Unknown Late 1960's Buck Hunting Knife

T

tvranesic

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Apr 19, 2006
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This knife came in a collection Buck fixed blade knives that date from the 1960's. The handle is cracked on the underside. Any thoughts on what model this is?
 
tvranesic said:
This knife came in a collection Buck fixed blade knives that date from the 1960's. The handle is cracked on the underside. Any thoughts on what model this is?
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Nice knife, I like the shape. I think it is a
modified 103 - other opinions?

Haebbie
 
I agree with Herbert, an altered 103 Skinner. You knife started out in life looking like this...

BUCK032712xxx001a.jpg
 
I have a 1 line "103" and it still has a drop point.

Telechronos had this to say on my model;

"You must bear in mind that the early BUCK knives (those with only BUCK stamped on the blade) were individually hand ground by individual knife makers. There will be variations in the blades and the grind of them. I have several early BUCK 103s and no two are idenitcal. Your description is entirely consistent with the knives I have. Later 103s, ground by automated machine will be uniform."

J. Houser did say that my knife was an aftermarket modification. I seriously doubt there were that many personal aftermarket modifcations to 103's back in the 60's to a factory knife.
I say until we find someone working in the shop back then, it will be hard to tell if this was somewhat of a personal custom one of the workers designed or a factory knife.

Definitely rare and nice
We may have to start a 103 1960's thread to see the different variations.
 
DeSotoSky said:
I agree with Herbert, an altered 103 Skinner. You knife started out in life looking like this...

BUCK032712xxx001a.jpg
Click to expand...

Certainly a possibility. The original owner had over 20 Buck knives from this era and may well have modified a couple to meet his personal needs.
 
I like that mod. I wonder if someone did that to make it fit better in a custom sheath??
 
Notice how high the hollow grind is on tvranesic and my knife is and how low desotosky's is. similar but different.
I would like to see a couple more 103 one line and two line Buck 103 pictures. My grind line is consitantly straight to the top of blade and not curved like desotosky's

If you are going to do that much after market grinding, you are subject to ruining the temper of the metal - IMHO
 
No, not subject to ruining any thing with the metal as I've done those many times and one just needs to know how to go about it. Plus, I've found models like that and have taken them straight to Buck employes who ground the knives and ask is it a modification. Which they've answered no because during that time much was done by hand and some knives just turned out looking different. He went on to tell me about a left handed grinder who's knives consistently looked different than any one elses. I agree with Tele.. I have some 'odd' shaped models in my collection too, which makes for interesting conversation. DM
 
The clipped 103 is a modification. The clipped 103 and was never a mass produced item. Like others have said, variations of knives are out there because during the hand forging, grinding and finishing process people doing the work put in the little things they thought looked good. The clipped 103 is one of those mods that someone did, probably for themselves or a friend and over time several where done. Even today clipping a 103 is an option if you know who to ask. A clipped 103 never just left the shop/factory without anybody being aware of. So, again I guess I disagree with others posting responses.

Here is a Picture of a Factory 103 Barrel Nut with a unusual choil, and 5 bone hard fiber spacers. The knife now belongs to another BF member...



Uploaded with ImageShack.us
 
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mbjannusch said:
The clipped 103 is one of those mods that someone did, probably for themselves or a friend and over time several where done. Even today clipping a 103 is an option if you know who to ask. A clipped 103 never just left the shop/factory without anybody being aware of. So, again I guess I disagree with others posting responses.
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I'm a bit confused. Do you think some of these were done by Buck employees, or are they private party modifications?
 
While it may be true that knives of that era were done by hand and every one was different--none were quite as "different" as the knife in question.

In it's current shape, it's obviously not as it originally came from the Buck factory.

Some were different, yes.....none were THAT damned different.

:)
 
tvranesic said:
I'm a bit confused. Do you think some of these were done by Buck employees, or are they private party modifications?
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I've talked with former Buck employees on several occasions and what was said was that people worked on projects, such as the knife in question when they had free time for friends, family and themselves. Can I say for certain that a Buck worker did this one, No, But things like this were done in house and eventually found there way to the second or third owner.
 
mbjannusch said:
I've talked with former Buck employees on several occasions and what was said was that people worked on projects, such as the knife in question when they had free time for friends, family and themselves.
Click to expand...

Now that makes perfect sense.

Here's the two of mine together.
 
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