300 Series Questions

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fishinfs

Joined
Nov 8, 2005
Messages
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A few questions on these little gems:

* Pre-86 Camillus Manufacture - I have several 303's with a brass spacer next to one of the liners. I also have a 303 and a 301 with no spacer. What does this tell about the year of manufacture?

* El Cajon Manufacture - any thoughts on which were the best years, in terms of quality of product? Any difference? Intuitively, it seems like there would have been a bit of a learning curve in the first few years, just wonder if this is borne out in what was actually made then.

BTW, I haven't had a 'bad' 300 series yet; but I did notice on two of them (and on a 373 Trio) grinding and binding that I eventually managed to work out with repeated oilings and manipulation; I attributed this to polishing compound that wasn't flushed out before the knives shipped.

BTW, thanks for a great forum! Thoroughly enjoyable.
 
fishinfs said:
A few questions on these little gems:

* Pre-86 Camillus Manufacture - I have several 303's with a brass spacer next to one of the liners. I also have a 303 and a 301 with no spacer. What does this tell about the year of manufacture?
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Not much, the infamous "spacer" came and went at various times. Some early Camillus ones had it, and then it was gone for years, but returned latter.

I've never really understood the why of it, but it sure has made collecting 301's interesting!!! :D

fishinfs said:
* El Cajon Manufacture - any thoughts on which were the best years, in terms of quality of product? Any difference? Intuitively, it seems like there would have been a bit of a learning curve in the first few years, just wonder if this is borne out in what was actually made then.
Click to expand...

Some of my personal favorite 301's are the late 80's (88-90) ones that are 2 backsprings with flat ground blades.
 
Spacer - cause and effect.

In two spring knives with THREE blades, the secondary blades can be "crinked" or bent at the tang to create an offset so that two blades can close in one blade well. An extra spacer was sometimes used to give a little extra space for this 'nestling' of the blades...
Buck changed to three blade knives with THREE springs so that each would close in a straight well. "Crinkning" was as much of an art as a practice. Three springs or one per blade speeds up actual assembly (and reduces rejected blades) and reduces the stress of two blades using one spring....
300Bucks
 
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300Bucks said:
Spacer - cause and effect.

In two spring knives with THREE blades, the secondary blades can be "crinked" or bent at the tang to create an offset so that two blades can close in one blade well. An extra spacer was sometimes used to give a little extra space for this 'nestling' of the blades...
Click to expand...

Well Duh!! (slaps forehead)

All this time fooling with them, and I never noticed that the "spacer" is always on the 2 blade side.
 
fish,

As BCCL states, some folks like the flat ground blade era as something they want to hold on to. The first of the Buck assembled 301,303,309 and 305s are generally most easily noted by the BUCK lettered scale shield, rather than the knife,bolt and hammer shield. (also called the escutcheon plate). During those brief years of the eighties the Buck shield models were made in CA by Buck using 425m steel.

With brass liners. This is my own thinking, not stated by anyone of authority, but I believe the extra liners are used during assembly runs in which material dimensions varied. If you measure the width of different years blades of the same model they vary. I think the liners were thrown in to overcome some narrow springs or thicker blade sets.

Grit in you gears. Yes, It seems MANY of the newer knvies come with some polishing compound free of charge. I open and close one for the first time and if it grinds, I go to the faucet with the hottest water in the house and use dishwashing detergent and a toothbrush. Open and close blades in running water, till I am happy. The dose it down with WD-40, wipe dry, let drain on paper towel and oil with good oil. Now that said I know I will hear how crude that treatment is. But it works and nothin' rusts. I also am a fan of soaking knife in mineral oil bath to deal with any tarnishing or other surface issues. Such as rusting of older carbon springs. Hope some of that helps.

Just to throw in another variable, some high end and custom knives, have the secondary blades ground in an off-set manner. In other words, the blade is ground so that the 'center' of the blade thickness is off-set to one side. The opposite end pivot blade is then ground off-set to the other side allowing them to close in a very tight blade well snuggled into each others "free" space. Most often used in thick two blade, opposite end knives. FYI
300Bucks
 
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300 and BCCL - I thank you both! Heck, when the two of you get going, you start answering questions that I didn't even think to ask!
 
300Bucks said:
Now that said I know I will hear how crude that treatment is. But it works and nothin' rusts.
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I give mine the same treatment, even to just clean them when they get grungy and it's never hurt one yet.

My 1991 red delrin 301 got it yesterday.

I've washed many a 110 with wood scales as well, and as long as you dry them off it hasn't hurt them either.

Won't do it with bone or stag though.
 
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