If you could only have 3 Bucks...

Collectibles for use? I tried that once. I collect the old handmade Bucks from the 40's and 50's. I felt I was doing Hoyt Buck a diservice by not using the knives he made so I brought a lucite 105 to hunting camp. I got as far as strapping it on my belt before I came to my senses and stapped on a 428 Selector instead. As much brush busting and hill climbing as I do, that old lucite knife would have been beat up or even lost.
Now I have a 40's Buck that I rehandled in modern lucite (the original handle was gone) and thats one collectible that I do use.
I guess the 103 Skinner from the 60's is considered a collectible so I'm good there as well.
Heck the machete is pretty rare so I guess my original list was fine all along! Sorry to waste your time. ;)
Great thread!
 
A 110 folder with S30V blade and Sambar Stag handle. (I have nearly 10 of them, some for looks, some for use.)

Vanguard. (I have 2 of these, one Alaskan Guide with S30V and one buildout with ATS 34 blade & rubber handle. Both are users.

A Chuck Buck/A.G. Russell Signature Canoe Knife buildout with Mastadon scales, one S30V blade and one 154CM blade. I have 2 of these.
 
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110 stag with BG-42 from the old Pete's Custom shop (Buck Knives' first on-line retail knife store)
347 Vantage with S30V (my EDC)
one of my white melamine fixed blades from the early 1960s - probably the 119 with leather spacers.

I use the first two knives on a regular basis - cannot imagine not having them! The white melamine is simply my favorite handle material on the old knives.
 
Well, Since Joe and Larry chose I will be shamed if I don't also. It really is difficult.

Elk scale 301 from mid-80s that has a 425M blade. Segua 112, likely 440C. The last one is going to be tough. We have three 121s in our kitchen we use all the time, use two others on processing game. I hunt with a Selector on my belt. I sometimes carry a small Vantage Avid as EDC. I am thinking............Ok, Ok I chose.

A fancy 303, since that is the model of Buck knife that hooked me up' Like this Remer Elephant Ivory rescale....
303ElephantIvory.jpg


Or then again this Buckeye burl rescale by me. So hard to chose, one or the other 303, I'll flip a coin. Actually I gave this one away to the Sheriff. But I have some more burl.....
FinishBurl.jpg


Elk 301
Elk301closeup.jpg


Segua 112
DSCF1472_edited-2-1.jpg


The contest was you can only have three. With these three I could live life fully.
300Bucks
 
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Dang, some good choices of knives fellows. Larry, I too remember the old Pete's custom shop. Thanks for that blast from the past. Tell Smoltzy hi. DM
 
Joe Houser said:
...Heck the machete is pretty rare so I guess my original list was fine all along!...
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Joe, I think you might have a bit of an unfair advantage when it comes to rare Bucks:D Do you ever suggest a design for a prototype and then ask the bladesmith to make two, so you can conduct a "long term durability test" on it?
 
CoyotePhysics said:
Joe, I think you might have a bit of an unfair advantage when it comes to rare Bucks:D Do you ever suggest a design for a prototype and then ask the bladesmith to make two, so you can conduct a "long term durability test" on it?
Click to expand...

I used to make suggestions like that...but I got tired of getting laughed at! Hurt my feelings. :) But this is why I started learning the trade myself, so I could turn my ideas into cutting objects...or scrap, depending on how well the effort went.
 
Three? Gee, I don't know which three 110's I'd keep! Hmmm, gifting a few Custom 110's to my wife may just be in order. I remember, many years ago, the angst I went through when I lost my one and only 110... Now I have a bunch of 'users' - and a few Custom Shop goodies...

I guess, if it had to be three...

1. 192 Vanguard - either the one in CPM154 or the AG in S30V - with a nylon sheath
2. 172 Mayo TNT - now that I have a CRK or two - I still love my TNT!
3. 895 Simonich/Buck Raven Legacy

Okay, I cannot cheat - my wife didn't want all of those 110's anyway. Goodbye #2 - so long Mayo TNT! Hello new # 2:

2. Buck Custom Shop 110 in teardrop Damascus, NS, and flaming Koa. A functional beauty!

Now - I feel sad...

Stainz
 
Oh I think I can live with group A 110, 119 and 301, athough I would like to replace the 301 with a 500.
 
This is a tough one but if I'm absolutely limited to only three, then...

1. Fixed blade - 118 personal w/ D2 blade
2. Large folder - 110 w/ stag scales and BG42 blade
3. Small folder - 500 Duke w/ Impala bone scales and 154CM blade
 
Then again if I had to choose three for use in the wilderness my choices would be dramatically different. I would then go with...

1. 119, preferably with the stacked leather handle
2. Hoodlum
3. 118 personal w/ D2 blade
 
Mike, Yes, that poses an interesting thought line 'for wilderness use'. I live a rural life and use my knives a lot. But for wilderness use, thats another level. DM
 
Mike, do you have any experience with the Hoodlum? I've been keeping an eye out for reviews, but haven't seen anyone in the bush with one. I know we like to keep our knives clean here on the buck forum, but If anyone has pics of a hoodlum getting some use I for one would love to see it!

******************

BTW, Thank you everyone for the great posts.
I started this thread because the thought came to me one day that between my 301 and Vanguard there really aren't many outdoor activities that I don't have a good knife for, and if I absolutely had to, I could get by with just the pair of them for my entire life. While I don't recall exactly how much I spent on either knife, the combined total was around $100, give or take, and it amazed me to think that for such a low price someone could be so well equipped.

At my current stage in life I don't have much of a knife budget, but that's ok. You kind gentlemen help enjoy some of Buck's most beautiful, unique, and rare knives vicariously, but I wanted your expert and experienced advice about what knives you would rather not live without. I haven't been dissapointed. Thanks for sharing with a Buck fan for life who is just in the beginning stages of building a collection.

CP
 
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While I found myself in the usual pickle trying to choose me "only three" Bucks, I think it's worth remarking that I haven't always had dozens of knives from which to choose.

When the candy store only has two or three flavors to begin with, the business of choosing becomes that much easier.

For more than twenty years I carried a single knife, augmented at various times by a larger bolo, a small hunter, a rigging knife, and a couple of Gerber hunters that I picked up in the very early seventies, and a Mora that I got in Sweden later in the seventies.

When my career path changed, I picked up another couple of knives (smaller), one of which became my constant companion for the next twenty.

I didn't begin to sample the world of knives in any depth until 2003, and didn't really get into it until 2006.

During that first forty years, if you had told me we were going camping, I'd have grabbed my scout/camp knife, a Gerber sheath knife, and possibly one other, and would have considered myself well equipped.

Now . . . ?

Now someone suggests that I should choose only three Bucks from among the boxes and drawers of Bucks I currently have, and I start to squirm like a kid having to choose only three flavors from a candy store with hundreds.

Six years ago I didn't even own a Buck, and choosing a let's-go-live-in-the-woods threesome would have been a matter of opening the one box containing all my knives and grabbing the most obvious three. Now I own a Buck or two (or dozens) and that same choice is fraught with second guessing.

Still . . . it was an interesting exercise.

 
Hawk,

I would have bet money on the 121.....but 120 is OK.....you can Hog hunt with just a knife........

300
 
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