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Buck Small Vantage Pro - my thoughts
- Thread starter fishface5
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fishface5
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a bigger one with stouter liners like the ZT line would be awesome!
I have now reground the liners on mine to make a more ergonomic (for me) shape, then had to modify them slightly again to to reduce the butt-ugly quotient - getting good looks and good ergos is not easy! - and then slightly re-profiled the blade to reduce the hump a little to match the handle. Then I started making "bone" paper micarta scales, & the scales require more work than I thought, there are various recesses and channels that need to be cut into the interior of the scales. I'll post pics once complete but who knows when that will actually be.
I have now reground the liners on mine to make a more ergonomic (for me) shape, then had to modify them slightly again to to reduce the butt-ugly quotient - getting good looks and good ergos is not easy! - and then slightly re-profiled the blade to reduce the hump a little to match the handle. Then I started making "bone" paper micarta scales, & the scales require more work than I thought, there are various recesses and channels that need to be cut into the interior of the scales. I'll post pics once complete but who knows when that will actually be.
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I have a small select and like it very much. It flips fine for me, the only thing I had to do on mine was lighten the liner pressure a little by bending it outward slightly so it didn't have so much force inward. As it came, it was hard to flip due to liner drag though this was probably just a fluke on my particular knife. Now it's fine, locks up rock solid and fits my hand well. I find it fills the same role as my Buck rush or small Kershaw NRG for EDC. I want to get a small Vantage Avid and Paradigm Avid someday, as the Avid line is really still my favorite.
Not a fluke, both my paperstone and pro are like this.......
i haven't carried anything but the pro since i got it. (small) i use my knives hard, cutting cardboard, stripping wire, removing heat shrink from steel tubing.(yikes!!) It just keeps going. It's my first premium steel folder ever. It flips open with a nice and crisp SNICK. Ive only had to resharpen the blade a few times. I just strop it a little every Sunday night.
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Same here with same two knives. Just wanted to warn, the liners now seem to be hardened and thus makes them brittle, so be careful bending the liners. I had a smal Select and broke the lock bar off trying to bend it a little. So now I take a hammer and straighten the lock bar a little. (curve in the bar)
I might mention, I love, love these knives. Thank you CJ and Co. They are the perfect size for me! Did I mention I love them!:thumbup:
The paperstone handles are great. Please use more of it. thanks.
Flatlander1963
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- Jan 28, 2008
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HaHa!!!!!
I got one. Its small but I open it in a two part process one of two ways (I knew you guys would love this). First two part process, I use the flipper but the best I can get out of it is half open and then I push it all the way open with my thumb. Second two part process, I use my thumb and middle finger on either side of the hole pushing until a quarter open and then I push it all the way open with my thumb.
I like the size of it although it will not be a quick opening knife for me due to it's small size and my big hands. In any case, I'm a huge fan of the Vantage pattern and I hope it becomes a classic design for the Buck Family.
I think of my TNT as my Gentleman's knife but this small vantage is certainly able to fit into that catagory. It should be perfect for people forced against their will to live in places with idiotic knife laws.
So it's a big thumbs up on this little guy for me!!!!!!!!!!!:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
Oh, and I got a couple of new regulars size Vantages and whatever was the issue with lockup, blades being strait, has been fixed. All of these are perfect in every respect in terms of fit and finish.
Which brings me to my final comment...................CJ, please authorize a version with a 3.5 inch blade. Don't listen to your marketing guys when they tell you a big Vantage will steal sells from the Csar. Their wrong. Different knife entirely.
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:thumbup: My last 3 were perfect also!
2 VERY different knives for sure LOL I would also like to see some different handle scales on the vantages
, not that I need another reason to buy a Buck knife, but I think a knife like the Vantage would do very well with lots of blade and handle options. I think (IMHO only), that the vantage would be a great custom shop knife, and do better than the Alpha hunter myself. (Sorry just thinking out loud.) I sold my little Vantage to fund another knife, too small for me. Any pics of your updates yet fishface5?
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I received my Vantage Pro small in the mail today. I really like it. It's small but solid. G10 looks classy and is rock hard. S30V blade looks sick. The flipper got me at first b/c it didn't work. **The key to the Vantage Small flipper is to rest your index finger on top of the handle above the flipper, then drop your finger over the flipper knob.** It opens lightning fast every time with a "click". The large Vantage Pro would have been too big for me. I'm really happy with this classy little knife.
Flatlander1963
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I'll give that a try.
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My daughter has the small one and I just pulled it out to see. I can either use the flipper and give a snap of the wrist every time. But I found a pointer to the flipper generally opens it all the way. Blade rests near left bolster when closed. If I tighten the torx to center the blade more, I will almost certianly at least need the wrist flip.
My blade is off center as well, though not touching the liner. If I squeeze the knife together lightly at the pin when closed the blade centers up. But I'm also afraid tightening the screw will result in a tighter deployment. I can live with it.
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When I wrote my response last night, it was after spending about 3 1/2 hrs on my neighbors porch drinking beer. In my somewhat inhebriated(sp) state, I started re-reading all these comments, including mine and reflecting on the close position and slight blade play of my lg Pro. Due to my mental state at the time, I figgered the only course of action was to take it apart and try to adjust it myself. Good idea
Once apart, I pulled the frame lock back so that it didnt close as far, I flipped the washers over to install them the opposite face in. After dropping basically every small screw and washer into my carpet, and subsequent clean up of the candle votive that I knocked over while pulling the snake light down off the computer desk shelf to look for them,
I put it back together.(man getting those washers back in place sober would have been a chore) To miy, and probably yours, surprise, it works. I now have a frame lock that locks dead center:thumbup: The blade rests just about center without having the too tight deployment that your are talking about Piloto. It is a little tighter than I want but it opens with pointer on the flipper and a little wrist. In the past, if I tightened it far enough to center the blade, the travel was the real tightness that you are worried about. I still have in and out play between the tang and liner lock which bugs me a little, other than that it is great. You ask "was it worth it" and I answer-"seemed like a good idea at the time"
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That's one thing keeping me from gettting a Vantage Pro: the blade centering. I'm no perfectionist, but it probably would bother me.
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- Feb 17, 2007
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Irrelevant
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You're absolutely correct. The locking part of the liner is pressing against the blade in the closed position just enough to push it off center. It's not to the point where the blade rubs against the liner so it's basically an aesthetic problem. It locks up solid when opened, so I could really care less.