How long did Buck make the 119 Pro with brown micarta?

mill428

mill428

Joined
Jan 11, 2010
Messages
351
My wife and I went to town last night and I told her I wanted to stop by Cabelas and see if they had the 119 Pro in stock. I had some more points to spend and really wanted to use them on the Pro - if they had one. I've been in the store multiple times over the last number of months waiting on one but they never had one in stock and of course the guys behind the counter never know when they will show up. A few weeks back I decided to cave and buy an Alaskan Guide 119 since they seemed to have them in regularly. I really like it but I still had my heart set on green micarta and S35VN. I've read the reviews and watched videos and wanted to add one to my collection. Especially since I had the points to cover the purchase price.

When I got back to the knife counter, lo and behold... there was a knife in the 119 Pro holder. Amazing! S35VN on the blade but the handle was brown, not green. Of course no one was staffing the counter so I waited... and waited. My wife showed up to see what I was waiting on and, thinking it was silly to wait, went and found someone behind the gun counter and as only wives can do, kindly convinced the gentleman to come help us. Apparently he was a new manager because when he came to help, everyone showed up and bent over backwards to help us.

It didn't take long for me to make my decision to buy it. He couldn't find one in a box so I told him I would take the display. He brought out a Pro box that looked like it had been on the shelf for years - covered in dust and scuffed all over the slip cover. I didn't care too much. The knife was the most important thing. As a bonus, the manager came and found me at the register and told the gal to take $20 off because I had waited so long. What a nice guy!

As we were walking out, I glanced at the back of the box and saw it was made in August of 2021. Which is also validated by a 2021 date on the blade. It must have sat on the shelves for a while or got pushed behind some stuff for a few years at the store. But I know it wasn't on display 3 weeks ago. I've been watching. Obviously they made a brown micarta Buck 119 Pro - it is definitely brown - but my question is, how long did they make them that way? I love the green but the longer I look at this one, I love the brown too. Did they make the whole Pro line in brown? My googlefu has turned up nothing on brown micarta. Are my search skills just that bad? I figured SOMONE here would know. I'll attach a picture to prove it happened. Thanks for your insight.

dpHW6sT.jpeg
 
Midnight Rider said:
I can't speak for the brown micarta, but that's a fine looking knife you have there, congrats. I think I like it better than the green.
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Thanks. I agree, I really like the brown. It's a richer color than anything I have at the moment. I might have to take one of my NS 110's and put some brown canvas micarta scales on it. You know, so I have a matching pair. :)
 
GPyro said:
I think the color has been varying from brown to green and everything in-between.

I only have the 117 and the similarly made 192, and it's entirely up to the lighting of the moment to determine what color it is at the time.
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You're right I have seen those different hues in my search. In fact when it was at the knife counter I thought that may be the case. The lights were playing tricks on me. But with this particular knife anyway, there is no kind of light that makes it green. Other than maybe a green light... 😊
 
I dont remember a brown micarta run of these pros? I could be wrong though. if I'm not wrong, then maybe a batch of brown made it into the cycle somehow.....

or a batch of green micarta came from the maker with little green in it. I've seen batches of micarta that were off colorwise.....

regardless kinda neat in the brown shade micarta.....
 
GPyro said:
I think the color has been varying from brown to green and everything in-between.
I only have the 117 and the similarly made 192, and it's entirely up to the lighting of the moment to determine what color it is at the time.
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I'm kinda thinking the same. It was not clear to me, is the box the correct one to the knife you purchased? What is the model code? It's going to start 0119.....something. The next 2 letters are the color, 0119BR.... is brown, 0119GR is green (olive drab). Some of my stuff seems to lean more to brown than green sometimes. The model code will tell you what Buck considered it to be.
 
jbmonkey said:
I dont remember a brown micarta run of these pros? I could be wrong though. if I'm not wrong, then maybe a batch of brown made it into the cycle somehow.....
or a batch of green micarta came from the maker with little green in it. I've seen batches of micarta that were off colorwise.....
regardless kinda neat in the brown shade micarta.....
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I haven't found anything on brown either. I thought maybe I had missed something but it's sounding like it may be an anomaly. If I were Buck and I got a supply of "green" micarta this far off, I would be a little incensed. Especially since all their marketing says the Pros are green. Personally, I like the color and wouldn't mind having the whole set this shade of brown.
 
DeSotoSky said:
I'm kinda thinking the same. It was not clear to me, is the box the correct one to the knife you purchased? What is the model code? It's going to start 0119.....something. The next 2 letters are the color, 0119BR.... is brown, 0119GR is green (olive drab). Some of my stuff seems to lean more to brown than green sometimes. The model code will tell you what Buck considered it to be.
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I assumed the box was the correct one. And it is marked for green. Since no one has seen

yQMMb6f.jpeg


The date on the blade matches at least to the year - 2021

2fGj0XI.jpeg


I'm sure no one would know at Cabelas when they actually got this in. If it was something they've had for years in the back and just recently found and put it on the shelf. Or if it came from Buck recently to fill a stock request. Who knows. The box has not had an easy life regardless. It's been kicked around for a while now. I guess I could shoot Buck an email and see if someone knows anything about it.

I know if I was the employee at Buck putting it in a box for a green handled knife, I would cringe a little. Or maybe they don't pay attention to that kind of thing since they see a ton of stuff go by. On the receiving end, I would be a little disappointed if I was trying to match a green set and got this in the mail. But as is my case, I like it because it's unique. As I said earlier, I wouldn't mind having more this color.
 
The spacer doesn’t look black either. Any chance it was by a sunny window and faded? I noticed the spacers get a lot less black when they sanded from a rehandle. I’m assuming there dyed black?

I also don’t have all those milling marks in the fuller on my pro model.

Edit: The more I look at this the more I see. It could just be the lighting but the perpendicular grind lines seem coarse, mine kinda look that way if I catch the light just right.

The tip is funky. The hollow grind and swedge should meet.
 
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mill428 said:
I haven't found anything on brown either. I thought maybe I had missed something but it's sounding like it may be an anomaly. If I were Buck and I got a supply of "green" micarta this far off, I would be a little incensed. Especially since all their marketing says the Pros are green. Personally, I like the color and wouldn't mind having the whole set this shade of brown.
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I've seen these pros in green from being kinda brown to really green and all shades in between. I don't know lighting in Buck factory, I wouldn't think it would flag all that easily......
 
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BigMoney said:
The spacer doesn’t look black either. Any chance it was by a sunny window and faded? I noticed the spacers get a lot less black when they sanded from a rehandle. I’m assuming there dyed black?
I also don’t have all those milling marks in the fuller on my pro model.
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Good thought. I've never seen micarta fade, but I guess it's possible. But the color is uniform all over. Not just on one side. I know it wasn't in the sun at Cabelas. Their knife counter is in the middle of the store a long way from any glass. I was going to ask what color the normal spacers are on the Pros. And if they are micarta. These definitely are micarta - and they are brown in color - as you can see in my last picture. Also, the milling marks on the fuller match all three of my 119s. They are far more pronounced in my picture because it's in the sunlight and it's magnified a fair bit.
 
The green canvas micarta has varied quite a bit from drab green to brown and some are a lighter tanish color. My pro models 105 and 102 have a tabaco color kinda brownish/green tone where my 110 sport pro is olive drab green. I guess it depends on the luck of the draw.
 
Lesknife said:
The green canvas micarta has varied quite a bit from drab green to brown and some are a lighter tanish color. My pro models 105 and 102 have a tabaco color kinda brownish/green tone where my 110 sport pro is olive drab green. I guess it depends on the luck of the draw.
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You would think though, they wouldn't advertise a specific color if there are so many variations. I would love to have a brown micarta 105! I like the size of that knife. Do you have a picture of your pro 105? I'd love to see it.
 
mill428 said:
You would think though, they wouldn't advertise a specific color if there are so many variations. I would love to have a brown micarta 105! I like the size of that knife. Do you have a picture of your pro 105? I'd love to see it.
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The lighting is poor but this is what I have at the moment. IMG_1028.jpeg
 
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