Buck 303 score today/ help w/ i.d.

[whisky boehner]

Hey everybody. New to the forum. Picked up this Buck 303 for $2.50 at the flea market this a.m. B Been searching around for info about 303's today and the blade shape on this 303 looks different than the other 303's i see. Looks like a brass pin in the center and it looks like brass internals between the blades. Can anybody i.d the year of this 303 or provide additional info about why this blade differs from the other 303's? Thanks!

[whisky boehner]

Just discovered i have "invalid file extensions" whenever i attempt to post pics. Sorry to waste everybody's time. Back to lurking!

[gsmith7158]

Whiskey Boehner welcome to AAPK! When you are posting pictures they can't be stored on a 3rd party storage site if that's what you're using. They must be stored on the device that you are posting from. We do this to preserve all photos posted even if the 3rd party service deletes your acct.

[whisky boehner]

Whiskey Boehner welcome to AAPK! When you are posting pictures they can't be stored on a 3rd party storage site if that's what you're using. They must be stored on the device that you are posting from. We do this to preserve all photos posted even if the 3rd party service deletes your acct.

They're not on a 3rd party site, they're in the circa 2009 cellphone i'm posting with now, which also happens to be my sole means of computing. I'll try to post pics again along with this post, but my guess is the age of my cell phone has something to do with it.

[bertl]

Whisky,

Since you are having problems with photos, take a look at these two. Is the blade on your knife similar to either of these?

Bert

EDIT: I forgot to ask the obvious: is there a date code after the 303 on the blade tang, such as the "303V" in the second photo?

[whisky boehner]

Whisky,

Since you are having problems with photos, take a look at these two. Is the blade on your knife similar to either of these?

Bert

EDIT: I forgot to ask the obvious: is there a date code after the 303 on the blade tang, such as the "303V" in the second photo?

IMG_8494.jpgIMG_8498.jpg

Thanks for going to the trouble of posting the photos. No, there's no date code on mine. Just says Buck 303 U.S.A. It looks MORE like the pic on top for sure but as my blade comes to a point at the end (forgive my lack of proper terminology) where the blade has the swooping indentation/tip reinforcement area, mine looks thicker&more abrupt, and seemingly comes to more of a needle point at the tip. I've seen jobs where somebody will grind the tip of a knife to "repair" or compensate for damage and that has not been done on my knife. The factory shape and lack of grind marks/abrasion lead me to believe it is stock other than conventional sharpening.

[bertl]

Whisky,

If it's similar to the top photo and the tang is "Buck/303/usa" it is from 1974-1985 and is a 303 made by Camillus under contract to Buck.

Merry Christmas

Bert

[jerryd6818]

Send the pictures to [email protected]

I'd like to take a look at them, plus, what's the cell phone you're posting from? Flip phone, Android, Iphone, other?

[jmh58]

303 scored from OH.. Nice and friendly in the rfp!! Sharp too.. John

[whisky boehner]

Send the pictures to [email protected]

I'd like to take a look at them, plus, what's the cell phone you're posting from? Flip phone, Android, Iphone, other?

Email with pics sent, and thanks again for the offer. The phone is an old htc android. It's age and my computing ability have presented the occasional roadblock but it could be worse!

[jerryd6818]

Not sure what the issue is with your phone but take a peek at this thread on posting images from an Android phone ---► viewtopic.php?f=98&t=50073&p=615136#p615136

In the meantime here are the images you sent. They should work, they're .jpg I noticed they're pretty big but AAPK automatically resizes downloaded images so I don't see how that could be problematic. You might want to explore your phone and figure out how to reduce the size of the pictures you take. It's unnecessary for them to be that large.

[bertl]

Whisky,

Looking at the pictures, I think your knife has had a lot of sharpening. Can you get a picture of the knife looking down in the closed position. I'll bet the blade is a little short.

Bert

[jerryd6818]

Bert, the main is short.

[whisky boehner]

Bert, the main is short.

It looks like it may be, at least as i look down on it closed there's room for it to BE longer. BUT...That still doesn't explain why the top of the end of the blade has a deeper, factory appearing recessed area/reinforced area than the other 2 303's with open blades in this thread. It looks like a different main blade design to me, short or not.

Still attempting to post pics, but not optimistic. Perused your android pic posting link& my phone doesn't seem to even provide me those menu options.

[bertl]

the top of the end of the blade has a deeper, factory appearing recessed area/reinforced area

Whisky,

I am having trouble following your description.

Bert

[jerryd6818]

Bert, the main is short.

It looks like it may be, at least as i look down on it closed there's room for it to BE longer. BUT...That still doesn't explain why the top of the end of the blade has a deeper, factory appearing recessed area/reinforced area than the other 2 303's with open blades in this thread. It looks like a different main blade design to me, short or not.

Still attempting to post pics, but not optimistic. Perused your android pic posting link& my phone doesn't seem to even provide me those menu options.

Not at all familiar with your phone so I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to help you out there.

The shape of the blade shows it's short.

What you're seeing is called a "swedge". The Buck guys would need to back me up here but I'm going to guess that since it has a "swedge" and no date code, the knife is one of the older 303's.

If I'm going into too much detail on something you already know, please don't be offended. I don't know you so I don't know what you know and what you don't know.

This is a newer Buck 303 with no swedge on the main blade.

[whisky boehner]

the top of the end of the blade has a deeper, factory appearing recessed area/reinforced area

Whisky,

I am having trouble following your description.

Bert

Swedge! That's the word i was looking for, thanks for the reminder, Jerryd. I'm thinking the swedge on my 303 is stock and is noticeably more abrupt and deep than other 303's i see. There are no aftermarket grind marks on the swedge where it looks reshaped after a tip breakage related shortening/reshaping, and the tip just looks to equal and...well...perfect to my untrained eyeball to be a joe hobbyist last resort dremel job. I've seen quite a few knives over the years where a broken tip was "fixed" by reshaping the shortened blade, but this 303 just doesn't look that way to my eye. It's proportions are too equal and factory looking to me. Although I am certainly no expert (as evidenced by my lack of having swedge in my everyday lexicon). But hey, i'm here asking questions because i didn't even know Buck 303's existed until i snagged this one for $2.50 at the flea market. Been more of a leatherman tool, swiss army, and locking folder guy my whole life but am branching out.

[treefarmer]

Whether it's been tipped or not, you got a good knife for $2.50! I'm not up on Buck's policies but seems like they're pretty reasonable on blade replacement. I could use that one as it is, not a problem.
By the way, W B, to AAPK!
Treefarmer

[FRJ]

Bert, I think he means the swedge is wider on his blade than the one on your blade.

[bertl]

I think we need to remember that with the earlier knives a lot of the shaping and finishing of the blades was done by hand, so there was variation. I think the swedge on your knife, Whisky, is within the range of "normal". In addition to what I call the "cut" swedge there were periods when the 303 had no swedge and some that had what I call a "rolled" swedge. And just in case that isn't enough variety, the swedge on the earliest 303s, made by Schrade, was slightly different from those on the knives made by Camillus.

Bert

[whisky boehner]

I think we need to remember that with the earlier knives a lot of the shaping and finishing of the blades was done by hand, so there was variation. I think the swedge on your knife, Whisky, is within the range of "normal". In addition to what I call the "cut" swedge there were periods when the 303 had no swedge and some that had what I call a "rolled" swedge.

Bert

grind line 2.jpgswedge variations copy.jpgswedge variations top view.jpg

This makes sense, it's easy to forget in this day and age that some things were actually made by humans at one time. Even knowing that 303's can have unique characteristics, i'm still wondering if anybody else has a 303 with a swedge and tip that looks like mine, vs the other 2 303's initially posted in this thread which seem to be how the swedges on 303 are typically shaped in all the pics of them i come across.

[300Bucks]

I think everyone has hashed it out. If the OP was concerned that he had a special blade and didn't want to mess it up, let those concerns disappear.
That blade has been sharpened beyond a collectors desire. It is a user, for fine tip cutting, or could be re-bladed if you so desire. Likely the best way to do it , if Buck won't put modern blades on it, is to watch for a good bladed model with a trashed handle/scale and get someone to swap them. 300Bucks

[whisky boehner]

I think everyone has hashed it out. If the OP was concerned that he had a special blade and didn't want to mess it up, let those concerns disappear.
That blade has been sharpened beyond a collectors desire.

Not thinking i have a safe queen 303 by any means. It's been days of searching& i've yet to see another 303 with a swedge& blade shape like mine, and with all the 303's out there it strikes me as odd. Everybody that owns a 303 likely owns a camera. Need more weird swedged 303 pics. Surely there's more than one weird swedged 303 out there with a tip like mine. Pics should shed more light. Until photographic evidence of other 303's similar to mine emerge, I have decided my 303 is the best, most uniquely shaped, and rare 303 ever known to the internet. My pics prove it, and the lack of other 303 pics like it cements the legend of whisky boehner's 303.

[deltaboy]

You got a solid user!

[gino]

I think he’s talking about the pull not the swedge