The Sodbuster - Why Doth It Bust Sod?

R

RedLynx

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Aug 5, 2011
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Hi guys,

I'm always curious about the history and origins of knives, and knife names. One of my favorite patterns is the Sodbuster, and I am most familiar with the Case Sodbuster. I've done a few internet searches, and what I seem to come up with is that the Sodbuster as a pattern was made and marketed to farmers as a useful, tough knife that could handle farm work (pulling up old sod being one of them, I guess). I'm curious is there was specific reason for this name (it does seem like a good name if it was originally marketed to farmers) or they just chose a name after some brainstorming.

It seems the Sodbuster is a general knife pattern that can now be found in a lot of knives, not necessarily even similar to a Case Sodbuster, or similar? From some articles it seems that, more than a name, it represents a specific blade pattern instead.

The name is simply intriguing to me because today, we have knives named after guns, animals, and even forces of nature or philosophical concepts... Sodbuster just seems a good, solid name, and I find that intriguing.

Ironically I haven't used my Sodbuster for farm work, although my parents live on a farm and I grew up on once (several, actually.)
 
The term Sodbuster predates any knife pattern bearing that name. In the 1800's in Central American Plains states it was a term for a farmer often used as an insult by cattle ranchers.
 
Think of it as a step in the evolution of the US west of the Mississippi. First came the trapper, then the rancher/stockman and then the farmer/sodbuster. Is there a corporate farmer knife?:rolleyes:
 
5-Shot said:
Think of it as a step in the evolution of the US west of the Mississippi. First came the trapper, then the rancher/stockman and then the farmer/sodbuster. Is there a corporate farmer knife?:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Extremely interesting guys, thanks!

5-Shot, you should design a Corporate Farmer prototype. ;)

Heck, give us a "Crop Duster" knife too. ;)
 
I thought a sodbuster was what the called the early pioneers, who where the first people to bust he sod, or till the ground, which had never been farmed before. supposedly very hard work.
 
Gotta be Case to be a Sodbuster (technically).

http://www.everydaycommentary.com/2014/02/the-business-side-of-gear-intellectual_17.html

From the above link.

Case Sodbuster: Of all of the IP in the gear world this is, without question, the most dubious from a legal perspective. Case trademarked the name "sodbuster" but apparently the Trademark office was asleep at the switch and ignored the facts. First, the sodbuster pattern is old. It did not originate with Case, neither the pattern nor the name. The Eye Brand of Germany is likely the original user of the name "sodbuster". Nor did it ever fall out of use. Sodbusters of various brands have been made almost continuously for at least 80 years. But for whatever reason, the Trademark Office granted Case's application and now no one can say they make a Sodbuster other than Case.
 
davek14 said:
Gotta be Case to be a Sodbuster (technically).

http://www.everydaycommentary.com/2014/02/the-business-side-of-gear-intellectual_17.html

From the above link.

Case Sodbuster: Of all of the IP in the gear world this is, without question, the most dubious from a legal perspective. Case trademarked the name "sodbuster" but apparently the Trademark office was asleep at the switch and ignored the facts. First, the sodbuster pattern is old. It did not originate with Case, neither the pattern nor the name. The Eye Brand of Germany is likely the original user of the name "sodbuster". Nor did it ever fall out of use. Sodbusters of various brands have been made almost continuously for at least 80 years. But for whatever reason, the Trademark Office granted Case's application and now no one can say they make a Sodbuster other than Case.
Click to expand...

To get real technical, Case trademarked the term 'Sod Buster' (two words). Apparently, the registration only applies to folding knives. There are other trademarks (current and expired) of the term 'Sodbuster', registered to other owners or products. In searching the string "sod buster" on the U.S. Patent and Trademark site, there's even a current TM registration for a 'Sod Buster Pale Ale', which is interesting. :)


David
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
To get real technical, Case trademarked the term 'Sod Buster' (two words). Apparently, the registration only applies to folding knives. There are other trademarks (current and expired) of the term 'Sodbuster', registered to other owners or products. In searching the string "sod buster" on the U.S. Patent and Trademark site, there's even a current TM registration for a 'Sod Buster Pale Ale', which is interesting. :)


David
Click to expand...

Interesting. Any Sodbuster knives?
 
davek14 said:
Interesting. Any Sodbuster knives?
Click to expand...

Yes. Both the Case versions, the 'Sod Buster' and 'Sod Buster Jr.', are listed there, and are still 'live' as shown in the system. Something else kind of interesting, the actual trademarks weren't formally registered until early 1982, even though Case first used the names in 1967 ('Sod Buster') and 1970 ('Sod Buster Jr.').

(Tried to post links to "sod buster" search results on the USPTO site, but they're timed and 'expire' in short order.)

This is the link to the USPTO search page online:
http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=tess&state=4808:hpozu7.1.1

Here are the TM Registration numbers for Case's two soddies:
1190469 ('Sod Buster')
1193881 ('Sod Buster Jr.')


David
 
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Only knife of that style I own is the Queen "Country Cousin" in D2 steel, green micarta handles. Yet another name intended to call to mind associations with rural life.
 
i like to think it helped prairie settlers to trim squares of sod to make their houses.
Keldur_01.jpg


they used spades to cut it though.
cuttingsod_lg.jpg
 
A.G. Russell make a very nice version in the Cowboy and Rancher.
I have always loved the Sodbuster.
rolf
 
Cast iron plows could not till the soil of the Great Plains. When wet, the mud clung to the plow. When dry, the plow could not cut the fibrous, interwoven grass. Agriculture expansion stopped at the Mississippi. John Deere was a Yankee from Vermont who settled the Mississippi River Valley. He developed a steel plow that shed mud and cut through prairie grass. It was nicknamed a sodbuster and made Great Plains' real estate valuable for farming. The plow came first, later farmers were nicknamed sodbusters.

I don't know for sure why Case named their clasp knife the Sod Buster, but always assumed it was because the silhouette of the blade resembled the silhouette of Deere's plow.
 
Interestingly enough, the pattern predates the name.

BRL says that the Case Sod Buster pattern is based on the German folding butcher knife, which dates from the late 1800's.
 
RobbW said:
Cast iron plows could not till the soil of the Great Plains. When wet, the mud clung to the plow. When dry, the plow could not cut the fibrous, interwoven grass. Agriculture expansion stopped at the Mississippi. John Deere was a Yankee from Vermont who settled the Mississippi River Valley. He developed a steel plow that shed mud and cut through prairie grass. It was nicknamed a sodbuster and made Great Plains' real estate valuable for farming. The plow came first, later farmers were nicknamed sodbusters.

I don't know for sure why Case named their clasp knife the Sod Buster, but always assumed it was because the silhouette of the blade resembled the silhouette of Deere's plow.
Click to expand...

The original Case Sod Buster, and more recently the stainless versions, have an etch on the blade of what I assume was the Deere plow, or at least one that very closely resembles it. A neighbor of ours here has a very similar old plow as part of the 'yard art' on their property. I'd been taking a walk down the street, saw the plow, and just happened to have my 2137 SS soddie in my pocket. It was a bit surreal, looking at my blade's etch, and looking at the plow in their yard at the same time. :)

Here's a pic of two of mine, a 1970 2138 and a 2009 2138 SS:



David
 
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knarfeng said:
Interestingly enough, the pattern predates the name.

BRL says that the Case Sod Buster pattern is based on the German folding butcher knife, which dates from the late 1800's.
Click to expand...


Everything I've come across says this is correct, that the sodbuster pattern we know derives from the German folding butcher knives, also called clasp knives. The pattern goes by different names in other parts of the world. The Germans call the sodbuster pattern Hippeknieps, which I believe translates to pocket knife. The French call the Mineurs which means miners knife. And the Spanish call them Navajas de campaña, which means knives of campaign and they also refer to them as pastor knives. It's a simple pattern and it makes sense why it's been around for so long and used by so many different cultures and workers throughout the world.
 
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