Long story short, I bought this knife because I'm paranoid.
Turns out it's a great knife.
So I was going to pick up my Sister from my Aunt's place and while running some errands along the way I realized I had forgot to put a knife in my pocket!
You can't go driving for hours and not have a knife in your pocket (it was about two hours each way), that's like flying with no parachute! So off I go to the sports desk in Wally World. Since this is Canada, my best expectation is to find a Kershaw Chive for $40. I get there, Bucks, Gerbers and a Leatherman. The buck 110 is $55, but I see the Vantage for $25, which seems reasonable, and I have been extremely curious about the Vantage line for a long time.
Turns out it's this weird edition with "PaperStone" scales, 100% post consumer recycled product. It feels like a plastic version of fiberboard, but should be good enough. With two full liners the scales are mostly there for aesthetics anyway. Looking up prices online, the best price I can find for a glass reinforced nylon vantage is $20. If they have to use plastic reinforced cardboard scales to release the knife at a similar price up here, so be it. I'm actually pretty impressed with the move (or at least I will be until I see them online for $15).
For Bucks lower than bottom of the line Vantage, this thing is pretty good. Actually, as far as folders with Liner Locks go, this is pretty good. Smooth opening, no play, and I love the lock engagement. The lock-bar is stiff and engages the tang at 100%, leaving plenty of room for wear. The contact point is out as far from the pivot as possible, and on this knife it looks like that's about half an inch out (most knives are closer to 3/8", some 1/4", which is not so good from a leverage standpoint).
The clip is amazing, everything is nicely polished and the scales match with the liners decently well all over. However, I could immediately notice one hot spot. On the lock side scale where the lock-bar and tang interface there is one sharp corner exposed when the knife is open and locked, and it sits right under my index finger when I hold the knife. This problem would not exist if Buck would just make the scale on the lock side different from the other, one side needs the relief to manipulate the lock, the other doesn't, but so far they seem to have this phobia of making scales that don't perfectly mirror each other.
Also, the blade detent is not as strong as I'd like (I've become accustomed to Kershaw's detents that let you easily fire the blade out with the flipper), and it feels like the flipper should be a little longer (both for ease of opening and use as a finger guard).
If I could change one more thing I would make the locking liner a little thicker. It is decent as is, maybe even good enough, but I am paranoid.
The blade steel is 420HC. At .05% carbon it just barely qualifies as blade steel. To compare, 420j2 does not qualify as a blade steel (in my book) as I've heard that it can't reach Rc 60. 420HC may not be very wear resistant, but at least it can form a decent edge to start with. Also, Buck heat treats this stuff to get the best out of it, no slacking in that department.
Overall, fantastic knife for the money. I am very impressed with the level of finish and the complexity of this knife they managed to sell for such a small sum.
(After taking the pictures I gave the knife to my Sister. I got my 4 hours of use out of it, and the 3.25" blade will suit her better. I'll get back to admiring my M-4 Ti/G-10 Military for the next little while.)
Turns out it's a great knife.
So I was going to pick up my Sister from my Aunt's place and while running some errands along the way I realized I had forgot to put a knife in my pocket!
You can't go driving for hours and not have a knife in your pocket (it was about two hours each way), that's like flying with no parachute! So off I go to the sports desk in Wally World. Since this is Canada, my best expectation is to find a Kershaw Chive for $40. I get there, Bucks, Gerbers and a Leatherman. The buck 110 is $55, but I see the Vantage for $25, which seems reasonable, and I have been extremely curious about the Vantage line for a long time.
Turns out it's this weird edition with "PaperStone" scales, 100% post consumer recycled product. It feels like a plastic version of fiberboard, but should be good enough. With two full liners the scales are mostly there for aesthetics anyway. Looking up prices online, the best price I can find for a glass reinforced nylon vantage is $20. If they have to use plastic reinforced cardboard scales to release the knife at a similar price up here, so be it. I'm actually pretty impressed with the move (or at least I will be until I see them online for $15).
For Bucks lower than bottom of the line Vantage, this thing is pretty good. Actually, as far as folders with Liner Locks go, this is pretty good. Smooth opening, no play, and I love the lock engagement. The lock-bar is stiff and engages the tang at 100%, leaving plenty of room for wear. The contact point is out as far from the pivot as possible, and on this knife it looks like that's about half an inch out (most knives are closer to 3/8", some 1/4", which is not so good from a leverage standpoint).
The clip is amazing, everything is nicely polished and the scales match with the liners decently well all over. However, I could immediately notice one hot spot. On the lock side scale where the lock-bar and tang interface there is one sharp corner exposed when the knife is open and locked, and it sits right under my index finger when I hold the knife. This problem would not exist if Buck would just make the scale on the lock side different from the other, one side needs the relief to manipulate the lock, the other doesn't, but so far they seem to have this phobia of making scales that don't perfectly mirror each other.
Also, the blade detent is not as strong as I'd like (I've become accustomed to Kershaw's detents that let you easily fire the blade out with the flipper), and it feels like the flipper should be a little longer (both for ease of opening and use as a finger guard).
If I could change one more thing I would make the locking liner a little thicker. It is decent as is, maybe even good enough, but I am paranoid.
The blade steel is 420HC. At .05% carbon it just barely qualifies as blade steel. To compare, 420j2 does not qualify as a blade steel (in my book) as I've heard that it can't reach Rc 60. 420HC may not be very wear resistant, but at least it can form a decent edge to start with. Also, Buck heat treats this stuff to get the best out of it, no slacking in that department.
Overall, fantastic knife for the money. I am very impressed with the level of finish and the complexity of this knife they managed to sell for such a small sum.
(After taking the pictures I gave the knife to my Sister. I got my 4 hours of use out of it, and the 3.25" blade will suit her better. I'll get back to admiring my M-4 Ti/G-10 Military for the next little while.)
