No Membership Required---Let's See Your 121's

eveled said:
All mine are like the one with the rivet. I think I the no rivet no model number is the oldest.
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Try and get gedlicks or Desotos attention on those spacers. The sheaths, I always thought the rivet was older, but those guys would know for sure...If they're red micarta it will date your knife, I believe...
 
eveled said:
You have a keen eye. In person they all look more or less the same. But the camera makes one of them more red. Especialy with the flash. The others stay very black. Is the red micarta significant?View attachment 924561 View attachment 924562
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Personally I do not atttach any significance to the micarta spacer color, variations in different lots of materials received. Some are more reflective than others. I always thought the knives look better when the spacers contrast the handle. The darker micarta is always lost against the black phenolic and adds nothing to the knife appearance. Eveled's knife is very attractive with the contrast.

All that said and going out on a limb, Buck was using some red/burgundy micarta on some of the solid handles such as the 124 and 401 about 1973. I've never seen or heard of any suggestion there was any correlation to the thin sheet micarta used for the spacers.

Question for eveled, do you have the packaging and sheath for that knife? Generically, I would date the knife '73 to '80 but other materials can hint wether is is earlier or later in that time frame.
 
Thanks for the compliment. I like the contrast too, but unfortunately it only shows in the pictures.

No package, the sheath looks like my others from that era. Stamped model number, 1rivet at the base of the loop. Just like the right one in post 37.
 
My own question. In post #6 I show a horizontal BUCK stamp on a 121. My 'presumption' is that it is the earliest variation. It is shown with the sheath it came with (to me). A holster sheath with a model # on the backside. I believe the 121 starts about 1963 appearing in a 1964 catalog for the first time. 1963 knives probably had keeper strap sheaths with holster sheaths starting about 1964. I'm sure there was overlap. To anyone else having a 121 with horizontal stamp, What sheath does your's have? I'm sure the correct sheath for my knife shown would be a keeper strap and not a holster.
 
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Matt Jannusch was the resident expert here on fillet knives in the past. He has been MIA in recent years but I'm pretty sure he still drops in for an occasional read. He is my go to guy with questions on early stuff and correspond with him occasionally. Here is what he had to say about the 121 in a thread back in 2012.

Nov 23, 2012#7

mbjannusch
3,097
Apr 1, 2010
During the inception of the 121, it came with a few flaws. First the horizontal BUCK stamp across the spine of the knife. This was said to weaken the blade. I've heard that sometimes they would even crack during stamping. This flaw was fixed by moving the stamp to the tang. The next thing that Buck fixed was the fish scaler, again it weakened the integrity of the blade and hundreds were sent back for warranty. This may be why we see very few around, and the collectors have the rest. The fish scaler design went from 1964 thru 1967/68. There's the horizontal stamp, the tang stamp, the '67 BUCK * stamp, and the two line BUCK USA stamp with fiber spacers. The first model 121 is the only model knife Buck produced with a two strap collar style sheath.
 
DeSotoSky said:
My own question. In post #6 I show a horizontal BUCK stamp on a 121. My 'presumption' is that it is the earliest variation. It is shown with the sheath it came with (to me). A holster sheath with a model # on the backside. I believe the 121 starts about 1963 appearing in a 1964 catalog for the first time. 1963 knives probably had keeper strap sheaths with holster sheaths starting about 1964. I'm sure there was overlap. To anyone else having a 121 with horizontal stamp, What sheath does your's have? I'm sure the correct sheath for my knife shown would be a keeper strap and not a holster.
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The horizontal one I currently have came with a flap over sheath and included a handwritten family note that it was purchased in 1966. It had the whole date but I'd have to check it again.
 
eveled said:
No need to apologize. I wasn't clear in my post. No significant to the x (1990)code just that it has a code. The others are all from before they had a code.(72-86). Not sure about the spacers. They all look the same to me.
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Yours are all from Group 2, 1973-80. I would not call the spacers red. They are maroon micarta. The photo just makes it look a different color. DM
 
That's what I was thinking. They look the same, untill I take a picture.
Thanks.
 
300Bucks said:
I thought someone was a 'expert' on these, maybe DeSoto or Gedlicks. The sheaths may cross over changes in the knife stamping, blade thickness, number and type of spacers, grind of the butt. It will follow the examples of others such as 124 and 119s on sheath aging. And in fact may follow 110 sheaths. Sheaths were contracted and not changed with each knife production difference change. You may have a sheath that goes with two different looking 121's that is the same.
I know that besides the tang stamps the spacers tell a story also. I do not know if leather spacers were ever used. I have always thought the models with micarta on back of the hilt were a early version but I may be wrong. There may be an article on these in the BCCI newsletter in the past, maybe start with 89 and go forward......300
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Buck used leather spacers in 1956 to 62, I've seen these models. So, since this model came out in 1964 I doubt a collector will find one with leather spacers. DM
 
Of my group 2 knives, I noticed I have different Ricasso shapes. Anybody know when the change was made? Numbers 1&4 are different than the others. 2&3 match the last one from 1990. IMG_20180618_155312.jpg
 
Ed, I'm going to say(guess) that it is due to the hand finishing and who was doing the work. Some were done by different employees and they had different finishing styles. Preston
 
You are probably right.

I'm probably reading more into it than is there. If you go through this thread. The 121's with finger choil Ricasso's all have the lowest hard grind lines. (Like the newer ones). The ones with the stepped Ricasso's all have high soft grind lines. I bet they are older, but it really doesn't matter.
 
Probably so, most, if not all, of my older Bucks have high, soft grind. Preston
 
MT_Pokt said:
You've got a couple of crazy 121s there Sass! The bottom one in the first pic has me scratching my head.

This is as close to a 121 as I have:
View attachment 916156
Yes... some trickery at play here...
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Wow, now I see what this is: A misstamped 112 - what a find!!
MT, would oyu please post a photo of the complete knife, I couldn't
find one in this thread.

Haebbie
 
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