Information on this Buck 121 knife

[Old Hunter]

Thank you! So a modern Buck 121 Guide is really another "standard" hunting knife - having about the same blade thickness as a Buck 118. I'll measure a 105 and a 102 to see what their thickness is. OH

 

[sassafrassdogs]

Thank you! So a modern Buck 121 Guide is really another "standard" hunting knife - having about the same blade thickness as a Buck 118. I'll measure a 105 and a 102 to see what their thickness is. OH

Yeah, I have an older one also and like you say its more a hunting knife. You can tell by just looking at it and the slight difference in weight.

Also, I have edited my measurement. I must have moved it before reading it, instead of .123" it's .121".

 

[Roach0415]

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"

So glad you mic'd those Old Hunter, it helped me decide to spend the extra "bucks" on an old 2 liner ..I'll have to mic it and update this soon... thin like a fillet knife should be.. ... I woulda been heart broken with an expensive blade called a fisherman that was as thick a deer knife .. and its honestly amazing how light weight this thing is...

 

[Brice C]

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.

Telechronos

Hope this helps

Hi everyone. Just joined the site. I have the knife on the very bottom. Any idea when it would have been made ?

 

[pjsjr]

Any idea when it would have been made ?

Without seeing it 1973-1985

 

[Blake Cm]

I have a buck 121 dated to 1987 would that be a fisherman or guide?

 

[matthewtstock]

B Blake Cm Welcome to the forum. The Fisherman was rebranded as the Guide in the 1985 catalog. However, at some point in the next few years, Buck bulked up the spine to be much stronger and less flexible than the Fisherman knives. It is unclear to me when the blade was beefed up.

 

[Blake Cm]

My Knife is not flexible at all so that would explain why. i use to think it was a fisherman and thought this wouldn't be a very good filet knife because it has no flex.
Thank you for the response.

 

[TheFishman]

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 know am resurrecting an old thread, but I want to add additional information on blade thickness and ask a question. I just received a 1997 121 Guide that measures 0.08" in thickness. I have an older 121 Fisherman three line model with four spacers that measures 0.08" in thickness or pretty much the same as Old Hunter's measurement. From what I have read, people have stated that Buck increased the blade thickness when the 121 became the Guide in 1985. Apparently that wasn't the case. Post #20 in this thread states that a 2005 model was 0.12". This post also confirms a 0.12" thickness of a 2005 custom. The Buck catalog from 2012 and 2013 states that the Boone and Crockett 121 was also 0.12" thick. So if my 1997 model is 0.08" and Buck discontinued the 121 in the catalog after 2000, was the blade thickened when it was a custom between 2001 and 2005 or was it thickened between 1998 and 2000? The 1997 handle is identical to my 1970s handle. I was wanting to buy a 0.12" 121, but now I am not sure what to look for. Anyone out there have a 1998-2000 121 they can measure?