Andy Taylor's (Vern Taylor's Son) 800 Series Folders, 811, 812 and 813

[oregon]

Reverend Andy Taylor was kind enough to provide these terrific 800 series knives out of his collection. I am proud to show them to you. The 813 is a bit different: pins not countersunk, pivot pin without washer, bale not drilled out, hawksbill blade wants to heal over to center of knife when closed, "BUCK" scale relief quite different from any others that I've seen, scales flat and not rounded and I was hoping for a zinger and this is it.

Blades are all 425M SS and the scales are all black Valox.

811: Production began 1988 and ended 1990 (about 5500 GuildMaster I models made and about 26k of the Professional 1000 were made).
812: Production began 1988 and ended 1990 (about 5000 GuildMaster II models made and about 3100 of the Professional 3000 were made).
813: Production began 1988 and ended 1989 for the GuildMaster III but continued into 1994 for Professional 5000 Contractor, for which production began in 1988 (about 5500 of the GM III were made, while about 26500 of the Professional 5000 Contractor were made).

Burgundy Micarta models, not shown above, are early pilot run models per Buck's Bill Keys.

The three folders below are Guild Masters. (note that the Professional Contractor Series are sometimes labeled with "Workman verbiage and Icons") (note that the two separate series, Guild Master vs Professional Contractor, were an attempt to sell into two separate departments, sporting goods and hardware per CJ Buck.

 

[DesertChris]

Awesome score!

 

[oregon]

Thank you Chris. It is fun to plow up a snake every once in a while.

The three shown knives are all first year production 1988.

 

[David Martin]

A good find. I stumbled on to the 813 & 812 at shows. The 812 was bought by a Buck collector and I may still have the 813. It looked to me like it's bale was missing so, I thought it was damaged. I've not run across the 811. I've always thought the choils looked wrong on these models. They are flat grind too. Some here think Buck never made a flat ground blade. So, the proof. Thanks, DM

 

[ohen cepel]

Thanks! Learned some things just now.

 

[gedlicks]

Nice score and great to see the different variations as well as a bit of their history.

Lucky You.:thumbup::thumbup:

 

[Doug_86]

oh man those are beauties! As always great camera work Oregon

 

[375dave]

Very nice, I have never run across any of the 800's. Nice layout..

 

[oregon]

A good find. I stumbled on to the 813 & 812 at shows. The 812 was bought by a Buck collector and I may still have the 813. It looked to me like it's bale was missing so, I thought it was damaged. I've not run across the 811. I've always thought the choils looked wrong on these models. They are flat grind too. Some here think Buck never made a flat ground blade. So, the proof. Thanks, DM

Bill Keyes said that he scratched out the design for the 811 on a napkin and that this very napkin is in the Buck Factory Museum. I will have to look at my photos, from last Summer, and see if I can find it. The choils are funny. They have the extended kick to impact the inside of the knife handle when closed so that the blade doesn't crash into the inside of the interior of the knife. The serrated blade is rarely seen. Are your plain edge?

Thanks! Learned some things just now.

My pleasure and thank you. Hawksbill blades attract me because of their specialty use. They trap the cutting target during pull cuts. Not big sellers.

Nice score and great to see the different variations as well as a bit of their history.

Lucky You.:thumbup::thumbup:

I did get lucky and thank you. These multi-tools, 812 and 813, are fascinating. You and I live in the home town of Leatherman so we both cut our teeth on multi-tools. The screw driver has a sharpened edge!

oh man those are beauties! As always great camera work Oregon

It is good to see unused knives for a standard of comparison to see just how they looked fresh from the production line. Andy Taylor kept these knives safe and ageless. Thank you Andy. I appreciate your kind words about the camera work. I really enjoy seeing everyone's photos so I try to return the fun as best I can. I love this stuff.

Very nice, I have never run across any of the 800's. Nice layout..

Thank you. You might consider handling one if you do come across it just to see what they are all about for yourself. My very first pocket knife, from my beloved Grandpa Jake, had a bail so any knife with a bail attracts my eye. Thank you for looking and posting to this thread.

 

[David Martin]

Yes, all the ones I've run across were plain edge models. I've been thru the Factory Museum and have not noticed that napkin. However, Bill Keys is a very knowledgeable knife person so I don't doubt the story. DM

 

[oregon]

A quote from this forum, back in the DAY, shows that the napkin, if I am reading this correctly, has the filet knife sketched out and not the 811 as I said above so my bad:

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

Bill Keys is offline
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Join Date:May 2000Locationost 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. "

 

[oregon]

Here is the quote from CJ concerning targeting both departments, sporting goods AND hardware, with two similar products using different names:

"1. 08-16-2009, 08:51 AM #21

CJ Buck
Moderator
Join Date
Apr 1999
Location
Post Falls, Idaho
Posts
896
Workman was a series developed to try to get knives merchandised in two different locations in a store. There was a separate catalog and sell sheets. We were going to put separate rep groups selling to the tool/hardware buyer as well as the sporting goods buyer.

We tried to make some unique products as well as take some existing product and create a "family" that could go into the tool/hardware section of a store as well as be more appropriate for the then new home center stores.

It was not successful enough to cover the overhead and inventory required and discarded.

I will ask Joe if he has any of those workman catalogs
CJ Buck
Buck Knives, Inc.
AKTI Member #PR00003"