About the 120 Blade.....

[Rocinante]

I notice (as I peruse the many and varied e-Bay offerings) that I'm seeing 120s with blades that are shaped slightly differently.

So I'm wondering if there were variations over the many years in the way the blades were shaped or if the ones I see that look different have maybe had a broken tip and have been reshaped?

Does the individual worker who shapes the blade on the new knife at the factory have some leeway in how he can shape the blade......so shapes could change from knife to knife in a way that the eye can perceive?

Or have these always been stamped out pretty much like cookies from a cookie cutter? And maybe that cookie cutter was changed a few times over the years?

The recent 120s have that long sweeping curve in the false edge and seem pretty uniform. Some of the older ones have the same curve and some (1970s catalog) have less and seem a little more blunt and bulky.

I see lengths listed as 7 3/8, 7 1/2, and even seven and 5/8 on my latest favorite........now some of this may just be poor measuring, but it's so pervasive that there must actually be some variations.

Maybe there's some record of changes in the blades somewhere?

 

[GOSHEN]

Interesting Observation. I Don't Know Myself But Now I'm Curious. I'll Check Back To See What Anyone Knows.

 

[jb4570]

Hi Rocinante,

I have also observed the same subtle difference's in the blade contours of the 120 & 119's. More information from some of the resedent experts would be nice.....Pic's would be better.

jb4570

 

[relodr36]

I notice (as I peruse the many and varied e-Bay offerings) that I'm seeing 120s with blades that are shaped slightly differently.
I see lengths listed as 7 3/8, 7 1/2, and even seven and 5/8 on my latest favorite........now some of this may just be poor measuring, but it's so pervasive that there must actually be some variations.

Maybe there's some record of changes in the blades somewhere?

I remeasured mine with a good ruler and would say that it is 7 and 19/32". Probably listed it as 7 & 5/8".It's sure more than 7 & 9/16".
The article on Buck's entry into the folders,in the 1977 Gun Digest Book of Folding Knives has a picture of a punch press die that Buck was using to blank out the blades for the folding hunter.

 

[Rocinante]

Relodr, I have a brand new one that's exactly 7 3/8, and I have two from the 80s and one is about a 16th under and one's about a 16th over 7 1/2.

Blade shapes are the same, I think.....I'll have to round them up and look at them all together later.

I suspect that some of the seeming differences I see on e-Bay are due to camera angle. When you're fairly close up, just a little change can make proportions look different than they really are.....and some of the changes may be that at least a few guys are selling knives that have had broken tips and been reshaped.

But those things probably can't account for ALL the differences I see. It would be interesting to know if there's a chronological pattern to it.

 

[livind]

I didn't see the 120 on the Buck website. They still have the 119. Have they discontinued the 120? I have one of each and like them both a lot, even though the tip of my 120 was reshaped by me. (broken)It now measures in at 7 3/8.

 

[chickentrax]

Welcome to Bladeforums.com livind!!! Please take a moment or two to visit our benefactors, Buck Knives http://www.buckknives.com/ and One Stop Knife Shop http://www.onestopknifeshop.com/ (Kevin owns this Forum!) Please consider upgrading your membership and keep BladeForums.com open!!!

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If you have a problem posting pictures, there is a Quick & Dirty tutorial at Photobucket For Dummies. If you don't have a digital camera, but do have a scanner, lay your knife on the glass and throw a light colored towel/t-shirt/cloth over it and scan it. Save the pic, and follow the above instructions for posting pics.

If you are getting a blank screen (no hits) when using the Search function, follow these instructions courtesy of Cougar Allen [paraphrased] -

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Joe Houser
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JHouser@buckknives.com

And Mr. Houser should be able to help you with your warranty/repair questions.

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I didn't see the 120 on the Buck website. They still have the 119. Have they discontinued the 120?

Buck has discontinued the 120; volume Buck distributors still offer it...Cabela's has them...

 

[Buckaholic]

...Buck has discontinued the 120; volume Buck distributors still offer it...Cabela's has them...

Recently, thanks to a crazy chicken, I got a lead for a new 120BR. It was from buyknivesonline.
There site seems to be down at this moment though.

 

[chickentrax]

BKO seems to be up on this coast...

http://buyknivesonline.com//index.a...ductid=779&directoryid=-1&ctrl=productdetails

 

[Buckaholic]

Cool Trax.
Thanks.
Your link worked.
This is what I came up with:
http://buyknivesonline.com/buy_knives_online_products.xml

Thinking cause my search brought up the xml code.
Thanks again...