A couple of weeks in the past, I broke out my sharpener and bought my Buck knife prepared for one more lengthy season. That is an annual ritual, and annually I take a second to admire the wear and tear and tear the blade and deal with had seen. Every little blemish tells its personal story, and for this knife, it holds each story of my searching profession.
I acquired this knife after I started searching which, right here in Pennsylvania, kicked off after I was 12 years previous. Again then, the knife was new, shiny, and sharper than I might ever get it to be now. However extra vital than the aesthetics of the knife was its potential. I had no thought what it might assist me accomplish within the subsequent 17 searching seasons.
I do know that enormous, mounted blade knives like this one usually are not fashionable within the searching world. Everybody appears to be shifting to smaller blades with fancier steels or ultra-light and ultra-sharp replaceable-blade knives. However the reality is, you don’t want an costly precision instrument to intestine a deer. For me, it’s much more significant to make use of a knife that has so many good reminiscences scratched into than a brand new high-end blade.
And that, amongst a couple of different causes, is why I imagine the Buck knife will stay perpetually.
The Historical past of the Buck Knife
In 1902 Hoyt Buck, a 13-year-old blacksmith’s apprentice in Kansas, was experimenting with methods to mood metal so it might preserve an edge for longer. He was, in fact, profitable in his experiment, though the Buck knife didn’t present up available in the market for years after Buck’s discovery.
In 1947, Hoyt and his son Alfred arrange a store known as H.H. Buck & Son behind their dwelling. The daddy and son duo continued to make high-quality handcrafted knives and their enterprise took off. In actual fact, Hoyt Buck made roughly 25 knives by hand every week till his demise in 1949.
Alfred Buck then took over the place his father left off. Within the early 50s, he expanded promoting of Buck knives to mail order catalogs. In 1961, Buck was included and in 1964, the corporate launched the Model 110 Folding Hunter knife, which turned one of the common knives ever made. In 1992, Buck debuted the Nighthawk, a fixed-blade knife that was 6.5 inches and had a black deal with made from Zytel for an ergonomic grip. This knife was submitted to the U.S. Navy for analysis to be used by Navy Seals.
With over 100 years of blacksmithing and knife work below the Buck title’s belt, it’s no surprise why they’re nonetheless one of the common knife producers to at the present time.
Conventional Buck Knife Specs and Options
Whereas my Buck knife isn’t the unique Mannequin 110 Folding Hunter, it nonetheless carries a standard really feel to it. My Buck 119 Special fixed blade knife has some high quality parts, and admittedly does go away some room for enhancements too.
The 6-inch blade is produced from 420HC metal and is clipped right into a phenolic deal with. In complete, the knife weighs 7.5 ounces. It’s heavy, cumbersome, and never at all times simple to maneuver, however it positive does work. It’s nice for that first lower whereas subject dressing a deer as a result of the tip curves, permitting my hand to drop down decrease than the tip to keep away from puncturing the abdomen or different intestines throughout the course of.
The place it appears to fall quick compared to newer, fancier knives are the close-quarters work above the diaphragm when eradicating the guts and lungs. The big blade is commonly troublesome to twist and switch within the tight house, main to some unintentional knicks to my fingers now and again.
Once I in contrast it with a brand new Montana Knife Company Whitetail knife, I used to be in a position to see simply how way more handy it’s to have a smaller, 4” blade for maneuverability within the physique cavity. I’ll be doing a full side-by-side comparability between the 2 knives within the coming weeks, so extra on that later.
The Blade I’ve Shared Each Hunt With
I’m undecided if it’s as a result of I’m getting older or what, however recalling the entire reminiscences this knife and I’ve shared actually hit dwelling this yr. We’ve come a great distance collectively This knife has been there for the entire “firsts” in my searching profession: My first deer, first buck, first turkey, and even my first bear. It’s been on out-of-state hunts, out-of-country hunts, and even bought misplaced within the prairie of South Dakota for a day or two after it gutted my first mule deer.
Generally it’s so uninteresting from working into bone that it couldn’t lower a bit of paper, whereas different occasions, I’ve saved the sting so eager it’s like working a knife via butter. It hasn’t lived a glamorous life, however it’s been there for every of the moments I actually stay for.
After chatting with OL’s government gear editor Scott Einsmann and realizing that many hunters don’t have the identical knife they began with, I known as my Dad to inform him we’d simply be a tad bizarre. You see, I can’t declare that I’m the one who began this “identical knife perpetually” pattern. My Dad has been working the identical gutting knife in his deer searching pack for over 43 years.
After working my Buck knife via the WorkSharp a couple of occasions, I felt the sting to verify it was prepared for one more yr being lugged across the deer woods with me. There are, admittedly, a couple of burrs that I would like to handle if I need it to be good, however it’s adequate for me. The knife might not be good, however it’s good for me.
I packed it away in its black sheath and tucked it into my searching pack, hoping it might see the sunshine of day in a couple of quick weeks. As luck would have it, opening week was fairly profitable, and the knife gutted a doe for me, and a primary archery buck for an in depth good friend. After a fast rinse and one other few rounds within the WorkSharp, it’s proper again the place it belongs, in my pack, prepared for our subsequent journey.
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