35 Year Old Buck 110 (Lots of pics)

[Eero]

Looks like it was a hard user. I was give a 110 with broken tip by my dad that is probably 35+ years old. Looking into replacing the blade sometime in the future.

 

[pinnah]

Edit: scratch that, the knife is 21 years old. Thanks to Plumberdv and jb4570 for clearing that up.

Let me start this thread off by warning you that this will be a pretty long one. I've become enamored with this knife, and I've opened up a section in my mind that has been dormant for a while--the section about my Dad.

MYA, really wonderful story about your re-connection with your Dad. Parental and family things tend to be complicated and it's great to see bonds reaffirmed.

Regarding the charges that your knife was "abused" or "mistreated", I'd suggest ignoring them. One man's abuse is another man's job.

To put your father and his knife into a larger context, you might be interested in reading the good article on the Ka-Bar knife on Wikipedia. As I'm sure you know, the Ka-Bar was designed to be something like a sharp pry bar and it was a definite departure from the skinnier "fighting" knives from the WWI era. This quote from the Wikipedia article summarizes it nicely.

Another criticism was that the Mark I's relatively thin blade was prone to breakage when used for common utility tasks such as cutting wire, opening ammunition crates and ration tins.

Like the Mark I fighting knife, the Buck 110 has a fairly thin tip, which is accentuated by its almost California style clip. Buck 110s with broken tips are as common as insensitive comments on the internet.

I have a single family heirloom knife, a 6.5" bowie that my grandfather used as his camping and hunting knife. My approach to that knife has been to sharpen the blade, buff out the rust, keep the blade oiled and the stacked leather handle and sheath well lubricated with Lexol. I keep it with my gun stuff and plan on handing it down to my kid along with all the stories I can remember. I see all the marks of "damage" put there by grand-father as having a story. His hands put them there and that means something to me.

Of course, eventually I wanted a knife like my grand-fathers so I found something else I could use and abuse as I see fit. His is the top one. My abused woods knife is the second one.

fixed blades by Pinnah, on Flickr

In this line, if you want to have a knife like your dads, hunt around for an older 110 in good shape. I particularly like the older ones with 440C steel but that's a preference thing.

Again, great story. Thanks for posting.