Chinese Bucks?

[Guyon]

Saw some "NEW" Buck slipjoints at my local Wal-Mart today. Had the clerk let me take a look at a couple. I sort of liked a 4" stockman (model 371) he showed me, but when I opened up one of the smaller blades and saw "CHINA" stamped there, I was perplexed.

"I didn't know any Buck knives were made in China," I said.

"Everything in this store was made in China," replied the sardonic clerk with a smirk.

Even more confusing was the end-of-aisle display of some Buck slipjoints. The cardboard display touted "440C" steel in the knives, but the clampacks themselves said the knives held "a 420 stainless steel."

When exactly did Buck outsource?

What steel is in these knives? To their credit, they looked like solid little knives. Just curious about materials.

 

[Stu_Hert]

Hello, welcome to six months ago.

This has been discussed to great length on these forums already, if you do a search in this forum for "China" you should find a wealth of material.

Stu

 

[JD Mandrell]

Since the search function is out, it will be kinda hard for him to do that.

Guyon, Buck has been outsourcing many models for years now, the slipjoints at Wal-Mart are some of the latest, the steel on them is 440C. For the price range they sell in, they are a farily good deal. Quality is not bad, I've seen a few that were a little rough, but overall they are good knives.

 

[geothorn]

Actually, this "discussion" about Buck started much earlier when someone discovered a Buck that had been 'Made in Taiwan,' back in 2003. The title to the thread is "Buck!!! What were you thinking?"

Stu_Hert is correct in that searching for "China" in the Buck Forum will yield you 66 threads where 'China' is mentioned.

GeoThorn

 

[geothorn]

Since the search function is out, it will be kinda hard for him to do that.

The BladeForums Search function appears to be up and working again. I searched for "China" this morning.

GeoThorn

 

[JD Mandrell]

The BladeForums Search function appears to be up and working again. I searched for "China" this morning.

GeoThorn

OK, the announcement is still up saying it's offline. That's why I thought it was still down.

Thanks!

 

[Guyon]

Hello, welcome to six months ago.

Excuse me for being "so early 2005." I've been busy with my child and fell away from the forums for a while.

Thanks for the link, geothorn.

Think I'll pick up a Buck 301 instead though. Something about having U.S.A. stamped on the blade.

 

[guy g]

guyon, the china made Bucks were made to take the place of the Schrade knives when they went out of business. Wal-Mart dictated the price point and this was what Buck had to do to get the display space. I have an early model 303 China made and it handled very well compared to the schrade models I have.

 

[KeithAM]

I looked at the large China-made Buck stockman at Walmart. It seemed okay, but it was priced at $19.95. I can (and did) get a U.S.-made 301 online for only $5 more. Regardless of all of the other issues that go along with this, with such a small difference in price, I don't think the Chinese models are that much of a bargain over the U.S.-made models.