Buck 119---full tang?

[BladeCommander]

I love more than many people but the 119 wouldn't be my choice for a survival knife, as that term is generally understood.

The 119 is a big game hunting knife. The very pointy clip point is great for cutting near bones and joints but will break easily if used for drilling. Most survival designs use a drop or spear point for this reason.

The clip point will also chew up a batton and the top edge is rounded so it won't throw sparks off of a fire steel. Most survival knives don't have a false edge and many have a "sharpened" spine for use with a fire rod.

The handle on the 119 has a finger guard to prevent the hand from sliding onto blade when covered in blood and fat. But this guard will cause hot spots when working with wood for long periods of time. Most survival knives have a less pronounced guard or none at all.

The 119 has a hollow grind which excels at cutting meat but it won't throw curls as well as s scandi, sabre or convex grind. It will also be more likely to bind in wood when battoning.

Buck makes excellent hunting knives. They are dabbling in the survival knife market. The Punk, Reaper and Selkirk would all be better picks for a survival knife.

This is a well thought out post, and points to the strengths (and weaknesses) of the 119 compared to other styles of outdoor knives. The 199 is designed as a hunting knife, not survival or bush craft. I am fully confident that it could do well in any of these applications, but there are design traits listed above that are better for one thing or the other.

 

[RX-79G]

How dat happen ?

It happened on a bunch of them. Full tang isn't all that strong when you have holes running through them and the handles do nothing to stiffen the tang. The later version had fewer holes.

 

[TAH]

Just found this on eBay. Description says it is an old Buck Knife salesman's sample showing the construction of a 119. Thought it might answer some questions.

 

[D R E]

Looks like a radius where the ricasso meets the tang. Don't know if that's how the modern versions are but that looks to be from the late 70' to 1980's.

 

[D R E]

Even a rat tail can be strong enough, especially if it's differentially heat treated to be "tougher" than the blade. So if something breaks on such a knife, it won't be the tang. In the end, it's all in how much skill the maker had and how much care he put into to it.

Look at the European broadswords, they had very thin tangs by today's standards. They were weapons designed for combat.

 

[D R E]

I love more than many people but the 119 wouldn't be my choice for a survival knife, as that term is generally understood.

The 119 is a big game hunting knife. The very pointy clip point is great for cutting near bones and joints but will break easily if used for drilling. Most survival designs use a drop or spear point for this reason.

The clip point will also chew up a batton and the top edge is rounded so it won't throw sparks off of a fire steel. Most survival knives don't have a false edge and many have a "sharpened" spine for use with a fire rod.

The handle on the 119 has a finger guard to prevent the hand from sliding onto blade when covered in blood and fat. But this guard will cause hot spots when working with wood for long periods of time. Most survival knives have a less pronounced guard or none at all.

The 119 has a hollow grind which excels at cutting meat but it won't throw curls as well as s scandi, sabre or convex grind. It will also be more likely to bind in wood when battoning.

Buck makes excellent hunting knives. They are dabbling in the survival knife market. The Punk, Reaper and Selkirk would all be better picks for a survival knife.

A survival knife is any knife you have when you are in a survival situation. There is no such thing as a "survival knife" design, that's all marketing speak.