When changes were made in the old days...

dsutton24

dsutton24

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Not sure why I thought of this, but back in the mid 80s the 110 bolsters took on radiused edges. My Buck knife collecting always has concentrated on the variations over the years. When I first noticed that the new knives had rounded edges my thoughts were, "Interesting. Gotta have one."

Flash forward forty years and we have the interweb. Every change to a product we collect is noted, examined, debated, hated, dissected and generally obsessed over.

You folks who are ancient enough to remember life before the internet, what were your thoughts when design changes came along? Did you even care?
 
I know I liked the radius edge, I have always thought the original lines were blocky (not hard to use and not uncomfortable, but simply too squared off). I think the radius edges took a good design and made it better. OH
Ps. I did notice at the time of change.
 
I’ve always liked the radius edges better. I think the old squared edges were what kept me from getting a 110 back in the day. I never have liked squared corners on a handle and preferred the rounded off corners. I guess it never accrued to me that I could have rounded them off myself. And I didn’t know when the change came either.
 
I like the 440c blades but I prefer the radiused handles. They’re way mote ergonomic for long periods of cutting in my opinion. You can’t beat a modern 110 as far as I’m concerned for a working knife.
 
Things were simpler back then. You might notice something being different, but didn’t know if it was an actual change or a manufacturing anomaly. You didn’t even really care. Nobody knew the date codes, and we didn’t care. Lol.

We collectively must drive manufacturers nuts.
 
The 'History' of radiused frames is interesting. Chuck thought I was easier to have a secure grip with them and marketing thought having it would increase sales. Chuck took a group of 5 110's with different levels of radiusing to the Blade Show in the 80's to see what folks thought. Especially the BCCI members. Buck made there decision and put it into production. It added a extra manufacturing step and increased cost so it was a really big deal at the time. The edge of the flat frame worked well and better with gloves in hard use/strong grip situations. It really wasn't a new concept as I know of employees 112's that had raised edges before Buck made it 'factory'.
If you are really collecting small variations of radiused knives remember at first just the front bolster was radiused. The lock bar was not. Reliable records are scarce and most information comes from the memories of employees BCCI members and early collectors. I wanted to find the rarest variations of early 112's combining tang stamp blade steel and radiusing variations and more importantly to me early finger grooves because I love oddballs but didn't keep records of what I found and heard. Eventually I decided smaller variations just didn't display well enough. I can tell you a flat frame Stag with finger grooves is a very very rare 112.
 
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