Buck Knives history

Hoyt left Kansas in 1907 for the American northwest and eventually enlisted in the United States Navy.

When Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1941, Buck was no longer an enlisted man, but began hand making knives using worn field blades.

1942: Buck returns to knifemaking to support the war effort.

With the war over, in 1946 Hoyt and his wife moved to San Diego, where their son Al lived with his family.

Finally, in 1947, Al agreed to join his father and they established a business, H.H. Buck & Son.

Hoyt Buck made 25 knives a week until his death in 1949.

The secret to the sharpness of a Buck knife lies in the heat treating process that Paul Bos developed in 1956.

Buck Knives Close to Bankruptcy by 1960

On April 7, 1961, the articles of incorporation were filed, and a month later Al Buck was named president and chairman of the board.

On April 18, 1963, two years after incorporating, the Buck board of directors authorized development of a new folding utility and hunting knife.

The Buck Model 110 has a 33⁄4–inch blade, a high-tension lock, and a low-pressure release; the handles are typically wood with bolsters of heavy-gauge brass. Its debut revolutionized hunting knives, rapidly becoming one of the most popular knives ever made, with some 15 million Model 110 knives produced since 1964.

CJ, who now serves as CEO, President, and Chairman, started out on the production line in 1978.

The downturn in the economy forced the company to face some crucial issues. As a result, Buck Knives began to expand its product mix, which numbered 40 knives in 1982--many of which were undercut by cheaper imitations--but would grow to 200 ten years later.

Buck introduced the Buckmaster, a survival knife with a hollow storage handle and a 7.5 inch blade with a serrated spine, in 1984.

Although the Army received its bayonets at the agreed price, Probis and Buck Knives went to court over their differences, the matter not settled until April 1991 when Buck Knives agreed to buy the patents to the three knives developed with Finn.

In 1992, Buck debuted the Nighthawk, which was a fixed-blade knife that was 6.5 inches tall and had a black handle made of Zytel for an ergonomic grip.

Since 1993, Buck has mostly used 420HC stainless steel for Model 110 blades, although CPM S30V steel has also been used for some production runs.

In 1994, Buck Knives topped the $50 million mark in annual revenues for the first time, fueled in large part by the success of its "CrossLock" series developed for law enforcement and paramedic crews and named by Blade magazine as its Knife of the Year.

In early 1998, Buck Knives signed an exclusive agreement with Compass Licensing to pursue the kind of outdoor products a Buck knife consumer would use.

CJ Buck is the president and CEO today (and since 1999), and is the grandson of Al Buck.

The company that started out in a lean-to next to the family garage in San Diego, in 2002 began to consider moving its headquarters and manufacturing plant to a lower cost part of the country.

Bos received the Blade Magazine Industry Achievement Award in 2007 for his involvement in heat treating technology.

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He remained active in the company as Chairman of the Board until his passing in 2015.