Imitation (of the Buck 110) is Flattery!

rhino

rhino

Joined
Dec 30, 2000
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So ... of the myriad copies and knockoffs of the Buck 110 over the years, who makes (or made) the "best"? Which were interesting for other reasons?
 
but my brother has carried a Schrade LB7 for years in the bush. He's a soft rock geologist so he spends a lot of time in the great beyond. His LB7 has worked harder than any knife I own and it is still a really good knife. I think this summer past he gave it to his son who spent his time off school planting trees for the Department of Natural Resources in Alberta.
 
A while ago I was showing a friend of mine my brand new 112FG. He says ‘I know this knife’. He goes down to his basement and roots around in a box where he keeps house painting stuff like brushes and stir sticks and the like and he pulls out a big, no BIG, folding knife. This thing is 10 inches long closed. It has paint on it and it has been used to open paint cans. The thing is it is a perfect copy of the 112FG, just huge. It’s like these guys in Pakistan put the 112 in a photocopier and copied at two times the size and that is what they built. In profile it is identical but it isn’t much thicker than the real one. The finish is poor but at least the components appear to be the same, stainless steel with brass bolsters and wooden handles.
Nobody would ever carry this thing but I would hate to be the guy how was facing one in some sort of psychotic incident.
 
WilltheBarb said:
but my brother has carried a Schrade LB7 for years in the bush.
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Oh God does that sound familiar, my older brother and I have the Buck 110 vs. Schrade LB7 debate about once a year. He even goes so far as to insist that the 110 is a rip-off of the LB7, no matter how much proof I show him the 110 came first. (His little brother can't be right haha).

I own several Buck 110 "clones" and the LB7 ranks real high, but I have also found the Camillus one to be a good user also, but not near as polished as the 110.

One thing I like about some of the clones is the lanyard hole.
 
I have a Klein copy (only 3" long closed) but they do one the same size.It is great and rumour has it the blade is AUS8!
 
I was looking at a fe of mine last night, as my new interest in 110s has sparked my interest in copies too!

My favorite is my old Sears/Craftsman, dating from the early 1980s. I'm pretty sure it was made by Camillus. It's interesting because it's the knife of its kind (Buck 110-style) that I've ever seen with a flat ground blade. All others I've seen have been semi-hollow ground like a Buck. This knife got a good workout in the 1980s from me, and I'm pretty sure it got retired when I discovered lightweight folders and then one-handed folders.

Another is my Explorer Tiger Paw, also from the early 1980s. The interesting features on it are the straight lines (far less curved in the handle) and the blade is hollow ground to a very thin edge. The blade is stamped 440 stainless (assume it's 440A).

I've always wanted a Puma, which I perceived to be the "ultimate imitator."
 
rhino said:
My favorite is my old Sears/Craftsman, dating from the early 1980s. I'm pretty sure it was made by Camillus.
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Yep! sure was. Rumor is Sears has stopped selling pocket knives, I wish now I had picked one up that was stamped "Craftsman", I have a soft spot for Craftsman knives.
 
The Last Confederate said:
Rumor is Sears has stopped selling pocket knives, I wish now I had picked one up that was stamped "Craftsman", I have a soft spot for Craftsman knives.
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You should check out one of your local Sears stores. The store near me still carries the Craftsman knock-off of the 110. I checked the store a few weeks ago when there was that thread about KMart having a 10% sale on camping/sporting goods, including Buck Knives. KMart has the Bucks, Sears still carries the Craftsman.

GeoThorn
 
Thanks, I will look around, my local Sears cleaned out all it's knives a few months ago, but maybe I can find one afterall.
 
Camillus does. In the past, Schrade has at times made some for Craftsman, but Camillus has had the contract for awhile.
 
I just checked the Craftsman website and their 2 1/2 inch lockback 110 clone uses 420HC steel, brass bolsters, wood scales and the tang is stamped "Craftsman USA" and the model number. If it's made under contract with some other company, they're not saying.
 
TLC,
I just checked out the Camillus website and the Craftsman lockback is identical to the Camillus small lockback. The one thing that has me confused is Camillus is offering theirs in the upper 30's and Craftsman is selling theirs for 16.95.
 
It's funny how Sears marks things. I have a Craftsman model 95232 that I picked up for $19.95 with a nice leather sheath. Camillus shows the same knife and sheath as their Medium Lockback #3 at $49.95. Same knives. They are actually very good fit, finish and quality. They are flat ground and have been used as occassional edc's. Not bad knives at all. Not Bucks...but good ones to bang around with.
 
Oh, I don't believe you made any mistake Mike...If I saw the same ad you saw recently at Sears, it is the small lockback that they are showing for sale. Camillus makes those three lockbacks that they call their.."small, medium and large" lockbacks. Not sure but I think Sears stopped selling the medium lockback last year or the year before but that's the one I have. You were right...it is the "small" lockback they are currently selling for $16.95. They are nice knives but in all honesty , they don't feel like or keep an edge like the Bucks of similar size...Hope your Thanksgiving went well.
 
So ... is the flat blade grind pretty much unique to Camillus? I know I've not seen it elsewhere, except maybe one some super cheap knockoffs.

I wonder what blade steel was used for my Craftsman back in the early 1980s. I'd speculate 440A since that's what was most common then (I never saw any 420).
 
I just looked through a bunch of lockbacks that I seldom use and I saw some neat coincidences...I have that Craftsman 95232, the Camillus #3 Medium lockback and I just found some Frontier 4515's...two are marked "Frontier 4515" the other is marked the same but adds "Double Eagle"...ALL are virtually identical. All have the same flat grind. Looks like Camillus, Shrade and Imperial all made knives off of the same basic blueprint. Wouldn't surprize me if others used the same "print" and made their own knock-offs of the same knife. They are all fairly decent knives but none have the real craftsmanship of any of the Bucks I have.
 
The fastest way to tell who made which Craftsman Large Lockback, i.e. Camillus or Schrade is to look at the pivot and handle pins. Each manufacturer places their pins in different places. Their Craftsman contract knives will match their name brand knives.
 
rhino said:
So ... is the flat blade grind pretty much unique to Camillus? I know I've not seen it elsewhere, except maybe one some super cheap knockoffs.

I wonder what blade steel was used for my Craftsman back in the early 1980s. I'd speculate 440A since that's what was most common then (I never saw any 420).
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Depends, some Craftsman knives in the 80's came from Japan, some were domestic. I have a really nice Craftsman Stockman with bone handles from the 80's that is stamped "Seki, Japan" it has 440C.

I think all the current Camillus "Craftsman" contract knives are 420HC, I just bought a new 4 inch Stockman about 3 months ago and it's packaging said 420HC.

Kinda neat, a stockman in 420HC with rosewood scales and brass bolsters, makes a great matching companion knife for a Buck 110!
 
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