Brand · Knives & Tools
Buck Knives makes two kinds of knife for hunters and campers: fixed-blade hunting knives that ride in a sheath, and folding knives, from the lockback 110 Folding Hunter to small traditional pocket knives. Here's the thing: inside one brand, the choice is the same as anywhere else. Fixed or folding first, then blade shape, then steel and lock. Most Buck knives in the grid list 420HC stainless steel, so the real differences are size, shape and how the knife closes. (Plain and simple. My shop students got this in one class period.)
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On this site, Buck Knives covers two product types: fixed-blade knives and folding knives. Inside those two, the lineup splits into six groups you'll see in the grid above:
The grid filters by type and changes as listings come and go. So I'll write about the groups and what separates them, not about how many of each are listed this week.
Most of the specs here come from Amazon listings, and the grid marks those values. Where a listing doesn't say, the grid shows a dash. I didn't fill in the gaps from memory, and neither should you.
This is the group most people picture when they hear "Buck hunting knife." The listings describe 420HC stainless blades, full-tang builds on most models, and leather sheaths. The names are numbers:
Blade lengths run from a compact skinner up to the long clip point on the 120 General. A short blade does the careful work around a deer; a long clip point like the 120 is more of a camp knife. The skinning knife page and the bowie knife page cover those shapes across brands.
The second fixed-blade group trades wood and leather for rubber and nylon. The listings describe:
The difference from the classics is materials, plain and simple: synthetic handles and, on several models, synthetic sheaths instead of wood and leather. More on the type is on the hunting knife page.
The Compadre is the odd one in the fixed-blade grid. Its listing names 5160 steel, a carbon steel, not a stainless one, with a canvas Micarta handle and a leather sheath. It's built for camp chores more than for skinning. Camp-knife jobs and shapes are on the camping knife page.
Carbon steel asks for more care than stainless. Morakniv's steel guide says carbon steel needs careful drying and oiling after use to prevent rust, and that it's easier to resharpen than stainless. Wipe it dry the same day, every time.
The 110 Folding Hunter is the knife the brand gets asked about most. New Atlas's history of it says Buck first marketed the 110 in 1964, and describes the lock: a back spring that hooks a lock bar running along the spine. Press the bar on the back of the handle and the lock lets go.
The lockbacks in the grid, per their listings:
The big lockbacks come with a sheath for a reason: a 110 in a jeans pocket feels like carrying a small brick. (I've carried a lockback in deer camp since before some of these model numbers existed. The brick part is not an exaggeration.) The pocket knife page covers locks across brands.
The traditional patterns sound like a feed-store order: Stockman, Trio, Canoe, Deuce, Solo, Toothpick. The listings describe them as non-locking slip joints with 420J2 stainless blades, and several carry two or three blades (clip, spey, sheepsfoot, pen, coping).
A slip joint doesn't lock. Benchmade's mechanisms guide explains that a back spring presses on the blade's tang and holds it at open and closed stops. So it can fold under pressure on the back of the blade. That's fine for opening feed sacks and whittling a tent stake. It's not a knife for prying, and nothing in a pocket should be. Whittling-sized jobs are on the whittling knife page.
The newest-looking group in the grid: the 252 Trunk with its cleaver-shaped blade, the 251 Langford and the 264 Cavalier. Their listings name 7Cr17MoV stainless steel, G10 or aluminum handles and pocket clips, and the Langford and Cavalier open with a flipper (a small tab on the back of the blade you push with a finger).
Danny calls a pocket clip "the part that keeps the knife out of Renee's laundry." He has never once clipped one. Everyday-carry picks are on the everyday carry knife page.
A fixed blade has no pivot or lock to clean. A folder fits a pocket. If the knife's main job is field dressing, start with the fixed blades; if it rides in your pocket every day, start with the folders. The fixed blade knife page lays out the trade across brands.
My one opinion on this page: keep a dedicated field-dressing knife, and don't let it moonlight in the kitchen. Cornell's Wildlife Health Lab recommends a dedicated set of tools for field dressing, not used for butchering, washed with soap and hot water between animals.
The grid's shape field does most of the sorting:
Lockback, slip joint, flipper frame or liner lock: each closes differently. Benchmade's guide says a lockback closes by pressing the back spring to release the lock, and a liner or frame lock by pushing the lock bar aside, with your fingers out of the blade's path. Learn the close at home before the first trip.
The sheath decides where the knife lives on you. The listings describe leather sheaths on the classic fixed blades and the Compadre, nylon on the Vanguard, plastic on the PakLite Cape, and a sheath with the 110 Folding Hunter. The EDC folders and the Slim Select skip the sheath and use a pocket clip instead.
Rule of thumb: try the sheath on the belt you actually hunt in, over the coat you actually wear in November. A knife that fights a hip belt or a harness strap all morning gets unclipped by 9 a.m. and set on the dashboard, where it stays until April. Saddle and stand straps change where a belt knife can sit, so check that too.
Most of the lineup lists 420HC stainless. The traditional slip joints list 420J2, the EDC flippers 7Cr17MoV, and the Compadre 5160 carbon steel. The practical split is stainless versus carbon: stainless resists rust with less care, and carbon wants drying and oil after every use.
A knife is a tool, and tools want the same three things: clean, dry and oiled. AKTI's maintenance guide recommends:
AKTI also notes that water can harm even stainless steel, and that salt water is especially hard on it. Wipe the blade after a wet day.
Cut away from your body and keep your fingers out of a folder's closing arc. AKTI warns that once the lock is released, the spring can snap the blade shut.
Both brands make fixed-blade and folding knives, and both turn up in the same searches. On this site the differences are in the mix:
Gerber's own about page says Gerber started in 1939 in Portland, Oregon, that it manufactures in Portland, and that it's part of Fiskars Group. If you want a multi-tool from the same purchase, that's Gerber's side of the grid. If you want a traditional slip joint, that's Buck's. The Gerber brand page has its lineup.
Here's what I could verify from sources outside a store shelf:
Warranty details are left to the FAQ, with a pointer to the maker's own terms.
Oil the pivot, dry the sheath slowly, and put the knife back where it lives. Next November it'll be right there.
What the listings show is checkable: most Buck knives in the grid name 420HC stainless steel, the fixed blades list full tangs and leather or nylon sheaths, and the folders list lockbacks or traditional slip joints. Whether one suits you depends on the job: field dressing, camp chores or pocket carry. Pick the type and the blade shape first, then compare the specs.
Buck Knives manufactures in Post Falls, Idaho, where it moved in 2005, according to the Coeur d'Alene Area Economic Development Corporation. On Amazon, most of the 420HC fixed blades and lockbacks in the grid say made in the USA in their listings. Some models don't say so, so read the listing of the exact knife.
Buck Knives is a family business. The Coeur d'Alene Area Economic Development Corporation describes CJ Buck, great-grandson of founder Hoyt Buck, as the fourth generation of the family to run the company, and dates the first Buck knife to 1902.
New Atlas's history of the 110 Folding Hunter mentions Buck's lifetime warranty, and one listing in the grid names a lifetime warranty too. The maker's current terms are on its own site. Read them before you count on any coverage, especially for sharpening damage or changes you've made to the knife.
Both, depending on how you carry it. The 110 Folding Hunter is a lockback folder with a clip point blade, and its listings include a sheath. New Atlas says Buck first marketed it in 1964. It's larger than most pocket knives, which is why many hunters carry it on the belt.
The product grid on this page links to Buck Knives listings on Amazon US, filtered by fixed blade and folding knife. Some knives may not ship to every address; Amazon shows that at checkout. Knife carry rules vary by state, so check your state's rules before you carry one.
