Stockman 307

This question came up recently, in this thread:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=794068

Long story short, the original Buck 307 was actually made by Camillus (now gone, due to bankruptcy), on their own tooling. Buck never had the tooling to make this one, so it'd be rather expensive for them to resurrect this model. But, I guess we can keep wishin' & hopin'...

(I wouldn't mind seeing it come back myself :p.)
 
Watch the Bay, they still show up fairly regularly NIB.

The 307 Wrangler is a great working knife!
 
Bear Claw Chris Lappe said:
Watch the Bay, they still show up fairly regularly NIB.

The 307 Wrangler is a great working knife!
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:thumbup:

Yep. I have one of the old ones. Spent some time last night cleaning & shining it up a bit, after putting new edges on the blades a short while back. I can't leave it on the desk anymore, it's been in my pocket every day for a few weeks now.

By the way, what steel was used in the old ones (Camillus)? Carbon or stainless? I had mine stashed away for a long time, and when I finally pulled it back out, I noticed the backsprings had developed a deep patina (almost black). The blades themselves were still pretty clean & satin, but I did see one small spot (light rust perhaps) on the tang of the spey blade. This is what prompted me to clean it up yesterday.
 
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Not a fan of eBay, so I'll keep checking NOS.

I'm surprised Buck didn't buy the old Camillus tooling at the auction.
 
Is it really a matter of tooling or jigs & patterns? I bet Buck could make the 307 if it wanted to. The same equipment that makes the 301 almost certainly will produce a 307 too.

Personally, I don't think Buck believes there is money/demand for the 307.
 
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berzerker said:
Now that the mid-size is covered, is there any chance we'll see the XL 307 again?
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Only if Buck decides to tool up for it. Buck never made that model, so they have no tooling. It's not like they made it before and just have to pull the tooling out of storage to make another run. It's like creating an entire new model. Very expensive.

That being said, I'd buy one if they made one.
 
Flatlander1963 said:
Is it really a matter of tooling or jigs & patterns? I bet Buck could make the 307 if it wanted to. The same equipment that makes the 301 almost certainly will produce a 307 too.

Personally, I don't think Buck believes there is NO money/demand for the 307.
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Same presses. Same ovens. Different tooling. Different jigs. It'd be like getting set to make an entire new pattern.
 
knarfeng said:
Same presses. Same ovens. Different tooling. Different jigs. It'd be like getting set to make an entire new pattern.
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I'll take Frank at his word here...but if they thought they would make any money at it I believe they would. I suspect there are too many 4.25" Chinese Rough Riders, Winchesters, and the like.
 
Frank, Is correct . It would take procuring tooling ($) and man hours setting it all up (gearing up) for a run to manufacture this model . Even, if we guaranteed 200 for a BCCI
fund raiser or club knife I don't know if Buck would accept the project . Pipe dream . :)
DM
 
David Martin said:
I don't know if any of us are sure on this question . A conservative guess is 440A . DM
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I agree with David. It is known that both Schrade and Camillus used 440A for their stainless US-manufactured traditionals. It is reasonable to assume they used the same alloy for the knives they made for Buck. (It would actually be a bit unreasonable expect them to have done otherwise. They'd have had to change too much of their standard process.)
 
When I talked to someone at Camillus years ago about it, I basically got told that their stainless steel was mostly 440A, but at times whatever they could get that was the most cost effective.
 
Bear Claw Chris Lappe said:
When I talked to someone at Camillus years ago about it, I basically got told that their stainless steel was mostly 440A, but at times whatever they could get that was the most cost effective.
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The thing that throws me is the backsprings. As I mentioned earlier, they were nearly black in patina. I used a felt wheel on a Dremel, with a little green compound to clean & shine 'em up a bit, and they still show a little 'grey' that reminds me of carbon steel. And getting darker by the day (it's only been two days since I cleaned it up). I've never seen or heard of 440A behaving like that. Still not sure about the blades themselves. They do seem to be more 'resistant' to patina/rust, but maybe just barely. I seem to recall hearing or reading about how one or more manufacturers used to put carbon springs into knives with stainless blades, but I don't remember who they were.

I'll take a few pics of the knife when my light gets a bit more favorable, and post 'em here.
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
The thing that throws me is the backsprings. As I mentioned earlier, they were nearly black in patina. I used a felt wheel on a Dremel, with a little green compound to clean & shine 'em up a bit, and they still show a little 'grey' that reminds me of carbon steel. And getting darker by the day (it's only been two days since I cleaned it up). I've never seen or heard of 440A behaving like that. Still not sure about the blades themselves. They do seem to be more 'resistant' to patina/rust, but maybe just barely. I seem to recall hearing or reading about how one or more manufacturers used to put carbon springs into knives with stainless blades, but I don't remember who they were.
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I meant the blades on 440A the backsprings are probably carbon. Most of my older Camillus (Camilli???) :) are.
 
It sounds as if the 307 is around the same size as the Queen Cattle King.That is a great working knife.
 
GRIM 62 said:
It sounds as if the 307 is around the same size as the Queen Cattle King.That is a great working knife.
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They are, now if we could get some 307's with the Amber Carved Stag Bone from the Queen Cattlekings, that would rock!!! :)
 
OWEdges, The black patina you describe echoes of my blades of 01 steel . They'll turn that color in short order . I use Flitz and it helps for some time . DM
 
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