Older Buck knives hold better edge?

I was not addressing that as it is beyond the scope of my research. I was researching Buck's U.S. plant made knives heat treatment. Mr. Bos did not say he had trained any of those. DM
 
Not much if anything compares to what Paul Bos has done for the knife industry. He told me he has helped thousands of knife makers over the years. He abandoned blade forums a long time ago due to, let's call it not as educated in the industry commenting about things they shouldnt.. And yes the Paul bos heat treat is very special. And unique. He was just at Ruger helping them in their facility in AZ. At 78 years old!
 
David Martin said:
I was not addressing that as it is beyond the scope of my research. I was researching Buck's U.S. plant made knives heat treatment. Mr. Bos did not say he had trained any of those. DM
Click to expand...

David is correct.
 
I did not want to say why Mr. Bos left Blade Forums but these know it alls contributed to it.
I have a heat treat oven and do all my own heat treating and Mr. Bos has helped me develop my process from around 2000. I'll endure this nit-picking for him. DM
 
Why are you so defensive David, I did do heat treating that's all I said. I also said I know the processes that take place in the steel. I am not nit-picking anyone. I was just saying I understand the process. If Bos did help you, you learned from the best.
Just don't be his Martyr.
 
Last edited:
Discussion is the life blood of Blade Forums and the Buck forum. I know almost nothing on this subject except what I read.

However, in the spirit of my request for a written history I thank David for his effort. If anyone has more "data" to include in the post in the sticky please let me know. Please allude to the source of your data.

I sent David a small statement on the limited metal history of the contract small folders and the China folders. He is checking my statements and editing to be added to the sticky. I believe he will post that first here for your consideration.

I thank everyone for their knowledge and discussion. This will be a resource we can all use in the future. When completed to our satisfaction I will attempt a link to this thread for folks to use also. So remember what you write will go into reuseable history.

300Bucks
 
Just a thought but I've noticed it a in a few threads, perhaps more so recently than in the past but it seems that members assume that a post is a response to another post based on the order it appears in the thread. Just because this post is directly below the one above it doesn't mean I'm responding to that post. Perhaps we could use the "quote" feature when we are actually replying to a particular post to help eliminate the potential for confusion?
 
I'll add this story Mr. Bos relayed to me: Some of Buck's models were tricky to heat treat. As was the case with the Buck Masters and M9's. These have welded / penned on hollow handles and at this short tang it cannot be left as hard as the blade coming out of the oven. Mr. Bos served and was a solider so, he knew something of what a service knife is put thru. As he was working on these knives he took them and spent time at Camp Pendleton and had the soldiers put them through many tests. He cared about what was put in the hands of our soliders because their lives depended on that tool. As he worked on this knife he carried several he had heat treated different and marked them. So, when one of our armoured tanks would roll by he'd dash out to it with his sack of Buck Masters and lay them before the tracks. After the tank rolled over them he'd gather them up and take them back to his lab. Take them apart and see which handles & tang didn't show cracks. Once he found this he knew how to proceed in heat treating them. Some real world testing he put his product through.
Because he wanted this to stand up for our servicemen. Just an example of the way he was. DM
 
Mr, Bos, has since answered further questions. He said, he did develop the heat treat procedure for the Sandvik steels as well as the 300 series knives. Those after Buck brought them into their plant and they'll have a year date stamp. "These blades were for a time made in NY and shipped to Buck for heat treating and assembly". Corrected below. He has never called anyone's heat treatment inferior. And heat treating recommendations were sent to the company making knives for the over seas contract.
It was the handles made by vendors and Camillus. Buck did the heat treating and assembly in house on these. Please excuse this error. DM
 
Last edited:
This was just posted in the General Forum regarding the performance of Bos heat treated 420HC compared to generic 420HC.

[video=youtube;aIpIZ-YCtRk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIpIZ-YCtRk[/video]
 
Thanks to David for the additional information and to pinnah for the video link.

Bert
 
He said, he did develop the heat treat procedure for the Sandvik steels as well as the 300 series knives. Those after Buck brought them into their plant and they'll have a year date stamp. These blades were for a time made in NY and shipped to Buck for heat treating and assembly
Click to expand...

David, do you have any idea of how long Camillus supplied blades for the in-house 300 series? I'm guessing it was only for the first year and was excess inventory that Camillus had. Also, the blades would have to have been sent before Camillus put their distinctive long pull on the blades. Production of the 300 Series really dropped in the early 1980s because of the bad recession. I'm only guessing but once that excess inventory was used, Buck probably started producing their own blades.

Bert

edited to suggest only first year of in-house production
 
Last edited:
I don't know but Camillus continued making some Buck marked 300 pattern models all the way to 2000. Maybe limited editions. I'll ask Mr. Bos. DM
 
So Paul Bos supposedly had the Camillus contract built Buck's knives for them and have them shipped to the Buck factory to be heat treated.I have several 301's and they definitely have Camillus's edge work on them...not buying they were heat treated outside the Camillus factory.You might as well say Buck makes and heat treats all their blades in the USA for China production out of 420HC and ships all the crafted stock overseas for assembly that's so far fetched.Man you're tell some whoppers(laughing).
 
Last edited:
There is something a miss with the way you read what I write and the manner you comprehend it. As I'm not writing what your saying above. You twist it into something else. Of course they have Camillus edge work on them. Reread more carefully. DM
 
I automatically assumed Paul Bos heat treat is on Buck knives made in the factory only and probably not the Schrade or Camilius supplied 300 series knives or current China made 420J2 steel knives. I think I have seen 420HC on a few China knives. I don't know if that would have the Paul Bos heat treat or not. It would not surprise me if completed blades were sent to China for assembly, but I have no idea.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top