Buck Mayo Owners please read

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zinn1348

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Aug 5, 2003
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I would like to hear from Buck Mayo TNT owners, especially those with the seemingly inherant problems of blade wobble up and down, and side to side, uncentered blades and the like.

I just received one this week, and tinkered with it a bit and got it fixed.

The knife arrived and I was impressed with its appearance....well ground symetric blade, nicely rounded frame sections. Really a nice knife.

Then I checked the lock function and found that it had very little pressure against the tang of the blade, thus allowing the up and down blade play. Side to side blade play was evident, evidently due to the mushy nylon pivot washers.

Blade was not centered, almost touching the non-lock bar frame section.

After a bit of tinkering, I've gotten the blade centered, the lock bar engages very positively, and the blade wobble has been eliminated.

If there are enough people interested, I'll post the info about my fix, if not, e-mail me and I'll let you know.

I know, I know, warrenties and all that crap. Supposed to send it back to the factory....

I am TOTALLY perturbed by the idea that one has to pay good money for a knife and then go through the crap of sending the knife back for fixes that should have been eliminated through proper design and engineer practices, and caught by diligent quality control personnel.

I like Buck Knives, have owned them for years....their customer service is good. Just don't like to send stuff back that should have been right in the first place.

Buck knives isn't the only company in that respect, Camillus has their problems with the Dominator as well. I have two Dominators, one was perfect, and the other had all of the problems folks have been talking about. I guess 50% is my luck. Fixed that one too.

It seems that the high tech knives are a problem for production knife companies and that a percentage of their knives are not up to snuff.

Hope to hear from y'all

Thomas
 
Thomas,
I'm interested how you fixed your problem. Mine is funny too. 95% it locks up like a vault. The other 5% I can induce a minute amount of vertical movement (hardly noticeable save for the anal ones amongst us) when I grip the spine of the blade and try n move it vigorously.
Thanks,
 
The lock up on mine is just fine. My gripes include a very poor factory edge (easily corrected) and sharp edges on the scales (also easily corrected with some sandpaper).

Also, the clip is poor. As delivered, it was very tight. A call to Buck service got me a canned answer - it will loosen in time. It hasn't. The geometry of the clip could be improved.
 
I've loosened clips by taking them off and giving them a tap with a leather mallet at one of the bends while resting it on a non-marring surface. Go easy tho....

Good Luck,

Thomas
 
Both of mine lock up great. As for the clip, it is a preference issue but the "safest" way to adjust tension without overdoing is with business cards. Slip a small stack under the clip and leave overnight to let the clip relax. If it is not sufficient add and repeat. This seems to be the standard for any knife brand.
 
I have one of the first run Buck/Mayos. The lockup is fine. My only gripes were that the clip was too tight (easily fixed) and that the edge bevel grinds were not quite even. Pretty much nit-picky kinds of stuff, because overall I was very pleased with the knife.
 
The only way to loosen up a clip that is too tight is to first remove it from the knife so you don't stress the screws, and then bend it to where you want it. You may have to GENTLY bend it several times to get it to be where it needs to be but it is not hard to do. Reattach and check the progress out after each bend. I often use a pair of pliers with a cloth wrapped around the jaws for this purpose. I have another pair with leather glued to the jaws which also works well.

I've handled a couple of the Buck TNTs. Very nice from what I've seen.
 
It's a shame that any QC problems slide by on any higher priced production folder, I have a Gerber SL3.25 CF and it was perfect from the factory, if Gerber can do that with with a $40 knife, I'm sure Buck can provide the same quality control on a supposedly higher end knife.


"I have another pair with leather glued to the jaws which also works well."

Thanks for the tip Peter, I don't know why I never thought to do that, I usually use tape or a cloth, thanks again.
:cool:
 
I just want to say that my Buck/Mayo was unbelievable straight out of the box.I had no wobble, great lock up. The only thing better is the TNT I got from Tom.
 
it has been my every day carry since it arrived last May, as a temporary measure until my two Mayo TNT's are built and shipped. It has been a terrific knife, and I can't imagine how nice the "real" Mayo TNT will be compared to this spectacular knife.

Absolutely positively worth the ~$150 I paid for my used one here on BF.
 
I got one of the first run ones and had the mentioned issues - after going through a series of cross-pond knife shipping I finally got a perfect one on the forth trial. This one is definetely a keeper but the knife at this price should have been like that in the first place.

I´m finally happy and the knife is really really great - and I am considering buying the next generation larger size Buck/Mayo TNT as well as the lower cost 173 model too - but I am thinking about how to avoid the QC lottery then.

Kudos to Joe Houser for helping me through all this but I would second the concerns about Buck as well as Camillus in regards to those higher priced knives.

As usual these are just my 2 €cents and YMMV

Klaus
 
Mine has a very secure lockup, the pocket clip tension is just right, the blade grind is very good, the edge bevel is perfect on one side and slightly off on the other, and the blade is not quite centered. Tom Mayo posted a while back to show how to get it centered, but I am not bothered by it enough to worry about it. Overall, a very nice knife, it has been my EDC since I got it.

I get the impression that despite being a production company, this particular model is a semi-production knife with a fair bit of manual involvement, which would explain some of the variability. In that regard, it is finished better than some customs you will see, yet not think anything of spending a good deal more money to buy.
 
I know this is the wrong forum, but I just have to second the kudos to Joe Houser, who bent over backwards for me.

WayLander
 
Talk about Thread Drift. :rolleyes:

Don't get me wrong. . .I'm glad that quite a few of you have had good experiences with your Buck/Mayo ! :)

But, not everyone has.

zinn1348. . .post your fix-all's. :)
 
It has a very high hollow grind giving a slim profile, also making it an awesome slicer. It is my favorite grind on a knife. I just couldn't get used to the sharp edges on the handle.

I, too, am interested in finding out how to aleviate an un-centered blade. My Camillus Dominator is way off center.

DD

edit: (looks like Gigone got to your question first:D)
 
I have looked at a bunch of these, and the first poster is right. They should come right the first time.

Next however, is the correction, which in EVERY INSTANCE has been a loose screw on the pivot pin. It would be smart to snug up all the screws.

I understand the clip problem has been corrected. Best fix is to take it off and bend the end up to twice the original height, that can be done by simply putting it on your desk top and pushing on it. I always take mine and grab it while it is still attached and pull the clip up until it is just barely touching the handles.

Hope that helps. ;)
 
Slip a small stack under the clip and leave overnight to let the clip relax

It won't "relax". If metal springs did this, your clip would have no tension at all in a few days. You are bending the clip so it takes a permanant set and time has no influence on whether this happens or not. To "weaken" the clip you must bend it slightly beyond the yield point or nothing happens, no matter how long you wait.
 
I once used a wooden shingle, which worked OK. It has a continual wedge shape, so that you can cut the shingle to the desired amount of wedge thickness that you can insert under the clip to help do the job. The wedge gives you degrees of thickness, therefore a little more control during bending.
 
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