Buck 040 Onset... Good Buy or Good Bye?

Makael said:
Its hard to compare knives from China to US made or world made and use materials as the common ground. Labor, wages play into why they are less money. Not wanting to get political but its not comparable at all.
Too many cloned products from that place. Its a joke.
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My reasons for not buying China-made are entirely political. If I were to strip all political considerations from my decision to not buy Chinese knives, my position becomes a lot more difficult to support. Some folks don't give a tinker's damn how their sausage is made... well, that's their mileage, I reckon. 😶

Thanks to all for contributing to this discussion! Good points made on several fronts that have made me ponder some... 🤔 I'm still going to defend the 040 Onset and applaud Buck for their efforts. Good design and worth the money, IMO. YMMV.

I think that there would be more excitement about the 040 Onset if Buck had gone with titanium. This would undoubtedly further increase the price (perhaps into Kai's Zero Tolerance territory--it's already teetering) but I don't believe it would increase the strength or performance of the knife itself (Buck milled a lot of steel out of the 040's framelock.) Could Buck compete with ZT in the modern folder class? I have my reservations, to say the least.

In my view, two of the most prominent advantages of titanium over steel are: strength-to-weight ratio and corrosion resistance. The first is an excellent reason for manufacturers to choose titanium for a thicker framelock design, and perhaps a good reason to choose steel for a thinner linerlock (where weight is more negligible.) I love my Emersons but EKI is guilty of this; choosing ti over steel for their thin linerlocks. Not much advantage, but people want titanium. And how many makers are going with steel lockbar inserts on their ti framelocks? Anyway, I digress.

Love it, hate it, or indifferent... the Onset is something different from Buck's usual lineup. 😎:thumbsup:
 
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Anyone taken theirs apart yet? Curious what type of bearings Buck went with and don't see any disassembly videos or pictures anywhere yet
 
.......Yeah it's an old thread, but i sorta like to keep info all together kinda guy....

So I finally got an Onset a few weeks back.
I like I the knife.
Blade shape, grind, centering, blade play are all good.

It's a bit stiff to flip open, but I'd rather have that than a knife that easily opens in your pocket.

One question / concern. The frame lock almost has to be unlocked twice to close the blade.
Once to disengage the blade, and a second time to get the lock past the shoulder that the lock rides upon as the blade swings shut.

The lockup is fine and secure.

But to close the blade you have to push the lock far over so it clears both the blade and that shoulder or you have to unlock it twice.

I have other frame !rock knives and none of them do this, but this is the only Buck frame lock I have.
I'm assuming this is an anomaly or is this the norm for this knife.

I'm hoping somebody else with this knife can weigh in with their experience.
Thanks.
 
This is where it catches the second time.
Not an easy picture to take to show the problem.
But if you look closely you can see the edge of that "shoulder"grind.
Maybe that shoulder should have came out to the edge to avoid the second lock up,...
I dunno.

IMG_20240914_151002490.jpg
 
Congrats on finally scoring an 040! It sounds like the detent ball is coming up against the lock bar relief cut on the tang of your Onset. This is a fairly common problem with frame locks in general and liner locks to a lesser extent. On the Onset's little cousin, the Budgie, I fixed the same issue by filing a detent ball ramp. It eliminated the need to double-clutch when closing. I've fixed many Vantages the same way - probably voiding their warranties but gaining a much smoother closing action.

After adding a ramp to the Budgie blade tang:
 
The Onset looks like such a sleek looking knife on one side and a trainwreck of metal on the other side. It's like Dr Jeckle and Mr Hyde depending on the side of the knife.

Poor left-handed people probably think the Onset is the ugliest knife ever.
 
Thanks PLB!
I was thinking of that modification myself.

I didn't buy it for the longest time because of it's price.
The idea of having to fix it myself and losing any warranty in the process just isn't appealing.
😐
 
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SoDak81 said:
The Onset looks like such a sleek looking knife on one side and a trainwreck of metal on the other side. It's like Dr Jeckle and Mr Hyde depending on the side of the knife.

Poor left-handed people probably think the Onset is the ugliest knife ever.
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Actually, aside from the lock issue, I really like it.

And I would claim it to be worth the money I paid.
If it didn't have issues.
 
GPyro said:
Thanks PLB!
I was thinking of that modification myself.

I didn't buy it for the longest time because of it's price.
The idea of having to fix it myself and losing any warranty in the process just isn't appealing.
😐
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I've watched a ton of video reviews on the Onset and nobody complained about the closing action, except a couple said the frame lock arm took a lot of force to unlock. I am wondering if the detent ball on yours is not pressed down far enough into the lock bar. You might have to discuss that with Buck's warranty service folks.
 
GPyro said:
Actually, aside from the lock issue, I really like it.

And I would claim it to be worth the money I paid.
If it didn't have issues.
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I've always been curious about them, but I narrowly avoided catastrophic finger damage from a liner lock failure years ago and I'm extremely leery of them to this day. I love the blade shape, flipper tab and choice of steel of the Onset. I almost ordered one a while back but found a sale on the legacy 2022 Saunter and went that direction.
 
GPyro GPyro

I got 2 of them. both catch what I believe is on the detent ball. I don't feel they are not inserted correctly. just rather the design of this frame lock. I have other brands that do this too. takes a different unlocking style than ones that don't catch.
 
Well, I think I'm just gonna try and get used to it. I like it enough to try.😊

I find it odd that this was Buck's intended action on this knife. I would think there could be an easy design change to fix it, as plb suggested. But if that was the case I would have to believe that Buck is aware and this is the preferred way to make the knife........?

Thanks for your input gentleman.👍
I found it helpful.

Hey,
I lived thru the era of having to "lift up on the car door handle" while closing, to get the door to close and latch.
.....I guess I'm up to it.🙄

Tho the irony of comparing the 2.....I find quit laughable.
😕
 
assuming it is the detent ball...detent ramp would help and reduce the catching on closure. could be accomplished but at a higher price point of extra work and step.

it could be your detent ball as plb thought, is a just a bit higher and makes it much more noticeable.
 
Went looking for an Onset review because I keep adding it to a wishlist and then deleting it. Now that I've read all the way to the end I'm left no better than when I started. Seems like close enough to $200 for some minor issues that I may or may not get used to.

Would anyone here buy it again now that they've had it for a while???
 
Maximumbob54 said:
Went looking for an Onset review because I keep adding it to a wishlist and then deleting it. Now that I've read all the way to the end I'm left no better than when I started. Seems like close enough to $200 for some minor issues that I may or may not get used to.

Would anyone here buy it again now that they've had it for a while???
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not really at the price point it is...on sale maybe.....

my reasons are less quality and such more the size of it. I prefer a larger blade in a folder, but it isn't a bad length or anything.....
 
Maximumbob54 said:
Went looking for an Onset review because I keep adding it to a wishlist and then deleting it. Now that I've read all the way to the end I'm left no better than when I started. Seems like close enough to $200 for some minor issues that I may or may not get used to.

Would anyone here buy it again now that they've had it for a while???
Click to expand...
Maybe I'm out of touch but a knife at a $210 price point, 4ever warranty, or not, should have any issues when it leaves the factory.
 
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