Buck 501 blade replacement

S

seejones

Joined
Aug 20, 2025
Messages
6
My family has been an edc Squire group for as long as I care to remember. My edc has been with me for 38 years now (longest item I’ve never misplaced!). My uncles and father recently passed and I inherited their 501s. Both are in fair condition, micarta, 2 “rivet” with no date code. Early 80’s?
The “issue” is, both have been sharpened so much that the blade no longer resembles its original shape. I am considering re-blading these two knives. I believe there is no value in their current state except for sentimental.
Any opinions? Problems? Concerns?
Thanks for your insight and thoughts!
 
What MK said, Contact Buck and see what they say. They do re-blades on 110s, so it is possible they can do the same for the 501.
 
Yes…all good there. I flirt with being a purist, and letting a worn item represent its well deserved and earned condition! But, the condition of these blades drive me batty! anyone else feel my insanity?
 
I'd call, sometimes they get busy and don't reply quickly.
 
seejones said:
My family has been an edc Squire group for as long as I care to remember. My edc has been with me for 38 years now (longest item I’ve never misplaced!). My uncles and father recently passed and I inherited their 501s. Both are in fair condition, micarta, 2 “rivet” with no date code. Early 80’s?
The “issue” is, both have been sharpened so much that the blade no longer resembles its original shape. I am considering re-blading these two knives. I believe there is no value in their current state except for sentimental.
Any opinions? Problems? Concerns?
Thanks for your insight and thoughts!
Click to expand...
Yes we can absolutely re-blade a 501 Squire. Please send it in with our warranty repair form that can be found on our website. The cost is only $10 per re-blade.
 
Thanks guys! Getting this done with no regrets! Talked to Buck, they will return knives with the old blades to coddle my sentimental insecurities!! Couldn’t ask for more.
If I can figure out how to post a pic or two I’ll try to do before after…for people like me who are curious about minutia that doesn’t have any effect on anything!
Thanks again!!
 
seejones said:
My family has been an edc Squire group for as long as I care to remember. My edc has been with me for 38 years now (longest item I’ve never misplaced!). My uncles and father recently passed and I inherited their 501s. Both are in fair condition, micarta, 2 “rivet” with no date code. Early 80’s?
The “issue” is, both have been sharpened so much that the blade no longer resembles its original shape. I am considering re-blading these two knives. I believe there is no value in their current state except for sentimental.
Any opinions? Problems? Concerns?
Thanks for your insight and thoughts!
Click to expand...
Yes, just a short time ago I posted here about my rebladed 501 (I'll have to look for it a bit later). I have two 501s from the same era, 1978-1980 with Buckarta (burgundy micarta), hidden pivot pin, 440C, stainless steel frame, and Old English script. One is pretty much like new and the other a bit banged up and with some blade loss. I sent the latter one in and it came back all fixed up like new with a 2025 420HC blade. A two-dot 112 that I sent in for SPA was returned after one week, but the 501 took two months for SPA plus blade replacement. At first I wondered why they had replaced the small original rivets with the new, larger style, but talking with some folks down at the local knife shot (where I bought both of them) I realized that it's not just a "knock out the pivot and stick in a new blade," a lockback must require a complete disassembly to properly fit the blade and lock bar together. Thus the long wait, which was entirely worth it! It's like a new knife, all tight with no blade play and all the little dings and scratches buffed out. $7 for the SPA and just $3 more for the new blade and all the work that entails -- best deal on the planet!

I asked them to return the original blade just for the provenance, which they did.

EDIT: Here's the link to my earlier post: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/buck-two-fer-tuesday.2020585/post-23175244
 
I sent a 501 and 503 into Buck a couple of years ago. They sent me back knives that almost looked new. Send them in, use them again, and think of your family and the knife's history when you do.
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Oh my! Now my only issue is going to be the turn around time (I think I have all the time in the world!!), I’m already so excited I can hardly contain myself!
And … what a deal! I assume this is part of Bucks way to reward customers? (Avid, long time in my case). When I saw pricing I assumed I was looking at an old web link that hadn’t been updated. Those prices, and results!, for current time!! WOW.
I guess it just reinforces my Buck fandom! Sure is nice to have fallen in love with a product, only to find it’s still excellent AND takes care of its customers. Seems very rare as of late!
I’ve worked for some “American” named, respected products (Maytag, Gates, LawnBoy, Butler), all changed business models to chase something other than what earned them their names respect. All changes resulted in, let just say a “mess”. I hope Buck is managing to meet its business goals “as is” and remains as committed to its product and customers!!
I’ll stand down now…
Thanks for the stories and pictures!! Feeling really good about having the changes made! Just so damn excited now!!
 
Found another one! This one has to be my grandfathers. Great shape! (Pocket scuffs on bolsters, blade very reasonable).
Now for the questions. It has micarta, script Buck and is showing 3 rivets. (Pivot I believe, in addition to usual 2). I read somewhere, but can’t locate source again, that the “3rd rivet” was an early model feature. Does anyone know that to be true? If so, does anyone have a date range to go with this? Also is in a very “crispy” box. Looks right to me. And knowing my grandfather, he would have kept things together that belonged together.
Thanks for reading my stuff guys!! Apparently I am quickly becoming a 501 collector! At this point I think I’m taking mine out of edc (I haven’t lost it in 38years) I feel like I’m pushing the envelope there. Two generations prior managed to keep theirs, so I don’t want to be the “one” to mess it up. I bought new ones a couple of years ago for my kids (4 gens now!). So I think I’ll just get a new one for me to carry!! Sounds a little chickenshit, but way to much pressure now that I’ve found everybody else’s survived!!
 
seejones said:
Oh my! Now my only issue is going to be the turn around time (I think I have all the time in the world!!), I’m already so excited I can hardly contain myself!
And … what a deal! I assume this is part of Bucks way to reward customers? (Avid, long time in my case). When I saw pricing I assumed I was looking at an old web link that hadn’t been updated. Those prices, and results!, for current time!! WOW.
I guess it just reinforces my Buck fandom! Sure is nice to have fallen in love with a product, only to find it’s still excellent AND takes care of its customers. Seems very rare as of late!
I’ve worked for some “American” named, respected products (Maytag, Gates, LawnBoy, Butler), all changed business models to chase something other than what earned them their names respect. All changes resulted in, let just say a “mess”. I hope Buck is managing to meet its business goals “as is” and remains as committed to its product and customers!!
I’ll stand down now…
Thanks for the stories and pictures!! Feeling really good about having the changes made! Just so damn excited now!!
Click to expand...
Yep, it’s very nice that Buck does this kind of thing for their customers. Not only is the price well worth it but they pretty much do it for free considering that they pay the postage when they ship it back to us. Good stuff.
 
seejones said:
Found another one! This one has to be my grandfathers. Great shape! (Pocket scuffs on bolsters, blade very reasonable).
Now for the questions. It has micarta, script Buck and is showing 3 rivets. (Pivot I believe, in addition to usual 2). I read somewhere, but can’t locate source again, that the “3rd rivet” was an early model feature. Does anyone know that to be true? If so, does anyone have a date range to go with this? Also is in a very “crispy” box. Looks right to me. And knowing my grandfather, he would have kept things together that belonged together.
Thanks for reading my stuff guys!! Apparently I am quickly becoming a 501 collector! At this point I think I’m taking mine out of edc (I haven’t lost it in 38years) I feel like I’m pushing the envelope there. Two generations prior managed to keep theirs, so I don’t want to be the “one” to mess it up. I bought new ones a couple of years ago for my kids (4 gens now!). So I think I’ll just get a new one for me to carry!! Sounds a little chickenshit, but way to much pressure now that I’ve found everybody else’s survived!!
Click to expand...
I did a lot of research after finding my first "old" 501. As I recall, the 501 came out in May 1975, and the rocker rivet was exposed through 1977. From 1978 on the rocker rivet was hidden, and micarta was discontinued beginning in 1981. That puts your latest find as 1975 through 1977. All the early ones had stainless steel frames, and switched to nickel silver in the mid 1990s. The old English script went away in the mid 1980s. The early 501s were called Esquire, later changed to Squire.
 
Fantastic information! Thank you Ace!! In my spare time I had been going through older posts here and was closing in on some of that info with time frames. Thanks for saving me a bunch of research, and free time (go back to playing with my knives now!)
 
seejones said:
In my spare time I had been going through older posts here and was closing in on some of that info with time frames.
Click to expand...
If you join the BCCI(Buck Collectors Club Inc) their website has, among other things, newsletters from previous years, catalogs and price lists, model history, and club events. There is also a discussion forum but it is not as well represented as this one. HTH
 
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