Any 60's 110 advertising / literature / article scans ?

Hickory n steel

Hickory n steel

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I would like to read some early advertising and literature on the 110 because I would like to understand why / how this folding hunter
became such a common everyday folding knife.
I really want an idea of how this folding belt knife that's slower and " weaker " than a fixed blade led people to be so accepting of Sal Glessers idea that a pocket knife should be as strong and fast as a fixed blade.

I haven't carried the 110 much in the past year as I've come to really appreciate the little guys like the 309 lancer or any of my other peanut class knives for a folder, and it has had me questioning how the 110 and most modern folders that are generally much larger in every dimension than the typical slipjoint became so popular.
I still love the 110, I just wanna understand it better.

Lately I've really been wondering how / why larger beefier folding knives are so popular these days, why I didn't think twice about its size when lusting after the 110 as a teenager.

It's cool and iconic, but lately I've been wondering how people became so excepting of a knife this size for everyday carry when they would have probably gotten by just fine with something like the 303 before the 110 exploded on the knife scene.
Why did I think nothing of it's size when lusting after the 110 as a teenager even though my grandfather had made such an impression on me with his humble little Victorinox classic ?

I'm not intellectual enough to perform a case study or write a book or anything, I'd just like to get a better understanding for myself and I think analyzing the early popularity of the Buck 110 is the key .

I don't want to step on any toes here or offend anyone , but it seems to me that the average person may have more boxes to open these days but none of the things needed to be cut on a daily basis for the average suburbanite is any tougher to cut than what was faces 50-60 years ago and it baffles me why the modern format is so accepted as what a pocket knife should be these days.

Maybe I'm ignorant so I want to begin to learn, and want to start with studying the 110.
If anyone has any links or anything to scans of early literature and advertising and such I'd sure appreciate it.
 
what has inspired smaller locking folders in mass is laws passed that restrict larger sizes.

something to remember......a bigger blade can do everything a smaller one can. maybe not as well, but it can do it. a smaller blade cannot do everything a bigger one can. that is a fact.

the 110 made for the ability to have a larger blade for hunting and general use that was half the size of a fixed blade when folded and a strong lock. same reason I carry one daily today. I have a 101 fixed blade but 110 is easier to carry on my belt.

also trying to clean larger game like a deer with a 303 or a little victorinox folder isnt gonna do well. can be done with a 110.

think about joining bcci sure they have some stuff in the archives. never looked myself.
 
Thisis a question that I have long wondered myself. When Buck first campout with the 110, I wondered "Why?"

It didn't do anything something like the 102 would do, was heavier, and needed a lock that you depended on to keep the blade from folding. A small fixed blade is far better, safer, easier to clean, and most times cheaper to produce.

The 110 was like the rest of the large lock blades that came after, a more elaborate and expensive mouse trap that wasn't really any better than the original mouse trap, just more expensive. But people are easy to lead, so it sold.

I'd rather have a small fixed blade than a large lock blade. I was witness to the immediate aftermath of a right forefinger getting amputated when a Buck 110 lock failed and took the finger off the young man who was leaning on it at work and when told to knock it off and use the right tool, said "Its a Buck knife, it'll take it." Well, right after lunch it didn't and the scream from the sheet metal shop echoed up the hall to the machine shop and there was a finger laying on the floor. His middle finger was about halfway cut off, but survived.

I'll take a fixed blade every time. I'll even take a slip joint, because I know it will bite me if I do something stupid. If I need a knife that absolutely won't fold on me, I'll use my 102 woodsman. Or a small puuko. Or even a Victorinox paring knife.
 
jackknife said:
Thisis a question that I have long wondered myself. When Buck first campout with the 110, I wondered "Why?"

It didn't do anything something like the 102 would do, was heavier, and needed a lock that you depended on to keep the blade from folding. A small fixed blade is far better, safer, easier to clean, and most times cheaper to produce.

The 110 was like the rest of the large lock blades that came after, a more elaborate and expensive mouse trap that wasn't really any better than the original mouse trap, just more expensive. But people are easy to lead, so it sold.

I'd rather have a small fixed blade than a large lock blade. I was witness to the immediate aftermath of a right forefinger getting amputated when a Buck 110 lock failed and took the finger off the young man who was leaning on it at work and when told to knock it off and use the right tool, said "Its a Buck knife, it'll take it." Well, right after lunch it didn't and the scream from the sheet metal shop echoed up the hall to the machine shop and there was a finger laying on the floor. His middle finger was about halfway cut off, but survived.

I'll take a fixed blade every time. I'll even take a slip joint, because I know it will bite me if I do something stupid. If I need a knife that absolutely won't fold on me, I'll use my 102 woodsman. Or a small puuko. Or even a Victorinox paring knife.
Click to expand...

I appreciate that it's smaller when folded because sometimes I can feel a standard belt knife when I carry one as an EDC.
Having a clip on the sheath so I can move it around throughout the day solves this, but the Buck 110 does do something a standard belt knife doesn't.

I still don't understand how this size became what a pocket knife is now though.
 
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jackknife said:
Buck 110 lock failed
Click to expand...
It's not the knife's fault he's a dumbass.
You can't fix stupid. But you can lay them off.
There's a scientific term for that, it's called "natural selection".
I've run lots of work and when you see somebody misusing a tool you take it from them.

I've seen fixed blades that have broke due to misuse.

People need to be smarter than the tool they are using, and be able to identify when they are misusing it.
That's why we see stupid warning labels. Like the sleep aide that says "caution; may cause drowsiness".
 
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For a 110 lock to fail and fold shut cutting the user, the user would have to be putting pressure on the wrong side of the blade. :eek::confused::oops:
It's not designed for that (you are suppose to use the sharp side) :rolleyes:.

If a 110 can cut open the rib cage of large game, it will safely do most any task.
 
I don't know what Buck's advertising said back then. I don't remember seeing any, or any other knife advertising. The best knife advertising I remember, was looking at the knife display in the store, any time I was there. I can tell you why I started carrying a Buck 110. I have carried one or more slip joints for as long as I can remember. I probably got my first one when I was 4 or 5. I don't remember getting it, I just know I don't remember not having one. In the spring of 1975, a few weeks before I graduated High school, I went on a week long camping trip. This was actually a school event. While on this trip in addition to the slip joint/s in my pocket, I carried a fixed blade hunting knife. I found I enjoyed using the larger knife, and thought I would like to carry a similar sized knife all the time. Thinking that carrying a fixed blade hunting knife around town, into the bank and such. Would a best get me a lot of strange looks and at worst might have me answering questions from the police. I opted for a folding hunter, and shortly after graduation bought an Old Timer 125OT. By that fall the pivot on that Old Timer had gotten so loose I no longer trusted it. So I bought a buck 110 and gave the Old Timer away. I bought the Old Timer initially because it cost about $10 compared to the Buck's $22. Those were the only two options, in the knife displays of the stores, I frequented at that time.

I have come to appreciate smaller blades in recent years. They give better control for a lot of jobs, and I carry several. But I also still carry a 110. On my belt it is easier to get to than the slip joint in my pocket. I can pull it out of it's sheath, open it, slice the tape holding the box of staples shut, that is in my left hand, close the knife, and put it back in it's sheath. All without having to set down the box of staples. A small knife would cut everything I use the 110 for, but it's quicker and easier with a one hand opener knife. For me the standard 110 is a one handed opener knife. I think that is why the modern knives are so popular. They are easy to pull out make a cut and put away.

O.B.
 
GPyro said:
eople need to be smarter than the tool they are using, and be able to identify when they are misusing it.
That's why we see stupid warning labels. Like the sleep aide that says "caution; may cause drowsiness".
Click to expand...
Absolutely.

Some people may find this hard to believe, but I can't tell you how many times I've seen my brother whip out one of his cheapo assisted openers to show me with him not realizing there's only 3 of the 8 handle screws left and the pivot screw is barely hanging on, he's never been to the ER for stitches because of it.
with all of the flea market folders I had and carried as a teenager they never folded on me even though the liner locks were thin and should not be trusted and the blades were very loose.
 
Remember that the first 110s were noticeably small than the 110s of today.

Bert
 
I'm just wondering exactly how the 110 was originally sold and marketed.
All I really know about the 110 is that it's a folding hunter that debuted in 1964 and some basic history on it, what I don't know is what they did to make this model explode like it did.
 
Hickory n steel said:
I'm just wondering exactly how the 110 was originally sold and marketed.
All I really know about the 110 is that it's a folding hunter that debuted in 1964 and some basic history on it, what I don't know is what they did to make this model explode like it did.
Click to expand...
"The Story of Buck Knives" covers it a bit.
It sorta came down to quality and timing.
Sales increased roughly 60% each of the first 3 years it was out.
 
Folding lock back knives already existed. Perhaps Buck invented a better mousetrap.
The answer is in the comparison of existing types at the time compared to Buck's.
 
I never questioned the 110. The first time I saw one I wanted one. I bought one as soon as I could and carried it till it wore out. Was given a second one carried it til it wore out. Bought a third and sent the first two to Buck for new blades. Now I’m trying to wear out all three.

I think the Dukes of Hazzard tv show helped. Everyone I knew liked 110’s, compound bows, Dodge Chargers, and cut off shorts on pretty girls.
 
bertl said:
Remember that the first 110s were noticeably small than the 110s of today.

Bert
Click to expand...

My apologies, Bert, but you are in error. :(

The 110 Folding Hunter has always been 5 inches closed, with a 3.75 inch blade, and 5/8 inch wide.
However, the bolster edges were "square" and not rounded/radiused like today until much later; sometime in the mid 1980's, I think.

Prior to the 110 Folding Hunter's introduction in 1964, the Buck 110 was a fixed blade, roughly the same size and profile of today's "103 Skinner".
 
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Knives like this are a huge success because the people making them are able to read their customers and give them a solid compromise of what they want and what they need.

They do it by being able to relate to other folks in a respectful manner. If a person isn't able to to that then they'll never be able to understand.

It would be like trying to teach a chimpanzee to play the banjo. Not impossible but not something you could over the internet.
 
The Buck 110 will always be cool for sure, but how did they advertise it that had everybody and their brother wanting it when as far as I know it costed more than likely most people were used to spending?

I have pretty much figured out as much as I'm going to about why modern folders are the most popular today, how I just want to figure out why the 110 became so popular with people who were likely used to something completely different.
 
afishhunter said:
My apologies, Bert, but you are in error. :(

The 110 Folding Hunter has always been 5 inches closed, with a 3.75 inch blade, and 5/8 inch wide.
However, the bolster edges were "square" and not rounded/radiused like today until much later; sometime in the mid 1980's, I think.
Click to expand...

I disagree. The length hasn't changed but width and thickness have. Pick up a 1st Version and compare it with more recent 110s. There is considerable difference.
 
At one time the BCCI site had some old advertising pictures and articles that were interesting. I haven’t looked since they rearranged the website so I can’t say if they are still there. On another site a few years ago I can’t remember which, I saw some vintage Buck magazine ads and some factory rep information sheets that were very interesting. I’d like to get some reprint copies of some to frame.
 
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