I’ve been wrong about the Buck 119 Special, and it’s time to set the record straight.
In fact, I made all sorts of assumptions about the 119 and blabbed all about them as if they were facts. My intention was never to deceive or even to be lazy in my research; I simply think I conflated the 119 with another knife.
In any case, the beautiful 6-inch upswept, clip-point fixed blade knife, much loved by hunters for decades, was not developed for hunting.
The Buck 119 Special was designed in reaction to a call for combat knives from the U.S. military in the early stages of World War II.
The Ka-bar Mk 2 Fighting Utility Knife design won out, but the Buck 119 Special went on to become one of the most popular hunting knives ever. It always seemed strange to me that such a wicked-looking Bowie-style blade was designed for dressing game. Duh.
Another thing I got wrong recently was the standard handle material of the 119 handle; it is not Cellidor as I stated. That is the plastic material Victorinox uses on their knife handles.
The Buck 119 Special’s blocky but comfortable handle is phenolic. What is phenolic, you ask? It’s a synthetic polymer created from the reaction of phenol with formaldehyde and was one of the first commercial resins (also used to make billiard balls).
While I’m writing about it, I guess this is a great place to state that the Buck 119 Special is another on my list of one-fixed-blade-solution knives, being all you need if fixed blades “aren’t your thing.”
Cheers to the 119!
Knife Junkie out.
Todd Hunt, T.M. Hunt Custom Knives: The Knife Junkie Podcast (Episode 473)
Todd Hunt of T.M. Hunt Custom Knives joins Bob "The Knife Junkie" DeMarco on Episode 473 of The Knife Junkie Podcast (theknifejunkie.com/473).
In 2013, Todd officially started T.M. Hunt Custom Knives, making each knife entirely by hand, one at a time. He quit his nearly 20-year career in the machining trade to pursue his love of making knives with a renewed resolve to produce fine handmade knives any collector would be proud to own.
T.M. Hunt Custom Knives have been featured on the Food Network and Discovery Channel, in six different magazines, and in the collections of celebrities.
Find T.M. Hunt Custom Knives online at www.tmhuntcustomknives.com and on Instagram at www.instagram.com/t.m.huntcustomknives.
I want this