Buck 184 survival

A

aelfred_allspach

Joined
Feb 4, 2015
Messages
57
You know, buck has to by my favorite brand. But I can't believe they made this ugly thing. After all the beautiful knives they made, they jack it all up. I'm disappointed I discovered it
 
To be fair, that knife was made way before the whole survival-commando thing was really getting underway. It was pretty highly regarded in its time.
 
I've got a Buckmaster and its my favorite knife. It has its shortcomings but it's a fun knife.

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Quiet said:
To be fair, that knife was made way before the whole survival-commando thing was really getting underway. It was pretty highly regarded in its time.
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Actually it came out in 1984 right about when the survival-commando thing was getting a good head of steam.
I knew a guy with one. Well made and had some merit. Still a little over the top by today's standards.

I have a 639 fieldmate with the same blade design.
 
To the OP:

If you are a fan of Buck knives. The 184 Buckmaster is a MUST have. Take a little time and read up on this blade. It has true military roots. It's the real deal and I would consider it an iconic and historically significant blade. It's also the blade that the M9 bayonet design was based. I have one of these brand new and would not turn loose of it for anything.

Suggested reading if you have not seen this site.

http://www.buck-184.com/

There is also a 350 page book about the history of this knife. Author is Richard Neyman.

Look into it a little more, yes it's heavy, clumsy, but it was state of the art in it's time.
 
I payed $260 for mine last summer. Glad to walk out with it in my hand.

The first time I saw one it was $85 in the Navy Exchange in 1986. Should've snagged one then.
 
Believe it or not, I have 2 of these in my safe. Got one in 1987 and one a bit later. Never use them, just had them forever. I guess I didn't realize they have an almost cult following.

Glad I have kept them. :-)
 
It is a Real Heavy Duty knife and holds much interests among knife people. There has been a book written on that model. I've met the author. Knife guys and bikers love it. Probably survival types too.
DM
 
I found it funny, reading about them, that part of the design study leading up to them was to buy and examine some First Blood knives.

But it is a cool knife. A crowning achievement in taking things to an extreme.
 
RX-79G said:
I found it funny, reading about them, that part of the design study leading up to them was to buy and examine some First Blood knives.

But it is a cool knife. A crowning achievement in taking things to an extreme.
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Seems logical as the knives for first blood were all made by custom knife maker Jimmy Lile and were some of the best knives of this type available. Right up there but in my opinion a even better hollow handle survival knife is the Randall Model 18.
All three are iconic blades.
 
precisionshootist said:
Seems logical as the knives for first blood were all made by custom knife maker Jimmy Lile and were some of the best knives of this type available. Right up there but in my opinion a even better hollow handle survival knife is the Randall Model 18.
All three are iconic blades.
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No disrespect to Lile or Buck, but if you are borrowing design criteria from a knife created for a movie, you are in some danger of propagating a false paradigm or two. I realize Lile was tasked to make a useful knife for First Blood - but did Jimmy Lile have any experience in knives of this type prior to First Blood? He was an outstanding maker of bowie and other more traditional knives.

It's kind of like the Air Force basing an aircraft requirement on the F-19 Stealth Fighter.

Lile's design and the Buckmaster are fun, but nearly all those multi-use blade ideas were largely discarded by the folks that are respected for their "survival" knives today. Doesn't mean Lile was wrong, but his ideas didn't catch on.
 
Still have mine....dual spikes in blue plastic webbing in the handle. I bought mine brand new in the early 80's from a shop called Sherwood International in Reseda, CA. Never getting rid of this.....
 
If you weren't around when these came out, then you just don't get it. It's easy to look on these with today's eyes and have a chuckle but this knife is and will always be a classic. Also, yes, the survival knife thing had bee in existence some years before the 184; but most were total crap outside of customs which were rarer than hens teeth then. You couldn't Google this knife and watch a YT video on it, to handle one in person back in the day was pretty special.
 
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