Buck 373 issue

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FelineGirl

Joined
Jul 5, 2016
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For starters, I just want to say that I love Buck knives. ❤️ I think this may be my first post in the Buck section of the forum.

I have a few Bucks, including: 301, 302, 303, 305, 309, 373, 389, 500, 503, Bantam, Spitfire Mini, and small and large Vantage Selects. I think that may be all of them...for now.

The only Buck imports I have are the 373 and 389 with the wood covers. I like them a lot. The issue I have concerns the 373 and access to the spey blade. The dang wood covers are so thick that it's hard for me to get a good purchase on the spey nail nick. I have mangled my thumb nails trying to extract the blade. The other blades are much easier to extract. Maybe the nicks are placed differently. So, out of frustration tonight I grabbed my 389 canoe and went to work whittling away at the wood cover near the spey nail nick. And then I filed it some. And guess what? I can now extract the blade with relative ease! Yay! I am not a whittler, so my work may not look all that top notch, but I don't think it looks horrible either.

Has anyone else had issues with the Buck imports wood covers being too thick? Strangely, I do not have this problem with my 389 canoe.


Alex
 
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I thought I was the only one. ;) The pull isn't too hard on these knives, but the thickness of the covers can make for a difficult angle for my weak thumbnails. Fortunately, I've only encountered this on the import models, and they're so inexpensive, I don't mind having to do a little modifying to make it more comfortable.

I only have a picture of one with bone covers that had the same issue. I filed and sanded in front of the nick, and while at it, I gave the spey blade a little swedge to make it easier to access the sheepfoot.

 
r8shell said:
I thought I was the only one. ;) The pull isn't too hard on these knives, but the thickness of the covers can make for a difficult angle for my weak thumbnails. Fortunately, I've only encountered this on the import models, and they're so inexpensive, I don't mind having to do a little modifying to make it more comfortable.

I only have a picture of one with bone covers that had the same issue. I filed and sanded in front of the nick, and while at it, I gave the spey blade a little swedge to make it easier to access the sheepfoot.

Click to expand...

Wow! Very nice work, r8shell! I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one with this issue. If this had been a more expensive knife, I would have been quite reluctant to whittle away at it. I figured I had nothing to lose on a sub $20 knife.


Alex
 
Some older Camillus contract Model 300s had a cresent shape ground into the edge of the liner and scale to increase access to nail nic's.
I think this was most common on the Model 309 reverse side for the secondary pen blade. 300
 
Not the best photo of what 300 is describing, but you can see the recess in this Camillus made 305.



It's pretty easy to do yourself with a rotary tool, round file, sanding cloth wrapped around a dowel, etc...

One of the knife companies (Copper and Clad) even has a BO 110 called the "EZ-Open" which has this cut for the nail nick.
 
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FelineGirl said:
For starters, I just want to say that I love Buck knives. ❤️ I think this may be my first post in the Buck section of the forum.

I have a few Bucks, including: 301, 302, 303, 305, 309, 373, 389, 500, 503, Bantam, Spitfire Mini, and small and large Vantage Selects. I think that may be all of them...for now.

The only Buck imports I have are the 373 and 389 with the wood covers. I like them a lot. The issue I have concerns the 373 and access to the spey blade. The dang wood covers are so thick that it's hard for me to get a good purchase on the spey nail nick. I have mangled my thumb nails trying to extract the blade. The other blades are much easier to extract. Maybe the nicks are placed differently. So, out of frustration tonight I grabbed my 389 canoe and went to work whittling away at the wood cover near the spey nail nick. And then I filed it some. And guess what? I can now extract the blade with relative ease! Yay! I am not a whittler, so my work may not look all that top notch, but I don't think it looks horrible either.

Has anyone else had issues with the Buck imports wood covers being too thick? Strangely, I do not have this problem with my 389 canoe.


Alex
Click to expand...

Welcome to the Buck forum.
 
300Bucks said:
Some older Camillus contract Model 300s had a cresent shape ground into the edge of the liner and scale to increase access to nail nic's.
I think this was most common on the Model 309 reverse side for the secondary pen blade. 300
Click to expand...

Thank you for the info! I might have to look around for one of those 309s!


Alex
 
Welcome to the forum. You may want to check in the modder sub-forum here on BF to see if someone would be willing to add the small crescent dip on your knife for you too if you'd rather not attempt it yourself. Can't imagine it'd be too costly.

The older, discontinued, 703 and 701 models, easily found on evilbay slightly used or NIB, offer easier blade access IMHO. And they're great alternatives to the 300 series knives as well I think. US made too if that's a positive point for consideration to you.
 
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