Short answer
A traditional pocket knife pattern is a named design, a handle shape and a set of blades built again in different handle materials and sizes. The common ones include the trapper, stockman, peanut, canoe, Texas toothpick, Sod Buster and barlow. Case describes the trapper as a clip and a spey, and the stockman as a clip, a sheepsfoot and a spey.
Pattern means the design, not one knife
On a traditional knife, the word pattern names a design a maker builds over and over: one frame and blade layout in bone, synthetic, wood or stag, often in more than one size. Case's Medium Stockman lists 3.63 inches closed and its Large Stockman 4.3 inches. Case stamps a code on the tang that identifies the pattern, and reading a Case pattern number decodes it.
Buck describes its slipjoint knives as "traditional, non-locking pocket knives built on time-tested multi-blade designs"; the slip joint entry explains what holds those blades open.
Eight patterns as Case describes them
- Trapper. Case calls it "a jack knife with two full length blades; a slender Clip and a long Spey", and says the Trapper gets its name from the consumer it was designed for. The trapper buying guide weighs one against another.
- Mini trapper. Case gives its Mini Trapper as 3 1/2 inches closed, against 4.13 inches for one full-size Case Trapper.
- Stockman. Case describes its stockman as three blades, with the clip and sheepsfoot on the pocket end and the spey on the cap end, though Case also sells Medium Stockman variants named "with Pen Blade". Sizes and handles are compared in the stockman buying guide.
- Peanut. Case says the Peanut has two blades, a clip and a pen.
- Canoe. Case says the Canoe "gets its name from its canoe-shaped handle" and carries two blades on opposing ends, a spear and a pen.
- Texas toothpick. Case says its Small Texas Toothpick measures 3 inches long with a long clip blade, and calls it a clasp style pattern that "dates back to the turn of the 20th century"; its Medium Texas Toothpick lists 4.25 inches closed. Picking one is the job of the toothpick pattern guide.
- Sod Buster. Case gives the Sod Buster and the Sod Buster Jr a skinner blade, and its Sod Buster lists 4.625 inches closed.
- Barlow. Case calls its Barlow a jack knife design "characterized by a single oversized pocket end bolster" and says the design dates back to the early 1900s.
Case says the pen blade shape, found on the peanut and the canoe, "was originally designed to cut and sharpen turkey quills for use as ink pens" and still suits light-duty work.
Frequently asked questions
- Does every stockman carry the same three blades?
- No. Case describes its stockman as a clip, a sheepsfoot and a spey, but Case also sells Medium Stockman variants named "with Pen Blade", and the name alone does not say which blade the pen joins or replaces.
- Is a pattern the same thing as a model?
- No. A pattern is the design, and one pattern appears under many model listings. Case's store lists its Medium Stockman under several pattern stamps that differ in handle code and steel code.
- Does a mini trapper always have two blades?
- No. Case says mini trappers traditionally carry one or two blades, the clip and the spey. A one-blade mini trapper is still the pattern.
