Buck 102, how old?

S

SuzukiGS750EZ

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Dec 30, 2008
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I don't currently have photos as I'm not home but I have a 102. It's got a black sheath with the flap/button closure. It says buck on the blade but no USA. It looks almost like comic sans. I quickly glanced at it as I was running out of the house having forgotten it in a drawer. I was going to polish it up and sharpen it, treat the sheath and put it away for a rainy day. Does anybody know about the time period from my description?
 
Copied from BCCI info by Tony Wagner, April 2020
Model 102 History
"In 1961, Buck Knives was incorporated in El Cajon, CA by Al Buck and his sons, Chuck and Frank. With a new factory in place, updates to the models came with it. Around 1960 a forged 440C blade started being used. The handle material was changed to black phenolic (which we still use today) with aluminum guard and pommel with red bone hard fiber spacers. From the 1962 catalog: In the early 1967, the blade stamp was changed to include “USA” below “BUCK”. That same year, Buck switched from a forged 440C steel to a fine blanked 440C steel for the blades. In 1972, the blade stamp changed again with the addition of the model number between “BUCK” and “USA” and the spacer material changed from red bone hard fiber to red micarta. Early 3- line transition knives will have an “inverted” blade stamp (read knife point down) which is how all Buck knives were stamped from incorporation. But dealers requested a blade stamp read with the tip pointing up as that was the way they were displaying the knives at the time."
 
The flapover sheath started in 1964. In late 1966 or early 1967 a dot or asterisk was added after the word BUCK. Those two identifiers would place your knife and sheath in the 1964-1966 period.

Bert
 
bertl said:
The flapover sheath started in 1964. In late 1966 or early 1967 a dot or asterisk was added after the word BUCK. Those two identifiers would place your knife and sheath in the 1964-1966 period.

Bert
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No dots, I did check for those as I remember the 110 had them
 
To me it looks as though there is a dot (to the right top of "K") and hard fiber spacers. That puts a date of late 1966 or 1967 on your knife.

Bert
 
Folks here are a great resource and most are more than willing to help out.
Thanks guys.

However I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a request for information includes better details than "I'm not home," or "I quickly glanced as I was running out the door".
 
GPyro said:
Folks here are a great resource and most are more than willing to help out.
Thanks guys.

However I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a request for information includes better details than "I'm not home," or "I quickly glanced as I was running out the door".
Click to expand...
I never felt it was unreasonable. I've seen posts here describing a knife and saw they got answers. I grabbed it on way out after going through a drawer and thought about the buck forum. I thought the dots were under the buck logo? If not, yes, that is a dot.
 
GPyro said:
Folks here are a great resource and most are more than willing to help out.
Thanks guys.

However I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a request for information includes better details than "I'm not home," or "I quickly glanced as I was running out the door".
Click to expand...
I agree. Folks here are very generous with their time and knowledge. Putting the knives first

Personally I ignore posts from people who don’t seem to do their due diligence. If they put in minimal effort I give them even less effort back.

No need to call them out. Just ignore them. Calling people out, just makes for a less friendly atmosphere. We don’t want to chase people away. The next weird post could be something really rare.


Love that Spanky meme. The original little rascals were awesome. Spanky was my favorite.
 
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The ask button is easier. Lol .

There is a ton of resources and information on this Buck sub forum and others that can be easily accessible requiring little effort, maybe a bit of forum savvy. But it’s right there just a click or two, scroll and read. I would also like to mention that we are fortunate to have members here that give their time, talent and effort to comprise the information free of charge. Least we can do is use it as they intended and acknowledge their effort.

I don’t mind helping a newby find a thread till they find their way around but if they have several threads asking similar questions it tells me they want quick and easy, fly and bye, contribution 0.
 
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