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carbon steel

Svord Peasant Knife Review

by Dan Jackson 8 Comments

Last updated: September 20, 2018

Over the years I’ve had the fortune to be friends with several excellent chefs. What’s funny is that when I ask them what and where they like to eat, they don’t tell me about some 5 star restaurant or spout off some obscure or complex dish. I was surprised to learn that many professional chefs prefer simple honest meals made from a few quality ingredients at the end of the day.

Svord Peasant Knife
Buy the Peasant Knife at BladeHQ

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I often wonder if that same observation holds true with knifemakers. Whether they carry the high end knives they sell or reach for something simple, tried and true. Perhaps if they did subscribe to the less is more philosophy a Svord Peasant Knife might land on their work bench. After all, it doesn’t get more basic than this friction folder from New Zealand. Something about this simple knife has always intrigued me, so it’s high time to one out in the form of a full written review.

General Dimensions and Blade Details

The Peasant knife has an overall length of 8-1/4″, a 3-1/4″ blade, and weighs 2.53 ounces. There is also a mini version with a 2.5″ blade, and a giant version with an 8″ blade. The standard Peasant knife is on the larger side for my typical EDC, but it is carriable enough if that is what you want to do with it.

The blade is a classic drop point shape, best characterized by the dramatic contrast of the dark scale left over from the heat treat with the bright satin finish of this hand ground blade. This is a knife that practically begs to come with a convex edge, but the edge is a traditional “V” bevel. I’ve heard some reports of people being dissatisfied with the out of box edge, but both of my Svords came sharp, and the grind itself is nice and thin. This is a decent slicer, and fared well in a variety of daily tasks.

Svord Peasant Knife Blade

Svord went with L7 for the blade steel. L7 is a Swedish high carbon steel. It has all of the characteristics that I like about high carbon steels, mainly it exhibits good toughness and easily takes a very fine edge. Much like the rest of the knife, this is an honest hard working steel and it’s capable of getting a lot of work done. It does patina and will rust if you aren’t careful. Keep it oiled and there shouldn’t be any problems. If found it plenty tough for my purposes, and it held a nice edge under basic tasks like carving wood and breaking down boxes.

Handle and Ergonomics

The handle of the peasant knife is about as simple as can be. You have two generous slabs of plastic or wood, a single internal stop pin, and two oversize brass screws to hold it together. For what it is, it’s well finished but there isn’t a whole lot to write about.

Svord Peasant Knife Handle

The Peasant knife is comfortable to hold. The handle slabs are simple and nicely contoured, so they will accept all sizes of hand without any issue. There is a fine texture on the plastic handled version, which feels good and offers a little grip. Despite the absence of any kind of lock, this is still a knife that you can get some hard work done with, and the comfortable handle makes the work all the more enjoyable.

Svord Peasant Knife Closed

The peasant knife doesn’t have a pocket clip, so typically you will either carry it free-floating in your pocket, or perhaps on a belt sheath. It’s not impossible to EDC, but it’s a far cry from something like my Victorinox Cadet. The long protruding tang needs to be carefully negotiated, and it is not my go to pocket knife. However, it’s relatively light weight and the corners of the handle are all nicely chamfered; it is possible to daily carry this knife.

Deployment and Lockup

Once again, as I venture further into the world of traditional knives I find that my typical system of organizing a review is a little less on point. For “deployment” you have the stick tang poking out of the back of the handle, and you can open the knife up by pressing on the tang. There are no washers or bearings or anything; the blade presses directly against the plastic handles. Oddly enough the knife is still smooth and satisfying to open. True to its name, there is a good deal of friction this folder, and I found that opening the knife was deliberate and purposeful.

Svord Peasant Knife vs. Opinel No. 8

For “lock up” you have perhaps the worlds oldest folding knife design in place. While it isn’t the sexiest solution, as long as you have a firm grip on the handle the blade isn’t going anywhere. It’s actually very secure, even when doing some hard carving. No complaints with this non-locking folder.

Svord Peasant Knife Review – Final Thoughts

The Svord Peasant knife is about as simple as can be, and therein lies its charm. The low part count, slim and sturdy design, and quality materials make for a serviceable and robust folding knife. Staying true to it’s name this is a simple working man’s blade, and is about as comfortable outdoors as it is nestled next to my i-phone. If you haven’t checked one out, you really can’t go wrong. For $15 I can easily recommend it.

Svord SV145 Fixed Blade,Hunting Knife,Outdoor,Camping, One Size
Svord SV145 Fixed Blade,Hunting Knife,Outdoor,Camping, One Size
  • Crafted from the highest quality materials
  • Built for performance and durability
  • Made in New Zealand
$21.42 Amazon Prime
Buy on Amazon

I recommend purchasing the Svord Peasant Knife at Amazon or BladeHQ. Please consider that purchasing anything through any of the links on this website helps support BladeReviews.com, and allows me to keep the site independent. As always, any and all support is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

Filed Under: EDC Knives, Folding Knives, Traditional Knives Tagged With: carbon steel, friction folder

Case Sod Buster Jr Review

by Dan Jackson 27 Comments

Last Updated: July 20, 2019

I recently reviewed the Victorinox Cadet. This is a time honored knife, but frankly I was unsure whether many people would be interested in reading a review on it. The feedback was actually really good. So much so that it has encouraged me to write a review on another classic slip joint in my collection, the Case Sod Buster Jr.

Case Sod Buster Jr.
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I got into the Sod Buster Jr after realizing how much I enjoyed carrying the Cadet, and wanted to venture further into the world of traditional slip joint knives. I’ve been into modern EDC and Tactical knives for 5 years now, but really know very little about traditional slip joints. So when I knew that I wanted to try another slip joint out it wasn’t long before I stumbled across the Sod Buster Jr. Three things really drew me to this knife: 1. It’s made in the USA 2. It’s under $25 and 3. it features a nice carbon steel blade (although you can get the knife in stainless steel if you want). Throw in the fact that it’s made by Case, a company that I know has a serious pedigree in the world of traditional American knives, and I figured it was a great starting point.

I have to say though, I’m not much of a historian. If you are looking for a definitive history of the sod buster pattern then this won’t be the place for it. My understanding is that the pattern or style of knife is anywhere from 100-130 years old, and emerged from Germany as a kind of a folding butcher’s knife or a clasp knife. It can be loosely classified as a type of peasant or farmer’s knife. Case apparently associated the name “sodbuster” with their knife design in the 1960s. If any historians want to correct me or drop some knowledge in the comments section, by all means be my guest. I’ll be approaching the knife purely from a utilitarian/general knife enthusiast’s standpoint.

General Dimensions and Blade Details

The Sod Buster Jr has an overall length of 6.45″, sports a 2.8″ blade, and weighs 2.19 ounces. For a mild mannered suburbanite these are great numbers. Much like my trusty Cadet, I can easily slip this knife into a pair of slacks and not miss a beat. Of course if you are looking for something a little larger, Case does offer the full size Sod Buster, and it could easily be carried as well.

The blade is a classic drop point design with a short belly and tough tip. The knife was designed to be used as a utility blade, and it certainly functions that way in the 21st century. The grind is a full flat grind, or something close to it, and it gets nice and thin behind the edge. It is a tool knife and it cuts quite well.

Case actually offers the knife with 2 distinct steel choices. You have their “TrueSharp Surgical Stainless Steel” and their Chrome Vandium (CV) high carbon steel. I opted for the high carbon steel version as the thought of a pocket knife with a carbon steel blade was intriguing (and, believe it or not, is actually a first for this website), and what little preliminary research I did do before buying the knife suggested that the CV steel superior to the TrueSharp stainles steel in the arenas of sharpening and edge retention. Whether that is true in practice is impossible for me to say at this point, but I did notice a good deal of info floating about the web comparing CV to TrueSharp, if that sort of question tickles your fancy.

Case Sod Buster Jr. Blade

In practice the CV steel exhibited a lot of the qualities I like about carbon steel. It was easy to sharpen and it held a decent edge. It’s not a super steel in the edge retention department, but for my purposes it got the job done.

I will say that the CV steel does patina (and will rust if you aren’t careful). The knife arrives from Case with something of a mirror polish to it. My blade started to get some color after cutting up an apple, and I actually noticed a couple little spots of rust forming on my knife when I left it in a drawer for a few weeks (without oiling it first). At that point it wasn’t the nicest knife to photograph so I tried my hand at forcing a patina with some mustard. My results were interesting. The knife definitely darkened and I think it looks pretty cool. It would be even nicer to “earn” that patina over decades of use, but I guess there is still plenty of time for that.

At the end of the day for a $20 slip joint the performance of the blade and steel definitely surpassed my expectations. This is a nice little cutter and you will have a hard time finding much else that will exceed it’s performance given the price tag.

Handle and Ergonomics

My Sod Buster Jr came with yellow synthetic handles. They offer the knife with black plastic handles, but there is a bunch of writing on the blade, and that didn’t appeal to me. The synthetic yellow material is actually quite dense and has a quality feel to it. The yellow has some old school charm to it, almost as if it were made of bone or ivory, and I enjoy that aspect of it. The handle is of pinned construction with brass pins and pivot and brass liners. The backspacer / spring is stainless steel.

Case Sod Buster Jr. Handle

Ergonomically, the chunky yellow scales fill the hand nicely and there is just enough room for a 4 finger grip (with large hands). There is no jimping or texturing anywhere on the knife. I wouldn’t call the handle slick, but it’s not a traction machine either. I was able to comfortably accomplish normal EDC tasks including opening my mail, cutting up fruit, and breaking down boxes. If I had a rocking chair I could easily spend an afternoon whittling on the porch with a corn cob pipe and a fat slug of whiskey.

Case Sod Buster Jr. in Hand

While we are discussing the handle, it’s worth noting that the handle is pretty thick. For example, it is way thicker than my Alox Cadet:

Case Sod Buster Jr.

This also isn’t a bad time to point out that the blade centering on this $25 knife is dead nuts center.

Deployment and Lock Up

For your “deployment” you have a nail nick, and the knife doesn’t have a lock, so this section once again proves to be a little off point. The action or, “walk and talk” as slip joint aficionados call it, seems pretty good. I don’t have enough slip joints to form a frame of comparison, so I won’t attempt to rank it on a 10 point scale (slip joint enthusiasts sometimes rank the pull or strength of the spring on a 1-10 scale). I will say that this knife sure as heck isn’t opening up by accident, and the blade makes a satisfying snap when it pops open. There is no half stop on this knife.

Case Sod Buster Jr.

The lock up is pretty good considering that there is no lock. I didn’t have any issues with the knife closing on my hand, but I was careful in using it. If you mind your p’s and q’s and use the right tool for the job then you should be able to get a fair amount of work done with this knife.

Case Sod Buster Jr. and Victorinox Alox Cadet Size Comparison

Case Sod Buster Jr. Review – Final Thoughts

I am frankly very impressed that they can still make these in the US and sell them for under $25. Little details like a centered blade a sharp even edge bevel are present at a price point where these kinds of details often cant be found. Case in point, I bought a little plastic handled Buck lockback knife a couple years ago, and the thing was such a piece of junk that I didn’t even bother reviewing it. The Sod Buster Jr is legitimately a nice knife. Much like the Cadet, this would also make a great gift knife.

What else can I say? The Case Sod Buster Jr is an absolute classic. There are folks who have dedicated their collections to traditional slip joint knives, and could lend far keener insights than I have. So I hope I didn’t do it too grave of an injustice with this review. I still wanted to take an opportunity to talk about it, because I can appreciate the knife even as a relative outsider to the world of traditional folders. It’s a nice gateway knife, and a safe starting point for a traditional collection. I like and recommend it.

Case Sod Buster Pocket Knives, Yellow, Small
Case Sod Buster Pocket Knives, Yellow, Small
  • Chrome vanadium (CV) steel blade
  • Skinner blade; smooth yellow synthetic handle
  • Great everyday pocket knife for projects around the house, the outdoors, and hunting
  • Length: 3.63 inches closed and 2.1 ounces
  • Limited Lifetime Warranty
$34.59 Amazon Prime
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Editor: I recommend purchasing the Case Sodbuster Jr. at Amazon or BladeHQ. Please consider that buying anything through any of the links on this website helps support BladeReviews.com, and keeps the site going. As always, any and all support is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

Filed Under: EDC Knives, Folding Knives, Gentleman's Folder, Made in the USA, Recommended EDC Knives, Recommended High Value Knives, Traditional Knives, USA Made EDC Knives Tagged With: carbon steel, slip joint

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