Finally, after 35 + years

btmccutcheon

btmccutcheon

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Jul 10, 2013
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Well thanks to a $40 dollar [none BF dealer] gift card received for Christmas and memories of the Duke boys in my youth, I finally broke down and bought a knife I've wanted for 35+ years but could never bring myself to buy. It's one I suppose most collectors have had at least one of. Yes, I got the iconic Buck 110. It's even the 50th Anniversary Edition. Wow! It's beautiful with all that brass and wood. I haven't held one in years. I think I have a couple of fixed blades that are lighter. I think you could kill a man with it without even opening the blade, just hit them in the head with it.

It is an icon and I remember all the guys in my area getting folding hunters one Christmas. Most got Bucks, some got Schrade and I got a two bladed lock back folding hunter made by Browning in Seki Japan. I vowed I'd have a Buck someday. Especially after the laughs I got about my elegant little hunter. Even more so when the tip broke. I've seen a lot of those.

So yesterday I fulfilled my vow. Again, it's beautiful, and I can tell it's a tank, but it has flaws. Had I not been hanging out here for the past few months they likely wouldn't be as obvious. Nor would they be so obvious if I didn't have a few GEC's and several Case knives to compare it to. But they are there.

The tang has a bite out of it from the corner of a wheel. There are flat spots on the swedge like it's been banged into something. A few gaps between the liners and spring which allow flakes of I suppose compound to slip out when the lock is deployed. Finish on the blade isn't uniform. Covers don't line up exactly with the bolsters or liners. Blade not centered. And the spring pin looks bent.

Is it a keeper? In my opinion, yes. It's solid, functional, and affordable. Its definitely not anywhere close to a GEC in fit and finish, but that's part of what makes it affordable and has allowed it to be so iconic. Almost everyone has owned one. Some may view it as a dinosaur, but I kinda like the thought of having my own little pet t-rex handy.
 
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Funny enough, I have one a mamber here sent me. They are heavy! And I carry grandad Barlow and a steel toenail at the same time, so I am used to a little weight.
 
btmccutcheon said:
The tang has a bite out of it from the corner of a wheel. There are flat spots on the swedge like it's been banged into something. A few gaps between the liners and spring which allow flakes of I suppose compound to slip out when the lock is deployed. Finish on the blade isn't uniform. Covers don't line up exactly with the bolsters or liners. Blade not centered. And the spring pin looks bent.
Click to expand...

Well... that's kind of sad to hear that all of those issues are on one knife. Especially since it is supposed to be an anniversary issue of such an iconic knife.

I remember buying that knife from their routine production line (not an anniversary or commemorative model) and they might have one of those. Not all.

Guess it's just a sign of the times.

Robert
 
I finally got a 110 at the beginning of this year. It kicked every other locker out of my back pocket for a month. I'm back to rotating now, but I am very happy that I have one. I don't know how I put it off for so long, either.

I grew up in relatively rural northern California, and I remember my friends getting them for birthdays or Christmas, too, anywhere from 7 to 10 years old depending on if the parents thought they were responsible enough. Always jealous, but thankfully I still had my Barlow and Swiss army.

Mine has some minor cosmetic issues, but that doesn't matter on a user.
 
Good story. Thanks for sharing.

This thread needs pictures! The one below belonged to my wifes Grandfather. It's got a few miles on it.... it does have the upside down "Buck"

 
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I'm 55 long years old and have never owned one either until my son gave me one for my birthday this year. I gave two 50th anniversary editions as Christmas gifts this year to a couple of semi-knife people.
 
The Buck 110 is the best VALUE USA made knife there is. I own several and several other far more costly USA made knives. You can find minor flaws if you look enough, and there seem to be more since they moved the factory then before, but if you get them on sale and use coupons from the major sporting goods stores, they could have been bought for $25 each in the collectors tins this year! I can't imagine anyone having too much of an issue with a knife like this at that price point....
 
I would bring it back for an exchange. I'm sure the f/f would be better on another one. Every time I see one in Bass Pro or Wally Mart I want to get it. You can't beat the price. Years ago everyone around New England seemed to have them strapped to their belts. Nowdays it's the Iconic Leatherman.
 
Needs more pics. Here's a 2 dot from the '70s with the pouch sheath from the '80s.

buck_2.jpg
 
I'll be getting one here soon. I have no need for it, but will be getting it for 2 reasons:

1) If you're going to get one, might as well get one with the 50th Anniversary logo on it.

2) Most importantly - Nostalgia.

The Buck 110 was the first knife I ever truly wanted. My Dad was a mechanic (when not in jail) and it is one of the knives I remember him owning. I can even remember him commenting that it could cut a nail in half with no damage to the edge. To an 8-9 year old kid stories like that, plus the size of the knife, gave it an Excaliber type image. Never could afford one as a kid. By the time I got older my knife interests had changed.
 
The 110's are certainly iconic emblems of the knife world, and often copied but not so often copied well. Here's one I received from the Buck Custom shop, pretty nice knife right there !! Now resides with my wife's uncle in his collection :( but, I do get visiting rights ! :)

bg42.jpg~original


While in the Navy the 110 along with the big Schrade folders were the rule and we would have speed cutting contests. You would draw the knife, snap the blade open, usually by pinching the blade and gravity drop the handle down and then slice a hemp rope.

After the Navy I was an Electrician for a few years and a guy asked if the 110's were any good, I took my 110 out and inserted the blade into a bundle of 3/4" rigid conduit and pulled the knife out cutting through the steel banding, it was more of a shearing action and not really slicing, but it went through without any harm to the edge!...but...and there's always a but isn't there? But the back spring became sprung from all the pressure I applied :( still, it did go through ! I wouldn't recommend doing that again!!

G2
 
They did a very nice job on that,

buck110.jpg~original


buck110_open.jpg~original


G2
 
Well - all the comments in this thread made put a new knife to the radar. The 110 Anniversary is almost on my short list - as long as they are still available.
 
I got a 110 anniversary a few months ago and I had sort of the same experience. It was gritty, there's a little bladeplay and the bolsters aren't really flush with the covers.

As a kid I think I owned Puma copy or similar brand which I found in the woods. So for me it was nostalgia as well.
It's impossible to carry here because of city ordinance, but it works nicely around the house and I'm happy with it.
 
I'm definitely in the meh category when it comes to the 110, but Gary's example is a darn nice rendition of the classic.
 
Congratulations on your new knife.

My ex wife gave me a 110 in a collectors tin for our first anniversary. I enjoy and use the knife but there is no sentiment to it. I have thought of gifting it and replacing it with a new 110 but the ones I have looked at have flaws that this knife does not.

Chris
 
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