Information on this Buck 121 knife

S

ScottyD

Joined
May 19, 2008
Messages
112
I bought this knife along time ago & it is a 5" fixed blade knife with the black handle & a black leather sheath. The blade is almost 5 1/2" if you count in the choil. The sheath is like new & the knife is almost like new. It just needs sharpened. It was the "Fisherman" model when I bought it but I mostly used a Buck folding hunter or a Rapala knife. From what I understand, this is a hard to find knife that was discontinued being made by Buck & the value has went way up. I would greatly appreciate any information about this knife. Thanks! :thumbup:
 
They made the fisherman over four decades and even changed the name to the "Guide" in the end. To give you much of an opinion we'll need to see pictures or have a detail description, date purchased, etc. But really a picture is best. What kind of info are you looking for? If you are looking to price it, eBay is a good place to get an idea.

A couple of mine: Guide on top and Fisherman from mid-70's on bottom. If you look closely there are quite a few differences.
DSC_1733.jpg
 
The BUCK Fisherman knives generally are more valuable the older they are. The oldest of them have only the word, BUCK, stamped horizontally on the blade. The earliest ones had a sort of saw tooth scaler on the back of the blade. It was found that the scaler weakened the blade so that many of them broke. BUCK then discontinued the scaler in their commercial versions of the Fisherman. During the scaler period, the stamp moved from the horizontal position to a position at the base of the blade next to the guard. That new location first had just the word, BUCK. Then for a short period the stamp was BUCK followed by a dot. After that the stamp said BUCK USA. Then, after the scaler was discontinued, the stamp was changed again to BUCK 121 USA. Thereafter, as the knife got thicker and beefier, the stamp was BUCK 121(followed by a date code) USA. During that period the name changed from Fisherman to Guide. Below are pictures of the the early Buck 121s from the horizontal stamp to BUCK 121 USA for your consideration. Obviously the scaler version since so many of them broke, has a higher value than does the non-scaler 121s. No BUCK fisherman is fabulously expensive although the early scalers will reach $200 and up depending upon condition, age, and whether they include the original documentation and box.

IMG_1279a.jpg


Telechronos:):):)

Hope this helps
 
Well Scotty, They are good knives I like them a lot for cutting up Deer.
Now that we have talked about them here they will go up $10.00
on that Bay thingey. :D:D:thumbup:

if you don't like it you can send it to me.;)
Welcome to the Buck forum.

Hawkeye
 
Flatlander1963 said:
They made the fisherman over four decades and even changed the name to the "Guide" in the end. To give you much of an opinion we'll need to see pictures or have a detail description, date purchased, etc. But really a picture is best. What kind of info are you looking for? If you are looking to price it, eBay is a good place to get an idea.

A couple of mine: Guide on top and Fisherman from mid-70's on bottom. If you look closely there are quite a few differences.
DSC_1733.jpg
Click to expand...

My knife looks more like the first top picture.
 
Just a quick comment, a few years late :)...Back in the 70's I bought my cousin a Fisherman as I got his name in the Christmas drawing....Forgot completely about the knife over the years. The whole family lives on a lake in a small town in upstate NY....and they know their guns and knives....Well last summer I was up with the kids and we were all in my Aunts kitchen and my cousin was going at it in a semi friendly way with his dad... about the Fisherman, almost half sharpened down, that he had found for the umpteenth time in my uncles kitchen drawer. Apparently they "steal" it back and forth from each other over the years as it is their favorite knife for just about everything. I apparently picked a winner 40 years ago, and never knew it till last summer. Enjoy your knife!
 
From what I gather if the 121 blade has a date code, it is the thicker Guide. If no date code it is the thinner fisherman. Is this correct? thanks
 
Does anybody know when the fisherman became the guide? I just bought one with an X date code, I thought it would have the thicker blade, but it has the thin one.

Thanks.
 
I think the blade thickness varied somewhat over the years (got thicker over time). I have an inverted stamp, four spacer 121 that has nearly a filet blade. I have a three spacer with no date stamp that's blade quite a bit thicker and stiffer, compares to the date stamped Guide.
 
Thanks Old Hunter, I get it now. I thought the guides were all thick. Like the stag guide they just released. It is thick like a 118. Thanks again.
 
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I decided to put a micrometer on my three Buck 121 fixed blade knives, this is what I found for blade thickness:
Buck 121, four spacers, tip down tang stamp - .0583" - what I call a fillet blade.
Buck 121, four spacers, tip up tang stamp - .0770" - much stiffer.
Buck 121, three spacers, three line tang stamp (tip up) - .0776"

I don't have a modern (date coded) Buck 121 Guide to measure - if one of you gents have both a Guide and a micrometer please add to this thread. I measured all three knives on the spine side of the blade, above the tang stamp, about 1/8" from the guard.

Ps measured a one line Buck 118, result was .1266"
 
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