THE FAVORITE BLADE: Two things of note happened late in 1963: The Beatles had their first gold record in the United States and Al Buck had a smash hit that is still a smash hit today. Buck took an old idea - the folding knife - and put it in a striking new form. It had a brass frame, macassar ebony handle insets, and a stainless clip-point blade that locked open. It was too big and heavy to fit in a pocket, so it came with a leather belt sheath. There have been eight versions of the Buck 110 Folding Hunter over the years and more than 12 million sold.