Differences in Buck 110

[STR]

I noticed today that Wal-Mart sells the old traditional Buck 110. My Wally world has them for $29.96. These are stamped Buck with 110 underneath.

The ones at Kmart are in a clear package and not the box like at Wally world. These are stamped Buck with 110T underneath. They are clearly sharper and have significantly bigger wider bevel angles and the blades seem to be wider.

Is the T replacing the old ones or does Buck still make both the old style with the nearly dull edges?( I say that because the ones at Wal-Mart would for sure need sharpened before they could be used and the T ones at Kmart are shaving sharp when you open them).

STR

 

[pjsjr]

STR, I'm confused, mainly that WW would have 110s that don't have a date stamp...wondering if your on to something. Did you happen to look on the flip side?

If there is no date stamp or it's on the back side I'd buy everyone they had(sharp or not). Preston

 

[Gringogunsmith]

T... as in Taiwan ?
God help us...

 

[DarrylS]

...On that 110 the "T" signifies it was made in the year 2003...all 110's are made in the USA...

 

[2TONYB]

It would not surpise me if Kmart still has knives with blades manufactured in 2003. Also, could the "T" have actually been orientated differently than the word "Buck"? Could be a 2006

 

[DarrylS]

...If the "T" is tipped to the right side it's a 2006..." --l "...

 

[chickentrax]

...If the "T" is tipped to the right side it's a 2006..." --l "...

Let's not forget that there is a dude selling 2007 Buck's on eBay with the "T" tipped to the left... " |-- " ...

 

[DarrylS]

...yeah...I put in a "pity" bid on that one...It was the opening bid for $9.99 and thank the lord I got out-bid...LOL...it sold for $10.49

 

[JD Mandrell]

It would not surpise me if Kmart still has knives with blades manufactured in 2003.

You may be on to something here, when my local K-Mart closed last year, they clearanced out their knives, I found 2 Buck 110's in the older style boxes in the bottom of their display case dated from 1996...9 years sitting in that store.

They would only drop the price down to $25.00, and both of them had "anti-theft" things stuck right on the wood handle that was peeling the wood off when you tried to remove them, so I passed on them.

 

[STR]

My local Wal-Mart has three and all of them are the older ones I think. I'll look on the back next time there. I know they come in the big yellow boxes.

As for the Kmart "T" they have some with it just like that and some with it completely upside down.

Other than this the only other thing is the obvious sharpness difference in these knives and the obvious edge angle difference. I'll buy one and scan one of each here in a bit.

STR

 

[STR]

Now I'm real confused. I thought that Buck had come out with the new Edge2 Technology back in 1999 according to what I've read in their paperwork from the one I bought myself in 2003. K-Mart still has some of those as well as the 06 models in stock with the upside down T on the blade after the 110. These are really sharp knives.

I went back to Wal-Mart tonight and bought one of the ones I thought was an old one. Turns out they aren't that old. The ones at Wal Mart can't be that old because they have the state of Idaho on the blades so these have to be from 05 but they don't have near as good an edge as the ones with the Edge2 Technology being sold at Kmart now or the one I bought myself in 03. What gives? Did Buck decide the better edge was a bad idea in 05? Or did Buck decide to do a year run of the old original for the first year of production at the new Idaho plant? I'd like to know about this. Wal Mart has four 110s here and each one is obviously not one with the Edge2 Technology incorporated into the blade.

When I saw the shallow edge bevel and how dull they were I just assumed they were old and when I saw the big yellow box they came in that made me think that also. So, excuse my jumping to conclusions there. I didn't notice the state stamped on the blade til I got this one tonight.

If you look close at the blades in these pics you can even see there are differences in the shape as well as the edge bevel from the knives at Wally world vs the ones from Kmart. Wal Mart is not selling knives with as good an edge as Kmart here where I live. In fact the difference is night and day. The one with the T on it in this pic is my well used one from 03 and its still way sharper than the one with the state stamped on the blade and its new out of the box.

STR

 

[Psychopomp]

The ones at Wal Mart can't be that old because they have the state of Idaho on the blades so these have to be from 05 but they don't have near as good an edge as the ones with the Edge2 Technology being sold at Kmart now or the one I bought myself in 03. What gives? Did Buck decide the better edge was a bad idea in 05?

From what I've seen, the Edge2x stuff is hit or miss in out of the box sharpness. Two of my latest 110s (both stamped 2005) were dull as a brick out of the box. But comparing the edge grinds of these to some older 110s, they were much better. Since the grinds were clean and well done, putting an edge on it wasn't difficult at all.

The 2004 stamped 301 I bought last summer came out of the box scary sharp. As did the 2004 stamped Cabela's S30V 110 I got last week. My 55 was decently sharp, but needed a little work on an ultrafine stone to reach the level of sharpness that I like.

All that said, these less than sharp Bucks were like razors compared to the BM710 that I got a few months ago. But I don't mind sharpening a new knife.

 

[Joe Houser]

Buck hasn't made any changes to the edges since the introduction of our E2K, now Edge 2X technology. All of the knives should have the same basic edge geometry and be scary sharp. The fact that they weren't concerns me a lot.
I will talk with out Quality department in regards to this because your paying for a sharp knife, you should get a sharp knife.

By the way, we did a special test run of blades, during 2003 I believe, and to designate knives from this test run, we stamped the date code on the back of the blade. This was done on the 110 only. We were looking at a new way to run the blades through the shop. We ended up canning the idea ultimately but it we did ship the knives. Makes for a great collectible!