62046 1/2 SS(True Sharp Stainless)

And…

I Hate It.

 

Lol. No, Sorry! Just kidding!

I Love It!! Everything I wanted, and everything I expected! Great size and feel, super clean build, good snap, but blades not too hard to open, great color on the bone.(ordered somewhere i could pick the knife actually, so I ordered the bone variation I liked— didn’t have to buy blind on the colors 😀 )    

Now, I do say “everything I wanted” which isn’t strictly true. Its not a sheepsfoot secondary. But the long pen blade will be Verry easy to mod the tip off of.

And honestly, that long pen is rather nice, I’ll be leaving it as is for a while and see how I like it in use. The tip is different for control and penetrating cuts, but its still 90% a long straight edge. We shall see!

 

Note, two blades, two back springs, so its a bit thicker than it could have been made on one spring, and this I like, its not too thin in hand. But also note no center liner/devider between springs, giving a slightly thinner profile, and sleeker look.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Not only a Bradford Cutlery shield, but also blade tang stamp;

(will research and post significance of Bradford Cutlery later, but IIRC its a previous house brand, or different branch of the Case family that had its own brand.. something like that.)

 

 

Nice swedges on the main blade;

 

 

And something a little out of the ordinarry, a single sidded swedge on the pen blade;

 

 

 

(forgive the blur… knife in one hand and camera in the other, and my hands Never stop shaking anymore…)

 

Actual comparison to the EDCF Queen. Bigger, but not a lot. Just enough.

 

 

 

 

And with my Circle C Peanut;