317 prototype

gsea

gsea

Joined
Feb 7, 2014
Messages
914
Here is a 317 prototype I picked up from the "Godfather"(LR) of Buck knives. When they were contemplating the serrated blade this was one of the versions they were thinking about. Obviously they choose the full serrated version.









Production model on left, Prototype on right

 
You know, I've seen so many one offs that have come out of the Buck line up, especially with the relationships with Camillus and so forth, that I have a hard time excepting "Prototypes". I have had a few over the years, and have been able to substantiate a couple, but with the exception of the word of someone that actually participated in the approval process, its hard to prove. This is mostly because with the finishing process that were in place then and now to some extent, there are so many people that do things in these process slightly different than the other guy. I'm not discounting this knife with my post, just Piggybacking on the Prototype Idea. You have a nice knife and if LR said it was a Prototype, you can bet it is. You should attempt to get several examples of this knife, as references. The white knife is nice but not a true production model, (identical with the exception of the blade). Just my opinion...
 
Wow! Talk about an eye catcher. That's a great looking and interesting Buck. Thank you for sharing and congratulations on a great score. The 317 is one Buck model I don't have an example of. Your post just moved it up on my short list.
 
mbjannusch said:
You know, I've seen so many one offs that have come out of the Buck line up, especially with the relationships with Camillus and so forth, that I have a hard time excepting "Prototypes". I have had a few over the years, and have been able to substantiate a couple, but with the exception of the word of someone that actually participated in the approval process, its hard to prove. This is mostly because with the finishing process that were in place then and now to some extent, there are so many people that do things in these process slightly different than the other guy. I'm not discounting this knife with my post, just Piggybacking on the Prototype Idea. You have a nice knife and if LR said it was a Prototype, you can bet it is. You should attempt to get several examples of this knife, as references. The white knife is nice but not a true production model, (identical with the exception of the blade). Just my opinion...
Click to expand...

MB
Yes the white knife is custom a Mastodon Ivory LR did for a collector in the custom shop. I just grabbed it to show the difference in the blades.
 
gsea said:
MB
Yes the white knife is custom a Mastodon Ivory LR did for a collector in the custom shop. I just grabbed it to show the difference in the blades.
Click to expand...

I realize the use of the knife, just having a production knife to compare to shows the real differences in the knives. Customs are just that Custom and vary slightly from productions at times...It was just a suggestion, and my opinion
 
Oh boy an opinion thread in my area,

317s, are big knives.....there is one opinion. Good discussion on prototypes. In the history of Buck there are marked prototypes and unmarked prototypes. Sometimes there are one or two made to check things out and sometime there are a hundred. Back in the old Custom Shop of the Remer era, in my opinion, you might see more 'one-off's' as someone has a idea goes down the Custom area and they whip it out by the end of the day. I think much less of that happens in this era. Maybe Joe would do one on his own. But, I think things move differently now. My opinion anyway.

I seem to remember a story about trying different serrations back then. Just like on the 124's, different serrations. I think it was the 'serration phase' in knife making. I hope we are over that as I don't like serrations for anything other than an emergency rope or belt cutting knife. Just an opinion.

An ivory scaled knife is almost child like, as the scale is handled and ages, it changes shades and its visual look. With new(ancient)stuff most is stabilized and likely that won't happen to it. To bad, I enjoy my one ivory knife for it changes. But, I also support anti-poaching efforts, so a catch 22.

300/ch
 
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Here is a standard production serrated to compare with the prototype. 300 according to LR a lot of serrations were being looked at and this knife actually came from a custom shop employee from back then who came up with this version. As a side note LR said there were a lot 317 customs going thru the shop so there are a lot out there.





 
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