The Sunday Picture Show (October 27, 2024)

DeSotoSky

DeSotoSky

Gold Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2011
Messages
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Hello and welcome to the Sunday Picture Show. Share your Buck knives with others by posting pictures of them here. New or old, plain or custom, user or safe queen, one or a collection, we love to see them all. This weekly tradition was started in 2010 by ItsTooEarly (Armand Hernandez) and Oregon (Steve Dunn). Help keep the tradition alive. Feel free to click that 'LIKE' but lets not let it replace discussing and complimenting each others knives. DeSotoSky (Roger Yost)

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MAIL CALL, this is what showed up in my box Saturday, a Buck 118 Personal from the early 1950s. The handle is Lignum Vitae. I had misgivings about buying this knife and still do a bit but digging into the background of the 135th Infantry has made the knife more interesting to me. The blade was broken and rebrazed. You can see the blue in the blade from being overheated and the wood darkened near the guard. The pommel is threaded which makes me wonder why it was not disassembled before brazing. The 'BUCK' stamp has been mostly ground off. I have a better example of this knife in my collection but not with a sheath. As you can see, the handle is marked <TK.CO.135.INF.> The 135th Infantry is in the Minnesota Army National Guard. Formed as the 1st Minnesota regiment in 1861, it was the first volunteer regiment to offer its services to President Lincoln. The 1st Minnesota is most remembered for their actions during the second day's fighting on Cemetery Ridge, Gettysburg, the regimental commander gave the order "TO THE LAST MAN", that became the regimental motto. The unit was redesignated 135th Infantry Regiment in 1917. The 135th Infantry was activated for the Korean War from 1951 to 1954. Interestingly that almost exactly matches the time period of this knife. If anyone could enlighten me about the TK.CO marking I would love to know. A brief GOOGLE search came up empty.

addendum: the marking is for Tank Company, 135th Infantry
see post #12

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I did not notice until posting this picture but there appears to be some writing under the Buck stamp.
Something to check out tomorrow.
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Thanks for the SPS Roger. Since I'm pretty old myself, whenever I come across an old, obviously used tool, gun, or knive, I wonder what kind of story it could tell. So I did a little "googling" too & the only military related "T.K. Co." I could come up with was this AI generated description, so whether it's credible or not, I don't know.
AI Overview
"T.K. Co. 135th Infantry" likely refers to the "Headquarters and Headquarters Company" (HHC) of the 135th Infantry Regiment, which is part of the Minnesota Army National Guard; "T.K." being a shorthand way of saying "Headquarters Company" within military jargon.

And while we're waiting for someone who knows what the heck they're talking about to come along & tell you the true meaning of it, here's a pic of one of my newer ones that came from the Custom Shop a few months ago.
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Good morning, everyone! Great show so far, as usual. I have heard the abbreviation "TK" used to refer to Tank Co. Not sure if this applies to the markings in question. Today I have a repost, a group of 119s (and variations) to share.
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Looking forward to more awesome knife photos! Hope you all have a great day.
 
Going with M Midnight Rider 's notion TK.CO might refer to tanks although I'm not dismissing Ironbut Ironbut 's suggestion, possibly Troop Command. I went down the rabbit hole and found this information. I'm not convinced but posting this because I found it interesting. (scroll down if you are more interested in seeing another Buck knife 🤣 )

The main role of tank units became infantry support. The lighter Sherman’s greater mobility and reliability meant it could cross more difficult terrain and get to where it was needed. Many were painted to frighten the peasant Chinese and Korean soldiers:
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Back to the picture show of what you all really came here to see.....
Here is a nice 'original' Custom Shop 118 Personal with an Ironwood handle.
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Thanks for another Sunday Picture Show Roger. Thanks also to all who post photos and comment.
The 118 was my first Buck knife and remains my main blade for carry when hunting. I have a few and have shown them all before.
My first...
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My favorite...
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My Remer retro replica...
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I stopped by an antique store last week and found this “vintage” Buck 212 Fixed Ranger. I am not sure how a knife made in 2019 is vintage, but I did not argue with them. The seller had a nice little collection of other Bucks. I picked up this 650 Nighthawk from 1994 also. I am kicking myself for not buying the 639 Fieldmate that was for sale, but it had quite a bit of wear on it.

Concerning the Nighthawk, what is the purpose of this knife? The only use I can think of is if I used dogs to hunt hogs and needed to dispatch a pig once caught. I do not see it as a “survival knife” although I am sure it would be up to any task. I guess it was a tactical knife before tactical became a cool buzzword. The 650 is an impressive, hefty chunk of steel at 6.5” long and 0.23” thick.
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DeSotoSky said:
The main role of tank units became infantry support. The lighter Sherman’s greater mobility and reliability meant it could cross more difficult terrain and get to where it was needed.
Click to expand...
TANK TRIVIA—My uncle, Walter Herndon, was part of the original 3-man team that developed the Hydramatic transmission for General Motors. During WWII, he was credited with figuring out how to equip tanks with an automatic transmission, which made them more efficient during combat.
 
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