1990s Case question.

[JL1983]

Hello all, I'm looking for a knife that may or may not exist, maybe one of you can shed some light.
When I was a kid in the early to mid '90s, my father would take me into a local construction supply house on Saturdays that had a Case display on the counter that i would make a bee line for whenever I was there. Finally my dad bought me the knife I had my eye on it was my first pocket knife. But I lost or otherwise misplaced it as dumb kids do.

My memory and my current research tells me it was a Case Stockman with a smooth chestnut bone handle, but i remember it being a small knife back when I was a small person at that time.

I bought a medium stockman in smooth chestnut bone but it is too big to match my memory of a small knife.

I have found small stockmans but not in smooth chestnut bone.

I am confident in the color and the size, I am questioning the pattern now.....

So, did they make a small stockman in that handle in the early '90s?

Thanks for reading.

[Mumbleypeg]

Welcome to AAPK. I suspect the answer to your question is yes, they made a small stockman (maybe a 6333?) in the 1990s in smooth chestnut bone or something similar. Not because I recall seeing one, but because they made one in just about every combination. Someone here may know but if not I recommend sending your question to Case. Send an email to consumer-relations@wrcase.com.

Ken

[rea1eye]

I do not think they made a small stockman in the 90's in chestnut bone.

Bob

[Sharpnshinyknives]

Is it possible the knife in your memory is a whittler? Some confuse those with stockmans because they both have 3 blades. I see sellers on Ebay making that mistake all the time.

[Modern Slip Joints]

Why not start by trying to identify the handle pattern by your memory of your lost knife's shape? The two Case knives that I most often see advertised as medium Stockmans are the *318 and the *332. I omitted the first digit because it varies with different side covers. The important handle pattern number is the last two digits. Both the 18 and 32 are 3 5/8" long so I'm guessing that we should be looking at shorter patterns.

Five shorter Stockman patterns were common during the 1990s. The four most common all have serpentine curve. They were the square ended 2 5/8" *333, the 2 3/4" *327 with rounded ends, the 3 1/4" square ended *344 and the 3 1/4" round ended *3087. The last has a three digit handle pattern number as does the fifth small Stockman. The less common 3 3/8" round ended *3090 has no curve.

From there you can start looking at 1990s handle covers that look similar to what's currently sold as smooth chestnut bone. I do not own a knife made before 2000 with bone that Case advertised as smooth chestnut and offhand do not remember any. However, to stimulate collector interest early in the 1990s Case started making bone with a zillion different jigging patterns and colors so It's very likely they made something similar.

Gook luck in your search and welcome to the forum.

[Papa Bones]

You can also use this link to look at the knives with their number system like the ones Modern Slip Joint referenced and see if it's size and shape may jog your memory. Each pattern number listed will show the size, the blade variations and usually has a photo.

https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/co ... nce-guide/

[JL1983]

Thanks for your replies, I've been looking around and I'm thinking the knife I had was either a 6333 or a 6327, as Modern Slip Joints suggests. Must be rare, because I have only seen one record of it with smooth chestnut. I have attached pictures of an old eBay listing.

I have found several jigged chestnut bone both 6327 and 6333. I bought a 6220 Peanut and a 6318 Medium Stockman in smooth chestnut bone and the handle color and finish is exact to my memory. I have also come across several listing that a called 6333 small stockmans but in the description it says closed length 4" which makes it a medium.

I'm going to keep searching. I also ordered a copy of Steve Pfeiffer's book, maybe that will help

[jmh58]

Good Luck in your hunt!! Its out there some where!!!
John