Boker, a German knife maker, has a made a handsome medium-sized stockman pocket knife. With a closed length of 3.25-inches long, the handle is made from beautiful stag – a piece of antler from a mature male deer. This is a traditional stockman knife with three carbon steel blades: the large clip blade is just short of 3-inches long and has a long nail-nick for easy opening; a small sheep’s foot blade, with straight edge and no point, is good for heavier tasks; the small spay blade has a very short clip to form almost a spear point. I like stockman knives. Often overlooked is the fact that shape plays a large part in the strength and function of a knife blade. This is where a stockman knife comes in handy with three blades to choose from. The clip point on the large blade gives more precision to a cut, while the sheep’s foot blade has no point to make the blade stronger, and is good for carving work. The small spay blade can be used for the most delicate of work, as it was originally intended for use to castrate livestock.
I would say that most stockman knives produced today are intended for a collector’s shelf or light use. With the selection of multi-blades and multi-tools available these days, carrying a traditional stockman like this Boker for heavy-duty use just doesn’t make sense.
