Buck Knives - Made in the USA??

R

Ray5118

Joined
Dec 23, 2010
Messages
257
I have several older Buck knives,
- 311 Trapper given to me in 1977
- Folding Hunter 110 , at least 30 yrs old.
- A Buck Lite Hunter - lost in the house somewhere.
- I gave a Cadet, or simialr model, away years ago to a friend.

I know this must sound like a simple question, but this is the place for Buck info.
I want to buy a Buck stockman pattern, i.e. 301
Are the Buck slip joints made in the USA or off shore today?

Thanks,
Ray
 
Ray, the 301, is USA made ... :thumbup: ... 300Bucks will be here soon to tell you more or someone else will... ITE
 
Ray, Its both. The 301's are still made in USA. Yet, Buck does have a over seas contract and has some of the slip lock models made in China. Which are the 371, 372, 373, 375, 379, 384, 385 and 389. The ones currently made in USA are: 301, 303, 305 and 309. DM
 
If you look on their site or catalog the US made ones have the US flag next to them and will say in the specs were they are made. The majority of their stuff is US made as the others have said.
 
The wood handled slippies with model designations 37X(371, 373 etc) or 38X(382, 389 etc) are imported.
I should correct myself as well, the imports have a variety of handle materials, the center left is India stag and the two
bottoms are the Dymondwood.

3012003006.jpg



The top 2 and yellow are USA
 
DM,
You hit that on the head.

Ray,
Although Buck deos have a few patterns of knives made off shore, don't let that put you off. The Warrenty is the same, The quality Control is great and from the look of the couple that I have bought they are still great knives. I believe Buck will be bringing these patterns back to the USA. I never thought that I would Buy an offshore production BUCK knife but when I did, I noticed the Fit and Finish was just what I expected in a BUCK Brand Knife. I bought a couple of the Yellow canoes and I still haven't brought myself to carry one, they are sittingin my collection. Here are a few PROTO TYPES of the Chinesse slippies.


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Thanks to all for addressing a subject that probably has been discussed many times.

Is 420 HC Steel carbon steel ?? , as some are indicated as 420 HC Stainless Steel, which is self explanatory.

Mbjannusch - I know, I have purchased Chinese made knives ( Rough Rider, and Kissing Crane) and was surprised at the quality F & F.
I wanted to see what you got at 1/4 or less, the price of domestic made.
The imports ( all brands) appear to have mainly stainless steel blades.

David Martin - The 301 with the black sawcut scales, as well as the Charcoal Dymondwood is made in The USA???

Posted 15 min. later - I found my own answer both U.S. made, a website I was on, was confusing me.

Ray
 
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I'm no marketing Guru, but MBJ's statement above holds water. I visited with Chuck sometime back about the over seas contract knives and he indicated he does want to bring these back to the Postfalls plant. So, there is some concern in this subject. DM
 
Ray5118 said:
Thanks to all for addressing a subject that probably has been discussed many times.

Is 420 HC Steel carbon steel ?? , as some are indicated as 420 HC Stainless Steel, which is self explanatory.
Click to expand...

different ways of writing the same name.
420HC, 420 HC Stainless steel.

There is no compositional requirement for 420HC. But usually it has ~0.45% Carbon and about 13% Chromium. Some versions have small amounts of Vanadium to refine the grain structure.

It is very corrosion resistant. Buck does the best job with that alloy of any company out there. They routinely produce blades in that alloy hardened to a 58-59. Most companies harden that alloy to 55-56. The extra hardness is noticeable in how better the Bucks hold an edge. And they still sharpen up quite easily.
 
Bucks heat treatment is the best. I think they could heat treat a stick of butter and it would hold an edge. Chinese manufactured or not BUCK is a BUCK, everything applies except the place in which the knife was manufactured. I can't believe I just said that, but if it came out of my mouth I must believe it...
 
Since we are on the subject. I beleive I have heard that the older slippies were made under contract for Buck Knives by Camillus and some were Schrade produced. Since both of those companies are closed now, Is Buck Making the USA made knives in their own fascility? Are there older 301's and 303" made by both Schrade and Camillius? How do we tell which ones were made by which company? Sorry for all the questions, But I am about to become the proud owner of a long pull 303 thanks to Mitch! I'm going to have to find a long pull 301 at some point to keep it company !
 
Seaplane,
Yes both companies made 301s, and 303s. Schrade made the 301 and 303 in the '66-'71,'72 time frame, and Camillus took over and produced knives for Buck till '98 when they closed there doors. Long pull nail nik knives were made by either Schrade or Camillus. A rule of thumb is if it doesn't have a model # Buck didn't make it. The differences in a Schrade and a Camillus are small but after you know what to look for, they seem huge. Along the spine of the main blade of both knives there is a grind from the point to the nail nik. If the grind extends to the center of the nail nik, its a Schrade if the grind stops short of the nail nik its a Camillus. Other differences are the nail niks of the Schrade appear shallow and the Camillus appear deep, this is only beacuse camliius blacken in the niks of there knives. All Schrade produced Buck knives have scale pins, Older Camillus knives have scale pins but are smaller than the Schrade. Seems a little hard to wrap your brain around but once you get it its easy. I can give you more info in an email if you want.
 
Thanks for that info. I guess there is much to learn here! You would have a large number of knives to collect if you wanted a sample of each variant! Does Buck make the current 301 and 303 completely in their Idaho fascility?
Would you think other than the scales, The Buck and Schrade and camillus stockmans were the same knives including the blade steel? The Bucks definately are a more handsome package than the old brown delrin handle schrades. I have an old schrade with a decent carbon steel blade, But it is one ugly old knife! Looking forward to getting into the Buck Slippie thing! I was gifted a little 2 blade Buck companion that I keep in the medicine cabinet for splinters and opening things. It's a China made Buck, But I can't complain about the little feller! Thanks for sharing your knowledge--
 
I wish 300 would chime in. The early Camillus knives had blades of steel we are not sure about but most experts agree on 440A. The Schrade made knives I don't know what steel was used. Later the Camillus knives used 425M along with Buck at the time they made this switch. Is Bear Claw in the house?
Seaplane, If you'll read the thread "Favorite 300" , in page one post 14 is a photo of a Schrade made 301. During the first two pages 300 gives many photos of the models and their history. DM
 
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seaplane said:
Thanks for that info. I guess there is much to learn here! You would have a large number of knives to collect if you wanted a sample of each variant! Does Buck make the current 301 and 303 completely in their Idaho fascility?
Would you think other than the scales, The Buck and Schrade and camillus stockmans were the same knives including the blade steel? The Bucks definately are a more handsome package than the old brown delrin handle schrades. I have an old schrade with a decent carbon steel blade, But it is one ugly old knife! Looking forward to getting into the Buck Slippie thing! I was gifted a little 2 blade Buck companion that I keep in the medicine cabinet for splinters and opening things. It's a China made Buck, But I can't complain about the little feller! Thanks for sharing your knowledge--
Click to expand...

Buck does make the 301,303,305,and 309 in the Idaho factory. The 370s and 380s are off shore as said above. I think they were close to being the same. One major flaw with the Schrade contracted 301 was the key hole design. This is where the liners, bolsters and blades were all fitted together in what looks like a key hole. You would fit each piece together and turn all pieces to line things up then they rivited it . The flaw was when to much pressure was put on the blade the key hole would get bent or break and the hole knife would fail. Here is a picture of that First Schrade contracted 301


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This next picture is of the Second version of the Schrade Contracted 301


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And this is a picture of just a few of both... along side a few Camillus and Buck produced knives



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Sorry, I have been working on the computer making a fancy catalog of the 1966 - 1989 Slipjoints with pictures and descirptions. About brain strained.

I will tell a simple thing. Sounds like the original poster needs a yellow handled Buck slipjoint. Old or new, what ever surfaces first.
New yellar or old yellar and you won't make a mistake either way.......300

Edit: I listen to you guys on the metal situations, BUT I do think I have a large pile of 440a metal ,in my drawers, that hangs around with some sawcut Delrin.

Yellow309.jpg
 
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David Martin said:
I wish 300 would chime in. The early Camillus knives had blades of steel we are not sure about but most experts agree on 440A. The Schrade made knives I don't know what steel was used. Later the Camillus knives used 425M along with Buck at the time they made this switch. Is Bear Claw in the house?
Seaplane, If you'll read the thread "Favorite 300" , in page one post 14 is a photo of a Schrade made 301. During the first two pages 300 gives many photos of the models and their history. DM
Click to expand...

The thinking is that it is known that both Schrade and Camillus used primarily 440A for the stainless blades they marketed under their own names. The further thinking is that it is unlikely that they used a different alloy for knives they made for Buck.
 
For what it's worth, the offshore slippies have used 420 J2 steel and not 420 HC since 2009. That's according to the specs in the catalog.

"Overview:
420 J2 is a general purpose stainless steel containing medium quantity of carbon. It has good corrosion resistance qualities in mild atmosphere, domestic and industrial environments. It is resistant to ammonia, blood, carbonic acid, crude oil, detergent solutions, dilute nitric acid, fresh water, food acids, many petroleum products, steam and vinegar etc. It has good strength and reasonable impact resistant properties in both hardened and tempered conditions as compared to 440 grades.

It is also called Surgical Steel, because it is being used in production of surgical instruments on large scale around the world, due to its good corrosion resistant and easily machining qualities. It is also being used in cutting tools like; Knifes, Daggers, Swords, Haircutting Scissors and Domestic scissors. It’s grinding is easy and it produces a fine, vivid and smooth polished surface.

420 steel, due to its excellent harden-ability, it is capable of getting hardened up to 56 HRC Rockwell or higher depending upon carbon contents. Small sections can be air cooled and larger sections should be oil quenched for maximum hardness."
 
If i'm not mistaken, Case is or was using Surgical Steel as well. In my opinion and from what I have heard through the grape vine, Thats where Case went wrong. I have no information on Surgical Steel weather its good or crap.
 
mbjannusch said:
If i'm not mistaken, Case is or was using Surgical Steel as well. In my opinion and from what I have heard through the grape vine, Thats where Case went wrong. I have no information on Surgical Steel weather its good or crap.
Click to expand...

Case has branded their stainless as 'Tru-Sharp Surgical Stainless', but it's only in name. They use 420HC. By itself, the generic 'surgical stainless' description can (and I'm sure it does) imply many different steels over many decades. The term is even applied to many 300-series stainless steels, used to make surgical implants. The one commonality to all 'surgical stainless' steels is high corrosion resistance, and easy machinability is also a major consideration.

Here's a thread from the Traditional forum on the topic (note post #32, from a member who asked Case about it):

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/769280-Case-Tru-sharp/page2

Case doesn't harden their 420HC to the same degree as Buck's, only to mid-50s RC. Some perceive that to be a disadvantage. But I've found it to be a good performer that takes a very, very fine edge, and it's very easy to sharpen.
 
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