when was buck on morena blvd

S

steeley

Joined
Mar 24, 2006
Messages
9
hi all

i have a sheath marked 1272 morena, san diego,cal
and the best part it has a knife in it.
i think its a 119a special with stag handle stamped buck.
any info .

thank's steeley
 
Al Buck (Hoyts son) bought the house at 1272 Morena Blvd. in 1937 and it was there that Hoyt began making knives in the 1940's under the name "Buck Knife Co.".

Buck moved the production facility to 3220 Congress St. San Diego in 1961.

EDIT: As Joe pointed out, Hoyt is indeed the father, not the son. I "typed faster than I thunk!"

I gotta go back to drinking coffee! :D
 
Steely,
I sure would like to see that knife. If you cant get a picture to load up here, you can always send it to my email address. I will be glad to post it here for you.
TLC has it pretty close. Actually Hoyt is Al's father, and Al and his wife Ida were living in San Diego in around 1934-35. The rest is right on the money.
 
thanks all
so between 1940-1961.
i was born in San Diego so this is all so cool.
joe i will e-mail you the pic some time today .
i really did not want to get an account ona photoshare site.

steeley
 
Here are some pictures of the knife. It looks like a nice 119 Special from 1956-1961 timeframe. Back then you could order the standard blade length of 5" or for $2 an inch more, get a longer blade.


 
Here are a couple pictures of another knife that Steeley has. Said it was with the old Buck and belonged to a master carpenter from San Diego. Does not really look Buck-ish to me but you never know.
Does anybody else have any ideas on this one?

 
thanks for posting the photo,s joe.
and for giving me info on the knife
model 119 5 inch between 1956-1961
the other knife has no markings on it but it was passed down with the buck.
going to order a new sheath for the buck.
should i clean it up with some flitz?
 
"should i clean it up with some flitz?"
Not unless you enjoy seeing hundred dollar bills fly out the window. Your knife would have great collector interest and is quite valuable in today's market.
 
It has historic significance in the knife world and considerable value to the right collector. My advise is not to clean it until you have someone with more knowledge than myself look at it.
 
To clean the knife or not to clean the knife. :confused: I get asked that a lot and you just dont see enough knives from this era sell to get a good feel for the effect cleaning might have on the price. The rule I follow for my old Bucks is that unless one is covered in rust, or big pitts, or maybe just old goo, I leave it alone. A lot of my knives have stains on the blade and I rather leave them be.
Lines that may look like scratches are actually original grind lines left in the blade by Hoyt or Al Buck and anything resembling the original finish is better than a modern finish.
I remember one like yours coming in from Canada once with instructions to clean, buff and sharpen. I called the owner first and tried to talk him out of it but he wanted to use his knife. I really couldn't blame the guy as that IS what the knife was made for. :)
As a collector, the cleaned knife looked hideous to me and if I saw it for sale, my offer would be much lower than it would have been if he left the knife alone.
Looking at your knife you can see what looks like honing scratches along the blade edge and the top of the hollowgrind. If it were my knife, I might try to blend them in but most likely would just leave the knife as is.
I hope this helps.
 
Great knife, loved seeing it. I would just get a sheath and leave the knife original. Thanks for posting it.
 
After reading DaveinNY's reply, I was all set to post my opinion... :grumpy: until I took a close look at that knife...I was *aghast* :eek: at the workmanship evident in the big pics...

This is in not a criticism of Al or Hoyt's work; rather I am pointing out how spoiled we have all become by the newer production techniques, not just in making the knives, but in the production of the raw materials themselves...blade steel is ground parallel, the aluminum for the guards and pommel are rolled flat and parallel, machine tooling and cutting bits are cheap and available, and most importantly, machine production has replaced hand-made workmanship...

I would have to agree, that attempting to clean up or polish this knife would only diminish its allure...You can look at this knife and almost visualize exactly how each component was made and fitted...That is cool... :cool: :thumbup:

It would be a sin to try to "improve" it...
 
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