Blade Pattern - you're NOT a fan of?

[wazu013]

Any knife with the wave feature

[MountainMan]

My favorite pattern to collect is the split-backspring whittler, but I don't like Wharncliff blades and don't own a single knife with a Wharncliff blade. Never understood the functional purpose of it and never liked the esthetics. Someone must like them though cuz Case keeps making them.

I don't get it. I have absolutely fallen in love with my Case Seahorse whittler with a wharncliff blade. I think maybe it is because I love my marlinspikes as well and a sheepsfoot blade is very similar to a wharncliff.

Matter of fact, one of the knives Ive got designed to make is a wharncliff fixed blade.

[jerryd6818]

Yeah, I've never liked a Kris blade or the butterfly knives they usually come in.

[Mumbleypeg]

My favorite pattern to collect is the split-backspring whittler, but I don't like Wharncliff blades and don't own a single knife with a Wharncliff blade. Never understood the functional purpose of it and never liked the esthetics. Someone must like them though cuz Case keeps making them.

I don't get it. I have absolutely fallen in love with my Case Seahorse whittler with a wharncliff blade. I think maybe it is because I love my marlinspikes as well and a sheepsfoot blade is very similar to a wharncliff.

Matter of fact, one of the knives Ive got designed to make is a wharncliff fixed blade.

So you're the guy that keeps Case making those Wharncliff whittlers! Glad you like them, and you don't have to worry about me beating you to any of them (I seldom buy any new production stuff anyway unless it's for EDC). I do like sheepsfoot blades but from my perspective will have to disagree about them looking like Wharncliffs. I can see the function of a sheepsfoot but the reasoning behind Wharncliff eludes me. To each his own. If you like em, go for it!

[dcgm4]

I can see the function of a sheepsfoot but the reasoning behind Wharncliff eludes me.

I actually find the wharncliffe a very useful blade. I use the one on my trapper a lot. It's especially useful when you want to puncture something rather than just slice it, such as opening boxes. I like how wharncliffes are replacing spey blades on trappers. For me wharncliffes are much more useful than a spey.

[djknife13]

I LOVE lemon pie, love hawkbills (I have about 300) especially those huge IXL stags. Can't see collecting camper/scout knives. They only have one blade out of four that have any practical use in my everyday cuttlery needs. I like any knife with a big serious working blade. Why grab a skill saw when a pocket knife will cut it. Besides a leatherman and a whittler, I carry a small H&B wharncliff for whenever a big blade is too clumsy.

[Mumbleypeg]

I LOVE lemon pie, love hawkbills (I have about 300) especially those huge IXL stags. Can't see collecting camper/scout knives. They only have one blade out of four that have any practical use in my everyday cuttlery needs. I like any knife with a big serious working blade. Why grab a skill saw when a pocket knife will cut it. Besides a leatherman and a whittler, I carry a small H&B wharncliff for whenever a big blade is too clumsy.

I understand where you're coming from. In my case, I don't typically collect what I carry, and visa versa. I mostly collect stag or bone scales but for EDC it's yellow delrin. My favorite pattern to collect is whittlers but have never carried one. Thought about it a few times but I typically use a knife several times a day, sometimes pretty hard, so just can't bring myself to doing that to a whittler. I don't abuse them (not a screwdriver nor a pry bar) but will have to re-sharpen at least weekly.

Probably indicative of the population demographic shift from rural to urban/suburban lifestyle. This may also account for popularity of blades like Wharncliff and small plastics like the Swiss army style which for me are pretty much useless for work I do (typically outdoors).

Knives are tools, so we all find what we need. And that is one of the beauties of knives!

[Dinadan]

I am another wharncliff fan. The wharncliff and the sheepfoot seem very good for careful work. I do not much care for hawk bills. I have had a couple and I like the way they look, but they just do not seem as useful as other patterns for most cutting.

[djknife13]

I'm a carpenter and find alot of uses for a hawkbill at work. I found my ideal knife a few years ago. It's a handmade (Larry Hayes, Mpls Mn.) copy of the vintage Remington split back, hump back, lock back whittler with drop dead stag scales. I would love to carry and use that knife, but can't make myself do that. When I get too old to hurt a knife by using it, I may carry it, but until then I may carry it to church just to show off, but won't take a chance actually cutting something. I do use antique knives from my collection on and off for work. They've lasted 100 years and I don't have enough years left to wear them out as long as I use my head with them. An old working knife deserves to be useful instead of just sitting around looking pretty. I don't like any knife I can't see a use for.

[Colonel26]

I'm a carpenter and find alot of uses for a hawkbill at work. I found my ideal knife a few years ago. It's a handmade (Larry Hayes, Mpls Mn.) copy of the vintage Remington split back, hump back, lock back whittler with drop dead stag scales. I would love to carry and use that knife, but can't make myself do that. When I get too old to hurt a knife by using it, I may carry it, but until then I may carry it to church just to show off, but won't take a chance actually cutting something. I do use antique knives from my collection on and off for work. They've lasted 100 years and I don't have enough years left to wear them out as long as I use my head with them. An old working knife deserves to be useful instead of just sitting around looking pretty. I don't like any knife I can't see a use for.

I too use my good old collectible knives from time to time. It may just be Sunday go to meeting, but the all see some pocket time.

Mumblypeg, I like lots of different patterns, including whittlers. But for day in, day out packing I can't get away from a 4-4.25 inch stockman. The best using size and pattern of all.

[Capt. Farrel]

This was a by-catch when I won an auction for a Case Hawkbill Sparky (didn´t I say I don´t like Hawkbills? ) and is a perfect example for what I don´t like. Don´t like? I don´t even understand why someone would buy it, not even to mention why someone would produce it in the first hand!
It´s total Chinese crap, has a false edge and pretends to be made of some kind of Damascus steel. They didn´t even bother to make the clip in the same color as the handle.

I don´t know if I can´t bring myself to sell it off on Ebay. Maybe I should just throw it into the garbage can.....

[treefarmer]

Preach on, Capt. Farrel!!! 100% agreement but don't throw that jewel away, save it for one of the amusing POS Roundtables that occur here on AAPK .
Treefarmer

[Capt. Farrel]

I don´t know TF, it could be felt like an insult if I would send out this "precision instrument". Maybe it´s even illegal in some place for being "bad taste"?

[Mumbleypeg]

But for day in, day out packing I can't get away from a 4-4.25 inch stockman. The best using size and pattern of all.[/quote]


Here here! My preference exactly. For years I have carried a Case 3318 (medium stockman) with CV steel blades, which is a little bit smaller than 4 inches but still a good using size, in my right front pocket. Recently I picked up a gently used Case 64047P and have been carrying it for couple months now and love it. The only concern I have is the red bone scales are not as easy to see if I accidentally drop it in the pasture or lay it down somewhere in the shop. Try not to do that but it happens. Invariably I find those old yellow handles sooner or later. I once misplaced one for several months but my son found it in the pasture where it had apparently fallen off the mower deck after I had used it cutting some baling twine that had gotten tangled into the mower shaft. If not for those yellow scales it's doubtful he would have seen it and returned it to me ( some surface rust on blades and need some oil in joints but otherwise none the worse for the experience.

For general working needs on farm/ranch a good size stockman pattern is hard to beat IMHO.

[zp4ja]

Of the common blades generally found on pocket knives, there is only one that I just do not like. It is the spey blade. The spey blade is the only reason that I do not really like stockmans. That said, the knife that I mostly carry and use at work has a spey blade. I use it for scraping corrosion off metal or any rough work. Since I do not like the blade it gets used for things for which I would not use the clip blade because I do not want to dull or damage it. They say that the cracked pitcher goes oftenest to the well, and it is the same kind of thing with my spey blade.

Dinadan,

Delayed reponse but hey, I have been out of town. Case and maybe I would speculate other manufacturers, made a Stockman with the clip, sheep and pen insead of the spey. In my opinion, you are missing out on a fine pattern blade combo for the Stockman. All sorts of sizes in this blade config/ handle options, at least with Case brand.

Not for everyone but they are made in the configuration you do not despise. Seems to me that the spey blade you have gets a lot of work, therefore it is usefull. I have many knives with a spey, not my favorite but does do certain tasks like no other blade, used often or not.

My 2 cents. A few pics of examples, all different lengths. One or two I posted has a PE config but with the spey on the mainblade end, spey and pen though.

Regards, Jerry

[carrmillus]

Anything made by SpyderCo or any similar knife.

Yuck!!

CNoyes

.............ditto!!!............... .... .....................

[jerryd6818]

Anything made by SpyderCo or any similar knife.

Yuck!!

CNoyes

.............ditto!!!............... .... .....................

Even if it's orange?

[carrmillus]

..........my granddad is probably turning over in his grave!!.......for him, it had to be a whittler or a sunfish,carbon steel, brown bone, preferably Camillus!!.......he taught me right!!!......... ................

[Dinadan]

Dinadan,

Delayed reponse but hey, I have been out of town. Case and maybe I would speculate other manufacturers, made a Stockman with the clip, sheep and pen insead of the spey. In my opinion, you are missing out on a fine pattern blade combo for the Stockman. All sorts of sizes in this blade config/ handle options, at least with Case brand.

Not for everyone but they are made in the configuration you do not despise. Seems to me that the spey blade you have gets a lot of work, therefore it is usefull. I have many knives with a spey, not my favorite but does do certain tasks like no other blade, used often or not.

My 2 cents. A few pics of examples, all different lengths. One or two I posted has a PE config but with the spey on the mainblade end, spey and pen though.

Jerry - I would not say that I despise the stockman pattern: I just do not really like it. That said, I must confess that I have not seen any of the Case stockman patterns with the spear blade in place of the spey blade. I really could go for one of those. I have carried a stockman a lot when I was younger, and still do at times. Like others have noted, it is just a very practical knife. Now that I am aware that the stockman with the spear blade exists, I will probably need to get one!

Dinadan, those Spey blades of course are wonderfully practical for cutting the dangly parts off farm critters. But in addition to that any really fine work that needs to be done as well,mtheyre like little scalpels when used correctly. Oh, and no other blade is as good a small game skinner either.

Colonel26 - fortunately I do not have to spey farm critters! I grew up on an small backwoods kind of semi farm where we had some cattle. At speying time my job was to subdue the young bulls until the vet or my father converted them to steers. I recall (after forty years) that the vet had a few amusing stories about tough young men who fainted and had to be revived while helping with that chore. I never fainted, but I did have some bruises!

[zp4ja]

Dinadan,

Delayed reponse but hey, I have been out of town. Case and maybe I would speculate other manufacturers, made a Stockman with the clip, sheep and pen insead of the spey. In my opinion, you are missing out on a fine pattern blade combo for the Stockman. All sorts of sizes in this blade config/ handle options, at least with Case brand.

Not for everyone but they are made in the configuration you do not despise. Seems to me that the spey blade you have gets a lot of work, therefore it is usefull. I have many knives with a spey, not my favorite but does do certain tasks like no other blade, used often or not.

My 2 cents. A few pics of examples, all different lengths. One or two I posted has a PE config but with the spey on the mainblade end, spey and pen though.

Jerry - I would not say that I despise the stockman pattern: I just do not really like it. That said, I must confess that I have not seen any of the Case stockman patterns with the spear blade in place of the spey blade. I really could go for one of those. I have carried a stockman a lot when I was younger, and still do at times. Like others have noted, it is just a very practical knife. Now that I am aware that the stockman with the spear blade exists, I will probably need to get one!

Hey Dan,

Maybe despise was too strong a word to use, I apologize. Regardless, fact is that CASE made some 3 bladed HE patterns in numerous length Stockman frames. When CASE used suffixes in the model number, in this case (not all CASE eras/years), they used the second letter of the blade type in the pattern desigination. In the case of a "HE" pattern, Sheepfoot has the second letter of "H" and it is on the mainblade end. On the opposite end was a pen blade, second letter in Pen is "E". Hence, "HE" suffix pattern number would mean clip main, sheep mounted on same end as clip, pen on the other end. A "PU" would be Spey/Punch, and "HU" would be a Sheep/Punch, etc.

The pic angle makes the top knife below look small (both are the same knife and frame), but here are a couple more. CASE stag 53087HE in XX and 10 dot.

I appreciate this post to see the diversity of our likes and dislikes when it comes to patterns and blade configurations. Everyone does it different and that is OK, I respect all your choices. To each his own. Personally, not a real fan of any tactical knives myself but will pick up ONE at some point. Probably an expensive real deal Hinderer if I am only getting just the one.

Regards, Jerry

[Old Hunter]

Jerry, you are going to have to start a new thread; "Blade Pattern you're MOST a fan of!" - this knife of yours should be #1 on the list - pure PERFECTION! OH

[Dinadan]

Jerry - no need to apologize: we are just talking! I do appreciate the information about the patterns. And those are some very nice and well photographed knives too.

[zp4ja]

Thanks OH! That one is a fine example for sure. I really like that knife.

Thanks Dinadan. If I can ever assist with CASE knives, please let me know. No expert but I know a thing or two.

Regards, Jerry

[rschuch]

I think people generally lean towards either classic styles or the more modern tactical styles so, being a "classics" fan I'll leave out Spyderco and family (though I DO like the stiletto and some OTF type moderns). I'm also more of a single blade guy, so anything with more than two blades or so isn't for me, though it may be aesthetically pleasing to the eye. All that said, I'm jumping square on the Russlock bandwagon. I never really liked the visual of it open with the off-center blade, but collectors will be collectors. I just got one recently and I thought it'd be more like a trapperlock feel (one handed opening), but my fingers feel like sausages trying to open it. It's NOT an easy open, and there's a lot of resistance and it's not a large knife, so it's difficult to get leverage without wanting to wrap your fingers around the whole thing. Closing it one handed is possibly worse, since it's so small and it has that snap at the end it's easy to get a finger in the way if you aren't careful.

I may be putting this one on the trading block.

[Dinadan]

I agree that the Russlock is not easy to open or close with one hand. I bought one a year or so ago, out of curiosity I guess. I have carried it quite a bit and it is a real handy size for my pocket, but I still have not learned to love it. Like you say, there is resistance to opening: it is not smooth and easy like some liner locks. On the other hand I like the shape and size of the blade and overall knife, so I am more or less neutral on Russlocks.