Why I believe the 110 is so misunderstood .

oldmanwilly said:
I think it's worth pointing out that older generations were just as susceptible to marketing via other means as are today's youts via the internet. I wonder how many people wanted a 110 after watching the Dukes of Hazzard or otherwise?
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That "older generation" you're referring to, that watched the Dukes, would be my son's generation.:):):)
 
So how did people who weren't already familiar with it figure out what a Buck 110 was after seeing it on the dukes ?

I watch a lot of older TV shows but haven't really watched the dukes of hazzard so I don't know if it was ever specifically called out by name or anything?

when I was a kid everybody knew what a generic " Buck knife " looked like , but I think I only knew that Buck was a brand from looking through the old Cabelas Christmas catalogs my uncle left at my grandparents house.
By age 12 the Buck 110 was the knife I wanted most.
 
The first time I ever saw or heard about a Buck 110 was at the local hardware store and lumberyard display case back in the early 1970s. As a kid they were out of my price range and they told me I would need to learn how to sharpen a Buck knife as they were harder to sharpen. I was advised to get something smaller and easier to sharpen like the Old Timer pocket knives and I settled on the 34ot stockman. So I wasn’t influenced by the marketing as much as personal interaction with local and family influences. It wasn’t until later in 1989 that I received a Buck 301 stockman from a tifco salesman and that’s when I found out about Buck knives and became re-interested about a 110 so i got one and haven’t looked back since.
 
Ironbut said:
I guess it was the Outdoor Life, or Field & Stream magazine pop culture.:)
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Exactly what I was thinking; my Dad subscribed to both and I read them avidly. I had been indoctrinated to owning a 270 Win hunting rifle by Jack O’Connor long before I ever owned one. Add Boy’s Life, which as a BSA magazine had many advertisements oriented to the outdoor life style; various brands of Scout Knives and of course Buck Knives published ads in Boys Life.
 
I’m 53. I honestly have no idea what it was that introduced me to the Buck 110. I remember as a preteen and teen seeing them on people’s belts but don’t recall anyone that I knew personally that owned one.

Honestly it might of just been seeing them in the display case of Kmart. Growing up in Louisville Ky we shopped a lot at Kmart. I would always visit the sporting goods section. Kmart was my go to for fishing and camping stuff as a kid and even early adulthood. I would always go to the knife counter and look.
 
Old Hunter said:
Exactly what I was thinking; my Dad subscribed to both and I read them avidly. I had been indoctrinated to owning a 270 Win hunting rifle by Jack O’Connor long before I ever owned one. Add Boy’s Life, which as a BSA magazine had many advertisements oriented to the outdoor life style; various brands of Scout Knives and of course Buck Knives published ads in Boys Life.
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Until it was mentioned previously, I'd forgotten about the influence of advertising in outdoor magazines back in the '70s. My Dad had a subscription to Field & Stream. I was always eager to see a new issue come in the mail. I'm pretty certain that's when I became aware of classic outdoor knife brands like Buck, Gerber and Old Timer. And I REALLY wanted them back then, although I wouldn't have been able to afford them on my own, being in my early-mid teens back then.

When I was in my early 30s and finally making some decent discretionary income, I did go through a phase when I was attracted to the modern, tactical style knives. I accumulated many of them for a while. But I discovered after some time, I was still more drawn to traditional patterns, which to me, seemed to have more character and soul to them. So, my interests circled back to those knives that I wanted so dearly when I was younger.
 
My first 110 came from the Ship's Exchange on the USS Mobile in 1972. We were on a little float trip in the Gulf of Tonkin at the time. Got a Buck sharpening kit too and whiled away a lot of hours on deck with that knife and stone. It went missing in a divorce - her kids as prime suspects - and I'm still pissed about it. But I do have another 110 cause they're just an essential. Like others, I seldom carry it anymore. I also have a 112LT has been a longtime friend.

One other really good thing about the original 110 is how it served as the inspiration for the wonderful Buck 55.
 
I don’t know how you misunderstand the 110. It’s called a folding hunter. Not a folding lightweight pocket knife.

The only way to improve a 110 is to loose the nail nick.

People who complain about the 110’s weight bought the wrong knife. It would be like buying BigFoot and complaining it has big tires.

The weight is part of it’s personality. It makes it a good emergency striking tool / weapon. Try breaking a car window with an opinel.

The only thing that displaces a 110 from my belt is an actual sheath knife.
 
I don’t think people misunderstand the 110 so much as the world has changed a lot since it came out. Lots more urbanization, and people in a city don’t need a folding hunting knife, they just need a pocket knife for your khakis. If you work in an office a Benchmade Bugout is convenient to carry and seems capable. You’ll only use it for a minute at a time, so it’s awful wafer thin handle is fine. If you worked on a ranch in 1970 with a belt for a sheath you would need something a lot more hefty like a 110. Just different strokes for different folks I think.
 
CVamberbonehead said:
I don’t think people misunderstand the 110 so much as the world has changed a lot since it came out. Lots more urbanization, and people in a city don’t need a folding hunting knife, they just need a pocket knife for your khakis. If you work in an office a Benchmade Bugout is convenient to carry and seems capable. You’ll only use it for a minute at a time, so it’s awful wafer thin handle is fine. If you worked on a ranch in 1970 with a belt for a sheath you would need something a lot more hefty like a 110. Just different strokes for different folks I think.
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That's the point, people will say it's a bad knife in comparison to other stuff because they misunderstand it.
If they understood it they wouldn't be comparing it to knives like that Benchmade, they'd know that it's just a different type of knife and not some supposedly antiquated precursor to today's typical modern folder.
 
I don't understand why this thread is an actual thing. If people don't understand the 110 after all this time, maybe they just don't want to. I love them and collect them, as many people do...but I couldn't care less if someone else doesn't. Is the OP making a sales pitch to 30 year old hipsters? What's to understand about it? The 110 is a solid, bad ass tool and the people that get it, get it. My favorite might be the BOTM slim with a pocket clip, but if I could only have one knife I'd gladly take a finger groove 110...
 
JD Bear said:
I don't understand why this thread is an actual thing. If people don't understand the 110 after all this time, maybe they just don't want to. I love them and collect them, as many people do...but I couldn't care less if someone else doesn't. Is the OP making a sales pitch to 30 year old hipsters? What's to understand about it? The 110 is a solid, bad ass tool and the people that get it, get it. My favorite might be the BOTM slim with a pocket clip, but if I could only have one knife I'd gladly take a finger groove 110...
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I don't necessarily care that some people dislike it in that I think they should have to or anything, this is just a discussion on why and whether these people are fairly judging the 110 or just discounting it based on marketing hype and or a misunderstanding of it.


people are free to like what they like of course, but this is the Buck knives subforum where we love and discuss Buck knives and I'm not sure why anybody would question the existence of a thread discussing Bucks flagship model.
 
I love the weight and size and pretty much everything else about the 110. I see a lot of people these days that like to call lightweight letter openers a "knife", I just laugh and whip out the 110 and in my best Crocodile Dundee voice say " That's not a knife, THIS is a KNIFE!"

I first saw one probably around 1970, with my Grandpa down at the feed store, little countertop displays of knives including a Buck display, I was ogling the glorious 110 and above it the 119 at the top, but I was too little, so Grandpa bought me a little knife, what we used to call a penknife for my first blade, but every year after that when I went to the feed store I would look at the knives and say one day the big knives will be mine! It was a great day when I finally got my 110, I was old enough to hunt and bought my first .22 that year, so of course I needed a real blade now. Pretty much every guy in my junior high and high school carried one, and we practiced ourselves bloody learning to flick it open with one hand, lol. Over half a century later and i'm still in love with the 110.
 
texpat said:
I love the weight and size and pretty much everything else about the 110. I see a lot of people these days that like to call lightweight letter openers a "knife", I just laugh and whip out the 110 and in my best Crocodile Dundee voice say " That's not a knife, THIS is a KNIFE!"
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I love carrying knives that you would call uselessly small because I have found that for me a hand filling knife is rarely as necessary in practice as it seems on paper.
I completely understand your position though, you just have more need for a larger hand filling knife than I do.

I watched my grandfather get the job done with just a Victorinox classic which has probably influenced my love of small knives, but I will admit that even I have first hand experience with how much easier it is to choke up on a big knife for small knife tasks.
 
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