Unusual 110 construction

Plumberdv

Plumberdv

Joined
Sep 26, 2008
Messages
8,160
Some time back, I aquired a John Wayne 110 that was put out by Franklin Mint in 1997. When I looked it over closely, I noticed a very different frame construction from any other 110 I've ever seen. It looks like there is a blade/frame "cartridge" sandwiched between the brushed N/S frame and inlays. As close as I can tell, it measures .642" thick at the bolsters and the standard 110 shown with it measures .607" thick.

Has anyone ever seen another 110 built like it?

JW110a.jpg


JW110b.jpg


JW110c.jpg


JW110d.jpg
 
Wow. That's interesting.

Can't wait to hear from Buck on that one.

:thumbup:
 
Nice looking knife there!
Looks like stainless liners for added durability. NS is so soft I could see someone doing that for longevity. But a knife like that is not likely to be opened and closed alot is it?
 
Nice looking pictures, Dave. Great closeups of a strange 110. I have 5" folders made by quite a few companies and I dont think any use this construction. Like jarheadz said it must be for durability.
 
Another thing I see......the fit of the slabs is not up to usual Buck standards.

Wondering if maybe Buck provided only the blade for this project?
 
Glad you agree, Longbow.....it seems unlikely that Buck did anything more than the blade.

Anybody at Buck around today? Once hunting season starts we don't hear much from them.

:)
 
THE_LONGBOW said:
I checked all of the 110's I have and do not have another with a frame like that, other than my wife's 110 John Wayne.. I wonder if the only part of that knife made by buck is the blade. It seems strange that Buck would design a frame strictly for FM. If the frame is not Buck does anyone have a knife similar to the 110 with this style of frame?
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You have one that's the same? Cool.

I know that jb4570 has the same knife, so maybe he will chime in after he sees this. I have one from the following year with the same blade, but otherwise it's a standard 110. The special projects lists shows the '97 version (pictured here) as being produced for the Mint and describes it as: N/S Engraved, Checkered Walnut, Gold etch blade, Medallion in handle, so I think the whole thing was made by Buck.

I hope someone from Buck can give some insight about the construction.
 
Almost looks like it started out to be a different knife, a liner lock of some sort perhaps, and then the changed thier minds and just sandwiched the frame inside a 110.


Vantage345withAvidunfinishedDWsc-2.jpg
 
Could be that's the answer. According to this from Joe, the linerlocks were made in '97 and '98.

"Joe Houser
View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact Send Email

Moderator Join Date:Aug 1999
Location:Post Falls, Idaho U.S.A.
Posts:3,035I checked an we made just over 300 of them in 1997 and 1998. Larry is correct in that they were practically handmade. The original sales flyer shows a plastic thumbstud but we ended up using a knurled screw on type. They were all supposed to be engraved "Limited Production 1997" but most were shipped without the engraving.
A great find!
Joe Houser
Director of Consumer relations Buck Knives Inc.
Buck Collectors club Liaison, Member #123"
 
THE_LONGBOW said:
This still does not explain why Buck would use this frame. I am sure it would be more expensive to produce this JW 110.
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You're right. I can't imagine why they would go to the trouble and expense even if it was to increase the durability (:confused:) of a knife that for the most part would never be used as a knife. If there was a problem with the N/S being too soft why not do it to the thousands of N/S users that have been produced?

Any reasons I can come up with are just speculation, so I suppose I'll have to wait to see if someone from Buck will provide the answer.
 
Also would not explain the untypical poor fit of the scales.

Buck scales are fitted better than that.

Somewhere there must be a company that uses a frame like that.
 
Hi Dave,

Funny how we have these things and handle them every now and then.....then see some odd stuff never talked about before! How cool to see this now, thanks for sharing your observations Dave. I have no info to add, only my thoughts. I bet FM had the NK frame & scales made and sent to Buck for final assembley. Note: how the scales fit poorly on both of the knife photo's (not Buck work IMHO). Any other thought on the topic?
jb4570
 
jb4570 said:
Hi Dave,

Funny how we have these things and handle them every now and then.....then see some odd stuff never talked about before! How cool to see this now, thanks for sharing your observations Dave. I have no info to add, only my thoughts. I bet FM had the NK frame & scales made and sent to Buck for final assembley. Note: how the scales fit poorly on both of the knife photo's (not Buck work IMHO). Any other thought on the topic?jb4570
Click to expand...

Naww, I'm tired of thinking, I've done my quota of that for today. ;)

Maybe we'll get an answer to this when someone from Buck sees it.
 
We had it pretty well figured out by post #5.

It's awful hard to get comments from Buck in hunting season for one thing.

The second thing is that there are some things they just don't want to talk about.....so they don't.

It's like any other business. Some things are shared with the public and some things are not.

Nothing wrong with that.

:)
 
110 Dave has been awful quiet. Until he wakes up......we'll have to make do with this old post from 2006.

hay... i have seen only 2 on ebay for sale and they brought 75 and close to 100$ from what i understand blade and frame was done on order and sent to franklin for finishing and scales OR blades were done other then at buck and placed on frames at buck then sent for finishing i have heard both ...
now as a buy the way ...
i have two of thoes blades in a reaglur plain brass 110 frames.. and may let one go when i get back home in a few weeks...
Click to expand...

Sounds like information has been contradictory in the past.

Either Buck didn't fit those sloppy slabs or the way they had to be put together made it impossible to get a good fit--even for Buck.

Interesting and unusual knife, though.

:)
 
I've got a couple franklin mints junk knives,built the same as the 110 you pictured,i'll say its the exact same sloppy look as that 110.I don''t think buck had anything to do with them,a good bet is they supplied the inner workings pinned together per franklin mints' request,and they added their own sloppy crap outer layer to the knife,i doubrt that they even used nickle silver,i think its pewter.Buck 110 handles are cut to fit the bolsters at an angle,those are straight.Everything about those knives calls out as junk to me.
 
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