New Member with question - OLD Buck knife?

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pelletking

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Feb 12, 2012
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A customer (I am a Pellet Stove Tech) let me do some research on a knife of his. He is in his 70's and this was his dads. He said it is probably 50 years old or so - he really didn't know. He thinks it is an OLD Buck, made from a file, and unmarked (I could find no maker marks anyway). Well, here it is - please let me know if you have any thoughts. Thanks – WM

http://www.flickr.com/photos/billbaileys/sets/72157629292788769/
 
The knife pre-dates the literature, is my guess.

Is the knife supposed to be associated with the literature?

Looks like more than 50 years old, but I don't know if it's a Buck.

The experts will be along soon.

Very interesting knife.
 
I'm going to say it's not a Buck. Buck never used that style of barrel nut configuration. It appears to be made in the late 40s, early 50s and quite possibly made from a file blade. Allot of knives were made from file blade back then. The file blades were high carbon and hard as nails, so to speak. They used and re used everything back then, being in an age not far out from the depression, which had lasting effects until the start of WWII. I would venture to say that this may be a product of WWII. In those days, soldiers would make knives in the machine shops on ships. It would give them something to do, on the long float down to the Pacific Islands, also known as the Pacific Theater. This gave rise to a collectible type of knife called Theater Knives. Soldiers would customize there government issued knives, and also create knives of there own. It gave them something they could recognize and made it harder to steal.
 
That brass ricasso (blade collar) should be a clue. Who used those? Were they made to go with a fitted sheath?

Reminds me of a Samurai sword. Maybe that means a Pacific Theatre knife with an oriental influence.

Was this guy's dad in the military?
 
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Well Who did we fight in the Pacific Islands, Anybody, anybody... Japanese, ding ding ding, right answer... Thus the oriental flare.
 
Yeah, I know.

:)

Wish the OP would come back with more information......hope he lets us know if he takes it over to Bernard Levine.

I'm curious as to the outcome.
 
Hi Guys, Thanks for your thoughts and replies, the owner seems to think that it came (or was bought from) Buck long ago, (when they were made by hand from files) I don't know. It does have the "Theater Made Knife' look to it if you ask me, but I know very little about knives, my best knives are in a wood block in the kitchen. I will let him know the expert opinion and give it back to him. Thanks again - WM
 
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Just as an aside......when I searched Google last night for Theatre Knife Images......I found my two Theatre Knives.

Apparently pictures we post here will show up on Google Images.

Logical, but I was still a little surprised.
 
You are Google content.

Many of the Theater Knives look a lot like early Hoyt Buck knives due to handle, guard and blade shape. Flattery by imitation.
 
Or was it the other way around?

My knives were made in 1944.

Buck book says Hoyt was making his versions in 1946.

(?)
 
Give me a minute while I get a pillow for my head... History, the present is confusing enough. What did Hoyt know and when did he know it? Hmmm. You got me.

OK. Okay. Ready now.

Being able to see the tang, from blade to end of handle, is a comfort for skeptics. I like the ease of inspection. builds confidence in the strength of the tool. I wonder if Leroy has any bulletproof glass left over to re-handle a 124 or other fixed blade Buck. I wonder if Buck could hammer out a clear 124. Sure they could. Will they?
 
Well, even on the early Buck knives made in the 40s were still stamped BUCK. In addition the colors are all wrong as well, Hoyt used aluminum hand guards and pommels along with Black, white, red, green, and clear lucite, and used standard patterns. Even the blade doesn't look like a Buck.

I think you got bad info and your overly hopeful. Sorry, I vote NO...

Oregon you say you don't see brass ricassos in the knives in your photos, I see them in all pics, you should look again. The pommel doesn't look like any Buck I have ever seen. Buck never used that style of barrel nut configuration. Like BG42 said, send a pic to Bernard and let him decide.
 
Well, I think.....strictly speaking and to be precise--on this knife the ricasso is covered by a copper or brass blade collar.

The Japanese had a name for it, which I can't remember.

Anyhow, the blade collar is covering the place where a four-stamp B U C K would show up and judging from the rest of the knife, I doubt that it's there.

As to Hoyt's "Theatre-style" knives.......seems he made the handles all in one solid color of Lucite in the war years. Black or red or green or blue, and sometimes one spacer of white, but no translucent and no mixtures of colors (page 96 of Buck book).

It was right after the war that some mixed colors (or at least translucents) showed up (page 97 of Buck book).

Thus it occurs to me that Hoyt may have had the basic style, but the multi-colored handles came out of the actual war theatres.

So it looks to me like the multi-colored handles were something that came about in the actual war environment in knives made by soldiers and sailors.......maybe because when you salvaged your handle material from downed aircraft you couldn't always get enough for a handle of one solid color.
 
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Ah, that's it, thanks.

I should also note that the "colors" in the actual Theatre Knife handles were usually made by painting the part of the tang inside the handle and the panels (except for the black) were just clear plexiglass from cockpit canopies.

That's the way it looks to me, anyhow.
 
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