All About Pocket Knives

I disassembled this Buck 303 recently and I was pretty impressed with the way these are constructed. The disassembled knife was manufactured in the year 2000. Here’s a picture of another 303 that I have. I had assumed that the handle slabs would be glued onto the liners considering there is only one pin attaching the slabs in the center. I discovered upon disassembly that this is not the case. I encountered no glue whatsoever on the handle or anywhere else on the knife. The handles slabs are attached using what I would call a plastic “rivet”. I thought I could simply push those round black circles outward and the slab would pop off but that was not the case. Instead, I had to break those round circles off to get the slab off. I read up on this and I found out that prior to installation, the slabs have a post on them that goes through the large holes in the liners.

The post is then melted and sanded smooth. Those little ridges in the holes keep the melted rivets securely in place. The handle slabs cannot come loose unless those rivets break which is virtually impossible unless done intentionally. I know that Buck has literally made tens of thousands of these knives since this type of construction began and many people own a Buck 303 Cadet. I thought owners might like to know how your knife is constructed if you didn’t know already.

Hey Rick,
Thanks for posting that, it’s good info to have. I worked on a Klein Tools electrician knife recently and it used the same method for attaching handles.
One of our knife pros, Dale gave me some additional info on this method
“That method of attaching the handles is called the post method. Basically a post of Delrin, or whatever the handle material happens to be, is injected through the hole in the liner and then melted off flush on the inside.
Camillus used this process a great deal. I know that Camillus made a lot of knives for M Klein back in the fifties and early sixties, but after seeing those liners for the Post method I'm thinking that M Klein must have gone back to Camillus at some point in the last few years before they closed.
I always flatten out the liner and then drill new holes for the pins. It's not hard, just be sure you get the pins in line front to rear and also from side to side. “
Let us see what it looks like when you’re done with it!
Jeff

Jeffinn wrote:Hey Rick,
Thanks for posting that, it’s good info to have. I worked on a Klein Tools electrician knife recently and it used the same method for attaching handles.
One of our knife pros, Dale gave me some additional info on this method
“That method of attaching the handles is called the post method. Basically a post of Delrin, or whatever the handle material happens to be, is injected through the hole in the liner and then melted off flush on the inside.
Camillus used this process a great deal. I know that Camillus made a lot of knives for M Klein back in the fifties and early sixties, but after seeing those liners for the Post method I'm thinking that M Klein must have gone back to Camillus at some point in the last few years before they closed.
I always flatten out the liner and then drill new holes for the pins. It's not hard, just be sure you get the pins in line front to rear and also from side to side. “
Let us see what it looks like when you’re done with it!
Jeff

Thank you, Jeff. This is all new stuff to me. It hadn't occurred to me that this method might be used on other knives. I automatically think "glue" when I only see one pin or no pins.

This was my first time taking apart a slip joint. I have no plans for re-assembly. I just wanted to see how it was constructed.

I had read in the past that this is the method Buck has used since adopting VALOX as the handle material. The rosewood and yellow Delrin knives are attached differently (rivets). OH

That is very interesting Rick. I have 2 Buck 303's and never would have guessed they were made that way. Nice presentation by the way, with really good photographs.

I wonder if my Buck 301 & 309 were made in a similar fashion. Hmmmmm...

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Mike

Observing pictures in catalogs, it appears that Camillus stopped pinning the handles and started using the "post method" of attaching handles in about 1976. Not being a Buck person, I never paid much attention to them. It does make me wonder how many of Buck's knives were made by Camillus.

Old Hunter wrote:I had read in the past that this is the method Buck has used since adopting VALOX as the handle material. The rosewood and yellow Delrin knives are attached differently (rivets). OH

Thanks Bruce.

XX Case XX wrote:That is very interesting Rick. I have 2 Buck 303's and never would have guessed they were made that way. Nice presentation by the way, with really good photographs.

I wonder if my Buck 301 & 309 were made in a similar fashion. Hmmmmm...

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Mike

Thanks Mike. To the best of my knowledge all 300 series knives made in house by Buck with VALOX handles are made this way but I've found that nothing is carved in stone when it comes to Buck knives.

For example, the shield on the 303 that I disassembled is supposed to be an integrated part of the frame. The liner, bolsters, and shield should all be one solid piece of steel but my shield appears to have a solder line. I've been trying to find out why but I'm at a stalemate.

jerryd6818 wrote:Observing pictures in catalogs, it appears that Camillus stopped pinning the handles and started using the "post method" of attaching handles in about 1976. Not being a Buck person, I never paid much attention to them. It does make me wonder how many of Buck's knives were made by Camillus.

Jerry, I don't have time to look it up right now but I think I remember reading that Camillus used Delrin and the "post method" of construction began when Buck took over production and started using VALOX.

Both Delrin and Valox are thermoplastic polymer resins. A few years ago Joe Houser told me that BUCK does not have "injection molding technology in house"; therefore, the plastic scales are attached to the frame by an outside contractor. The "saw cut" pattern is pressed onto the scales at the same time. The plastic rivets have been used for a long time, even on the Camillus contract knives. The holes in the frame for the rivets is slightly dished to capture the pressed plastic.

Bert

bertl wrote:Both Delrin and Valox are thermoplastic polymer resins. A few years ago Joe Houser told me that BUCK does not have "injection molding technology in house"; therefore, the plastic scales are attached to the frame by an outside contractor. The "saw cut" pattern is pressed onto the scales at the same time. The plastic rivets have been used for a long time, even on the Camillus contract knives. The holes in the frame for the rivets is slightly dished to capture the pressed plastic.

Bert

scale rivets.jpg

Thanks Bert!

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"For example, the shield on the 303 that I disassembled is supposed to be an integrated part of the frame. The liner, bolsters, and shield should all be one solid piece of steel but my shield appears to have a solder line. I've been trying to find out why but I'm at a stalemate."

The shield tower, liner, and bolsters are all one piece. Since the shield tower started when using sintered nickel silver for the integrated frame began, it's the easiest way to do it. I had the same question, so I sliced through the tower and frame to check. It is not soldered.

Bert

bertl wrote:_________

"For example, the shield on the 303 that I disassembled is supposed to be an integrated part of the frame. The liner, bolsters, and shield should all be one solid piece of steel but my shield appears to have a solder line. I've been trying to find out why but I'm at a stalemate."

The shield tower, liner, and bolsters are all one piece. Since the shield tower started when using sintered nickel silver for the integrated frame began, it's the easiest way to do it. I had the same question, so I sliced through the tower and frame to check. It is not soldered.

Bert

Bert, I hope you know how helpful that was. I've been trying to get an answer on that for a week. THANK YOU!

Great info and pictures guys. Thanks

I was interested in how history almost always circles back around while reading this thread. Someone is always re-discovering construction methods of 300 series Buck folders. But, always remember 300 series knives started off first as contract made knives, then went to models 301,303,309 and 305 knifes being assembled in-house by Buck. Other models continued to be made by contract by Camillus until they were phased out and eventually the Camillus factory closed. Smokey Mountain Knife Works had a couple of models made just for them as Camillus closed down and they will not have model numbers stamped on the tangs. No 300 model was ever made 100 per cent in the Buck factory as Bert explains above.
The big answer here is 300s have a varied beginning so don't think they were all made the same way over their lifetimes.

Buck has dropped the models 309 and 305, I am not holding my breath on the 303 and 301 unless overseas contracting of models for the big box stores is dropped in the future. Non-locking folding pocket knives have always been second cousins in the Buck generations.