650C Nighthawk: yet another Steel timeline Question on 425m

sitflyer

sitflyer

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Mar 10, 2011
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In trying to learn more about this model I went to the BCCI archives and lo-and-behold in '94 and '95 saw that the nighthawks were listed as 425 American made stainless steel ! This was surprising to me as I thought the switch was made to 420 in 1992 according to my notes...
then in the '96 catalog the steel was listed as Amercan-Made Corrosion-Resistant S.S.


So; is this the only model they were using 425 on at that time?
And if so Why???
And what steel did they switch to in '96? : 420???
 
Although no conclusion on the "why" was noted, this was discussed in this earlier thread.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...)-and-questions?highlight=nighthawk+steel+425

Haebbie came to the same conclusion you did about the 425 in the catalogs.

If I were to offer a guess I'd guess that blanks for Nighthawk blades were cut from 425MOD sometime in 1992 or early 1993 and then there was a delay and they were set aside and then date-stamped and heat-treated at the later date.

When that bunch was used up they undoubtedly went to the 420HC.
 
Also, maybe Dave Martin will have something to add, since he said on that linked thread that all Nighthawks were 420HC.

He may have info that the catalogs were in error.
 
The cataolog is not the only place where the 425 steel is well noted.

Haebbie

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P. S.: The paperwork was printed in 1994.
 
BG42EDGE said:
Although no conclusion on the "why" was noted, this was discussed in this earlier thread.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...)-and-questions?highlight=nighthawk+steel+425

Haebbie came to the same conclusion you did about the 425 in the catalogs.

If I were to offer a guess I'd guess that blanks for Nighthawk blades were cut from 425MOD sometime in 1992 or early 1993 and then there was a delay and they were set aside and then date-stamped and heat-treated at the later date.

When that bunch was used up they undoubtedly went to the 420HC.
Click to expand...

Thanx for that BG...Still trying to figure out the advanced seach functions here...I seem to get oceans of info to sift through each time...

Seems the Nighthawk was made for some Seals trials...was an "also ran" because of some very minor shortages...then got put out commercially....Maybe Your hunch about a bunch of blades lying around was correct ;) :) This Buck collecting stuff can be fun :)
 
Bumped to add recent info to this thread in case anyone in the future stumbles upon it....
A Big Thank You to Joe for taking the time to answer my question :thumbup:


My question to Joe in a PM... (could have been better worded:o...)





Originally Posted by sitflyer

Hi Joe,
in researching my 650 I had come across some surprising info in that the '94 and '95 catalog listed them as having 425 steel. Haebbie then posted a picture of the packaging whereby it is also listed as 425 steel...I am wondereing if these early released versions were MFG. in anticipation of a military contract(seals) and when that didn't go through were they later released to the public? I find it hard to beleive that Buck would have listed them as such both in catalog and packaging if it were not so...?
Any info you could provide would be much appreciated.
Thanx
Duane


Joe's Reply:

QUOTE

Hello Duane,
I am not sure what it is that you are asking? I'll type some more though and see if I answer your question. ;-) I know that we would not have started a production run through the shop in anticipation of a military contract. The contract would contain info pertinant to the manufacture so there is no way we would have started without one.
The 650 came out about 2 years after we changed from 425mod to 420hc. So why does the catalog say it was made of 425mod in 94 and 95? In the 96 catalog it doesnt mention the steel type and we can surmise that in 96 they were made of 420hc. I might be able to find someone here that remembers the project and can shed some light. In the meantime, my theory is that when we pitched the idea of the 650, the steel type made sense for the military's aplication. Even though they did not pick the 650, when we went to production of it we decided that we would keep the same steel type since it made sense for the military and it could be a marketing point that the knife met a majority of their requirements. After a couple of years we switched.
Another possibility is that we had a boat load of 425mod in the proper thickness and decided to use it all up on the 650.
Either is possible and they may both be true.
I hope this helps.

Joe Houser
Director of Consumer relations Buck Knives Inc.
Buck Collectors club Liaison, Member #123

END QUOTE
 
Duane, Thanks for sharing you letter and answer. I have a few of these and love them. I do find myself wondering what I would really use it for though. I think I keep them because they are discontinued. I don't like the collaboration Nighthawks, so I won't be buying one of those.
 
Both of Joe's statements are plausible. I would go with the second one and marketing to military piggy-backed off that. I do recall discussing this matter w/ another collector years ago when they first came out and reading paperwork that verified this steel. Where that paperwork is now I have no idea. Yet, if you'll measure the blade thickness at the choil you notice its thicker than 3/16's making it a odd ball size giving credence to Joe's 2nd statement. DM
 
ah so there were two steels use on the night hawk .. means that you all fixed blade collectors gots to get both!!
now i gots a question .. what steel was used on the pig sticker , 420hc?
 
ya .. pig iron would most likely be my first guess also !!!
but ya knows them boys at buck ... well they might use any thing dey a gots layin around
heck they might even uses some dang new fangled stuff like s35vn or some such stuff
could be any thign as they had some swedish steel they used fer a while...
be nice to see some new stufff in the 110 tho...
yep pig steel ... heck of a way for buck to make a buck!!!! lol
 
:)

I, too......would like to see some 110s made with new steels. Maybe a non-stainless model or at least D2.

Think about it, Buck.

Far as this Nighthawk goes, seems like they'd be good diver's knives if Buck would add a saltwater sheath option.
 
I actually thought about getting a kydex leg sheath for mine for my scuba ensemble BG :D
 
Yeah.....I'm thinking the snap on the current sheath might not hold up for tough use in salt water, but maybe it would be ok, I don't know.

You want something that's going to hold the knife with total reliability, that's for sure.
 
On a side not to the 15th, 16th and 17th posts, Buck did make the Intrepid in both a Tanto and chisel point blade and it has a great locking sheath, which in my mind would be a great dive knife.



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Yeah, I forgot about that one......it sure has the look of a dive knife.

:thumbup:
 
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