Curious about this old 110 I just got

K

K man

Joined
Nov 26, 2000
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515
I have always loved the 110, but 420HC steel is not my favorite, so I have always put off getting one. I was surfing ebay a week ago and came across an old, but new, Buck 110. The seller bought out the inventory of a gun shop, and this was one of the items.

Needless to say, I bought it in hopes that it was either 440C or 425. It just arrived today, and the stamp is .110. (one period on either side of the 110.) I belive that this would make it 440c, but I am no expert. Also, I have heard about variations on the wood used. It would be awesome if someone could share their insight.
 
Hi, with a stamp of .110. your 110 was made between 1974 and 1980, and here are the years for Bucks steel.

Before 1981.- 440C
1981 to 1994.- 425M
After 1994.- 420HC

So yours should be 440C.

Enjoy your new Buck!
 
Thanks for the info guys!

Im am just curious about old 110's vs. new ones: Is there a noticable difference in terms of edge holding? Also, does the new edge2000 grind make a big difference compared to the old grind?
 
Some people did not care for the 440C (I personally like it), they thought it was to hard to sharpen, (my older brother refuses to own a 110 to this day because of the 440C one he owned back in the day).

The 425 I have never used, so I can't say directly, but it doesn't get much good said about it.

The current 420HC, sometimes gets a bad rep, but Buck's heat treatment is overseen by Paul Bose, and it simply cannot be compared to 420HC from other companies. I really like it! I find it holds an edge good, is virtually rust proof, and sharpens easily.

One of my "beater" knives is a Buck 450 with a 420HC blade, and it has been used to scrape magnesium firestarters over a thousand times, and batonned on the back of the blade to cut 1.5 inch dried maple sticks dozens of times, and it just eats up the abuse, and sharpen back to shaving sharp in minutes.
 
The older 110 with 440C had a semi-hollow ground blade with a convex grind at the edge. This made for a little thicker edge that people had trouble resharpening. With the edge 2000 the edge bevel is more acute and easier to resharpen. I would imagine that the older 440C blade would be better at edge retention.

Tom
 
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