"Workman's" and the "Pro" series

[Plumberdv]

Some time ago, I aquired two, new 1988 "Workman" 812's, also known as the Pro-3000. One of them has the "Workman" etching on the main blade and has smooth, maroon handles. The second one has no etching and has checkered, darker maroon handles (they show up as black in the picture). The box from the second one says it's a Pro-3000. Both handles have "Buck Work-Man" molded into the handles down by the bail.

They are knives that I can see would have been something I would have carried and used back when I worked for a living. I didn't show the second blade open, but it has a large straight slot screwdriver tip, about an 1 3/4" edge and is a lockback.

 

[David Martin]

Looks like a decent knife.I like the 1994 model.Thanks for posting the photos.DM

 

[Plumberdv]

Looks like a decent knife.I like the 1994 model.Thanks for posting the photos.DM

Which '94 model?

I have a '96 Workman 110 and I'd love to run across an 813. The third, pen blade would be the icing on the cake for a good working knife.

 

[Bill Keys]

The smooth one would have been from initial pilot runs; once the handle tooling was textured, all of the handles were textured. I believe we made some of them in black as well as burgandy. The handle was the same for both the 812 and 813. There was a larger single blade version that was the 811. The blade was a large hawkbilled blade. It used a 112 rocker as I recall. The initial design work on the 811 was sketched on napkins (literally) by Bob Lancia (who would later become the General Production Manager for a number of years) and me and the first models were hand made using Micarta.

As an aside, this is also how the design for the second generation fillet knives was developed; this was the black handled version, that had BUCK in both sides of the handle, with the finger grooves that was produced after the original brownish color version. The Buck museum has the napkin with the sketch of the fillet on it as well as a handmade wood mock up of the handle. One detail tidbit on those fillets, the first production runs had Buck on one side fo the handle and USA on the other side of the handle- that was becasue the new handle design covered teh Buck stamped on the blade so until we used our inventory of already stamped blades, we put USA on one side of the handle.

Both were projects I was intimately familiar with as they were my projects.

Bill Keys
Director of Manufacturing and Engineering
Buck Knives, Inc.

 

[Plumberdv]

The smooth one would have been from initial pilot runs; once the handle tooling was textured, all of the handles were textured. I believe we made some of them in black as well as burgandy. The handle was the same for both the 812 and 813. There was a larger single blade version that was the 811. The blade was a large hawkbilled blade. It used a 112 rocker as I recall. The initial design work on the 811 was sketched on napkins (literally) by Bob Lancia (who would later become the General Production Manager for a number of years) and me and the first models were hand made using Micarta.

As an aside, this is also how the design for the second generation fillet knives was developed; this was the black handled version, that had BUCK in both sides of the handle, with the finger grooves that was produced after the original brownish color version. The Buck museum has the napkin with the sketch of the fillet on it as well as a handmade wood mock up of the handle. One detail tidbit on those fillets, the first production runs had Buck on one side fo the handle and USA on the other side of the handle- that was becasue the new handle design covered teh Buck stamped on the blade so until we used our inventory of already stamped blades, we put USA on one side of the handle.

Both were projects I was intimately familiar with as they were my projects.

Bill Keys
Director of Manufacturing and Engineering
Buck Knives, Inc.

Thank you very much for the great information. It will be added to my ever growing files.

 

[Flatlander1963]

You know Dave, those are just nice knives in my opinion. I keep looking at them and thinking what a functional tool to have out in the layout and fabrication yard.

 

[Plumberdv]

You know Dave, those are just nice knives in my opinion. I keep looking at them and thinking what a functional tool to have out in the layout and fabrication yard.

Thanks Gordon. For a utility type knife, I'm really impressed with them. They both have nice fit and finish.

One word of caution though, the hawkbill blades snap closed like an alligator! You need to be sure any digits that you are fond of are well out of the way when you close it!

 

[110 Dave]

The smooth one would have been from initial pilot runs; once the handle tooling was textured, all of the handles were textured. I believe we made some of them in black as well as burgandy. The handle was the same for both the 812 and 813. There was a larger single blade version that was the 811. The blade was a large hawkbilled blade. It used a 112 rocker as I recall. The initial design work on the 811 was sketched on napkins (literally) by Bob Lancia (who would later become the General Production Manager for a number of years) and me and the first models were hand made using Micarta.

As an aside, this is also how the design for the second generation fillet knives was developed; this was the black handled version, that had BUCK in both sides of the handle, with the finger grooves that was produced after the original brownish color version. The Buck museum has the napkin with the sketch of the fillet on it as well as a handmade wood mock up of the handle. One detail tidbit on those fillets, the first production runs had Buck on one side fo the handle and USA on the other side of the handle- that was becasue the new handle design covered teh Buck stamped on the blade so until we used our inventory of already stamped blades, we put USA on one side of the handle.

Both were projects I was intimately familiar with as they were my projects.

Bill Keys
Director of Manufacturing and Engineering
Buck Knives, Inc.

thank you very much bill for the data on the knives you worked on!
are there others that you have worked on that you could take time to
tell us about? for me esp any neat 110 you did ..
we dont often get some inside info on how things come to be.