I received my Vantage Pro in the mail, let's just say I am disappointed.
There were 5 issues, one major and completely unforgivable for a BNIB.
1. Blade came dirty, like it had rust (but wasnt). This looked like crap that some cheaper cutlery comes in. It's fine, just took one wipe to clean it. But really, does it hurt to run them through air blowers? The insides however were from runaway oil, and what appeared to be rust, however a simple wipe with a cloth fixed that.
2. Handle also came dirty, inside there was also spots of stains that looked like rust. Overall same issue as the blade, quick wipe down.
3. Blade is not aligned and hits the metal liners, more on this later. The box has a sticker dated 11/11/10 this looks more like a manufacturer date as it contains the UPC code which is something manufacturers add, not retailers. So I can assume it was made recent. No amount of pivot screw messing would fix it, more on this.
This is a big disappointment since NutNFancy did his Buck Customer Support video where Buck said they had fixed the alignment issue. Obviously they have not.
4. The biggest issue was the locking mechanism would not work 8/10. However the 2/10 times it worked, the lock only went around 50% of the way, and never really fully locked as it should. I don't think I need to stress how important this is, and how unsafe this knife is for a BNIB knife, this is unforgivable in my books and I hope Buck steps up their CQ because as it stands this will likely be my last Buck (unless the S30V steel really impresses me.
The only times it would work is when the blade was pushed back with excessive force like when you whip out the blade, or with you used two hands and you pressed firmly on the blade. One handed opening (non whip action) was not possible no matter how much force was used.
I took the blade apart cleaned it up, reapplied lubricant, and fixed the alignment issue.
Now here is my theory on the alignment issue:
I noticed something odd when I was dissembling the knife, the pivot screw was oddly tight. It felt like when it was threaded wrong. This leads me to believe that SLIGHT angle of the screw being threaded wrong led to worsening of the angle which is still caused by slightly off machining.
Once I reassembled the 2 major issues disappeared and the pivot screw went in/out very easily afterwards. The blade was no longer hitting the liner, however was still not aligned. I can get it to center BUT the blade becomes far too stiff to open. So it can be concluded there's something off in the machining of these knives.
The locking mechanism is working properly, and actually locks properly (100%) every single time (50 attempts so far and no failures).
Overall I am NOW happy with the knife now that I had to fix it. I hope the S30V+ Bos heat treat really shine otherwise it will suffer an experiment. I am not, however, happy with the Quality control that Buck has shown, specially when Buck has ALREADY stated it knows about the issue.
There were 5 issues, one major and completely unforgivable for a BNIB.
1. Blade came dirty, like it had rust (but wasnt). This looked like crap that some cheaper cutlery comes in. It's fine, just took one wipe to clean it. But really, does it hurt to run them through air blowers? The insides however were from runaway oil, and what appeared to be rust, however a simple wipe with a cloth fixed that.
2. Handle also came dirty, inside there was also spots of stains that looked like rust. Overall same issue as the blade, quick wipe down.
3. Blade is not aligned and hits the metal liners, more on this later. The box has a sticker dated 11/11/10 this looks more like a manufacturer date as it contains the UPC code which is something manufacturers add, not retailers. So I can assume it was made recent. No amount of pivot screw messing would fix it, more on this.
This is a big disappointment since NutNFancy did his Buck Customer Support video where Buck said they had fixed the alignment issue. Obviously they have not.
4. The biggest issue was the locking mechanism would not work 8/10. However the 2/10 times it worked, the lock only went around 50% of the way, and never really fully locked as it should. I don't think I need to stress how important this is, and how unsafe this knife is for a BNIB knife, this is unforgivable in my books and I hope Buck steps up their CQ because as it stands this will likely be my last Buck (unless the S30V steel really impresses me.
The only times it would work is when the blade was pushed back with excessive force like when you whip out the blade, or with you used two hands and you pressed firmly on the blade. One handed opening (non whip action) was not possible no matter how much force was used.
I took the blade apart cleaned it up, reapplied lubricant, and fixed the alignment issue.
Now here is my theory on the alignment issue:
I noticed something odd when I was dissembling the knife, the pivot screw was oddly tight. It felt like when it was threaded wrong. This leads me to believe that SLIGHT angle of the screw being threaded wrong led to worsening of the angle which is still caused by slightly off machining.
Once I reassembled the 2 major issues disappeared and the pivot screw went in/out very easily afterwards. The blade was no longer hitting the liner, however was still not aligned. I can get it to center BUT the blade becomes far too stiff to open. So it can be concluded there's something off in the machining of these knives.
The locking mechanism is working properly, and actually locks properly (100%) every single time (50 attempts so far and no failures).
Overall I am NOW happy with the knife now that I had to fix it. I hope the S30V+ Bos heat treat really shine otherwise it will suffer an experiment. I am not, however, happy with the Quality control that Buck has shown, specially when Buck has ALREADY stated it knows about the issue.
