Katz three-blade Stockman Executive Drop Point stacks up against the knives of old school.
Most in my age group were raised with a slip joint knife. It’s the knife Dad always carried in his pocket. Being raised with a dad who was a commercial fisherman, I used knives as tools every day—everything from cleaning fish to making fishing nets.
My father, Jacob, always used a three-bladed stockman for working with twine while making or repairing 90-foot trawl nets. It would take him 30 days or more to hand-tie every square in the massive nets. He would always work with the knife’s smallest blade. When it was sharpened down to a nub, he would go to the next blade. The knife would last him five years of heavy work. Then he would put it in his junk drawer and start using a new one. Only carbon steel blades knives were allowed—stainless steel had not evolved to the performance levels of today.
Katz Knives has taken old-school looks and added blades of high-performance XT-80 stainless steel on its Stockman Executive Drop Point. Let’s see if Dad would have approved.
TEST ’EM UP
In a quick sharpness test on 20-pound bond copy paper, all three blades sliced cleanly and smoothly. The shorter blades can be a bit challenging till you get used to them. The sharpening notch/choil caught on the paper during testing.
My wife, Melissa, wanted to play with the knife so I got an apple from the fridge for her to slice. The drop-point main/master blade worked great for sectioning the apple into wedges. Next was the sheepsfoot blade for seed removal and skinning the wedges. (The wedges were yummy.)
Single-walled cardboard was next. All blades bit into it aggressively. The cardboard got hung up on the sharpening notches of the two smaller blades while slicing. As a result, I had to slow down the slicing and control the edge placement. The master blade made short work of the cardboard.
It was time to make some firesticks as camping season was in full swing and I needed a fire to roast marshmallows. The master blade gave me nice curly-cues with great control. The sheepsfoot blade had a tendency to dig deeper into the pine for thicker curly-cues. The spey blade was about midway on the curly-cues and depth of cut. SAFETY NOTE: Care must be taken while doing heavy cutting with a slip joint. It does not take much pressure to accidentally close a blade on a finger.
To make kindling from end cuts of a fence, I softly batonned the main blade into the slabs. This worked very well and smoothly with no damage to the blade. Again, care was taken to avoid a blade closing on a finger.
The final test was cutting half-inch sisal rope. Only the main blade was consistent during cutting due to its ample enough length giving me the stand-off needed to make crunching cuts. The XT-80 stainless crunched to 74 clean cuts before the edge started to slide.
This knife is well-executed in design and manufacture.
REPORT
Using the stockman was a very nice experience and provided good memories. You have three blades to work with, so you should always have a sharp edge on hand. The Katz is a very welcome addition to your pocket.
CHANGES
I love the straight edge of a sheepsfoot blade. I would add a midsize wharncliffe blade instead of the smaller spey.
Stockman Executive Drop Point Specs
Company: Katz Knives
Blade Lengths/Patterns: 23∕4” drop point, 23∕16” sheepsfoot & 2” spey
Blade Steel: XT-80 stainless
Handel: Stag bone
Bolsters: Nickel silver
Liners: Brass
Weight: 2 ozs.
Closed Length: 3.75”
Country Of Origin: Japan
MSRP: $181.90
To learn more about the Stockman Executive, please visit katzknives.com
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