The Sodbuster

Of all the pocketknives I've carried in my life, there is one that I always gravitate toward.  The Case Sodbuster.  Case still makes these things, in several varieties and two sizes; the full size and the Jr.  As it turns out, I've got a Jr. in my pocket right now.

It's a simple knife, as pocketknives go.  One blade, a nice drop point blade suitable for most cutting tasks.  The blade is good steel, easily sharpened, and seems to maintain a relationship between being easy to sharpen yet holds an edge well.  Some blades are easy to sharpen yet the steel doesn't hold the edge, some knives hold an edge really well, but the knives are notoriously hard to sharpen.  The Sodbuster seems to find the middle ground.

The handle material is smooth, well rounded, so that if fits in a pocket easily.  This isn't a fighting knife, or a tacticool wonder, it's a using knife, a farmer's knife, a knife to keep in your pocket for routine cutting chores.  For cleaning game animals, skinning squirrels, or gutting fish, the blade design is almost perfect.  It makes short work of binder's twine and is suitable for opening packages.

I've had a dozen of these things over the years, and the reason for having that many is that for many years I ran a small hobby farm, the place where I raised my kids.  I kept a Sodbuster in my pocket and I was always losing them.  Sometimes they'd get dropped in a pond, other times they'd fall into a muddy paddock and the cattle would stomp them into the ground.  I never worn one out, but I'd lose them.

Luckily they are easily replaced and relatively inexpensive. I see that you can buy them from a variety of sources for about $30.00, and they've been made long enough that they're collectible.  The original handle colors were black and yellow.  I prefer the black, but I see that they now also come in green and blue.

If you're looking for a good, serviceable pocketknife for home or farm, it's hard to beat the Sodbuster.  It has PawPaw's seal of approval.