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Not stating absolutes about which is an overall better knife, but as a field tool there is no contest. There is a place for all of them.
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Are you serious Buck?
- Thread starter Samon
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Not stating absolutes about which is an overall better knife, but as a field tool there is no contest. There is a place for all of them.
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my old workplace bought me an alaskan guide 110 the knife had blade play everywhere tried to fix it with a phonebook and hammer It was now hard to open but still had side to side bladeplay not to mention the up and down that the phone book trick dose'nt fix. Ended up trading it to a friend who just wanted a display knife.
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Seems like we are seeing two different camps on this issue.
First, obviously, not a lot of small/tiny game hunters here. Rabbit bones aren't a challenge for my CASE medium stockman after they are cooked to brittle. So looking at my 110, I would hope they wouldn't damage a knife like it. As pointed out by others using the 110 for other outside duties, they have had their knives loosen up in a day doing routine gardening chores. In a day! To me, the 110 was the ultimate utility knife. On site, I have seen air conditioning men cut fiberglass duct with theirs all day long, the same knife for years. I have watched plumbers routinely scrape PVC to get off burrs before gluing, electricians strip wire and gouge out holes in wood, painter use them for light scraping and opening caulk tubes and cutting away debris, and all carpenters I was around that carried a working knife (besides the CASE in their pocket) carried either the Schrade LB7, Buck 110, and the venerable CASE sodbuster. All were completely unconcerned with how they used their knife, and they were just about abused every day. Back in those days though, even used by guys that thought a knife was a simple multi use utility tool, they didn't fail. I have seen 110s sharpened to a nub, and they still had a lot of life left in them. Buck knives came out strong and lasted for years under job site conditions, in the hands of some that had absolutely no idea of how to use a knife.
So, camp #2. Probably consists of folks that didn't use these knives during the 70s and 80s, when the 110 really earned its spurs. Sorry guys... it was cheap then, too. Not sure, but I think in the 70s I paid $15 or for it. (Heck, that was a jump! I remember paying $22 for my 119 with a leather sheath!). Regardless, it was made to be a hard working, affordable knife, a knife that could take whatever you threw at it. It certainly did, too. I could due testimonial after testimonial for what I have seen that knife do.
So as many here seem to say, it isn't a work or hunting/camping knife anymore as that falls out of their definition of use for this knife, what is the knife good for? I bought this knife years ago because I wanted a tank. I served well for years doing anything I wanted it to do. If prying at a punky piece of wood causes the tip to break (let's give the OP a bit of credit for not being an idiot shall we...), light gardening causes the knife to loosen up to the point of having blades play, and breaking a tiny, brittle bone causes the lock to fail, again, what good is this knife? It wasn't designed as a letter opener or butter knife.
I am now thinking that as pointed out to the OP, this may just be a bad choice for much more than a piece of nostalgia. There are a lot of sturdy work use folders out there with stellar reputations that are in the $30 to $35 price range. Thanks to this forum, I bought a RAT 1 about 3 1/2 years ago, and that has replaced just about all others as a work knife. It gets every crappy job I don't want to use my traditional on. It does light prying, scraping, cutting of filthy materials, and is also used as a knife from time to time. It is pretty scratched up, the point is a bit shorter, and the scales are almost smooth. But like the Bucks of old, it still locks up tight, has no blade play, and is probably at this point in its life going to outlast me. There are plenty of other knives of that quality out there at that price point or a bit higher.
But I really like the advice the OP got to find an old 110. These were the knives the legend was built on, and it was well deserved. Catch one of those, and it will do whatever you need it to do on a lark, and you will be giving it to your kids.
Robert
First, obviously, not a lot of small/tiny game hunters here. Rabbit bones aren't a challenge for my CASE medium stockman after they are cooked to brittle. So looking at my 110, I would hope they wouldn't damage a knife like it. As pointed out by others using the 110 for other outside duties, they have had their knives loosen up in a day doing routine gardening chores. In a day! To me, the 110 was the ultimate utility knife. On site, I have seen air conditioning men cut fiberglass duct with theirs all day long, the same knife for years. I have watched plumbers routinely scrape PVC to get off burrs before gluing, electricians strip wire and gouge out holes in wood, painter use them for light scraping and opening caulk tubes and cutting away debris, and all carpenters I was around that carried a working knife (besides the CASE in their pocket) carried either the Schrade LB7, Buck 110, and the venerable CASE sodbuster. All were completely unconcerned with how they used their knife, and they were just about abused every day. Back in those days though, even used by guys that thought a knife was a simple multi use utility tool, they didn't fail. I have seen 110s sharpened to a nub, and they still had a lot of life left in them. Buck knives came out strong and lasted for years under job site conditions, in the hands of some that had absolutely no idea of how to use a knife.
So, camp #2. Probably consists of folks that didn't use these knives during the 70s and 80s, when the 110 really earned its spurs. Sorry guys... it was cheap then, too. Not sure, but I think in the 70s I paid $15 or for it. (Heck, that was a jump! I remember paying $22 for my 119 with a leather sheath!). Regardless, it was made to be a hard working, affordable knife, a knife that could take whatever you threw at it. It certainly did, too. I could due testimonial after testimonial for what I have seen that knife do.
So as many here seem to say, it isn't a work or hunting/camping knife anymore as that falls out of their definition of use for this knife, what is the knife good for? I bought this knife years ago because I wanted a tank. I served well for years doing anything I wanted it to do. If prying at a punky piece of wood causes the tip to break (let's give the OP a bit of credit for not being an idiot shall we...), light gardening causes the knife to loosen up to the point of having blades play, and breaking a tiny, brittle bone causes the lock to fail, again, what good is this knife? It wasn't designed as a letter opener or butter knife.
I am now thinking that as pointed out to the OP, this may just be a bad choice for much more than a piece of nostalgia. There are a lot of sturdy work use folders out there with stellar reputations that are in the $30 to $35 price range. Thanks to this forum, I bought a RAT 1 about 3 1/2 years ago, and that has replaced just about all others as a work knife. It gets every crappy job I don't want to use my traditional on. It does light prying, scraping, cutting of filthy materials, and is also used as a knife from time to time. It is pretty scratched up, the point is a bit shorter, and the scales are almost smooth. But like the Bucks of old, it still locks up tight, has no blade play, and is probably at this point in its life going to outlast me. There are plenty of other knives of that quality out there at that price point or a bit higher.
But I really like the advice the OP got to find an old 110. These were the knives the legend was built on, and it was well deserved. Catch one of those, and it will do whatever you need it to do on a lark, and you will be giving it to your kids.
Robert
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Buck 110 was about all that was around for years, if you wanted a big locking folder. But, to me those days are long gone and while it was a ground breaker for sure, I just think the design is too dated compared to what's available these days. At least it is for me, I find the knife way too heavy, too slick if my hands get wet, plus the weight to me would suggest a knife with a robust blade, but instead it's a lighter blade. I can find a lot of knives with comparable type blades that weigh much less, plus they come with better steel, pocket clips, have much more robust pivots and won't loosen up in four directions the first time I use them. Anyway I tried the knife for EDC hiking and thought it absolutely paled in comparison to what's out there today.
Ankerson
Knife and Computer Geek
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:thumbup:
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That's why I suggested doubling the MSRP. $15 in 1975 is about $64 today with the joy of inflation. So the $29 110 from Wal-mart costs half as much as it used to in real dollars. I doubt that is a good sign as far as quality and reliability goes.
I have a version 1 variation 1 because of the significance of the knife to the folding knife industry, but I don't exactly have any desire for a new one.
I don't see how a fixed blade would have fixed anything. The tip off of a 105 or 119 would bust off just as easy.
Many of Buck's hunting knives are icons in the hunting world, but are iconoclastic and IMO very much out of date in terms of general utility use. That California style clip, even with the reduction over the past many decades, makes for an easily busted tip. A much less extreme clip puts a lot more metal at the tip. Better yet, drop points and spear points.
Abuse doesn't cover the main complaint here though, that of blade play. That shouldn't happen.
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I have an old 119 that's made from 440C and it's been used pretty hard, I have to disagree that it's tip would break off as easy. It's just got a lot thicker blade than the 110.
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I wanted to get a Buck 110. Then I read this thread
Thank you for the warning.
Thank you for the warning.
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- Jan 12, 2009
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Me too! I bought it in '72, and it has hiked, camped, fished, hunted and been used well for all these years. Excellent knife, but as you have with the 110, I moved on. The only thing I didn't like about the 119 was the fact the handle was so slick when wet.
I like a bit less belly now in a knife, but as a hunter that one still gets it done nicely.
Robert
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Exactly. I started with a vantage pro but noticed it had blade play, I tried to use it for hard use darn near abusive situations like cutting cardboard and tape but noticed it developed more blade play.
I put it down, and relieved it to glancing duty. Where I just glance at it, I do feel it get looser though as I glance.
Next I got a Sebenza, which unfortunately couldn't handle more than cutting ribbons for balloons.
Finally I got tired of it and get a ZT 561, super hard use. I can say it opens my letters just fine.
For anything more, like wood, cardboard boxes (priority mail boxes), or cutting open retail packages, etc I have a crowbar I sharpened.
Yes indeed those darn Rabbit bones and things would easily break my crowbar.
Sorry couldn't help it.
Now that's funny...
This is a shame. Buck was legendary in the 70s and 80s. I guess these aren't the same knives that my Grandfather and Father used. I've seen old Buck knives that had most of the blade sharpened away after decades of use, and they were still good knives.
ohen cepel
Gold Member
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I took a Randall and Buck 110 to Afghanistan when I went. Both served me very well.
Sorry that you got a run of bad luck with them, that is not the norm from my experience (I have a lot of Bucks).
Not a good idea to stab with the blade design.
Sorry that you got a run of bad luck with them, that is not the norm from my experience (I have a lot of Bucks).
Not a good idea to stab with the blade design.
I am guessing the OP wasn't whacking rabbit bones in mid air. There was some kind of butchering board involved, so he was spine whacking into a block of wood. It doesn't matter if he was splitting fish bones. Seems pedantic to have to point this out but so many of you are mindfully ignoring this detail.
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that's nice
Why the sarcasm? Do you think he was breaking bones in mid-air with his knife? If I am wrong, I'm sure the OP will correct me.
st8yd
Gold Member
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I guess there's more than one way to skin cat or rabbit, I've cleaned plenty, but I have never tried to do it with the back of the knife, in fact can't say as I would even consider it. I would imagine you'd have to hit the leg bone pretty hard to do so, which I wouldn't consider with a folder, sounds as if your trying to tear it up.
As a carpenter and a hunter I can't understand the need to thrust a knife into a piece of wood. Except as maybe a throwing knife. But anyway a simple straight line thrust as was described wouldn't bend the tip on the cheapest knife I've ever used. It takes a bit of prying to bend the tip and once it's bent it is subject to breaking easier.
It just don't add up to me, but that's just my 2 cents.
As a carpenter and a hunter I can't understand the need to thrust a knife into a piece of wood. Except as maybe a throwing knife. But anyway a simple straight line thrust as was described wouldn't bend the tip on the cheapest knife I've ever used. It takes a bit of prying to bend the tip and once it's bent it is subject to breaking easier.
It just don't add up to me, but that's just my 2 cents.
It doesn't really matter either way since it appears to be an extremely easy task...
midnight flyer said:
I think that's an underestimation. From the inflation calculators I used, $30 in 1975 has the same spending power on about $120 today.
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That's still pretty much the same as far as inflation goes, $15 to $60 or $30 to $120, so it's about a four-fold increase. So a $15 Buck from back then should cost $60 today. Well, if there isn't anything specific to the cost of steel, brass, wood, or OSHA and EPA standards raising costs of doing business in the US for Buck, or stuff like medical insurance and 401K contributions for employees on top of their hourly wage.