BTW Alan, you may already be aware your little Buck 309 is really a 310. The two knives are built on the same frame and apparently Buck is quite famous (infamous?

) for sticking blades which are alike into different pattern knives. The difference between the 309 and the 310 is the back spring and the addition of a coping blade in the 310. From what I've read, it's quite common to find a 309 stamped blade in a 310 and those are not the only Buck knives with which it happens. To me it takes nothing away from the knife. It's a sweet little whittler and the wooden box it came in is just icing on the cake. Very nice gift. Could you have your wife whisper in my lady friends ear?

Forged on the anvil of discipline.
The Few. The Proud.
Jerry D.
This country has become more about sub-groups than about it's unity as a nation.
"The #72 pattern has got to be pretty close to the perfect knife."
--T.J. Murphy 2012