112 Three dot vs four dot

L

lambertiana

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What is the difference between a three dot and four dot 112? Specifically regarding blade steel. I have seen conflicting reports that say the three dot had 440C and the four dot had 425M. Does anyone know for sure?
 
I found this: See Category IV & V, in the second post.
S

Thread 'dots and stripes on a 112 ?!?'

I am a newby collector of Buck knives and prefer collecting the Buck 112 and 500

I am looking to add one nice 112 FG and ordinary 112, but can't seem to find out what would be the best to go for..
There are 1, 2, 3, 4, non-dots and some have the solid wood scales instead of the laminated (striped) scales..

Anybody that can shed some light on the 112 dot variations and which have solid scales and which have the laminated scales?
 
Ironbut said:
I found this: See Category IV & V, in the second post.
S

Thread 'dots and stripes on a 112 ?!?'

I am a newby collector of Buck knives and prefer collecting the Buck 112 and 500

I am looking to add one nice 112 FG and ordinary 112, but can't seem to find out what would be the best to go for..
There are 1, 2, 3, 4, non-dots and some have the solid wood scales instead of the laminated (striped) scales..

Anybody that can shed some light on the 112 dot variations and which have solid scales and which have the laminated scales?
Click to expand...

I saw that too, but in other places I have seen statements that indicate that the transition to 425M was with the three dot, not the four dot. I wonder if anyone knows for sure.
 
I've seen reliable sources say the Three-Dot was the last of the 440C and that those 80-81 models (at least some of them) might have been the first and only 440C to have gotten the BOS heat treat which came along in that time period.

Like most Buck history--it is not perfectly recorded.
 
Other sources have stated that, at least on the 110, the blade width on 440C is .115 and on the 425M it is .120 inch.

I wonder if that held true for the 112? I don't remember ever checking.

:)
 
Meadowlark said:
I've seen reliable sources say the Three-Dot was the last of the 440C and that those 80-81 models (at least some of them) might have been the first and only 440C to have gotten the BOS heat treat which came along in that time period.

Like most Buck history--it is not perfectly recorded.
Click to expand...
I got a 112 three-dot and my research several years ago indicated the same.
 
Meadowlark said:
I've seen reliable sources say the Three-Dot was the last of the 440C and that those 80-81 models (at least some of them) might have been the first and only 440C to have gotten the BOS heat treat which came along in that time period.

Like most Buck history--it is not perfectly recorded.
Click to expand...
Interesting... I have a 3 dot no nail nick (version 1?), I wonder if the BOS heat treat started with that, or was on ver 2 or 3.
 
rival22 said:
Interesting... I have a 3 dot no nail nick (version 1?), I wonder if the BOS heat treat started with that, or was on ver 2 or 3.
Click to expand...
Due to the imperfect recording of its own history by Buck..........we can only guess.

There's a lot of info in the archives here on this forum, but it usually seems to be opinion.........and usually vague and without citing a source.

Too many "experts" who consider their words (probably from a faulty memory) as Gospel.

I never see anything more precise than the year of production. It's NEVER "June of 1980" but just 1980........which leaves a great span of time unaccounted for.

Buck history says Mr. Bos did depart his previously owned company in 1980 so maybe (most probably) that's the year when he got set up at Buck and began doing ALL the Buck blades and well as blades for others (as allowed by Buck in their agreement).

For many years previous to that he had done SOME special knives for Buck.

So I'd say that there's a good chance your knife has a BOS heat treat.
 
Meadowlark said:
Due to the imperfect recording of its own history by Buck..........we can only guess.

There's a lot of info in the archives here on this forum, but it usually seems to be opinion.........and usually vague and without citing a source.

Too many "experts" who consider their words (probably from a faulty memory) as Gospel.

I never see anything more precise than the year of production. It's NEVER "June of 1980" but just 1980........which leaves a great span of time unaccounted for.

Buck history says Mr. Bos did depart his previously owned company in 1980 so maybe (most probably) that's the year when he got set up at Buck and began doing ALL the Buck blades and well as blades for others (as allowed by Buck in their agreement).

For many years previous to that he had done SOME special knives for Buck.

So I'd say that there's a good chance your knife has a BOS heat treat.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I can only imagine how blurry history is in a relatively small production company.

And, I would only assume that parts are made in batches, so maybe they did a bunch of blade, and wood was backordered for a bit (or vice versa), so some mixing and matching happened during assembly, etc.
 
rival22 said:
Yeah, I can only imagine how blurry history is in a relatively small production company.

And, I would only assume that parts are made in batches, so maybe they did a bunch of blade, and wood was backordered for a bit (or vice versa), so some mixing and matching happened during assembly, etc.
Click to expand...
In the past, another thing that happened would be that a forgotten bunch of parts would be found in some dark and dusty corner and had to be used up--so that's how we would get those wonderful one-time issues of fascinating buildouts.

:)
 
If you want to go down a really dark Buck 112 Rabbit hole try to find out ANYTHING about Damascus 112 blades. Number of the original run of blades number of runs period.. Anything at all.
 
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