Identify a Case stockman I just bought

silenthunterstudios

silenthunterstudios

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I bought two Case stockmen at a True Value on Friday, and I'd like some help in identifying them. On the sheepsfoot blade, 6318 SHSP is stamped on the blade. At first, the handles looked to be stag, now they look like they might be worn red bone. The knives are in great shape, no boxes. I can't post a pic yet. I figured the General Discussion board would be too broad, and the Levine forum wouldn't warrant these, as they do not appear to be antiques. Thanks for the help.
 
silenthunterstudios said:
I bought two Case stockmen at a True Value on Friday, and I'd like some help in identifying them. On the sheepsfoot blade, 6318 SHSP is stamped on the blade. At first, the handles looked to be stag, now they look like they might be worn red bone. The knives are in great shape, no boxes. I can't post a pic yet. I figured the General Discussion board would be too broad, and the Levine forum wouldn't warrant these, as they do not appear to be antiques. Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...

If they were Stag, the first number would have been a "5", so they are most likely bone. This pattern is a 3 1/2" serpentine stockman. This particular pattern is often referred to as a medium stockman because of it's size in relation to other stockmans. The SHSP is the Case code for "Sheepsfoot" and "Spey" blades.
 
I have a Case amber bone med. stockman that has a pen blade where the spey would be on a regular stockman. That is the only reason I can think that they would have the tang stamp code for spey blade like Last Confederate is talking about, to avoid confusion between the two versions. Amber bone series are CV steel, pocket worn series bone are the tru-sharp stainless. The tang stamp would have usually have SS in the code for tru-sharp blades. Yours has the code for spey blade, so I can't tell if you have a Amber bone or Pocket Worn bone series for sure. If I had to guess I'd say you have Amber bone and thus CV steel, which is a carbon steel similar to 1095.
 
I've got an amber bone mini copperlock, had an amber bone mid folding hunter, these scales are darker than amber bone, I think they may be chestnut.
 
On the master blade there should be another stamp. It will have the Case brand on it and maybe some dots or XX.

What does that stamp read?

If it has dots their location and number will nail down the year it was made.
 
I don't know then, that was my best guess. I know my Amber bone med. stockman is more reddish than the ones I've seen lately, so maybe they changed their dyes and you have an older one? I have not stayed up on Case for a couple years, kind of a personal beef I guess. I wish they offered more models, patterns and scales in CV than they do, so I just kind of lost interest there.
 
If the psttern # does not have either "SS" or SSP" after it, then it is a pre 1996 model in CV steel......remember they only started stamping the letters "CV" in the pattern numbers in 1996. And the older stainless ones always had the designation either SS or SSP.

Do the blades have a mirror finish? or a satin/brush finish?

Depending upon how old it is, it is either "chestnut bone" or just plain "Bone"....remember up to the 90's on regular production knives, bone was just bone.

Bob....the 6318 has not been made with a pen blade as the third blade since about 1981...at least not as a standard product....how old is yours?
 
Gus, I looked for the dots, all I saw was the Case logo and the XX on it. I'll stop and pick up a magnifying glass on the way home.
 
Knifeaholic, I don't have it on me so I can't check the tangs. I bought it about 5 or 6 years ago at a knifestore in the mall that was going out of business. It was a display case model and one of the scales is discolored more than the other, I guess from being under the lights that long. It was left opened up in the case like they like to display them, so the springs are lazy, especially the clip blade spring. Who knows how long it was in that case before I bought it. It is part of my EDC rotation though and I like it a lot. I will check the tang and see if I can't find out more about it. It has the squared off bolsters though, not the rounded ones.
 
silenthunterstudios said:
I've got an amber bone mini copperlock, had an amber bone mid folding hunter, these scales are darker than amber bone, I think they may be chestnut.
Click to expand...

Chestnut Bone models were also offered in CV. I have one, a trapper.

Peace.
 
Maybe my med. stockman is chestnut bone. It is definately CV steel, has a nice patina going on it.
 
Bob;

If it has squared off bolsters, then it is a 6332 or a 63032 not a 6318. That would make sense since the '32 models have always had the pen blade as the third blade.
 
It's a 63032 and it is chestnut bone. I guess I got mixed up with amber bone. Silenthunterstudios, maybe the one you picked up is chestnut bone?
 
I must correct what I said earlier. I HAD an amber mini copperlock, now I have a stag mini copperlock. I am pretty sure my stockman is a chestnut, I know who to ask this afternoon.

Oh yeah, Gus, theres one dot under the Case XX logo, above the USA stamp.
 
Rule of thumb for 70's and 80's Case tang stamps.
Dots Below the USA 1970's 10 dots = 1970, 9 dots 1971 etc.

Above the USA 1980's 10 dots = 1980, 1 dot = 1989.

Here is a decent online reference for Case tang stamps.
 
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