Buck 112 Ranger. Did I get a lemon?

A

aurabattler

Joined
Mar 4, 2017
Messages
24
Hi Buck friends,

I have been debating myself for this legendary beauty for month and finally pulled the trigger to treat myself with this extraordinary knife. It is extremely well made and I love it, but there is one thing really irritates my OCD and drives me nuts! The knife will "close further" with pressure on the knife spine in closed position causing the knife hitting the handle inside and blunt the tip. Or when I snap the knife close with the back lock tension, the very same thing happens. When I say blunting the tip I don't mean the tip itself but the edge beneath the tip. The tip itself is still scary pointy. It is frustrating to see as I tried to sharpen the tip back and it happens again in the very next day unless I am closing it with extreme care. It does not affect normal edc and normal cutting task a lot as you know, you seldom cut with the edge under the tip. You either cut with the edge behind or stab with the tip. But man, it's irritating you know. Is it a known and common problem? Or did I buy a lemon? I am far away in Hong Kong and I bought from knifecenter. Sending it back is actually my last resort. The back and forth cost will buy me a new one. Does this happen to you guys? I don't have too much Buck experiences. I had a Buck lite Max and it has the same issue, but I also have a 503 without such problem. Kindly advise. Thanks everyone.
 
I have had the same experience with every 112 I've owned, and I've had a few. It was especially problematic when I carried it in my pocket as opposed to using the sheath. I retrofit a stop pin in one to prevent it from closing onto the back spacer and the issue was solved. In fact, I have it my pocket at this very moment. Some manufacturers design their knives with such a pin for this reason--just sayin'...
 
May I know how do you do that? What kind of and where do you put the stop pin to? Thanks for letting me know mine is not a lemon.
 
What you're experiencing is normal. It's a product of the geometry. You have a blade of a particular shape that pivots at a fixed position. The lock bar which is also of a particular shape and pivots at a different fixed position. Then you have the spring itself. These are the only 3 moving parts in the knife.
The blade is closed when the portion of the blade makes contact with lock bar. When you over-close the blade, you're essentially pushing the lock and compressing the spring.
These do not close to a fixed stop. I have many 110s and a few 112s, and all are like this in that if I try to over-close them, the blade will always hit the spring holder.
I just take care not to do that.

I don't remember who I hijacked this photo from, but credit goes to him/her, wherever they are. :)
 
It’s normal. All of my 112s and 110s will do this if I force the blade down when it’s closed. I just don’t do that, so there’s nothing to worry about.
 
aurabattler said:
May I know how do you do that? What kind of and where do you put the stop pin to? Thanks for letting me know mine is not a lemon.
Click to expand...
I used a 1/16 inch steel rod and put it through the handle so that the kick lands on it instead of the rocker bar. Then I peened it in place and ground the kick until the blade fit in the handle. Now if I press on the blade when closed, it can't move. The real trick was locating the pin so that it doesn't interfere with the rocker bar and prevent the lock from fully engaging.
 
O
VorpalRain said:
It does not impact the sharpened edge, so why worry?
Click to expand...
It does. When I put it in my bag and when something is hitting the spine, it blunt the edge as the edge is hitting the handle. Or when I snap the knife back with the lock back tension. It over close and same thing happened. :(
 
All I know is that it has never hit the edge on my 112s.

I think it contacts the kick at the same time so there's no harmful effect to the sharpened edge.
 
I can't say on the 112, since I've never owned one.
Since others have mentioned the 110, I can say on mine (2015 date code) I can press the blade down to touch the spring holder(?)/end cap(?) but it takes a lot of pressure (more than it takes to open the knife) and it has to go down a bit over 3/16 inch. I cannot get the blade to hit, even if I snap the blade closed. I can't see how this is an issue on the 110.
Like I said, I've never owned or handled a 112, so I cannot say anything about them.
However, I doubt that Buck would make a knife for over 40 years without fixing any design problems or defects. Come to that, I seriously doubt Buck would put a knife out on the market (or keep it in prodiction) with a defective design.
 
It is a design defect to those who don't want their edge dulled as is hapenning with aurabattler's knife. I have a 112 styled custom by Dennis Bradley that has a different interior design and does not bottom out.

All designs have trade offs. There's a lot of different ways to make a lockback knife. The Case-Bose Wilfred Works lock back, styled off a Remington has a design where the rocker bar has no separate spring. The Camillus-Remington Banana trapper has a spring built into the cover/liner; you can flick it open like a tactical knife.
 
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