Buck 119 modifications

[deltablade]

I have read that Les Stroud modified his 119, and am interested in seeing what his mods were. Also interested in any mods you have done to yours to make it suit you better.

 

[orca8589]

I haven't seen how Les Stroud modified his Buck 119, but here's the mods I did to mine: Removed the top guard and shortened the lower guard a bit; drilled the lower guard; stamped my name and year I acquired the knife into the guard; drilled a lanyard hole in the buttcap; rubbed the aluminum surfaces down with fine emery cloth to remove the glare. (The blade was batoned by a previous owner; I don't baton my knives if I can avoid it.)




~Chris

 

[David Martin]

Chris, you acquired the black handle 119 in 2010 (if I'm reading the Roman correct). What does the Buck stamp read? DM

 

[deltablade]

Well, I had to try a Buck 119 and mods, so got this one on ebay, a 1993 vintage, and got started. Then staining on the blade came right off. Looks like it has never been used, just got some gunk on it somehow. The sheath even seems pristine.

So far, have polished the handle with 600 grit sandpaper, and removed top of guard . Cleaned the blade with WD40, scotchbrite pad, and 1000 grit sandpaper. The edge was actually very sharp with what seemed like the original factory edge. I touched up the edge with some sandpaper strops, cleaned and oiled the sheath, and am very happy so far. Next question is do I reshape the point and remove the upswept tip?

here is the knife when it arrived

here it is so far in modification process

another shot after contouring the handle a little to make it feel less blocky

 

[David Martin]

When you take material off the point. There goes the belly. DM

 

[deltablade]

Yup, and the point drops down into the hollow grind, rather tan along the thicker part of the grind, so am thinking of leaving alone until necessary to redo it

 

[deltablade]

Chris, Nice mods. I like the stamp on the guard.

 

[orca8589]

Chris, you acquired the black handle 119 in 2010 (if I'm reading the Roman correct). What does the Buck stamp read? DM

In the second pic, you can almost see the tang stamp. There is no year symbol; only

BUCK
119
U.S.A.

Chris, Nice mods. I like the stamp on the guard.

Thanks - the stampings were actually pretty easy to do. I clamped the knife in my vice, with support under the butt, then just rested the letter punches flat against the blade. That's why they look so nicely aligned; I'm usually not that good at lining up letters & numbers like that. Also, when you stamp something like the guard, I start with the middle letter of the word, and alternate letters left & right from there. That technique seems to work pretty well. (You should see some of the miserable hack jobs I did before I figured that out. )

I have a sentimental history with the Buck 119. It was one of the first nice knives I bought with my own money, living in Montana in the early 80's and helping my grandmother take care of her place. We lived in a rural area called the Yaak Valley.

~Chris

 

[orca8589]

By the way, does anybody have a link to info on Les Stroud's modified 119? I've looked, but I'm not seeing anything.

~Chris

 

[David Martin]

Chris, thanks. I believe your 119 is a 1981 manufactured model. DM

 

[deltablade]

Yaak Valley sounds like just the place for a 119

 

[orca8589]

Chris, thanks. I believe your 119 is a 1981 manufactured model. DM

Are you looking at the fiber spacers to figure that out? I know it's a pre-'86, but I didn't know there was any way you could narrow it down to the exact year.

I know Buck was using 425M by 1981, so I assume that's the blade steel in mine. So far, it's worked fine for me; I haven't noticed much difference between 425M and 420HC in my use.

~Chris

 

[David Martin]

Chris, as the spacers were being dropped. Yes, that's an indication. Then yours has the belly forward and upswept point. (2nd point) Those were seen only part of 80 and 81. I have the same knife in my collection. Third, I couldn't tell in your photo but if it has the thick beveled edge it's 440C. If it has the tapered thinner
edge. It's 425M. Indeed you correct Buck phased in 425M in 1981. But as to how many went out the door before old supplies were used up is anybody's guess. DM

 

[deltablade]

I have reshaped the handle a bit, and finished with 1000 grit wet dry. The original 119 handle is fairly thick at the guard, and tapers toward the pommel, and it is kinda blocky. I saw another 119 owner's mod to his handle and did that to mine, by thinning the handle thickness at the guard, and leaving the thickest part in the middle of the handle. Tho it is a subtle mod, it feels much better this way.

 

[deltablade]

I am thinking about a mod to the tip. I recently got a Buck Custom 119 with their drop point blade, and may try to do something similar to my standard 119. Here are some pics to show what the difference is.

 

[deltablade]

I decided to go ahead with the tip mod, and here are the pics. I removed metal down to the original blade flat, not quite as much as I had drawn on my schematic, yet I really like the resultant shape so stopped grinding. I also roughed up the handle with coarse sandpaper to give it a better grip when wet.