Buck 110 quality issues?

JD Bear said:
First and only 110. I know you're trying to help, but you have one, maybe two 110's? I'm not really sure your sample size is big enough to offer advise as to what might be consistent characteristics. Just sayin....
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I own 2 currently but have owned others and have gifted 5 or 6.
I inspected every single one that I gifted first, because I know they can sometimes have grit in the pivots from polishing.
 
I'm not sure if the "blade play" when closed is normal BUT I just picked up several of my 110s, chosen at random, and they ALL have some amount of play when closed and zero play when locked open. Some had barely any movement and a some had a little more, but they all had some.

EDIT to include the other issues noted by OP:
None of my 110s rattle, not when open or closed.
None have any "business card" sized gaps.
At least couple of them had very narrow gaps that I don't think I've ever paid attention to, that's how small they are.
 
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anthonycastorena2014 said:
That's exactly my point. If they are assembled by hand and inspected before they go out he shouldn't have gaps. I do agree with you that no one one would notice but we do and expect better from American made. You ARE paying a premium for a buck 110. And you ARE paying for the hand labor. If GEC (would have been a better comparison to begin with) can sell theirs and they are damn near perfect I think one should expect it from a renowned world famous American company. The craft and pride should show on their work. It shouldn't be a name being sold. I have a shrade clip point hunter from the 1960s that has none of these problems (Schrade 110). Machining and techniques have advanced, the product should too.



I'm glad that you are happy. I was just saying that I would personally send it back and get what I paid for. I carry almost exclusively CRK amd it's because they are made right here in the USA and the tolerances are worth it to me. I'm not sure how a 110 would serve you longer (wood can expand, and copper oxidizes), or better ( being that the Buck is 420hc more than likely vs vg10) but everyone has their own opinion. I didn't write to argue with you or @Hickory n steel . I was just offering my opinion on what i would do. If I spend my hard earned money on something I expect it to be as advertised. If buck will take care of it I'd send it to them instead of settling. It was just my .02
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Buck produces 6000 knives per day. GEC does what 300 per run over the course of a few weeks? That’s hardly any comparison. Production knives are cranked out to meet the demand for the masses not just a few hundred nit picker’s.
 
The 4 unused 110s I have are solid with no gaps, but, they were bought nearly 10 years ago.
Regarding the comparison with GEC, the Buck slipjoints I have, made in the US and China, though they may not look as fancy as some GEC models, are fine with light pulls and decent grinds - no issue with them, as far as I can remember, so not anything bothering me
 
I know the OP is talking about his new 110 but most Buck lockbacks I've run across have some amount of blade movement when closed but only one or two I've run across since the 1960s have had blade movement when open. These are some of the Buck lockbacks I have and they all lock solid without movement when opened - from the 110s in the picture right down to the 505 Knight.

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Hopefully the OP got a full length blade. The last buck 110 variant I bought was a 1/4" shorter blade length than advertised.
Contacted Buck customer service who said that due to the hand made nature this was acceptable. Even though their blades are stamped out just the same as most other knife companies.
No more new Buck knives for me.
 
karnaknives said:
I'm not sure if the "blade play" when closed is normal BUT I just picked up several of my 110s, chosen at random, and they ALL have some amount of play when closed and zero play when locked open. Some had barely any movement and a some had a little more, but they all had some.

EDIT to include the other issues noted by OP:
None of my 110s rattle, not when open or closed.
None have any "business card" sized gaps.
At least couple of them had very narrow gaps that I don't think I've ever paid attention to, that's how small they are.
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Ditto for much of this. I only have three 110's and a 111, and this thread got me curious. I had never thought to check for these issues.

None of them have any play when locked up, and just a smidge when closed. Only one rattles if I shake it real, real, REAL hard. Then again, that might be in my head.

They're great knives, and made to be used.
 
I don’t own a 110, I do however own seven 112’s and the 2 that rattle when shaken hard enough closed, are the run of the mill 112’s that can be purchase anywhere for cheap like the 110’s. The others are all custom shop or Buck of the Month models and the fit and finish is night and day better.
 
Back in another life, when stereo TV was a new thing, I worked for a Cable TV provider. A service call came in, and it went through various layers of technicians, who could not satisfy this particular customer. His complaint was this: If he tuned to a vacant channel the sound of the static (TVs used to do this...) would change as he walked across the room.

I asked him, "How often do you listen to static?"

"That's not the point!" he said.

Knives that have blade play when closed, but operate as perfectly good knives when open. Stereo static.
 
As I’ve said many times, there has to be some blade movement in closed position. If it didn’t have any gap it would be a friction folder and people would complain about about it being difficult to open and close because it binds. A little blade play doesn’t affect function or performance !
 
Tx308 said:
Hopefully the OP got a full length blade. The last buck 110 variant I bought was a 1/4" shorter blade length than advertised.
Contacted Buck customer service who said that due to the hand made nature this was acceptable. Even though their blades are stamped out just the same as most other knife companies.
No more new Buck knives for me.
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Both of mine have 3-5/8 blades, I'm assuming they round up on the advertised blade length and your knife wasn't actually a whole 1/4" shorter.
Some I'm sure, but I doubt a whole 1/4".

Of course the blades are stamped out, but they are sharpened by hand I would not expect them to come out exactly the same every single time.
 
Hickory n steel said:
Both of mine have 3-5/8 blades, I'm assuming they round up on the advertised blade length and your knife wasn't actually a whole 1/4" shorter.
Some I'm sure, but I doubt a whole 1/4".

Of course the blades are stamped out, but they are sharpened by hand I would not expect them to come out exactly the same every single time.
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Here you go brand new out of the box. Buck website stated the blade are allegedly 3 3/4" but you can see for yourself the truth.

20210105_181549 (1).jpg

And the other Buck 110 variant purchased at the same time. This one is only 1/8" short.

20210105_181531.jpg

Sent these photos to Buck and got blown off. I expected better.
 
Tx308 said:
Here you go brand new out of the box. Buck website stated the blade are allegedly 3 3/4" but you can see for yourself the truth.

View attachment 2043262

And the other Buck 110 variant purchased at the same time. This one is only 1/8" short.

View attachment 2043265

Sent these photos to Buck and got blown off. I expected better.
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I was saying that it probably wasn't a whole 1/4" off of the actual length, maybe 1/4" shy of 3-3/4 but not a whole 1/4" shy not of the actual length if Buck rounds up in the specs like you see in countless products / industries.
Tool lengths, fishing rod lengths, tool handles, you name it rounding up or down is common.

That being said I've only ever had / handled true 110's with 110 blades, not that abomination they're trying to call a 110 slim or whatever.
Maybe something is different with those particular none 110 blades.
 
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