Info on 317,is dating possible

gsea,

Learn every day I thought the 317 never went to stainless thanks Berti good to know.
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I think you are correct. I just put a little vinegar on the springs of a serrated 317. That was at the end of the production for the 317. The back spring developed some tarnish. I guess I should have done that before I made the suggestion.

Bert
 
bertl said:
There is some variation in the boxes. Texture and slight color differences occur according to the year range. Some of the boxes were not made for the 317 and have a gold foil label on the end. I have a few but haven’t taken the label off to see the original. I have heard that 137 Steelmaster boxes were used. That might have been early on, or it might have been later after the Steelmaster was discontinued.


Bert
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Hi, I am in the UK and way back in the 70's my father was a diver on the oil rigs and worked for several US oil companies, Bucks were quite common on the rigs and my father asked a colleague to pick a couple up for him, one of which was presented to me as a kid, It was when researching my knife that i came across this page and it's reference to different boxes, here is a photo of what i have, it is the box the knife came in but it says steelmaster 137 on the box as opposed to 317 :-

IMAG0463.jpg~original


IMAG0462.jpg~original
 
It was in reply to the poster (Bertl) who said that he believed 137 boxes were used for 317 knives and thus offering a time frame for the practice, did you read the quoted message?
 
Hello Tophouse, welcome. I think what Mr. Martin means by a dead thread is you are responding to an old thread that was posted in December of 2014. On this forum bringing back to life dead threads from what I can tell is frowned upon. Some of the people who previously posted my not be with us for one reason or another anymore and out of respect you should start your own new thread and if required you can link the older dead thread for reference. Or at least that's how I under stand it.

For the most part everyone here is very cordial but you are expected to understand the rules.

That being said, you are correct in that some Buck 317 boxes were Steelmaster boxes originally and Buck slapped a gold sticker over the 137 and made them Trailblazer boxes.

Here are examples of an early 317 model Buck Trailblazer box and a later re-labeled Buck Trailblazer.







 
I have a couple of the 317's that I purchased 2nd hand that came with steelmaster boxes. I always wondered what the story was with them.
 
Tops, welcome. Your new... I have now posted 6 times in this topic. So, maybe I have read it. But that was a year and a half ago. Christian, thank you. I'll not pour cold water on this party. DM
 
First I will say both knives shown above are good examples of the 317 and we appreciate both of you showing them here.

Let me throw in some comments.

As mentioned, researching a multi-year old thread, and then making a comment at the end of several pages of thread is considered by many a action of poor technique. As stated making your comment it's own new thread statement with links back to your research lets folks manage their forum reading in a 'kinder' manner and is appreciated by most.

I encourage this as I often see it happen from folks that are pretty new to the Buck fourm, at least their posting number is low so folks consider them to be new members. Also someone often does this only to find information on a new knife they have acquired and are checking up on its value and rarity. We welcome everyone to this forum and welcome all questions and posts but often when someone does do that you can count on never hearing from them again. That is just part of a forum and we should be glad to provide the service even to the 'one time poster'.

That said, let me remind readers of this thread that the 317 was always a Camillus made knife. They were shipped to Buck in as a group of knives in just a shipping box, then Buck re-boxed them as they wished. The boxes were occasionally out of stock and Buck utilized extra boxes that fit the size by fixing printed stickers on the end. Sometimes gold and sometimes white paper. When knives such as the 317 were boxed the sheath was included at that time. So be careful putting a knife from a contract maker, into a box ordered and stocked by Buck along with a sheath that was also ordered and stocked without the "shadow" of the knife itself being nearby. Yes, consider all those things but remember the trail of production that created that knife situation.

Aging some of the Camillus made Buck folders has become more difficult as we all continue to compare our knowledge about them. In the past I have worked with very limited historical information and filled in some gaps with assumptions. Some of which I was assuming incorrectly. Sadly, with the closure of Camillus, the selling of the factory remains and the death of Tom Williams who had conserved the production cards with information details. It has become more difficult to pin down some details of the Camillus Buck folders. Lets go forward by continuing to share information, give creditable statements and do the best we can in getting the details correct. I hope to do that myself. 300Bucks
 
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