500 Duke Issue

Joined
Aug 23, 2022
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279
I was wandering around the auction site earlier this week and stumbled upon a lot of Buck knives that were TSA confiscations. I received them yesterday and noticed that this 500 Duke will not close all the way. If I depress the lock back mechanism while closing the blade, the blade will close all the way. As soon as I release the lock back mechanism, the blade pops back out. I assume there is something wrong with the spring. Is this something I can fix myself without taking the knife apart or do I need to send it back to Buck? Everything looks okay internally, but something is obviously wrong. I am thinking about sending it back to Buck anyway for a SPA treatment.

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My initial thought was that it was dirty or something was causing a part to bind or not work properly. I cleaned out the knife and nothing changed. My second thought was like yours and that the blade was too short. I checked photos online. The tip of the blade looks to be about where it should be when closed. The tip is just elevated. The blade profile does not look altered. Below is a photo of the inside if that helps anyone with ideas.

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… TSA confiscations…

Man, that has never sat right with me. It irks me that they sell our knives for profit. But then I think of the alternative such as destroying them or something, and that would be even worse. Think if that nice old Micarta Duke, probably a Script, had been destroyed and thrown out.

Technically, I think, TSA isn’t allowed to profit off it so they give the knives to the airport who sells them and keeps the money. And also technically, the TSA doesn’t confiscate anything - we voluntarily choose to fly and we voluntarily choose to abandon or surrender anything that isn’t allowed past the security checkpoint, or we choose to keep our stuff and go away and miss our flight. I hate being put in situations like that.

I used to fly a good deal for work. We were coming home one time and a co-worker had forgotten to take his Gerber off and put it in his checked bag. Not wanting to “voluntarily abandon” it, he turned around, left the line, and went to the baggage claim with all the folks who just arrived and were going to be leaving the airport. He found a young military man traveling in uniform, gave him the Gerber, said “thank you for your service” and went back to the TSA line to catch our flight. I never forgot that.

Since then, I never “surrender” anything to TSA. When I fly, I usually leave “my” knives at home and carry something cheap, but quality, that I could stomach losing a little more than a higher end or sentimental EDC knife if I forget to check it. Something like a 112 Slim Select, or a Kershaw, or whatever miscellaneous knife has found its way into my possession.

One time coming home through Logan in Boston I forgot to check my pocketknife. I got out of line and headed to the baggage claim looking for someone in uniform to give them a gift. I couldn’t find any. The terminal was under construction so I approached several construction workers separately. “Excuse me, I forgot to check my pocketknife and don’t want to give it to TSA. Do you want it for free?” Nobody would take it. It was a name-brand, quality knife that would be recognized as nice, but not expensive - not something too good to be true. I was clean cut, khaki pants with a belt and tucked in shirt - didn’t look like I was up to no good or trying to ditch something that had been used in a crime or anything. I approached at least seven guys and none of them wanted anything to do with it. I ended up traveling home without that knife, but TSA sure didn’t get it. Still gets my goat, though.

Nice score on the older Duke - send it back to Buck and they’ll fix it up right.

Did you get anything else good in that batch?
 
My initial thought was that it was dirty or something was causing a part to bind or not work properly. I cleaned out the knife and nothing changed. My second thought was like yours and that the blade was too short. I checked photos online. The tip of the blade looks to be about where it should be when closed. The tip is just elevated. The blade profile does not look altered. Below is a photo of the inside if that helps anyone with ideas.

53208730024_1eeca37e8c_o.jpg
The tip on my "like new" script Duke is pointier and less upswept than yours and measures 3 1/8 inches long. Looking down at the blade in the closed position, it comes within 1/16 inch of touching the end of the blade well. I would guess your blade was either broken off and reprofiled, or poor sharpening rounded the tip. Either way, it allows the tip to be exposed. It might be worth filing down the kick to try to lower the tip. If you send it to Buck, they will likely need to replace the blade at an additional fee.
 
I understand about TSA accumulating knives and other banned contraband. I remember back in 2017 TSA was missing 70-95% of weapons. My wife's boss was in the National Guard. He had been to drill the weekend before he went on a trip. He forgot to remove his knife before he left for the trip. He realized he forgot to take his knife out of his bag when he was packing to return home. TSA missed it completely. I heard they are getting better, but TSA still misses a lot of weapons.

I wound up with the 500 Duke, a 501 Squire, two 503 Princes, a 422 with the Nikon logo, a 293 Inertia, and a 389 Canoe for $73.10. I thought I did pretty good. The Canoe is missing the Buck logo emblem on the side. The others were dirty, but cleaned up nicely. If my research is correct, the Duke with red Buckarta was made in either 1979 or 1980. It has some scratches, but I think a Buck SPA treatment will have it looking close to new.
 
The tip on my "like new" script Duke is pointier and less upswept than yours and measures 3 1/8 inches long. Looking down at the blade in the closed position, it comes within 1/16 inch of touching the end of the blade well. I would guess your blade was either broken off and reprofiled, or poor sharpening rounded the tip. Either way, it allows the tip to be exposed. It might be worth filing down the kick to try to lower the tip. If you send it to Buck, they will likely need to replace the blade at an additional fee.
This is what I was trying to learn. The latest 500 on the web site says it has a 3" blade. My blade measures right at 3". An extra 1/8" would make a difference in how far down it goes. Can you take a photo of your Duke similar to the one I took in the first photo? Also please take one showing the entire blade profile. I was unable to find a good photo of the entire blade profile on these older blades. My blade profile looks pretty close to the current blade profile.
 
I have one similar but not as pronounced. The cause is that at some point the tip was damaged and in re-profiling the blade it ended up short and sticks up a bit. I will grind down the kick at the base of the blade in a bit which should fix the problem.
 
This is what I was trying to learn. The latest 500 on the web site says it has a 3" blade. My blade measures right at 3". An extra 1/8" would make a difference in how far down it goes. Can you take a photo of your Duke similar to the one I took in the first photo? Also please take one showing the entire blade profile. I was unable to find a good photo of the entire blade profile on these older blades. My blade profile looks pretty close to the current blade profile.

This script tang blade, with wood inlays is slightly newer than your original micarta\Buckarta version.











 
This script tang blade, with wood inlays is slightly newer than your original micarta\Buckarta version.
Thank you very much for taking the time to provide these photos. I didn't think that the blade had been shortened, but your photos provide strong evidence that the blade has been reprofiled and that is the reason the tip is high. I will probably call/email Buck tomorrow to see what they suggest would be the best way to fix the problem. I really don't want to get a new blade so maybe they can offer a solution and the knife can take a SPA vacation to Idaho for a few weeks.
 
So I ground down the kick a bit on mine until the tip lowered into the blade well just enough you couldn't catch your finger on the tip. Problem is now the blade is a bit loose the last bit on closing. The ops sticks up about twice as much as mine did so may be a little worse..
 
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Your blade has likely been reprofiled, either from repeated sharpening or cut back intentionally to hide a broken tip. Since it is short, it doesn't reach down into the frame on closure. Recommend a Buck blade replacement.
 
I just watched a video on grinding down the kick and how it lowers the tip of the blade. I also realize that if I grind too much the blade is going to hit the spring. I will try to talk with Buck tomorrow to see if they would grind it down as part of their SPA service or extra service. If they won't, I guess I will slowly grind it a little at a time. Worse case scenario is that I have to get a new blade. Thanks for the advice and information everyone. I am always learning on this forum.
 
I can't bring myself to buy any knives from TSA confiscations - not that I would necessarily know. I can imagine the angst that was suffered when they had to surrender their knife. I lent my truck to my son to go to a concert. When he came back, my little swiss army knife was missing from the key fob. He said they confiscated it at the gate. I feel a loss, even for such a small knife.
 
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