A chrome plated 106 Hunter's Axe, not stainless steel.

[DeSotoSky]

Here is an interesting model 106 Hunter's Axe from my collection. This axe is chrome plated and not stainless. The tang stamp is BUCK*. Matt Jannusch had reported on another 106 that was plated in a previous thread that I think was somewhat overlooked in the shuffle but I think this is a varient important enough to bring up in a thread of it's own. Matt's axe clearly was not an oddball since I have one also. In the pictures you can easily see the chrome plating peeling back and the worn cutting edge rusting underneath. Joe Houser did a brief history on the 106 axe that can be found in the March 2004 BCCI Newsletter. He makes no mention in the article of chrome plated axes or of the steel types used in general. Pre factory Buck axes were known as the model 116. The 116 axe disappears from the 1960 catalog and reappears in 1965 as the 106. 1-line factory produced axes would then date from 1965 to 1967. I have a 2-line phenolic handled axe and it is clearly stainless. In general, 1-line tang marks with a dot following are considered to be a 1967 marking but I wonder if the dot following BUCK on the tang stamp of this axe is designating a different steel type. I wonder where this axe falls in the 106 chronology. I can think of no other BUCK knife or axe model where chrome plating of steel was used instead of stainless.

 

[Scott Hartman]

Whenever someone talks to me about knives, and I hear "it was chrome plated", I get a good chuckle to myself.
Looking at your 106....I'd better change my thought process....now I've gotta start lookin' for the "Chromed-ones"!!!

 

[I.N.F.K]

It's CHROME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:thumbup:

 

[mbjannusch]

The person to refer to on the 106 would be Heath Stone. A large part of his collection is 106 axes both Pre factory and factory production. He may have even experienced this in his customization job as Founder of Stone Knife Works Inc.

 

[Stumps]

Thought I would throw this out as a possibility.

What if it was "chromed" aftermarket?? I remember years ago when you could get a car bumper re-chromed. Maybe this was done by someone in that business??

 

[DeSotoSky]

Thought I would throw this out as a possibility.
What if it was "chromed" aftermarket?? I remember years ago when you could get a car bumper re-chromed. Maybe this was done by someone in that business??

It's a good thought but I'm hung on the notion that the base metal under the chrome is not stainless plus Matt has one.
I hope some others with 1-line axes take a closer look and chime in.

Matt, if you still have your axe, how is the tang marked? Is it a 1-line with a dot? Do you think your base metal is stainless?

 

[mbjannusch]

I dont have the axe to show a picture of but here is the jist of it. The one line stamps and the Buck * marked axes are made of a high carbon steel, and were Chromed plated, to give them the high gloss mirror finish. They take the high carbon steel and dip it in copper or brass to give the chrome something to stick to. Then they dip it in the chrome to give it the high gloss mirror finish. This was only done to the early model axes. After the Buck* they changed to stainless steel and did not need to plate the axes.
Heath Stone and I talked about this and he had the same conversation with Chuck Buck who was able to shed some light on the process. Chuck being as old as he is couldn't remeber everything, but was able to confirm most of what was already suspected.

 

[DeSotoSky]

Thank you for your contribution of that information Matt.
Will all 1-line axes be chrome plated or just the earliest ones?
Asked another way, are there any stainless 1-line axes?

 

[mbjannusch]

From the info I got, all one line and Buck* stamped Axes will be chrome plated, because these were made of high carbon steel and not stainless, therefor they needed to be chromed to give the axes a gloss finish.

 

[RAZORBLADES]

I'm betting thats some good old carbon steel ,and to try and avoid a lot of rusting they added the chrome plating.Golod carbon steel rusts quick and easy,I ewould say the chrome did its job until pitting off .

 

[mbjannusch]

It begs the question though, Was the 106 ever meant to be used or was it an item to look at. Chrome plated items don't top my list of most durable to take to the field and whak against trees and bones. I mean it will last for a while but eventually it will chip, peel or crack, and the truth will come out...

 

[jb4570]

It begs the question though, Was the 106 ever meant to be used or was it an item to look at. Chrome plated items don't top my list of most durable to take to the field and whak against trees and bones. I mean it will last for a while but eventually it will chip, peel or crack, and the truth will come out...

Yep, the first time you put an edge on it you would expose the carbon steel that would rust and start the plating to peel! Not sure why anyone would do that ever? It sure would be nice to hear what Joe can find in the old data.
jb4570

 

[mbjannusch]

From my understanding, and I dont want to speak for Joe, but I was told that he had no knowledge of it. The little bit of info that was dug up was received from Chuck and it was scattered due to his age. But with all good detective work you put the bread crumbs that you receive with the ones you find out for yourself and before you know it the puzzle is put together. Thuth be told, this conversation was discussed between Heath Stone and I before and although I anm speaking now the info gathered came from Heath and his conversations with the Buck family and Joe. I just choose to be the mouth piece to type it all out. But that is the case in most collecting, just the passing on of information from one person to another and so on to keep that info alive.

 

[RAZORBLADES]

Maybe it could have been one of those salesman samples and never intended for use?I agree ,chrome plating wouldn't hold up under use very well.

 

[Noobyloo]

This is a really old thread but it's the only place I've seen a discussion of these chrome plated 106's. I recently acquired a number of tools from a man who bought two of everything and among those found a pair of the 106 Hunter's Axe, both chrome. One has the 1 line logo "BUCK" with no asterisk, the other has the 2 line "BUCK, USA" logo. Both have the phenolic handle and black sheath with snap.

The 2 line is about 1/4" shorter than the 1 line and the butt of the head is slightly rounded compared to the 1 line.

Also the 1 line appears to have been plated after sharpening, the 2 line sharpened after plating.

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I had the thought that they are both about 1967, at the time of the logo change? But someone mentioned that chrome plating was only used on the earliest axes.

Comments welcome!

 

[DeSotoSky]

Welcome to the Buck forum, your first post. You did great posting pictures your first time here. You have some very nice axes. Thanks for sharing. Some good finds. Just to be sure, the 2-line axe really is chrome plated and not high polished stainless? These were made in small numbers so small variations are to be expected. 1967 was a transitional year for tang stamps progressing from 'BUCK' to 'BUCK*' to 'BUCK/USA' so it is in the realm of possibilities that both your axes were made close together in time. The sheaths with the snap are not seen too often. I did notice the two heads are shaped differently. Around 1967 Buck made some process changes in how blades were blanked. That ties into the transitional use of the "*" that year to designate the change. Perhaps your two different head shapes relate to that. At the time I made this original post the chrome plating was a surprise to me but I have since come across this description from the late 60's catalog supplements. They were "triple plated". Notice the location of the 'BUCK' stamp in the picture....I'm still looking for one!

 

[bucksway]

I wonder what the collector value would be for the early axes ? I have a brother who was involved in the Boy Scouts and seen a few being used in the late 90's and I told him then a good minimum value would be 100.00 .

 

[pholder]

Greetings,
something I can actually comment on as I am an electroplater by trade. As a plater in the Airline maintenance industry I can tell you that chrome plating IS extremely
wear resistance if applied as ground stock(build up then ground to size) as apposed to decorative chrome which is usually thin dence chrome. Several factors come into play with chrome plating application. chromic acid to sulfuric acid ratio, bath temperature, colder temp = harder deposit while warmer temp = softer deposit,
current density where anode to cathode ratio depends on build up. So think of a sheet of paper if you will, All of the edges of the paper being the high current density area and the center of the sheet being the low current density area, because of such the edges will receive the greater amount of plating and the center less. To combat this problem we will use a thief or robber, some conductive tape such as lead tape or wire around the outside edges to rob the power and therefore depositing a more uniform deposit. The draw back of what i see on the axe is chrome plating is extremely brittle so to look under magnification you will see micro cracking, think of a dry lake bottom and you will see random cracking, and depending on the activation process will depend on the adheasion, bond.
didn't mean to ramble, thanks for listening
Troy

 

[DeSotoSky]

Troy, thanks for joining in. Another of my fetishes is old chain saws and I think they would have chrome plated bores sometimes so that would go with what you were saying about wear resistence.

 

[MJK77]

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Hello sorry to hi-jack this thread but I picked this up today am I'm trying to figure out what it would be worth? Any help would be incredibly great.
I'm not sure why the picture is not showing up I tried following the instructions.
It's a one line 106 with the original sheath, it's in great shape with some minor wear and It looks as though someone sharpened it as it's very sharp.