119 Special 75th Anniversary: What Steel?

A

Ace Rimmer

Joined
Jul 4, 2017
Messages
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Yesterday I found a 75th Anniversary 119 and I’m considering buying it. The handle is laminated wood with the 75th anniversary shield, and the tang stamp has the anvil with (if I recall correctly) a “75” inside it).
The fuller is same as the bottom knife in this picture from Mike Kerins Mike Kerins :
https://bladeforums.com/attachments/c8ea5799-0147-48d4-9c0f-e813e082a1b0-jpeg.1219133/
Recently there was an extended discussion that included some mention of the 75th Anniversary 119:
https://bladeforums.com/threads/440-question.1691404/
After reading through that thread again I’m still confused. Is there any way to determine which steel this knife has? Or can anyone offer an educated guess based on my description? This knife feels a bit heavier than a standard 119, and the blade is a bit thicker.
I'm also wondering about the laminated wood handle -- "cocobolo Dymondwood," perhaps?

If it's 440C and still there next week I may go for it. Help me spend my money! :cool:
 
The gurus will be along in a few I'm sure but a couple tidbits to hold you over...... There were a few renditions of this knife.....the one I have that was sold at Wally world with black phenolic handle and 420 hc blade there was a red lucite with I believe 440c and a cocobolo with s30 v...... A pic would be great and make it easier to see what ya got.

Edit:red lucite has 440 c blade
 
Usually if the blade is other than 420hc it will usually have it etched on the right side such as s30v by the Bos flame logo but I’ve seen some exceptions. If they have the original box showing the model number and papers with it that could help identify the specs and other information.
 
Ace Rimmer said:
Yesterday I found a 75th Anniversary 119 and I’m considering buying it. The handle is laminated wood with the 75th anniversary shield, and the tang stamp has the anvil with (if I recall correctly) a “75” inside it).
The fuller is same as the bottom knife in this picture from Mike Kerins Mike Kerins :
https://bladeforums.com/attachments/c8ea5799-0147-48d4-9c0f-e813e082a1b0-jpeg.1219133/
Recently there was an extended discussion that included some mention of the 75th Anniversary 119:
https://bladeforums.com/threads/440-question.1691404/
After reading through that thread again I’m still confused. Is there any way to determine which steel this knife has? Or can anyone offer an educated guess based on my description? This knife feels a bit heavier than a standard 119, and the blade is a bit thicker.
I'm also wondering about the laminated wood handle -- "cocobolo Dymondwood," perhaps?

If it's 440C and still there next week I may go for it. Help me spend my money! :cool:
Click to expand...

Heres a stock pic of mine. I don't have any pics of it on my phone but I can snap a few when I get home if you need me to.
Screenshot_20191116-143438.png
 
Lesknife said:
Usually if the blade is other than 420hc it will usually have it etched on the right side such as s30v by the Bos flame logo but I’ve seen some exceptions. If they have the original box showing the model number and papers with it that could help identify the specs and other information.
Click to expand...

Thanks. He has the box, sheath, and there is a small card with 75th anniversary information. I should have taken pictures of all that! He's closed Monday and Tuesday so I'll have to get back next week to check out more details. Meanwhile, maybe more info will come in from others. He also had a black phenolic 75th, blade not as thick, knife not quite so heavy, and (I think I'm remembering correctly) the other style fuller. The pommel was a bit dinged up on that one. (The shop owner just brought these back from a knife show where he did some tradin'.)
 
Ace Rimmer said:
Thanks. He has the box, sheath, and there is a small card with 75th anniversary information. I should have taken pictures of all that! He's closed Monday and Tuesday so I'll have to get back next week to check out more details. Meanwhile, maybe more info will come in from others. He also had a black phenolic 75th, blade not as thick, knife not quite so heavy, and (I think I'm remembering correctly) the other style fuller. The pommel was a bit dinged up on that one. (The shop owner just brought these back from a knife show where he did some tradin'.)
Click to expand...

Hey Ace Rimmer,

It's your lucky day, you can go to Buck's website and at the top click on Collections > Limited Editions. Buck is still selling the exact model you are interested in. S30V is the blade steel.
 
Ace Rimmer said:
Thanks. He has the box, sheath, and there is a small card with 75th anniversary information. I should have taken pictures of all that! He's closed Monday and Tuesday so I'll have to get back next week to check out more details. Meanwhile, maybe more info will come in from others. He also had a black phenolic 75th, blade not as thick, knife not quite so heavy, and (I think I'm remembering correctly) the other style fuller. The pommel was a bit dinged up on that one. (The shop owner just brought these back from a knife show where he did some tradin'.)
Click to expand...

Did you get any pics of the knife itself? If you're having issues posting I can give you my email and post em for you. If not can u describe the color of the handles?
 
Brhowser87 said:
Did you get any pics of the knife itself? If you're having issues posting I can give you my email and post em for you. If not can u describe the color of the handles?
Click to expand...

Thanks. No, I didn't think to take any pictures at all. The handle is definitely "wood" and pretty clearly a laminate (the layers are visible). I followed the link suggested by H harris2 and noted two things: 1. Buck does still list a 75th 119 but with aluminum pommel and guard, and says the handle is cocobolo. 2. They also list a 120 with brass pommel and guard and a handle made from "Cocobolo DymaLux" ("a resin-infused Birch laminate composed of Grade A Birch veneers that are dyed into stunning colors"). So, looking at the Buck site did help, as I'm now 99.9% sure the 119 I saw had the laminate handle. I didn't realize there were so many versions of the 75th 119, and I'll probably end up finding out this one is 420HC (not a bad thing, and it's a beautiful knife).
 
image.jpeg image.jpeg just in S30V there was black phenolic, cocobolo and brass, red micarta, AG, I think a green or black dymondwood and who knows how many more.

If you didn't notice a steel stamp I'm betting it's 420HC
 
Ace Rimmer said:
Thanks. No, I didn't think to take any pictures at all. The handle is definitely "wood" and pretty clearly a laminate (the layers are visible). I followed the link suggested by H harris2 and noted two things: 1. Buck does still list a 75th 119 but with aluminum pommel and guard, and says the handle is cocobolo. 2. They also list a 120 with brass pommel and guard and a handle made from "Cocobolo DymaLux" ("a resin-infused Birch laminate composed of Grade A Birch veneers that are dyed into stunning colors"). So, looking at the Buck site did help, as I'm now 99.9% sure the 119 I saw had the laminate handle. I didn't realize there were so many versions of the 75th 119, and I'll probably end up finding out this one is 420HC (not a bad thing, and it's a beautiful knife).
Click to expand...

Honestly I didn't know either until awhile back I found mine in the back of a Wally world knife case without a box and got it for $20. I thought I found something special then everybody here was like " look at my 75th with unicorn horn handle and S5000V blade":p:p:p:D:D:D kidding.....I got a killer deal.
 
DeSotoSky said:
Like LesKnife said, if the blade is not 420HC it will be marked with the steel type.
Unlike LesKnife, personally I have not seen any exceptions.
Click to expand...
. It’s been awhile back and if I remember correctly plus I should have splained it better in my previous post but the exception I saw was a blem and marked as such with pencil engraver. It did have the anvil 75 on the blade but no shield on the handle and it came with a 75th anniversary edition sheath. It was supposed to be s30v according to the paper and box model number. I do remember thinking how could anyone be certain if it was missing most of the details on the blade to identify it because the box and papers could easily be misplaced or lost completely. I wasn’t interested in buying for that reason even at a very decent price because you can’t always trust online auctions anyway.
 
Lesknife said:
. It’s been awhile back and if I remember correctly plus I should have splained it better in my previous post but the exception I saw was a blem and marked as such with pencil engraver. It did have the anvil 75 on the blade but no shield on the handle and it came with a 75th anniversary edition sheath. It was supposed to be s30v according to the paper and box model number. I do remember thinking how could anyone be certain if it was missing most of the details on the blade to identify it because the box and papers could easily be misplaced or lost completely. I wasn’t interested in buying for that reason even at a very decent price because you can’t always trust online auctions anyway.
Click to expand...

Yes there's absolutely no way you could verify that knife went with those papers. You definitely did the right thing by walking away.
 
Well, here it is, pretty sure it is 420HC and laminated birch wood. Nice knife but I'm going to pass on it. Too pretty to use and I seldom buy a knife just to look at!

49099792011_ff08e41b3d_b.jpg
 
Ace Rimmer said:
Yesterday I found a 75th Anniversary 119 and I’m considering buying it. The handle is laminated wood with the 75th anniversary shield, and the tang stamp has the anvil with (if I recall correctly) a “75” inside it).
The fuller is same as the bottom knife in this picture from Mike Kerins Mike Kerins :
https://bladeforums.com/attachments/c8ea5799-0147-48d4-9c0f-e813e082a1b0-jpeg.1219133/
:cool:
Click to expand...
The lower knife in the photo you referenced is marked 440 on the left side of the knife. These were very limited runs that were intended to appear like the original 119’s! Thus the differently shaped fuller.
 
Mike Kerins said:
The lower knife in the photo you referenced is marked 440 on the left side of the knife. These were very limited runs that were intended to appear like the original 119’s! Thus the differently shaped fuller.
Click to expand...

Thanks! That helps confirm that if it's anything but 420HC it will be so marked. Also helps understand the differences in the fullers.
 
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