813: Burgundy Micarta Pilot Run, Smooth Non-Textured Scales From 1988

oregon

oregon

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Jan 12, 2005
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Here is a Burgundy Micarta Pilot Run 813 Professional 5000 Contractor Workman with smooth scales from back in 1988, the first year of production. Texturing was added to the scales after the Pilot Run, per Bill Keyes. Production ended in 1994 with about 26,500 units produced:













Thank you for looking.

Oh, yes, and what else I took photos of this terrific morning, Bald Eagle's nest with female and fledgling, a long shot:





 
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Controversy:

Is the handle Micarta or something else. If something else then what.

I looks like Bakelite to me. But I suppose that it could be paper Micarta.

I got on to the Micarta bit via this quote from Bill Keyes:

"09-03-2009, 06:20 PM
#4
Bill Keys

Bill Keys is offline
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Join Date:May 2000Location:Post Falls, IdahoPosts:85




The smooth one would have been from initial pilot runs; once the handle tooling was textured, all of the handles were textured. I believe we made some of them in black as well as burgandy. The handle was the same for both the 812 and 813. There was a larger single blade version that was the 811. The blade was a large hawkbilled blade. It used a 112 rocker as I recall. The initial design work on the 811 was sketched on napkins (literally) by Bob Lancia (who would later become the General Production Manager for a number of years) and me and the first models were hand made using Micarta.

As an aside, this is also how the design for the second generation fillet knives was developed; this was the black handled version, that had BUCK in both sides of the handle, with the finger grooves that was produced after the original brownish color version. The Buck museum has the napkin with the sketch of the fillet on it as well as a handmade wood mock up of the handle. One detail tidbit on those fillets, the first production runs had Buck on one side fo the handle and USA on the other side of the handle- that was becasue the new handle design covered teh Buck stamped on the blade so until we used our inventory of already stamped blades, we put USA on one side of the handle.

Both were projects I was intimately familiar with as they were my projects.

Bill Keys
Director of Manufacturing and Engineering
Buck Knives, Inc. "
 
I'm glad you put this description from Bill Keys in here. I don't think these are the 1st models as the handle material looks to be valox. I've handled these and that's what it looks like to me. This is all good history
on this model. Thank you. Plus, thanks for including the good wildlife photos. DM
 
Thank you David.

Has anyone ever seen a 1988 800 series with obvious Micarta scales? I'm getting motivated to ping Bill Keyes about this. I wish that I had this bug last Summer so I could have pestered him with examples and questions to fill in some gaps for my curiosity. Fun stuff for me.

Also, the 813. Shouldn't the non-guildmaster version, the Professional xxxx Contractor model be a 3,000 and not a 5,000? Vern Taylor labels it a 3,000. This makes sense since the knife has three blades and not five. I don't like to muddy the water but confusion sometimes leads to enlightenment. Vern, BCCI model history, is probably right.

I always hope that you'll be able to see and possibly enjoy the outdoor photos. Your photo of you holding the coyote has stayed with me, changed me in a way. Sharing what its like in each other's neck of the woods and our different pursuits is fascinating to me. You don't post enough pictures for me. Well, uh, most don't. I really enjoy the pics.
 
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Oregon, I enjoy your pictures of the knife, but I just gotta ask what you are using for the close-ups of the eagle. The shots of the eagle are fantastic! I love them.
 
Thank you. PanasonicDMC-FZ200. It is a super zoom bridge camera that has been good to me. If you don't want to spring for or carry a DSLR you could do worse than this point and shoot.
 
Those handles are injection molded, so they wouldn't be micarta. Bill Keyes was probably referring to prototypes that were made before a pilot run when he mentioned micarta.
 
That PanasonicDMC-FZ200 is a nice camera. I have an older 5mp dmc and used it until I got my current DSLR. Thanks for answering my question.
 
In the early 70's a man named Jack Swedberg started a EAGLE RESTORATION PROJECT here in Massachusetts at the Qaubbin Reservoir after the allgeded D.D.T. kill.....Jack use to bring 8mm movies into a local bar and show us them. It was fantastic! they use feed them by dragging a deer out on the ice of the reservoir that was raodkill to feed them. Amazing wing spans.....I live not far from the Quabbin now and everyone once and awhile I see them soaring over the house in the sky on a clear blue cloudless day its stunning how much their white cap shows up against the sky....spectacular.

Thank you for the share of those great photos......Oregon
 
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