- Joined
- Jun 9, 1999
- Messages
- 4,729
Well, it took long enough, but the knife is finally here! I just picked it up from the mailroom about an hour ago, so here's my initial review. I can't provide my own pic since my camera recently went belly up, so here's one I stole from 1sks (hope you don't mind Spark, it's for a good cause 
)
At first glance, I was very impressed. The opening was a bit stiff, but an application of Tuf-Glide smoothed it out immensely. It glides open now. The holes in the handle are evenly spaced and help to lighten up the knife and improve the grip. It's a very lightweight knife, actually lighter than my Camillus EDC, which is only slightly smaller. The blade has nearly perfect grinds, they're very even and the satin finish is also very well done. It's also ridiculously sharp, even by my standards, which are very high. They even got the edge bevels even, at least reasonably so. I'm not breaking out a micrometer, but from eyeballing it they look to be about the same. In short, this is one of the best factory edges I have ever seen. The Buck and Bos logos on the blade are also tastefully small and well positioned, one of my gripes about the EDC is the oversized logo and writing on the blade. Buck's logo is also much darker, which I consider a plus because it makes it look more professional.
That's everything I like about it, but there are a few little things that I'm not so fond of. The clip isn't bad per se, but it's way too tight for use with jeans and it's just very plain. I like the EDC's clip because it looks like it's integrated into the design, while Buck's just looks like an afterthought. It's also positioned for tip down, right hand carry, which works well for me. Some will surely complain about the lack of a lefty option, which is certainly a valid gripe. Perhaps Buck will offer one in the future. One other minor complaint I have is that the lock bar release area is a little too sharp (the area circled in blue in the pic attached below) I'd like to see it beveled to relieve pressure on the thumb when you are releasing the lock. This is really just nitpicking, but hey, that's what I do best
.
These last two things aren't so minor though. I'm guessing the handles are cast, because there is a small ridge of metal sticking off of the top of the tip of the lock bar, if that makes any sense. It's in the area circled in red in the pic below. This is a pretty big flaw in a $180 knife, IMO. The other problem is that the lock has a very, very small amount of vertical play. When I grab the tip of the knife and wiggle it up and down, I can feel the blade give slightly. The lock is very secure, the lock bar's face is fully engaged along the tang. If I push the lock bar all the way across the tang with my thumb, the vertical play disappears. I think the lock bar tension isn't strong enough, I could probably fix it myself if I took the knife apart but I hesitate to do that since it's part of a pass-around and not mine. So what do you all think I should do? Send it back to Buck for evaluation and repair, or take matters into my own hands? If my pass-around compatriots are willing, I'd rather send the knife in to Buck so we know it's done right. Or we could ask if they mind me trying a little at home repair. I'll do whatever you think is best, let me know.
This has all been posted in the original pass-around thread as well, I just wanted to expose it to a broader audience. I hope you all find it somewhat informative, I'll add more once I've carried it for a few days.
)
At first glance, I was very impressed. The opening was a bit stiff, but an application of Tuf-Glide smoothed it out immensely. It glides open now. The holes in the handle are evenly spaced and help to lighten up the knife and improve the grip. It's a very lightweight knife, actually lighter than my Camillus EDC, which is only slightly smaller. The blade has nearly perfect grinds, they're very even and the satin finish is also very well done. It's also ridiculously sharp, even by my standards, which are very high. They even got the edge bevels even, at least reasonably so. I'm not breaking out a micrometer, but from eyeballing it they look to be about the same. In short, this is one of the best factory edges I have ever seen. The Buck and Bos logos on the blade are also tastefully small and well positioned, one of my gripes about the EDC is the oversized logo and writing on the blade. Buck's logo is also much darker, which I consider a plus because it makes it look more professional.
That's everything I like about it, but there are a few little things that I'm not so fond of. The clip isn't bad per se, but it's way too tight for use with jeans and it's just very plain. I like the EDC's clip because it looks like it's integrated into the design, while Buck's just looks like an afterthought. It's also positioned for tip down, right hand carry, which works well for me. Some will surely complain about the lack of a lefty option, which is certainly a valid gripe. Perhaps Buck will offer one in the future. One other minor complaint I have is that the lock bar release area is a little too sharp (the area circled in blue in the pic attached below) I'd like to see it beveled to relieve pressure on the thumb when you are releasing the lock. This is really just nitpicking, but hey, that's what I do best
.These last two things aren't so minor though. I'm guessing the handles are cast, because there is a small ridge of metal sticking off of the top of the tip of the lock bar, if that makes any sense. It's in the area circled in red in the pic below. This is a pretty big flaw in a $180 knife, IMO. The other problem is that the lock has a very, very small amount of vertical play. When I grab the tip of the knife and wiggle it up and down, I can feel the blade give slightly. The lock is very secure, the lock bar's face is fully engaged along the tang. If I push the lock bar all the way across the tang with my thumb, the vertical play disappears. I think the lock bar tension isn't strong enough, I could probably fix it myself if I took the knife apart but I hesitate to do that since it's part of a pass-around and not mine. So what do you all think I should do? Send it back to Buck for evaluation and repair, or take matters into my own hands? If my pass-around compatriots are willing, I'd rather send the knife in to Buck so we know it's done right. Or we could ask if they mind me trying a little at home repair. I'll do whatever you think is best, let me know.
This has all been posted in the original pass-around thread as well, I just wanted to expose it to a broader audience. I hope you all find it somewhat informative, I'll add more once I've carried it for a few days.
