Buck's edges

StuntDouble

StuntDouble

Gold Member
Joined
Apr 26, 2004
Messages
2,447
I hate to beat up on Buck yet again, but there's something that's been bugging me lately, namely the poor edges I seem to be getting from them lately. I would use the two 444's that I recently purchased as an example, but they both came from an Ebay seller, and were manufactured in 2004. I understand that everyone has a different preference for sharpness, but when a blade won't even begin to slice paper, or even skin, there's a problem. Those two were easily reprofiled, but the two I got today weren't so easy to fix. The first one was a Buck Vantage Select manufactured in 08/2012. It had excellent fit and finish, perfect lockup, and a decent edge. Until you got to the last inch of the blade. The grind there is off by quite a bit, especially at the tip. Looking from the spine side, if the total angle of the blade tip should be 35 degrees, one side was ground at 25 degrees, while the other was ground at 10 degrees. I was able to fix that somewhat, but it doesn't look good at all.

The second one, which I also got today, was a Buck 503 Prince made in 09/2012. The fit and finish were great, but the edge was ground very thick and as a result was dull, while the tip was blunt and ground unevenly. Again, I was able to fix it somewhat, but only after some judicious reprofiling. This seems to be an issue that keeps cropping up on the Buck knives that I have purchased. A Buck Special I recently purchased new actually had rather nice bevels, but then then it looked like someone had hit the blade on the sharpening stone at a much higher angle, leaving a rather blunt final edge. I've noticed the same thing on a 303 I purchased a few months ago as well. The primary edge bevels weren't too bad, but then there seemed to be a very rough, and very thick microbevel put on at the end.

I'm not trying to pick on Buck. Even with the edge issues, I find myself drawn to the brand more and more. I'm mainly interested in seeing if other Buck fans are noticing the same issues, and if so, is there anything Buck can do to fix the problem.

I included a pic of the Vantage, looking at it from the edge. It's a bit blurry, and slightly off, but I think you can see what I'm talking about with the tip of the blade.
DSCN2788_zps7ce059fb.jpg


Thanks for looking, and please feel free to share your experiences as well.
 
Looks like a problem with quality control. Buck will fix it if you send them back -- their customer service is superb. I've never had a problem with Buck's edges on my blades, though.
 
Hey Ed, thanks for the input. I've actually had a few experiences with Buck's CS, and have no complaints. I'm still contemplating sending these two back. I just hate doing so because they were gifts. I'll probably think on it a bit before I make a final decision.
 
Knives from all the big names have these problems now and again. What I have always done is to use the factory edge until it needs to be sharpened then reprofile the whole edge. I eventually reprofile 99% of them anyway. If it comes dull from the factory then it gets reprofiled ASAP to my liking.
 
While I can't deny that's a rather lackluster edge, I for one don't expect too terribly great of an edge from the factory when it comes to production knives. I simply just pull out the ye old Lansky and try to get a nice 20-25 (exclusive) degree main bevel and add a 30 degree micron bevel if I choose 20 degrees or thinner. It typically doesn't matter what quality the factory edge is I usually can't resist reprofiling it to my liking.
 
My Vantage select came with a decent edge on it. My 309 master blade was good, while the pen blade needed lots of work. I agree, it's hit or miss. I'd like to think they hit more often than they miss. These are $23 knives, so I don't expect them to be perfect.
 
I've never had a bad edge come from the factory, I wish I could get some of the edges I do as good as the factory. If ten thousand bad edges get out of a million knives, that's still only 1% and pretty damn good in most peoples opinion.
 
mbjannusch,

When you put it like that, it really doesn't sound that bad. It's just when you consistently seem to get knives from that 1%, then it gets annoying. :o

I have to wonder if it's possible mine came from the same sharpener on the line. The tips on both were off on the same side and off by the same amount.
 
I don't worry about fit and finish much and don't care at all what sort edge a knife comes to me. I consider the edge *MY* responsibility not the manufacturers.

The things I care about are design, functionality and durability. I'm not willing to deal with scales that fall of or poorly tempered steel. Those are the things I want Buck to get right.
 
Pinnah,

I agree with you on the fit and finish thing. But I have to think that it's the manufacturer's responsibility to make sure that a knife can do the main thing it was designed to do right out of the box. I know it's unreasonable to expect finely polished edges from a company that puts out as many knives as Buck does. All I want are knives that come with nice even bevels that can cut right from the box. I don't mind having to polish up an edge, but when I have to reprofile a knife so it has a usable point before I get a chance to use it, it gets a little annoying.

Having said all this, I love both the Vantage and the Prince, and don't really see any need to send them back to Buck right now. I was able to shape the Prince's edge so that it looks factory, and a little more work on the Vantage will get it looking nice again.
 
I've had both some amazingly sharp and some so-so edges on my Buck knives. None has been absolutely "dull". But since the first thing I do with a knife is fuss with the edges, Out Of Box sharpness pretty much doesn't matter to me.

One thing I do greatly appreciate is Buck's edge angles. They use pretty close to 15° per side. That means I don't have to reprofile the edge of a new Buck knife, merely touch it up. Makes that first sharpening a lot faster than with a lot of knives. (With a blade hardness of 58 or so, 15° per side is my preferred angle for Buck knives. Knives with softer blade alloys won't support that angle, IMO.)
 
pinnah said:
I don't worry about fit and finish much and don't care at all what sort edge a knife comes to me. I consider the edge *MY* responsibility not the manufacturers.

The things I care about are design, functionality and durability. I'm not willing to deal with scales that fall of or poorly tempered steel. Those are the things I want Buck to get right.
Click to expand...

I'm going to have to agree with StuntDouble and stick with the fact that a Knife being a cutting tool needs to have a good working edge from the factory. If you don't like the angle of the bevel than you can change it but it needs to be sharp from the get go.
 
I have had some problems with bad eges,only on a few newer knives,the last bunch i bought over christms have had pretty good fit and finish,and very good edges on them.Maybe they had some problems and got it worked out.It does suck to constantly get bad knives,i've been there myself,after getting quality out of a knife manufacturer for years,i expect it to always be like that.
 
Again even in the best of circumstances there's going to be a 10% margin of bad products, It pays to see merchandise before you buy it and if you don't and get it online its BUYER BEWARE. There was a time no body bought online for this exact reason. Now online is the only way to get allot of things and people aren't happy, but we did it to ourselves by buying online.
 
i started with a buck 110 in 1967..and have stayed with the 110 all this time
most ALL of them new in box have has even sharp edges
a few i have seen with the tip like the one he says of .. not centered in the grind
the last sharpening done is by hand on a belt sander type of machine
and most are Sharp!!
so some production line ones are not up to custom shop standords
but it is not many .. i think it is a very high percentage that are seen by a QC
on a user i am like the others before me in that i have to make the edge like
I LIKE...
i will say the wuality of the new knives is way way over the quality of the 4 dots and back ...
 
Hey Dave,

I figured the hand sharpening at the end would explain why some look better than others. I'm sure the guy sharpening for 10 years probably does a better job than the one that's only been there 1.

I was actually able to get the Vantage mostly straight. It doesn't look so nice at the tip now, but it's sharp and pointy.
 
I look at it this way, spending say, 8 hours a day doing pretty much the same thing over and over again, which of us wouldn't space out for a few minutes here and there...I know I would... So yeah, a couple here and ther might get out with less than perfect edges, but its a cutting tool, and for the most part, even if the edges aren't perfectly symmetrical, usually they will still cut...and at some point will dull and need to be re sharpened...that is when they can be even'd out...
 
I picked up a 444 from the buck Web Specials and the edge was perfect! very sharp, I love that little knife.
 
Since I sharpen knives and am very particular about my edges, out of box sharpness and edge don't really matter to me. I'd be much more upset if the heat treat was messed up and the tip broke off during normal use, for example.
 
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