Buck knives?

[Flying Crane]

What do people think of the overall quality of Buck knives, particularly their fixed-blade sheath knives such as the model 119?

I know these are intended to be hunting/camping/utility knives and not specifically combat pieces. But that aside, what do people think of the quality of their materials and workmanship, for use as either a tool or a potential weapon?

Thanks!

 

[tellner]

Buck knives were the best mass produced camp/utility knives in their day. Their day was a while ago.

 

[Flying Crane]

Buck knives were the best mass produced camp/utility knives in their day. Their day was a while ago.

How long ago would you say that was, and specifically what problems do you believe have developed with their products?

 

[Skpotamus]

It seems that when they went to chinese manufacturing for their knives that the quality of steel and workmanship went downhill.

Just my $0.02

 

[Flying Crane]

What do you notice, specifically? Breakage issues? Handles falling apart? Something like that?

 

[Xue Sheng]

All my Buck Knives are about 20 years old and very good but I have no idea what they are like today. But I was looking for a good pocket knife and considering a Buck based on my old knives but I will follow this post to see if it is a good idea or not.

I have a lot of older Case Knives as well and I recently bought a Case based on my experience with my old knives and I will say I am not impressed by the new stuff. I was hoping Buck had not gone the same route

 

[Flying Crane]

All my Buck Knives are about 20 years old and very good but I have no idea what they are like today. But I was looking for a good pocket knife and considering a Buck based on my old knives but I will follow this post to see if it is a good idea or not.

I have a lot of older Case Knives as well and I recently bought a Case based on my experience with my old knives and I will say I am not impressed by the new stuff. I was hoping Buck had not gone the same route

well, I have a Buck Model 119, which is a fixed-blade sheath knife with a 6 inch blade. I believe it is the largest size they make now, tho they used to have the model 120 which had a blade about an inch and a half longer. Big monster. Anyway, I got that in about 1991 or so, and it's been a good knife tho I admitedly have never put it thru severe use. I also have a lockback folder, don't remember the model number, got that about 6 years ago and have used it as a woodcarving tool. Again, not anything you could call severe, but i have had no complaints.

I just picked up another fixed blade, their skinning knife, tho I don't remeber the model number. It's a fixed blade, with the black synthetic/plastic something handle, aluminum pommel, similar in style to the model 119 but with a shorter and more curved blade. At least on the surface, it appears to be comparable to the one I got over 15 years ago.

Anyway, I appreciate the comments, I hope someone will take the time to give some more specific details.

Anyone know if they use a full-length tang, or how it is secured in the handle?

 

[Skpotamus]

From my experience with them working at sporting goods places during college (A private gun shop, Walmart and Gander Mountain), the newer buck knives don't hold an edge as well as the older ones. They also seem to be more brittle, we would get a lot of knicked blades and broken tips coming back in.

How much of that was neglect and abuse is hard to say, but I just didn't see that happening with the Buck's that were still made in the USA, or some of the other companies (benchmade, spyderco, Case). I have to admit, I was pretty upset to see "Made in China" stamped on a buck knife, so that might be coloring my opinion somewhat.

Some of them were still made in the US as of 2004, but from what I remember, those were the more expensive ones, and they might be foreign made now.

I personally think that a better fixed knife would be one from Kabar or Benchmade from my experiences with them. I've also been EXTREMELY happy with my Cold Steel knives.

YMMV

 

[Flying Crane]

I did speak with someone in a shop yesterday where they sell Buck knives, and asked about this.

their take on it is that it is possible that the quality has dropped off a bit, but they feel there are two issues at play. The first is that SOME of the Buck models are now made overseas, while their longtime tried and true models are still made in the USA (it's stamped on the blade). They feel that the most noticeable drop in quality is seen in the overseas models, while the USA models are still held to a higher quality. They did concede however that it is possible the USA models may also not be quite so good as they once were. I suspect this is an unfortunate inevitability as a company gets bigger and looks for ways to save money in manufacturing. At any rate, they felt that the USA knives were still very good, and should be very close to what they were back in the day.

The USA models are the fixed-blade knives like the model 119, and their old lockblade folders, I don't remember the names or model numbers but this is the wood grip, brass fittings style that is heavily copied by other cheap makers. Buck has these in a two or three different sizes. There may be others as well that are USA made, I'm not familiar with all of their models.

So that's what I found out so far...

 

[Xue Sheng]

IThe USA models are the fixed-blade knives like the model 119, and their old lockblade folders, I don't remember the names or model numbers but this is the wood grip, brass fittings style that is heavily copied by other cheap makers. Buck has these in a two or three different sizes. There may be others as well that are USA made, I'm not familiar with all of their models.

So that's what I found out so far...

The big folding hunter is the 110 and I have a 110 that is over 20 years old and it is a GREAT knife and it has been used a lot.

EDIT

And I believe the next size down is called Ranger

 

[Flying Crane]

The big folding hunter is the 110 and I have a 110 that is over 20 years old and it is a GREAT knife and it has been used a lot.

EDIT

And I believe the next size down is called Ranger

Yes, that sounds right. I've had the hunter/110 for about 6 years and i've had no complaints. I just picked up a Ranger yesterday...

 

[Xue Sheng]

Yes, that sounds right. I've had the hunter/110 for about 6 years and i've had no complaints. I just picked up a Ranger yesterday...

Now that I have done the math I have had my 110 over 30 years.

I actually did test it based on the commercials of the time and hammered it through a nail and it did hold its edge. However after that I discovered that if you did do that it voided the warranty. So I guess if it breaks now I can't return it :uhyeah:

I do not think I would try that test with any Buck knife I got today though

 

[Xue Sheng]

Yes, that sounds right. I've had the hunter/110 for about 6 years and i've had no complaints. I just picked up a Ranger yesterday...

Now that I have done the math I have had my 110 over 30 years and it has gotten a lot of use and abuse over the years.

I actually did test it based on the commercials of the time (when I first got it) and hammered it through a nail and it did hold its edge. However after that I discovered that if you did do that it voided the warranty. So I guess if it breaks now I can't return it :uhyeah:

 

[Flying Crane]

Now that I have done the math I have had my 110 over 30 years and it has gotten a lot of use and abuse over the years.

I actually did test it based on the commercials of the time (when I first got it) and hammered it through a nail and it did hold its edge. However after that I discovered that if you did do that it voided the warranty. So I guess if it breaks now I can't return it :uhyeah:

heh, yeah, I wouldn't try it with one today. Maybe it would hold up, maybe it wouldn't, but at about $65 it's just expensive enough that I don't feel I need to test it to its breaking point. Would be interesting to do tho, if I could get someone else to pay for them...

 

[tellner]

It's not so much that their quality has dropped off, although I think it isn't quite what it was ten years or so ago. It's more that the competition has gotten better since the glory days of the sixties seventies when they were bigger fish in a much smaller pond. Back then there was no Spyderco, no Kershaw or Benchmade. Puma and Boker was exotic, and the aluminum-handled Gerber hunting knives were about as good as it got.

Now there are lots and lots of knife companies. Buck didn't change enough or fast enough and got left behind.

 

[Xue Sheng]

, but at about $65

I think I paid $20 for mine, and a Ranger then was $15, but then that was over 30 years ago and if I remember correctly that was not cheap then but I was a teenager... with a new Buck Knife... a hammer.... and a nail...so what did I care

 

[Flying Crane]

It's not so much that their quality has dropped off... It's more that the competition has gotten better since the glory days of the sixties seventies when they were bigger fish in a much smaller pond.

...

Now there are lots and lots of knife companies. Buck didn't change enough or fast enough and got left behind.

Hey Tellner,

Let's assume for the sake of argument that the quality of the USA made Buck knives is equal to what it was at their best.

What kind of issues/features/qualities do you feel they should have incorporated in order to keep up with the competition? What do you feel makes the other brands surpass the Bucks?

Thanks!

 

[tellner]

By now they've adopted all the features that have become standard. The problem is that while others were innovating they sat still and fell behind. For instance, they were slow off the mark with easy one-hand opening and convenient safe locking mechanisms on their folders.

The Bucks I've handled recently have had a few problems. The old-style squarish black plastic handle is still there, still slippery, still gives a weird grip. Their fondness for fixed blades with scales that don't cover the tang completely is a definite fashion statement. But it gives a poor, sometimes uncomfortable grip and leans heavily towards sharp, square corners which are guaranteed to dig in at the wrong time.

The "tactical" line, like pretty much all such is more about fantasy and self image than actual use. Any time I see "tactical", "camo", "SpecOps" or "military and law enforcement" I think of it as art, not tools

 

[bakxierboxer]

... I think it isn't quite what it was ten years or so ago. It's more that the competition has gotten better since the glory days of the sixties seventies when they were bigger fish in a much smaller pond. Back then there was no Spyderco....

Spyderco definitely doesn't go back to the 60s.
They started with one of those desk/bench-top multi-armed model-gripping holders..... most others now come with attached magnifying lenses.
In any case, that's where they got the "spyder" portion of the company name.

Their first sharpeners were introduced @ 1978,and the first Clip-Its @ 1981.
I got dragged to the NYC Knife Show by a student & met Sal Glesser there.
He was enthusiastically doing demos of the sharpeners on his knives and showing the sharpness thereof by cutting continuous S-curves in pieces of paper he would hold up by one corner.

He "sold" me, and I became a dealer....... for about 15 years.
(mostly to support my own and my student's "habit")

 

[bakxierboxer]

As for the dates from my Google seach......

{{"Funny", but I could SWEAR that I was dealing in Spyderco stuff prior to the dates I got off of Google refs.... I "recall" selling out of my school which I closed in '78......}}

I also sold some replica TCMA gear that I had commissioned with Oscar Kolombatovich, a Military Historian and instructor at West Point who owned "Excaliber".

His son George was highly ranked in epee competition and I believe taught fencing at NYU....