Bos Heat treatment

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1Ronin

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Jan 13, 2015
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I have just bought a Buck Alpha Crosslock that was in the clam shell package, so I could not hold the knife before purchase It is marked Bos heat treated on the package but not on the blade. Now the question are all Buck blades Bos treated or is it only the ones that have the logo on the blade that have this level of heat treatment?
 
I think it's safe to assume that Mr. Bos is responsible for the heat treat on the domestic knives. I expect the specifications were provided but Mr. Bos is probably not responsible for the steel in the imports.

So, look for the Stars And Stripes and you'll find Bos heat treat with or without his stamp.
 
Sorry for a short hijack here. Dave, what about my 2004 Alpha folding hunter 279? Did it have the Bos heat treat? If not I am going to send it to his company for it. I see they also offer tempering is that also added to the Bos heat treat when it comes from Buck. From looking at their web page it is like 18.00 to have done. Sorry for the hijack, just been wondering about my knife and OP came along.
 
Guys, calm yourselves over this. Whether it has it on the blade or not. Or the package. Rest assured your blade has the heat treatment Mr. Paul Boss develop. I'll go further if you'll remain calm.
Mr. Boss no longer works at Buck Knives and has been retired for about 4 years. His protege' Mr. Paul Farner took the helm in the heat treat dept.. A capable man. The emblem/ logo of the Boss flame remains in use at Buck as a symbol of quality in heat treating. DM
 
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Let me tag team with David.

Here is a link to the Buck Website that talks about heat treating. When Buck and Bos got together an agreement was worked out that let Paul Bos run his heat treating company inside Bucks company umbrella (and plant). He received his own business and custom treated blades all the while and at the same time taking care of Buck factory production. There is usually heat treating history comments in most Buck printed catalogs. This is the website, go past the Bos custom prices and read about the history of the Bos company leaders. Paul is retired from active supervision of day to day heat treating.

http://www.buckknives.com/about-knives/heat-treating/

Now folks don't slap me on this, I will say if you have time for further investigation and want all the details you can find, there are gems of information among the many grains of sand, using OUR Buck forum search function at the top of this Buck forum home page.

300Bucks,Moderator
 
Buncha questions: I hope this wasn't answered earlier in the thread and I just missed it, please excuse if I did...............but:
What about US made Bucks by Camillus, Schrade, etc, etc? Being of domestic production I assume they were heat treated, but was it done by Bos? Did Buck send pre-manufactured, pre-heat treated blades to those other companies for assembly, finishing only, or were those various models heat treated at their factories of origin according to Bos specs or procedure? If so would that make it proprietary process of Buck or Bos? (or both?). Were they always using the Bos "method"? If not, when did they start?

Sorry, ya start out with one question & end up with more, hope I'm not being pesky.

Sonny
 
Sonny, I'm 99% certain that the stamping/forming of the blades, the heat treat, and finishing of the blades would have all been done by whoever the contractor was.

While nobody will defend Schrades Swinden Key construction, there heat treat was generally superb. Their Schrade+ 440A performs on par with Bucks 420HC that I can tell and their 1095 is simply the best I've ever used.

My sense is that every Old Camillus made knife I've owned has been a tick softer than either Buck US or Schrade US.

Note the sadness of having to distinguish between generic Buck and Buck US. Note the sadness of the OP. IMO, Buck is dilluting their brand integrity with using soft imported 420J2 on some knives.

Reminds me of that Frank Zappa line. "Is that a real poncho or is that a Sears Poncho?"
 
Sonny, USA made Bucks by Camillus were heat treated by Camillus. Those before 1981. Then Buck brought most models of the 300 series in house at their new large plant in El Cajon. Even after this date some models of Camillus origin appeared, offered through Smokey Mountain and other locations up to around 2000. These were all heat treated by Camillus and used 420HC steel. Camillus heat treated steel seems good. I do not know the details of their heat treating process. DM
 
I did some further research for you which you may read, concerning Camillus heat treat. Mr. Phil Gibbs being 'the Man' for knowledge on all things Camillus. In post #7 he offers some insight toward the China heat treat of the knives. In turn this gives us some thought toward Camillus heat treat. I think I'm on firm ground saying the Camillus heat treat is likely better than some of these foreign types mentioned. DM
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...-Heat-knives-in-new-Cheaper-than-Dirt-catalog
 
I don't have any tech to add , but will add that the Camillus made heat treat is just fine. Until a few years back after reading a book I never knew Buck pocket knives were made by anyone except Buck. I inherited a Camillus Buck in the mid 80's. It was my constant companion all through school, college and into adulthood. It doesn't get carried often anymore but it has held up through the years to everything a young man could throw at it.
 
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