General, model 120, vintage fighting/survival/camp knife

oregon

oregon

Joined
Jan 12, 2005
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I lucked into this vintage "inverted" (stamp is read with blade tip down) "two line" (tang has "BUCK" and "U.S.A" stamped on two different lines on the tang) General at the local show today and wondered if anyone had a tip on researching its age range. The sheath should arrive next week. Both new. Thank you for looking.

02-11-2012GeneralBuck120vintageinvertedstamp007.jpg


02-11-2012GeneralBuck120vintageinvertedstamp023.jpg
 
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That looks like late 1967 to late 1969.....seeing as how the spacers look like fiber instead of Micarta.

That's a beauty!

:)
 
Thank you kindly BG & mb.

The vendor had a tag on the handle: "Buck 120 made 1962-64 never used new books for $300 sell for $175." I thought that the spacers might be maroon Micarta. Loved the earliness of the inverted stamp. Figured that the "U.S.A." meant not one of the earliest years of production. The two corners where the tang turns to sharp blade are pristing so it is unsharpened by a sandlot slugger (I was one once). I ran my fingernail along the length of the sharpened edge and felt no defects which meant to me that it was unused.

I got is for $125 with a promise to mail the unused sheath which originally came with the knife. Unfortunately, no box or paperwork. Great vendor. Wonderful show.

PS, there was a pristine skinner, with correct sheath, for $65 ask from the same looking vintage period. My Mom only lets me buy one knife at a time on Saturdays so it awaits a new home.

A few more pics of this fighting knife for your amusement:

02-11-2012GeneralBuck120vintageinvertedstamp010.jpg


02-11-2012GeneralBuck120vintageinvertedstamp013.jpg


02-11-2012GeneralBuck120vintageinvertedstamp017.jpg


02-11-2012GeneralBuck120vintageinvertedstamp022.jpg
 
8.02 ounces. 12 inches overall. 7.5 inch blade. Really quite sharp. The grind appears to have been performed by a master at the craft of sharpening. Beautiful on all fronts. I am beginning to see just how much depth there is in the Buck product line, vintage and new. What a wonderful piece of cutlery. WTG Buck. Thank you forum members for making this forum such a hospitable place. The depth of knowledge in this neck of the woods is admirable.
 
Thank you for your kind words BG.

In the battle between blade vs handle the General's blade won. Clearly.

A few more photos for your viewing amusement:

general1967-1969440C120010.jpg


general1967-1969440C120009.jpg



That blade looks like 3/16 inch thick to my sore eyes.
general1967-1969440C120004.jpg


general1967-1969440C120011.jpg


That last picture scares even me and I'm holding the knife.
 
I love that last pic oregon...they are a very impressive knife in hand and to the eye...
Nice Score :thumbup:
 
Oregon, what a beautiful 120... I think you did good on that one... I sure hope you get the sheath for it... :)
Where was the show??? Was it a gun and knife show???

Thanks for sharing... You take some nice pics... ITE
 
sitflyer said:
I love that last pic oregon...they are a very impressive knife in hand and to the eye...
Nice Score :thumbup:
Click to expand...

After taking that last pic I dropped the camera, put both my hands in the air and began to run as fast as I could... Well, I thought about it anyway. I went to the show looking for a 124, found a very large old stockman, ancient but ailing 110, perfect vintage skinner and the new old General but no 124 Frontiersman.

matt1987 said:
Nice knife. It makes the 119 look stubby in comparison.
Click to expand...

It feels like a sword in the hand. And, only 1/2 pound. How can that be such a small number when there is all that steel... with the General swung around in anger I would expect the room to clear just like it was full of tear gas.

David Martin said:
A nice 120 Oregon. DM
Click to expand...

Thank you David. My pulse became noticeable when I laid eyes on it in a glass display case. I felt the heat, in this unheated large building, when the vendor said he had the original correct sheath in new condition. We he said he'd take $125 I had to walk around to calm down for a minute. Funny to me, noticing my reaction to some terrific cutlery I didn't think I would ever find is such condition.

ItsTooEarly said:
Oregon, what a beautiful 120... I think you did good on that one... I sure hope you get the sheath for it... :)
Where was the show??? Was it a gun and knife show???

Thanks for sharing... You take some nice pics... ITE
Click to expand...

Thank you Armand. It felt like when a pretty woman smiles at you when I saw the 120 waiting for me. The busy busy vendor had friends on either side of him. The fella on the left said, when I asked not to close the never-before-used sheath in order to mail it, that he would cut off the flap to get it into the mailer. While the guy on right said he knew where the vendor lived and would keep him honest. Good to have friends with humor. I'm certain about the sheath.

I was at the annual Weyerhauser tree sale, Pudding River facility, buying some trees for the home place when I noticed a few signs along the road. I knew about it in advance and also knew that my lovely wife would go to the tree thing but was surprised when she consented to the gun show. She was a captive audience as I was driving. And, once on scene she got into shopping mode and found this for my marksman coffee drinking Sister:

02-12-2012sewonpatch004.jpg


The show continues today: Feb 11-12 Canby, Clackamas County Fairgrounds – 694 NE 4th Ave. Sat. 9-5, Sun. 10-3
 
Beating the Buck forum bushes a bit of history/dating information popped up.

Joe Houser, talking about "bone hard fiber" on 3-11-2010, "Buck switched from BHF to micarta in late 1970". This fiber is no longer available.

Joe Houser, typing about Atchison Leather sheaths on 3-16-2010, "model number stamped ON the belt loop", "have a plain snap", "in 67-68 timeframe Buck had a company called Atchison Leather making there sheaths. In 1969, the operation was brought in house."


The correct sheath for this vintage 120 General should have a sheath with the model number stamped on the back of the belt loop, a plain snap on the keeper strap (no "BUCK" stamped on the snap) and it was made by Atchison Leather and not in house by Buck.
 
I hadn't heard of LATE 1970 on the spacer switch......just 1970.

Here's another from Joe:

If a three-line stamp is read with the tip pointed up, then knife is from Group 2, time frame from 1973 through 1980. Red Micarta is the spacer material as we had switched from the bone hard fiber in 1970.

Buck, U.S.A. stamp was used from 1967 to 1972. If my eyes don't deceive me though, the spacers on your knife are the bone hard fiber, not red Micarta. This would put the knife in the 1967 to late 1969 time frame.
__________________
Joe Houser
Director of Consumer relations Buck Knives Inc.
Buck Collectors club Liaison, Member #123

Click to expand...

As usual......there's a little margin.

:)
 
BG, might you have pics of such a sheath: Atchison Leather mfg., model number stamped on back of belt loop & plain snap face? Love to see it.
 
Actually......I think I do have a sheath like that somewhere.

I'll see if I can find it. I might have a 121 also.

:)
 
Everyone please sit down. Those with bad tickers go ahead and sit on the floor and lean against the wall. I'm going to make a prediction:

One day, and that day will come, each and every Buck knife will come with an embeded component that will "bring to life" Joe Houser lecturing and demonstrating about that knife, its history and manufacture. Get it near a smart TV and it will want to broadcast its story. Like a Stanhope Lens of old. Information about the thing itself actually a part of the knife.

That is it. Back on your feet if you are able.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanhope_(optical_bijou)

Link to pic of my knife, canoe model, with a Stanhope imbeded in the scale (the lens holds a pic of a Lewis and Clark scene, trust me). http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/oregun/Stanhopelens006.jpg
 
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Thank you for the pics. Beautiful condition.

Plain snap face and model number stamped onto the back of the belt loop.

Have you been able to peg the mfg. date of each sheath by any chance?

BTW: I'm expecting the correct sheath for my pictured 120 to have a small simple keeper strap and not the flap and no "BUCK" stamp anywhere on the sheath. Aficianados are laughing at my chances that the sheath is correct for my knife right now probably :)
 
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