Buckcote knives

David Martin

David Martin

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Does anyone recall these knives ? They had a titanium coating of silver or gold and sharpened only on one side . The thinking was to give greater edge retention . However, they were dropped after only a limited offering in 1999.
Why ? DM
 
David Martin said:
Does anyone recall these knives ? They had a titanium coating of silver or gold and sharpened only on one side . The thinking was to give greater edge retention . However, they were dropped after only a limited offering in 1999.
Why ? DM
Click to expand...

Hi Dave,

A knife with a one side edge is a bitch to cut with...try it. The Ti coating is very hard stuff and was to give longer edge retention, the long thin edge was prone to chip. Ask Jimbo AKA "postfalls" he had or has a good collection of that stuff.
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jb4570
 
Think there was a pink looking color also. Don't have any but, as jb said, they would be hard to sharpen.
 
I like them ;)

They were offered from the mid '90s to 2002 or 03 I believe. (8-10 years maybe) They switched the name from "Buckcote" to Ionfusion because the "coating" is actually fused to the 420HC molecularly, its not a "coating" at all. To me (YMMV) they are great light use knives. Fantastic for skinning, and cardboard/ package opening, carpeting etc. They hold an edge forever, and are wicked sharp. If you use them very aggressively, the edge tends to roll, because of the chisel grind I am guessing. I tried cleaning a few ducks with them, and dinged one up pretty good cutting the wishbone. Now I stick to skinning and EDC. I don't have as many as I used to, I narrowed it down to my favorite users, but I still have probably 10 laying around here, and I use them! I carry my 425 Buckcote Bucklite almost daily. My best idea I had hoped for Buck to make was a 103 Ionfusion. That would be tough to beat. But it never happened... I can dream ;) I still watch online auctions and try to score my favorite models when I can :D

They were made in purple, grey, Light gold, gold, and champagne. Maybe others I missed, but these are the only ones I can recall. Buck_110 I believe had a very good printout of the actual coatings (Z4, Z5 etc.) and theories behind them, years back.
 
I have a brass bolstered 111 buildout with that blade, but it came from Buck with a normal edge on it, not the one sided sharpening. I also have one of the 110's with the one side sharpening and I believe a 119 somewhere.
 
The dark gold blades are coated with Titanium Nitride (TiN) which has a hardness on the Rockwell scale of 82C (HRC). The light gold or champagne blades are Zirconium Nitride (ZrN) at 85 HRC. The dark gray or charcoal blades are Titanium Aluminum Nitride (TiAlN) at 92 HRC. The Purple Titanium Carbonitride blades are 87 HRC.
These blades were chisel sharpened to expose the coating on the micro edge. In use , the steel wore away in preference to the coat, making the knives self-sharpening. This geometry (single bevel) is inherently twice as sharp as a double bevel. Japanese kitchen knives often have single bevels which makes them great for yielding uniform slices.
The knives are easy to sharpen with the proper technique and equipment. I have many of these blades in the 110 format. I have installed them in Aluminum and Titanium handles and also converted some to Selector blades. I use them all the time. They are very impressive.
 
Wow ! This is very interesting information guys . JB, the knife in your photo looks to be the Crosslock, "Knife of the Year" awarded in 1994 . So, the BuckCote knives came out after this . Does anyone know all the models Buck offered with this coating ? DM
 
Just off the top of my head, 192,191,691,110,Various crosslocks,425,119,protege....
I bet theres a few I am missing yet ;)
 
I have to agree with Jim,they were excellent skinning knives,the edge lasts a long time with skinning /cutting meat,bones are another story.I wore mine out I had an original 110 buckkote with nickel silver bolsters and grey buckkote blade,that was a wicked knife,after 12 seasons she was done,sent it to Joe and got it back with a new bg-42 blade,not available now either.lol..Wish i had a 103 skinner with buckkote as well..
 
Great information on these knives guys . I didn't know all this as I never picked one up .
From the reports I should have . Thanks . DM
 
What was the color of the Z4 Titanium Zirconium Nitride coat? This whole area of PVD coats is a little complicated. Aluminum Titanium Nitride is harder than Titanium Aluminum Nitride according to one of my tool catalogs. What was the composition of the 1992-1994 black nitride coated blades? The confusion is worsened by people who refer to Titanium ceramic coated blades as Titanium blades. Then there are the Titanium colored (battleship gray) handles and blades that are called Titanium but have no Titanium in them. I have seen Titanium jackets, skis, etc. which are Titaniumless.
 
They as a group could be considered the Best knives Buck ever made....Soooo Sharp!
 
I just now managed to get a couple of pictures of the Buckcote Vanguard that I bought from a fellow forumite. It's a REALLY sharp edge. It's a little hard to get the color of the blade to show up, but it's pretty close in the first picture.

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