Mystery 1960s Buck or I am just not on my A game.

[The Little Things]

I'm hoping someone can help identify an early fixed blade that has me scratching my head.

The knife has the early inverted two-line tang stamp. It has a black phenolic handle, aluminum pommel with a lanyard hole, double guard, and a clip point blade. The knife measures exactly 12" overall, with a blade length of exactly 7" measured from the front of the guard to the tip. The blade measures 1⅜" at its widest point. It's currently in a George Lawrence Co. leather sheath stamped 5DL, but I believe that's a replacement sheath and not original to the knife.

My first thought was that it was an early Buck 120 General because of the overall length and inverted tang stamp. However, the blade is much broader than every 120 General I've been able to compare it to, and at 1⅜" wide it seems much closer to a 124 Frontiersman. On the other hand, the blade is significantly longer than the published 6¼" blade length of a 124, and the overall length is also longer than a standard Frontiersman.

Were there any early production variations of the 120 or 124 during the inverted two-line tang stamp era that would account for these dimensions, or is there another Buck model I should be considering? I'd appreciate any thoughts from those familiar with the early Buck fixed blades. I've attached photos of both sides of the knife, the tang stamp, and the sheath. Thanks in advance for any help.

[Killgar]

Looks like either a Buck "Nemo" or one of the earliest 124 "Frontiersman" models. They were the same knife, but the "Nemo" came with a plastic dive sheath and the "Frontiersman" a leather sheath (fold-over snap-down flap design). Both of these knives had a 7" blade. These knives had the two line inverted tang stamps just like yours.

Are you sure the pommel is aluminum and not stainless steel? They did switch to aluminum pommels, but I don't believe those knives had phenolic handles (they switched to micarta). Unless your knife was made in some kind of crossover period.

You can read the history of these knives here- https://www.buckknives.com/blog/buck-hi ... ntiersman/

Here is an old advertisement for those knives-

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