Following is the history of the Buck-184 from
my website here. I am trying to update these pages and it is much easier for me to work with this then to to do so in HTML!
Overview of the Buckmaster
The Buck 184 "Buckmaster" is a large Bowie-bladed survival knife, allegedly developed at the request of the US Navy SEALs. I received the following photo from a visitor to this webpage which shows a Navy SEAL with a Buckmaster strapped to his hip.
NOTE: I lost this pic screwing with a bandwith thief... I hope I have a backup!
Click to see a larger image!
The knife has a blade that is approximately 7.5" (19cm) long, and is of the classic Bowie shape. The hollow-ground main edge is about 6.5" (16.5cm) long. The false edge is serrated on one side. The back of the blade features a very aggressive 3" (7.5cm) long sawback. Maximum blade width is about 1.5" (3.7cm), and the blade is .288 - .290-inch thick. The blade is forged 425mod steel. The handguard is about 6mm thick, with both ends curving slightly towards the blade. Each end is drilled and tapped for a 2" (51mm) long, 10mm diameter "point" which is designed to allow the knife to be used as an anchor when a line is attached to the lanyard ring at the pommel. The grip is 4" (102mm) long and 1.25" (2.8cm) in diameter, knurled and grooved for a sure grip. The grip is hollow, with a usable internal opening secured by the threaded pommel, which in turn is knurled, slightly larger in diameter than the grip, and sealed with a black rubber O-ring. The threaded pommel also secured a 4.5mm thick steel stamping which is pierced to provide a lanyard/rope hole.
Regarding the grappling hooks, these are described it the patent which
CAN BE SEEN HERE. In brief, the patent discusses the attachment of the grapples to the quillon with sufficient strength to support a load of 600 pounds and reference is made to a casting line. With this said, it is generally accepted that using the knife as a grappling hook, which implies the act of tying a rope to the pommel and throwing the knife, could be very hazardous! In fact, the last of the BUCKMASTER knives came with small flyers saying that using the knife as a grappling hook would void the warranty. A better use of these hooks are as anchor pins where knife can be wedged in some rocks or the crotch of a tree and used with a securing line off the lanyard loop attached to the hollow handle cap/pommel.
The sheath is of black rigid fiberglass-reinforced plastic. Attached to the front of the sheath are two removable black nylon pouches; the smaller one contains a full-size Silva Type 12 compass with a red cord lanyard. The back of the sheath has an inlaid sharpening stone. Heavy black nylon webbing is used to cover the stone, secure the two pouches to the sheath, secure the knife in its sheath, and provide a loop for a leg tie. An additional loop of black nylon webbing, with a Fastex-type closure, provides a quick-release belt loop.
As for the knife's production, the Buckmaster was tested by and issued to the Navy SEALs for a short time. I have read that the knurled metal handle did a number on hands while chopping; it didn't do too well in salt water tests; and it was very heavy. Commercial production lasted 13 years but cheaper copies led to the end of the Buckmaster. These days the Buck 184 "Buckmaster" is extremely popular with collectors and I personally use one as a camp knife. These knives are extremely rugged and the blade holds a sharp edge making them an excellent example of a Rambo era survival knife.
There are four finishes that I have seen on these knives. The most common are matte stainless steel silver and a black oxide finished as shown in the picture above. I have also seen a few polished stainless steel blades. Beyond these I have seen highly polished blades, gold plated blades, and even a damascus blade Buckmaster that came from Buck's Custom Shop. Photos are at the end of this post!
History of the Buckmaster
The Buckmaster was actually invented by Qual-A-Tec, a small R&D company formed in 1981. You can read more about
the history of Qual-A-Tec in another thread.
Charles A. (Mickey) Finn to starting Qual-A-Tec with the intension to develop products in support of the U.S. Special Forces. After a couple years of R&D work on other areas, Mickey was looking for other markets to develop products for and decided to go into the knife development business. Qual0A-Tec created a few knives before starting work on a new survival knife. The “Rambo” movies were just out and Mickey obtained three of the original knives to study.
Top to Bottom: Knives from Rambo I, Rambo II, and Rambo III
More Info on the Rambo Knives
The saw tooth look was “in” so it was used for the prototypes. Several blade shapes were looked at as well as handle designs and pommels. The design for the guard and the anchor pins came from Qual-A-Tec’s association with the Seal Teams. The desire was for a way to use the knife underwater to anchor the swimmers gear to a pier or other underwater anchor point.
The prototype was shown to Buck and Qual-A-Tec created a new company to deal with the license to Buck and to distribute the royalties. That company became Phrobis, Ltd. Buck was looking for a product to spark the dull knife market they were in and the Buckmaster really brought them publicity. They tried to hide the origin of the knife which is one reason the history of the development was kept quiet. Qual-A-Tec also wanted no publicity so the two company’s goals worked together.
Buck started production of this knife in late 1984 making 2600 that year. When Buck started production, the width of the blade was a real problem. This was before water jets and laser cutters became available so the production options were limited. Their first attempt was a die set that would blank the part from sheet stock. It lasted for only a few hundred blades then they had to abandon that idea. They had some machined out of sheet but they finally went to a forged blade. Knives from this era are stamped BUCK, 184, U.S.A. and will have a sand blasted finish. This finish differs from later versions with a shiny glass bead finish. In addition, there is a tiny dime sized compass which will be located in the pommel which was the case until approximately mid 1985. The sheath will be marked BUCK.
In 1985 it occurred to Qual-A-Tec that they should protect this knife with a patent. The stamp was changed in late 1985, to BUCK, 184, U.S.A., PAT. PEND. A new larger compass, made by Silva, was added and the tiny one was dropped. This new compass fit in the small accessory pouch on the front of the sheath. PAT. PEND. was also added to the sheath mark. In 1985 Buck made 53,000 of these knives, while the following year knockoffs became to appear and sales plummeted.
Patent Pending Buckmaster
In 1986 the knives were stamped BUCK, 184<, U.S.A., PAT. PEND. This is also the time that Buck switched to forged blanks instead of conventional blanks. The only way to distinguish a forged blank from a conventional is to look at the end of the tang, which is not possible on an assembled knife.
In mid 1986, records show a change to adding the rope cutting serrations “after” bead blasting. They would have a ground finish whereas the rest of the knife, excluding the edge, would have a bead blasted finish. The 184BK was added in September 1986. This knife was identical in all aspects to the previous version except for a black oxide finish.
Effective November 1986, all Buckmasters were identified with U.S. Pat. #4622707. This identification was done by means of an adhesive sticker placed on the box. In Early 1987, this same designation was forged into the relief groove in the blade. Buckmasters from this point on did not have a date code.
Post Patent Buck 184 with BUCKMASTER in blood grove
By the time they were discontinued in 1997, Buck had made 110,000 of these Knives in the various configurations.
Mickey, of Qual-A-Tec also built some prototype knives without the hollow handle. The solid handle knife had a series of holes in it and bumps to separate the fingers. Once Buck started forging the blades, this was an obvious addition to the product line. They built another forging die and the result
was the Buckmaster Lite.
Hybrid Mode
