1993 Vanguard in need of "Spa" treatment?

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DesertChris

Joined
Sep 8, 2013
Messages
1,472
OK.... I have had this Vanguard since '93, and when I gave away virtually all my other knives in '01, I kept this one.
It has been camping, hunting, travelling with me on countless occassions.
It has been to Mexico, England and Scotland.
I truly love this knife!
I have used, but babied it for 20 years

Anyway.... my gal banned me, and my pack of bird dogs, from hunting birds anymore.
So these days the trusty Vanguard has been doing its hunting duties..... in the gardens....for vegetables...lol

Unfortunately the belt loop on the sheath is very soft now, and the knife, and sheath, flops around a bit on the belt.
Therefore a few months ago it snagged the handle on the garden fence gate and scratched it deeper than I can stand.
Also the pommel has come free recently...it tightens back no problem, but still bugs me.

Since then, I have put the 192 on vacation and put my 110 on vegetable hunting duty.

So my questions are:
1) Any recommendations on how to eliminate those scratches (they are deeper than they look in the photo) perhaps fill them in with clear varnish etc....
2) is there a clearcoat on this year, or should I just try to buff it out.
3) Should I send it in to get the pommel dealt with? Or just put some locktite on her and call it good?
4) would sending her in to the spa be a good idea, or a waste of their time?

Anyway.... Just wondering what I should do for my old friend.....

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The blade looks to be in really good shape so I vote for a spa treatment and mention the loose pommel when you send it in. I bet it will come back looking like new.
 
I vote spa also. Banned from hunting??? Whats with that?
 
DeSotoSky said:
The blade looks to be in really good shape so I vote for a spa treatment and mention the loose pommel when you send it in. I bet it will come back looking like new.
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Thank you!
Yeah, it has been treated well ever since it was bought. I lived in coastal northern california for 15 of the 20 years, so when it was out and about, it was usually on my belt under a jacket.
The last 5 years I've lived in the desert...hardly ever need a jacket here.

One question....so just follow the instructions on their website for warranty repair? Correct?
This is the first time sending in a Buck :)

I did have to send in a 20 year old leatherman micra tool recently, they fixed it up and had it back to me within 10 days. And that includes me mailing it to them!
 
kyhunt said:
I vote spa also. Banned from hunting??? Whats with that?
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Well....we had a few heated discussions about that.... I lost...lol
She loves watching birds while on the back porch, and over time has become more and more fond of them....as a group....
She figured I had hunted enough of them, so asked me to not do so anymore....
I eventually agreed, and the rest is history....
So now my 8 field bred Springer Spaniels, and I, hunt tennis balls in the yard....and vegetables in the garden.

OK.... I am going with you guys' recommendation, and will send it to Buck for the TLC treatment :)


A big however is.... if I was ever truly hungry, Iand needed to.... I would hunt every edible creature within miles
 
My wife and kids love watching animals but we like eating them more.:D By the way I'm just giving you a hard time. Welcome aboard.
 
kyhunt said:
My wife and kids love watching animals but we like eating them more.:D By the way I'm just giving you a hard time. Welcome aboard.
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Thank You!

Well... 8 bird dogs that don't get to hunt anymore are giving me a hard time too so its no problem....lol

This place is great, I am enjoying reading the past threads.

I'm not a collector, but definately a fan of Bucks, and there are a lot of fine knives being shown here!!
 
HotSteel said:
There are plenty of fish in the sea.
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HAHAHAHA!!

If Fish refers to women, I quite like this one ;) and I did waaaay too much "fishing" when I was younger.

If Fish refers to actual fish.... I love fishing, and it is on the activity list for sure... the only problem is here in the desert there are no fish :(
I grew up in San Diego, and my StepDad took me saltwater fishing on the charter boats at least once every couple weeks.
We also hit up the lakes around the area.... good memories....

The good news is that the twins graduate high school in a couple years, and then our plan is to pack up a 5th wheel and travel around the country for a couple years until we find the perfect place to live... with water...green plants...and of course fish. Until then I will be content hunting vegetables in the gardens.....
 
OFF TO THE SPA

OK, I sent her in to Buck today :)
I hope she enjoys her time at the spa...hahaha

I also sent in a 501 script pre date code with micarta scales. That one has a cracked frame at the lockbar pivot, and the lockbar is coming out of the frame a couple of mm now....she won't lock anymore because of it.
I don't know if they can (or even will) fix her, but in 6-8 weeks I'll find out. :)
I forgot to take "before" photos of the 501 and only remembered after it was all packed up and I was at the post office...Darn....
But I will take "after" photos if they somehow can fix her.
 
Be sure to send us some photos of the new reconditioned knife. I haven't sent any in but heard Buck dies a really great job on them.
And don't let mama get to much control :sorrow:
 
Most definately... the vanguard is in pretty good shape to begin with, but I have heard they come back nice and pretty :)
If they can fix the 501, I would imagine it looking significantly better.
 
[QUOTE=Anyway.... my gal banned me, and my pack of bird dogs, from hunting birds anymore.
So these days the trusty Vanguard has been doing its hunting duties..... in the gardens....for vegetables...lol


Keep the knife and send the gal back. :D
 
You owe those dogs a BIG apology. Balls and veggies ain't enough.

I think you'll be pleased with the spa work.
 
Good news... according to the tracking # the 2 knives are now delivered to the factory :) :) :)

harlycarly said:
You owe those dogs a BIG apology. Balls and veggies ain't enough.

I think you'll be pleased with the spa work.
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Hahaha, well, since we don't hunt birds anymore, they have decided to rid the property of mice, gophers and any stray birds that are too slow....luckily I work at home and my gal works at home 50% of the time. So they are spoiled big time and get a ton of attention.

Silverdagger said:
Keep the knife and send the gal back. :D
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Luckily I get to keep the knife (and a bunch of other knives) and I get to get to keep the girl too ;)
 
BACK FROM THE SPA!!

Exactly 2 weeks from the day I mailed the 2 knives to them, they showed up back here!!
Way faster than I expected!!

Ok here she is all prettied up!
They fixed the pommel, buffed her out all pretty and got out that scratch on the handle that was bugging the heck out of me.
Shoot they even got out the few scratches on the blade, and sharpened it up to a hair shaving edge :)
She actually looks virtually brand new.

In addition they kindly sent a note and a discount card for the website! (I am now wondering if that discount can be used for an online order from the custom shop??)
The discount card even has info for the collectors club on the back. I thought that was pretty cool.

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Also I had sent in a 70's micarta scaled 501 with a badly damaged frame at the lockbar pivot, and well used blade...
I was considering it for a custom blade swap project if they could fix the frame... the black micarta would have been perfect, but I have a good back up plan ;)
That 40 year old one was too far gone, so they sent a spanking new 2013 501 with some pretty nice rosewood dymondwood scales, and I quite like it too :) Now that is a great warranty!!
So for my custom project I get to choose between this one and another 2013 501 I have...
I think this one is pretty nice, and the guys at buck sent it, so I'll be keeping it as is.

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All in all, sending things in to the spa is awesome!
A wonderful company that really goes the extra mile.
Especially considering they could have just fixed the pommel on the vanguard and sent it back :)
 
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