DALTON OF THE WEEK - WACO

The Waco is the first of the two models that used Mr. Dalton's "Bar Lock". The Bar Lock is totally ambidextrous. Although the first two variants of the Waco did not have a reversible pocket clip, the third variant did, after a loyal Dalton fan andlefty suggested it to the Daltons. The first release of the Waco came out in February 2001 with what has been called a "reverse tanto" chisel ground blade. A few Wacos had that front "tanto" edge sharpened, but most did not. As far as I know, they all had gray handles and had either full beadblast or two tone blades. There were some PROTOs, with most marked on the front of the blade with "PROTO". However, some had the PROTO marking on the side of the blade opposite the Dalton logo and the "Waco" etch. Per a recent email from the Daltons, a total of 504 Wacos were made. Here's a pic of the first variant with a two tone blade. The PROTO marking is on the other side.

The dimensions are as follows:

Overall Length: 8 - 3/4"
Blade Length: 3 - 3/4"
Blade Thickness: 1/8"
Handle Thickness (not incl. buttons or clip): 0.485"

The second release of the Waco, which came out in March of 2001 had a double ground Wharncliffe blade. I think that all of these had gray handles and beadblast blades, but I could be wrong. Here's a picture of the second variant:



The third variant had black handles and was drilled for the pocket clip on both sides. In general, these had double ground beadblast Wharncliffe blades. These came out in April 2001. Here's a picture of the third Waco variant:



You'll notice that none of the knives above have serrated blades - only a few did. Some pieces were made based on the third variant, but with a two tone blade, serrations, PROTO marking, filework on the locking bar, and a ringed pivot screw. Mrs. D. indicated that Rob made up a one or two of these "specials" one day for the heck of it.