Buck Knives: On the Cutting Edge
By Joel Kilpatrick
Courtesy of Vanguard University Fall Magazine 2006

On the bustling factory floor of Buck Knives Inc. in northern Idaho, sparks fly, knife-grinding machines shriek and workers put the final polish on the blades of the most famous knives in the world.

“These are the sights and sounds of a knife factory,” says Chuck Buck, longtime CEO and third generation leader of this family-owned company. Under his leadership, Buck Knives went from a cottage business to one of the world’s premier knife makers.

“People always ask me if I had a vision that this would happen. I didn’t,” says Chuck. “It just kept going. I didn’t know I would make knives for a living. I don’t think my grandfather or father knew it would grow like it did.”

But success didn’t come easy, and even as the Buck name became synonymous with high quality and their famous lifetime guarantee, the family overcame potentially devastating mistakes in business and their personal lives.

“We struggled a lot,” says Chuck. “We had good years and we had rough years.”

Chuck was born in 1936 and grew up hearing the “shrill sound of steel against a grinding wheel at 3 a.m.” as his father ground knives in a shop behind their San Diego home. Buck Knives then was a tiny business producing five handmade knives per day. Chuck’s father, Al, drove a transit bus to earn a living.

The first Buck knives had been sold in 1902 by Chuck’s grandfather, Hoyt, then a 13-year-old blacksmith’s apprentice in Kansas who had found a way to temper steel harder so blades held an edge longer. He sold his knives to friends and local farmers.

But knives didn’t become the family business until the 1940s. Hoyt was pastoring an Assembly of God church in Mountain Home, Idaho, and there made thousands of knives for the local servicemen, forging blades in the church basement. In 1945, Hoyt came to San Diego and asked son Al to help him build the knife business. All was reluctant.

“My dad didn’t feel there was any way you could support a family making knives,” says Chuck. “But my grandfather was persistent.”

The men built a small shop in the backyard and began making knives by hand. Hoyt continued to pastor churches. (Three of his sons, George, Roland and Walt, graduated from Northwest Bible College and went into full-time ministry.)

The Bucks’ knives sold for $5 apiece and had a lifetime guarantee. (Those knives fetch thousands of dollars from collectors today.) But when Hoyt was diagnosed with cancer, the fledgling company faced its first crisis. While laying in the hospital bed Hoyt taught Al the finer points of grinding a blade. When he was satisfied that Al could carry on the trade, “He said, ‘Now I feel comfortable about leaving,’” Chuck says. “If he hadn’t done that, the company wouldn’t be here.”

Hoyt died in 1949 and Buck Knives passed to Al who, with Chuck’s help, kept it going through the ‘50s.

In 1957 Chuck served in the Navy and joined Buck Knives full time. The company was struggling. Neither Chuck nor Al had a financial education, aside from a few correspondence courses, but at their pastor’s suggestion they incorporated the business in 1961 and began ramping up production. A member of the church choir hocked his house to invest seed money.

Buck Knives grew; modernized equipment and more employees allowed it to make hundreds of knives a day. Chuck ran the factory floor while Al visited dealers nationwide. But it was a challenging time financially.

“We always prayed God would keep us alive, and help us to make good decisions and have creative ideas,” Chuck says.

That prayer was answered in a big way in 1963 when Al and Chuck came up with their flagship design, the Folding Hunter, a four-inch locking hunting knife.

“The idea was to make a knife the size a hunter needs,” says Chuck. “Hunters wanted something they could close so it would be safe. Our design also locked open, solving a problem of the knife closing when gutting. And it was compact.”

The Folding Hunter quickly became one of the most popular (and emulated) knives ever made. When people refer to a “Buck knife” they almost always mean the Folding Hunter. It remains the company’s best seller today. A third of the 8,000 knives Buck Knives Inc. turns out daily are Folding Hunters.

The Folding Hunter’s success turned Buck Knives into a household name. The profits fueled new growth. The company grew to as many as 600 employees and moved to ever-larger factories in the San Diego area. The Bucks also allowed churches to meet free of charge in the plant on weekends.

Buck Knives has continued to lead the industry. It also has stayed true to its Christian commitment. From day one, the company has included a gospel message with every knife it sends out. Today the company still includes the gospel message with each knife and donates thousands of refurbished knives to overseas missionaries to use as barter.

“For many years, Chuck Buck and Buck Knives have been a blessing to our work,” says Tim Meisel, missionary and treasurer of New Tribes Mission which plants churches among unreached people groups. “As our missionaries spend time with tribal people, giving a Buck knife means more than words because often the people have no access to a tool as simple and useful as a knife. Buck knives have gone into jungles, plains and deserts in South America, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Chuck is helping expand the reach of the gospel to every tribe.”

In 2005 Buck Knives moved to Post Falls, an outdoor recreation haven in northern Idaho, where the costs of doing business are substantially lower and the pristine surroundings match the company’s outdoors image.

“Having Buck Knives move to Idaho was wonderful coup for our state,” says Idaho governor Jim Risch, who gives Buck knives to visiting dignitaries and often holds publicity events at the plant. “Not only do they produce a quality product that is internationally known, they are a family-owned company that invests in their employees and the community. Chuck is an outstanding business leader who has passed on those traits to family members.”

Chuck now serves as chairman of the board of Buck Knives. His son CJ is president. Chuck’s grandchildren and son-in-law work at the plant.

When asked why Buck Knives continues to be such a respected brand, Chuck offers no silver bullet.

“I’ve thought quite a bit about why our name is so strong in the marketplace,” he says. “I don’t have a good answer for why. We know we have to come out with outstanding products every year. [And] I know the Lord has blessed us for honoring Him.”