Lockback folders similar specs to Buck 110?

MTHall720

MTHall720

Joined
Sep 21, 2010
Messages
2,957
I really love the classic size and heft of the Buck 110. Was wondering what other lockback folders weigh as much and have blades of 3.7" or more? I love the thickness of the 110 also.
Any thoughts appreciated.
 
Schrade LB7 is similar in size and weight. You can find the the old USA made versions on the large auction site. That's the first one that comes to my mind. Puma makes a version as well I believe. I thought I've seen a statement that the Buck110 is the most copied knife pattern in the world.
 
Puma makes them in various sizes and handle materials. My favorite are the integral bolster ones with black handles and sweet clip point blades.
 
Yeah, the US made Schrades and the US made Camillus copies (not exact, but close for sure) were good knives. But, with both firms now gone, secondary market is the key for those. I know Taylor Brand knives purchased the Schrade name and has the LB7 made in China, but I have no idea how good they are overall.

Top is a US made Schrade specimen, bottom a US made Buck...

2rbz14x.jpg
 
Last edited:
Oh, and I forgot to mention that Sears sold some US made 110 style knives with their Craftsman label. They had both Schrade and Camillus make them :)
 
MTHall720 said:
I really love the classic size and heft of the Buck 110. Was wondering what other lockback folders weigh as much and have blades of 3.7" or more? I love the thickness of the 110 also.
Any thoughts appreciated.
Click to expand...

Oh dude. You want my thoughts about the Buck 110 on a Friday night? Be careful what you ask for.

The Buck 110, commonly known in the early days as "the folding hunter", was the first of that style. Even Sal Glessar, who later started Spyderco, carried one in those days. Of the designs attributable to a single maker, the 110 is the most copied knife design in the world. All sorts of companies made "derivatives".

Back in the day, 440C was not only considered a "super steel", it was considered difficult to sharpen. This was mostly because Washita stones were the standard sharpening medium of that time and the chromium carbides in 440C were harder than the stone. I knew a couple of fellas who traded in their 440C Buck 110 knives and bought 440A Schrades, because they could sharpen 440A but couldn't sharpen the 440C . It didn't help that, because 440C was thought to be "brittle", Buck gave it a thick edge. (Early experimenters with 440C heat treated it to above 60HRC, at which hardness it actually is brittle. But Buck hardened their 440C blade to ~58, at which hardness it is not.)

I still have my Buck 110, which my parents gave me in the late 60's.
 
Back in the mid 70s I bought this one from Browning, their excellent take on a folding hunter.

borrowed from the 'net:


It was nowhere near as blocky as a 110, much more ergonomic and much easier to use with sweaty (when hunting, sweaty/bloody) hands. I found I could work up a blister pretty quick with a 110, so I bought this one. It was considered a premium knife in its day with the included literature proclaiming it was "hand made". I was really proud of that knife as it was really expensive, hard to get, and they only got one or two at a time here at a specialty gun store. I never met anyone else that owned one, and still haven't to this day.

But Frank (knarfeng) is right. It saw limited use as it was a nasty hard 440c, and my old stones took forever to get an edge on that thing. The edge lasted very well when sharpened and it was a great slicer because it had a thin, hollow ground edge. Give to Browning on this one for making a proper slicing type hunter. But free handing the sharpening process took too long, and I never realized that I hadn't hit the knife's potential of sharpness until I got my first Lansky set and really set to work on the blade a few years after I got it. I was really surprised just how sharp I could get it after an accurate reset of the edge bevels. It is an amazing piece of steel, but the whole shebang is just too much knife for me now.

I carried it for a few years, but eventually got to a point in my work where I didn't need a knife that large. So in the drawer it went in the early 80s and has lived there ever since.

I carry bigger knives than that now, but they are 1/2 the weight and easier to carry and sharpen.

Robert
 
Last edited:
If I am not mistaken, Utica Cutlery, of Utica NY, may still be producing a 110 copy (or variation). The 110 seems to be not only an American icon to Americans, but also seen that way abroad. I have seen some copies from Pakistan that were functional, but crude to the max. But, flattery thing is there, because they were again simply trying to copy it :)

Btw, 2014 is the 110's 50th anniversary, so if ya don't already have one, not a bad idea to get their specially marked version this year :)

Here is an internet pic of Utica's model...

dx0n11.jpg
 
Last edited:
Camillus made the Sword Brand Model 886, same size as the 110 and LB-7, but not as blocky - don't see nearly as many of them. I was very fortunate to receive this one from a Blade Forum Traditional GAW last winter - I have been a fan of GEN Schwarzkopf since Desert Storm in 1990. OH

PS Midnight Flyer - I owned two of those Browning's (back in the late 70's/early 80's) - both of mine were returned to the gunshop I bought them from - pin would tighten as it was used, making the blade harder and harder to open - musta been a bad run.

Camillus_886_Lockback.JPG


General_Norman_Schwarzkopf.jpg
 
Bear and Sons can be added to the list.

Everybody should own one but not sure about in use... Awfully heavy and clunky in hand and not the most versatile blade in the world, IMO.
 
Is it my imagination, or has Buck tastefully rounded off the edges a bit on the Buck 110's bolster areas? I thought maybe the edges were a bit more abrupt in the past. Both of my Buck 110 specimens are newer, (made within the last year or so), so I don't have any older versions to compare them to. For some reason I keep thinking they (and many of their copies) were more squared in their bolster's edges, but it may be my memory going bad (as I inch closer and closer to the half century mark) ;)

I tried to capture it here in this picture, the Schrade having the more square bolster edges (which I believe may have been common for older 110's as well), and today's 110, which in this case has the bolster edges nicely rounded...

2rz58g4.jpg


Imo, though I don't know if the picture I found of the Utica Cutlery specimen is totally accurate... if it is, it has the best contour of it's bolsters that I have ever seen for this pattern of knife. Hmmm... I may have to add one to the collection someday soon :)
 
Last edited:
pinnah said:
Bear and Sons can be added to the list.

Everybody should own one but not sure about in use... Awfully heavy and clunky in hand and not the most versatile blade in the world, IMO.
Click to expand...

My guess is that, since Buck intended this knife to be a medium to large game hunter's knife, they wanted the knife to feel substantial in the hand when doing it's job. Being that it was designed as a belt sheath carry knife, (rather than pocket carry), it's size in handle is understandable. Personally, I feel it's design is just about awesome. So much so, that everyone in the world copied and still copies it :)

I absolutely love the loud reassuring click one gets when the blade locks into place upon opening :)
 
Last edited:
I also have this knife, but in much worse condition as I got it used and then used it a lot as well. This one is new:



The ergos are horrible on this knife and for long use it just isn't practical. The knife is very thin (probably a quarter less width than the 110), and the handle is VERY slick when your hands are wet.

The sweep of the belly and the pointy blade made it a lousy hunting and skinning knife. I only traded for this knife because it was an old Puma.

So I have the Browning I posted above, a Puma, and an LB7. Which is the most comfortable in the hand. The LB7. To me, the LB7 is the 110 with more rounded edges. Knowing what I know now when my search was on for a large folder like the 110 in the '70s, I would have simply bought a 110. At the time it was unthinkable to me, but now I would have sat down with the knife with a metal file and a rasp and rounded it to my personal liking to get rid of the squared, blocky feel and been a really happy camper.

Robert
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top