A minor mystery (at least to me)

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Sep 26, 2008
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I brought up this knife in a prior thread but here it is again. It may be of interest only to me, but I'm hoping that some forum member or perhaps someone from Buck (Joe ?) can explain what the deal is.

If you go back and look at the catalogs you'll see that the last year this model was shown and listed in the price list was 2005. It was gone from both after that, but now I find this one with the 2011 date stamp. It's not a buildout, or at least it doesn't have the "BO" in the model number on the label. It is a factory blem (see the deformed blade pin head) but is not marked on the knife itself as a FB, only on the box. The catalog number and UPC code matches the ones from 2005 and earlier but there's no date printed on the label.

I can see my son in a few years when he becomes the owner of my accumulation scratching his head over this one. Why, if it was dropped from the catalog, is it still being produced six years later?

FB4422011c.jpg


FB4422011b.jpg


FB4422011a.jpg


FB4422011labela.jpg


FB4422011labelb.jpg
 
They were not just produced again in 2011, I have this one on the way that has the 2010 date stamp.

4422010.jpg
 
Maybe those forgotten spare parts were being used for several years.

If they're laying around and judged to be surplus.......they'll be used with the current production blade.
 
They are for sale now on ebay with the same date stamp. It says there are ten of them.
 
Then let me edit that. There are no current blades in any current production KNIFE that matches the 442 blade that I'm aware of and that could stamped 442 and used in left over 442 handles. A little clearer now?
 
If a blade has a current stamp on it they must be currently manufacturing it.

Old blades are almost invariably completed blades, therefore already stamped.

My suggestion was that old parts might be being used with newly produced blades (because the blades are stamped with current date markings).
 
So you speculate that they are producing new discontinued blades just to use up some old plastic handles?
 
You have the pictures, so the blades must exist.

As to why, it's hard to say.

There may be many reasons.
 
I'm going to speculate that there is a different and unknown reason for the blades. I speculate that a more cost effective and easier solution to using up a bunch of leftover handles would have been to produce them as buildouts with current production 112 blades. No need to tool up and make any new 442 blades at all in that case. They will fit as the 112 buildouts below used 442 design blades so I assume that the reverse would be possible.

I'm hoping that someone from Buck will give a real answer so we don't have to rely on guesses.

Custom112e.jpg


Custom112and442.jpg
 
I speculate that a more cost effective and easier solution to using up a bunch of leftover handles would have been to produce them as buildouts with current production 112 blades. No need to tool up and make any new 442 blades at all in that case.

Maybe they thought staying with a drop point was essential.

Maybe they just weren't thinking.

:)
 
Too many maybes, that's why I started the thread in hopes that I would get an answer from someone who actually knows what they are talking about and not just speculating. ;)

No offense intended. :)
 
humm .. i am trying to get some of the 442 from 2002 ...
yes that custom 112 blade seems to be from a 442 dont it ?
 
humm .. i am trying to get some of the 442 from 2002 ...
yes that custom 112 blade seems to be from a 442 dont it ?

Yes it does Dave. As a matter of fact, the picture in the newsletter that showed them originally, shows it with a 442 blade with a 2003 date stamp. This is a poor quality picture, but it does show it good enough to read.

112442blade.jpg
 
Yes it does Dave. As a matter of fact, the picture in the newsletter that showed them originally, shows it with a 442 blade with a 2003 date stamp. This is a poor quality picture, but it does show it good enough to read.

112442blade.jpg

Hmmmmm...I might just need to round me up a couple 442's and a couple112's with stubby blades and see how well they play together :)
thanx for this thread Plumberdv :thumbup:
 
Hmmmmm...I might just need to round me up a couple 442's and a couple112's with stubby blades and see how well they play together :)
thanx for this thread Plumberdv :thumbup:

My pleasure. Your's sounds like a great idea, especially if you're a fan of the drop point blades. I'll bet they polish up real well too.

I had Buck put a new blade in an old 112 a year or so ago, I'd have like it better if they had used a 442 blade instead.
 
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