Boils down to money I guess. Got mine for about $15 a few years ago off that site named for a river.
$15 bucks
for a US made knife with 420hc heat treated right was a steal. It is in my pocket right now...
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Buck Bantam BBW vs Kershaw Cryo
- Thread starter JDX
- Start date
Boils down to money I guess. Got mine for about $15 a few years ago off that site named for a river.
$15 bucks
for a US made knife with 420hc heat treated right was a steal. It is in my pocket right now...Boils down to money I guess. Got mine for about $15 a few years ago off that site named for a river.
$15 bucks
That's why I got the also inexpensive Bantam, and why I love many of Kershaw's budget blades. Quality stuff you can get 3 or 5 of and still pay the bills and go out to dinner, what could be better?
There was a video that circulated a few years ago where a the Bantam lock fails under what appears to be moderate lateral force. The guy compared the Bantam to an older Bucklite (not the Bucklite Max, but the older Bucklite) which used very stiff, hard plastic. The Bucklite lock holds up to a lot of force but the soft plastic of the Bantam deformed under lateral pressure, causing the lock to fail.
Here is another one in which a more durable Ecolite 112 (which has a metal liner) makes a brief appearance. Same core issue.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRR63gVWm1I
I sent 2 Bucklite Max back to Buck after they developed a LOT of vertical play both after less than a year of use. The head of Buck's warranty department finally admitted that the all plastic frames aren't as robust as the ones that have metal liners or metal bolsters.
The Bucklite Max is, IMO, a tad better than the Bantam but I would treat it as a light duty knife.
My Opinels have outlasted and out performed my Buck lockbacks in every way. If somebody is on a budget, get an Opinel #9 and be done with it.
If somebody really wants to carry a Buck, I would look at the Buck 500 (my favorite by far), the Buck 112 or the Vantage line.
Haven't ever handled a Bantam, but I do like the Cryo. It's a great little knife. Compact, solid-feeling, and great design both functionally and aesthetically. Flipper or thumbstud opening, quad-position deep carry clip, LBS, and even nice little details, like the hollowed-out stand-off that doubles as the lanyard hole.
Thanks everyone, I watched more reviews on YouTube and just from the way it looked, I knew it would be weak. The handle is thermoplastic which to me is just cheap plastic, and I found out that it's not even steel-lined. It's all plastic. So I just decided to get the SAK field master and the ontario rat 1. Sak will be my edc, rat 1 will be my camping/hiking/outdoor edc and my spyderco resilience will be what I've been using it as, a food prep knife.
Those make sense!
I think it is unfair to characterize the Bantam as "weak." Plastic will never be as strong as steel. But is it strong enough to do the job? I am not one of those folks that goes out of their way to abuse a knife. I value my tools and take care of them. I have an old 444, which is a Bucklite with a valox handle, which is not fiber-reinforced, like the Bantams and Bucklite Max models today. My wife and I use it to plunge cut holes in cardboard, using it as hard as any knife I own. It has held up fine. It's also very easy to tighten up pins if they get loose. The other knives you chose are good, but don't sell the Buck short, either.