Who Makes The Best Stockman?

I've been very impressed with the Buck 301 and 303 and EDC a 301 in yellow derlin all the time so for me I think the 301 is the best stockman the 420HC is an excellent working steel and has decent edge retention yet can be very easily resharpened in the field freehand on a whetstone.
 
For me it's the Schrade Walden 34 OT. Not my favorite LOOKING knife, but it's definitely the best worker I have.
 
matt1987 said:
Yes you are right, it's not a stockman. but since it uses the same blades, with a different(improved IMO) layout, i felt it would be worth mentioning as an alternative to the traditional stockman.
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It is also why it is on my list of "got to have". I have a couple of whittlers in a stockman layout; a stockman in a whittler layout has to be a good thing. - Ed J
 
I have a couple Bulldog sowbelly stockmen I like a lot. One I carried daily for a couple years before giving it to my wife. Nice carbon steel on both, easy to keep sharp and useful.

Recently, I bought a Moore Maker 5 blade sowbelly. Haven't had a chance to really use it a lot yet though.
 
i wish there was more washboard bone around like that Boker.
Stainz said:
Here is my huge Stockman collection. The top two are German made, the bottom is USA made. The Boker Tree Brand came pretty sharp earlier this year - neat jigged redbone - it was from an evil-bay dealer ~$36. The Puma stag was $28(!) at a local Academy when they were phased out - not very sharp. The Buck 301 came as a razor some twenty years back - at a Gatlinburg, TN gift shop (I had lost my 110 and needed something in my pocket while hiking.) for $24 then. Note how it's secondary blades are reversed from the German examples.

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I'll come clean... I am not much of a slippie person. I have never, gasp, owned a Case!

Stainz
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My favorite has always been the Schrade USA 80T(my first Stockman). As was said earlier, not the prettiest, but will do anything it is asked to do. Steven
 
To Whetrock: Does you yellow 301 have the corners of the bolsters ground off the same, especially on the bottom of the end with the sheepsfoot blade? I have seen two and both have one corner ground off much more than the other corner. I would like Buck to do a better job of making them even. I know of no other brand of knife with rounded bolsters that have that problem. Please advise.
 
Now that I've had another 18 or so months to ponder the question, I have to say that Buck makes the best stockman. The tried and true 301 in black, sawcut delrin, to be precise. It ain't flashy, isn't super well-finished from the factory, and doesn't have the latest whiz-bang steel, but it's extremely well designed and as tough as they come. My Dad recently handed me down his trusty 301 that he's carried almost every day since 1971 (before I was born) and it looks like it easily has another 60 years left in it. He's used that knife to do just about everything a knife can do. Lord knows how many deer he's skinned with it. Almost every memory I have of my Dad using a knife involves this old Buck. After 40 years, this knife looks great, and is still as tight as the day it came off the Camillus production line. What more could you ask for?
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Buck, Queen, Schrade and Case all have their pros and cons. The real fun is in owning all four. The 301 and 8OT are two of the most well made knives out there.
 
I couldnt recomend any of cases mediam stockmans exept the harvest orange humpback stockman. I have handled countless others and they all had small gaps and the back springs wouldnt barely close the main blade. And that was accorant in almost all the ones i handled. But for some reson on all of them the blade centering was absolutely perfect. But there large stockman have great back springs and no gaps that I could see.
 
I love the Case Sowbelly Stockman but it comes in the tru-sharp. Still a great blade in my opinion.
 
I'm not saying its the best but I really like my small Queen #26 stockman. Its very pocket friendly at 3 3/8" and more than enough for my day.
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My favorite is the GEC Cuban Stockman, though a little large at 4-1/8" closed.

Here is a 440C one in red wine bone, and another in 1095 and ebony.
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Current manufacturers:
Buck.
Moor Maker?
Bear and Sons?
Boker Tree Brand. I'm not sure about the Boker Plus and Boker Magnum lines.
Rough Ryder
Marbles
BTI Schrade (and no Swendon Keys)/Old Timer
Camillus?
Cold Steel "Ranch Boss"? (I don't know who makes/made it for them, or where.)
GEC

Past:
Buck
The Schrade family of brands.
(Schrade Walden, Camillus, Old Timer, Ulster, Imperial, Hammer Brand, to name a few)
Schrade and later Camillus made the Buck slipjoints from 1966 until Buck moved the production in-house in the 1990's(?) Buck slipjoints with a long pull (excluding the 2018 BF 301) were made by Schrade or Camillus. The Schrade made also have Swendon key construction. Camillus made have regular pin construction.
Utica
Boker Tree Brand
NYKC,
Cattaraugus
Russell
Robeson
Western
Colonial
Original Pre-War/Pre-Great Depression Queen (don't know about those after)
Schatt & Morgan (Pre-war/Pre-Great Depression, don't know about those after.)
 
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Find it impossible to say which is best as there are so many fine choices from CASE in particular, Buck for sturdy no nonsense, Böker for something different, Queen Cutlery for great D2 offerings, the current poster-knife/influencer GEC offers the Dixie which I find a sleek and indeed clever knife as it sports a different blade array from the norm. Other GEC Stockman interest me less. A CASE/Bose Collab Stockman or Cattleknife would be great but it's too much for my current finances.

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