NOS Camillus 307's

Joined
Aug 11, 2010
Messages
755
This question has been asked before but I can't find the thread.

I was at a flea market the other day and 2 dealers had NIB 307's, but the boxes were from the 2005 time frame. They said they were made from parts found in the Camillus factory. The question I have is; If these were made without BUCK's okie-dokie, Do they constitute fakes? I can't imagine BUCK letting someone put out knives cobbled from left behind parts. That's not to say they wouldn't, though.

Of course they were both saying how BUCK builds two different 110's. 1 for wally-world and the other for the dealers. I guess they think we're so stupid that we won't notice all the "pretty" China knives they have for sale in the other case.One got me so riled up, he almost got poked in the snot-box.
 
I still think the was smoking something illegal when he said the knife was $70.00. I have one anyway, I was just curious.
 
Next time take a Video of that conversation. Then we can all have a laugh at the fool.
jb4570
 
I did tell him we can call Post Falls Idaho and asked him if he wanted the number, I do have it on my phone. He started stuttering!
 
OK,

One more time. Buck was contracting lots of 300s to Camillus. Camillus would box them up with only paper wrappings, put ten or so in a special box and send to Buck. Buck would rebox them with papers and send to sales or customer.

As per sworn word of mouth from Camillus factory honcho.....Camillus sometimes used blanks and parts for a multiple of knives, some crossing over different company lines. This was the case for the 307. There were several "other" knives that had some or most of the same parts. Camillus was also prone to overrun production output. Say they had order for '3000 307s, they might stamp out 5000 blades , for expected future use.' (a quote) When the big close-down occurred and all was auctioned there were left over parts. You had to be there to know how many and what, poor records were kept of sale. Those extra 300series parts were sold, as were partially assembled knives. Some in multiple lots. Some were bought by former Cami workers and some by other local knife companies, some even by folks such as AGRussell. Cami did not have boxes, re-boxed knives in off date boxes is a unknown factor. I personallly have seen a batch of Buck knife boxes for sale at flea markets. Likely from closed down mom and pop stores that sold them without box. Other forum members have seen the same thing. On the bay site, wrong boxes are matched with knives all the time.

SO, my bottom line, if you want to be so anal that only a real Buck knife had to come from Buck , NIB, in the proper box with the correctly dated papers enclosed, then you are going to be traveling a holy BUT lifetime small 300 collection road. Good luck to you in this super noble quest. This is much less so with other Buck models.

On the Buck shield issue, bottom line, some got sent to Camillus sort of by mistake early on. That was quickly ended. That is why you don't see many of those shields. (Attention Ebay sellers only adds 5.00 to price not 500.) Those shields were all glued in place and the process, because of the different shield size, was easy to change back and forth a couple of times.

If a 300 is all correct parts, assembled as well as Buck QC would want it to be and I am going to put it in my display cabinet and never handle the box or papers again, I don't care whether is was assembled in Costa Rica and sold in a shoebox.......Its a Buck 300. It will now be your job to prove my Buck 307 or any 300 hanging in my display isn't a REAL Buck....Good Luck.

300Bucks

Post Script - NO 307s have date codes. And Camillus parts at close, belonged to Camillus.
 
Last edited:
Dang I didn't mean to get your drawers all wadded up. I knew some one would find the thread. As for the boxes they were of the 2005 era with 307 Wrangler labels on them. Maybe BUCK did know about them and gave their blessings.
 
Or, maybe the Chinese are finally making copies so damned perfect that nobody can tell the difference.

If that's the case, the question becomes irrelevant.

:D
 
Mitch, My underwear is fine, it's usually more loose than tight which makes me wonder if they are USA made or overseas....... You said you couldn't find a thread and I was providing for the third or fourth time imformation (from previous threads) that should give folks a better than average chance of deciding yea or neh. Either finding that all 307s are Buck or saying no they do not buy the story. To continue to speculate on the past, a past that has no written record, one that a Camillus employee up to the last days of tht factory, provided, seems fruitless to me. That was the way the guy remembers it so it is our best answer. Buck kept records only of the knives they received and reboxed. And as Joe will likely admit, some of those records are sketchy. Also let me add, that 'contracts' of that era between friends were less complex than the movie/TV contracts of today.

As I said everyone can play weird boxes all you want, just like different coffins, your just as dead as everyone else once you inside. To me the box doesn't make the knife. As a precise collector would, I know that the right box is important for a absolute precise collection, but is not a basis in this situation to discuss the actual knife being fake (non-Buck). The number one issue in talking about a 2005 era box is that BUCK discontinued the 307 in 1997 and as stated Camillus did not individually box the knives.

In the end I realize this is fairly interesting discussion but by now someone wanting info should be able to type in 307 in the search box and find information. My post above wraps up several other threads of the past into one concise statement. If my frustration over the continued wonderment about 307s appears here then I am sorry. These discussions should provide lots of info for future reference.

Now if a couple hundred 307s show up NINB in 10 or 12 years then we will shout fake right off the bat.....NINB=new in new box

300Bucks
 
Last edited:
Back
Top