Hi guys, I am about to post my opinion on a new Buck 110 I recently purchased. I just got around to opening it and had an immediate reaction and questions after handling it for a few minutes.
Now for those of you who are die hard 110 enthusiasts, please don't take this the wrong way as I am not a Buck expert in any regard, but rather a person who is attracted to quality designed and produced products that have amazing build quality and function. I also understand the history behind this knife and know that it has been around and loved for a long long time.
To get to the point, I feel a bit let down by the product...and I'll get into detail of what I am referring to. As a knife, I believe this thing really can do its job well...the blade is sharp and beautifully crafted. It looks like it could last years with proper maintenance.
The rest of the knife however, is a bit dissapointing to me. I'll start off with my initial viewing through the clamshell...all the knives I looked through seemed to have some type of black residue or smudging (small to mediem sized bits and specs of dark muddy stuff) on the brass bolsters. I looked at them and decided its nothing that can't be rubbed off after opening so I picked one knife that had a good looking wood grain. The grain was unique in that it didn't have many thick stripes but was more uniform in pattern and I thought that looked good.
That brings me to the next dissapointment...the other side of the knife had a completely different grain pattern. The other side did not match the fine grain and instead had thick stripes. I found this to be rather dissapointing as I had the expectation that the two sides would match like when you buy a car that has matched grain wooden panels. I was very unhappy with this.
So next I look more carefully at the brass bolsters and realize these things really don't look very nice at all. In more detail, I mean that they were so scratched up, it looked like I was getting a used knife. I think it is a combination of lazy polishing at the factory and rubbing up against the case while being shipped and moved and stuff. But to be honest, they just were not acceptable for a new item straight out of the box. If this sounds a bit picky here, remember that I love well engineered items that look perfect when you open them up. I have come to expect my items to be like that when new and try to keep them as close as possible to that. For example...Apple computers manages to ship to every customer a pristine finish on all of their highly scratchable chrome backed ipods. I have owned many and everytime I get one, they are PERFECT in every regard. Now, I understand this is an expensive electronic item, but I am using it as an example of how they finish, treat, protect and ship an item to the end user. They wrap the ipod in a thin plastic covering and THEN put it in a tight package with no wobble room so that the item comes to you in perfect mechanical and cosmetic condition.
You may also say that this attention to detail is expensive or hard to execute. Well to be honest, on the Buck 110 sheath, I immediately noticed an example of their attention to detail in a positive way. The small piece of material that they put on the inside which covers the backside of the snap closure so as to protect the knife on the inside from scratches. Well, leatherman, victorinox and many other companies do not go this extra step to protect the knives in their sheaths...so obviously someone at Buck has designed this sheath and spent the extra pennies and time on each one to make sure this detail is included.
Why not this attention on the knife itself?
Let me move on to the rivets on the knife. One of them actually sticks out way further (in relation) to the others and in my opinion is not acceptable fit in finish. To make matters worse, on that same side, the rivets have deformed the wood around them a bit, making it not as flat as on the other side. Kind of like a small raised circle around some of the rivets. When comparing this to my Victorinox SAK cybertool or my leatherman wave, I don't feel as much attention went into the assembly (not fabrication of the parts) as on those items. The leatherman is quite well finished especially when taking into the complexity of the parts. Whatever residue was on the leatherman when I took it out of the box, was easily wiped off and the knife was gleaming with just a few tiny scratches. Something I could overlook on an all metal object.
I'll tell you why I'm so dissapointed. I was really looking forward to loving this thing and then buying a custom 110 knife from the Buck custom shop. I even had all my specs picked out and the engraving I wanted. I was just waiting to see how this normal everyday 110 was to see if I liked it. Unfortunately, I don't know if I want a custom knife anymore as I feel that I might get something similar to this one and for over eighty dollars for a custom knife, that just doesn't feel right.
Can anyone tell me if I just got a bad one? Do your knives come scuffed out of the plastic packaging like mine did? Is this something that anyone else has noted or am I just really picky? Is it normal and acceptable for most of you to open a new knife and see a blemished and scratched up body? Mind you the blade itself was in perfect condition.
I also understand that this is meant to be a tool and will get scratched up eventually, but what about the people who might want to keep it looking new in a collection (not really my intention however). I know that Buck is aware of these people but how can a collector collect a new perfect copy of an item if none of them ship that way?
Thanks a lot guys for your input. Please let me know as well if there is a way to get a nice new from factory and pristine 110 because as I said earlier, I'm learning myself.
p.s. I was really excited to open this thing and was really hoping to love it. Maybe next time!
Now for those of you who are die hard 110 enthusiasts, please don't take this the wrong way as I am not a Buck expert in any regard, but rather a person who is attracted to quality designed and produced products that have amazing build quality and function. I also understand the history behind this knife and know that it has been around and loved for a long long time.
To get to the point, I feel a bit let down by the product...and I'll get into detail of what I am referring to. As a knife, I believe this thing really can do its job well...the blade is sharp and beautifully crafted. It looks like it could last years with proper maintenance.
The rest of the knife however, is a bit dissapointing to me. I'll start off with my initial viewing through the clamshell...all the knives I looked through seemed to have some type of black residue or smudging (small to mediem sized bits and specs of dark muddy stuff) on the brass bolsters. I looked at them and decided its nothing that can't be rubbed off after opening so I picked one knife that had a good looking wood grain. The grain was unique in that it didn't have many thick stripes but was more uniform in pattern and I thought that looked good.
That brings me to the next dissapointment...the other side of the knife had a completely different grain pattern. The other side did not match the fine grain and instead had thick stripes. I found this to be rather dissapointing as I had the expectation that the two sides would match like when you buy a car that has matched grain wooden panels. I was very unhappy with this.
So next I look more carefully at the brass bolsters and realize these things really don't look very nice at all. In more detail, I mean that they were so scratched up, it looked like I was getting a used knife. I think it is a combination of lazy polishing at the factory and rubbing up against the case while being shipped and moved and stuff. But to be honest, they just were not acceptable for a new item straight out of the box. If this sounds a bit picky here, remember that I love well engineered items that look perfect when you open them up. I have come to expect my items to be like that when new and try to keep them as close as possible to that. For example...Apple computers manages to ship to every customer a pristine finish on all of their highly scratchable chrome backed ipods. I have owned many and everytime I get one, they are PERFECT in every regard. Now, I understand this is an expensive electronic item, but I am using it as an example of how they finish, treat, protect and ship an item to the end user. They wrap the ipod in a thin plastic covering and THEN put it in a tight package with no wobble room so that the item comes to you in perfect mechanical and cosmetic condition.
You may also say that this attention to detail is expensive or hard to execute. Well to be honest, on the Buck 110 sheath, I immediately noticed an example of their attention to detail in a positive way. The small piece of material that they put on the inside which covers the backside of the snap closure so as to protect the knife on the inside from scratches. Well, leatherman, victorinox and many other companies do not go this extra step to protect the knives in their sheaths...so obviously someone at Buck has designed this sheath and spent the extra pennies and time on each one to make sure this detail is included.
Why not this attention on the knife itself?
Let me move on to the rivets on the knife. One of them actually sticks out way further (in relation) to the others and in my opinion is not acceptable fit in finish. To make matters worse, on that same side, the rivets have deformed the wood around them a bit, making it not as flat as on the other side. Kind of like a small raised circle around some of the rivets. When comparing this to my Victorinox SAK cybertool or my leatherman wave, I don't feel as much attention went into the assembly (not fabrication of the parts) as on those items. The leatherman is quite well finished especially when taking into the complexity of the parts. Whatever residue was on the leatherman when I took it out of the box, was easily wiped off and the knife was gleaming with just a few tiny scratches. Something I could overlook on an all metal object.
I'll tell you why I'm so dissapointed. I was really looking forward to loving this thing and then buying a custom 110 knife from the Buck custom shop. I even had all my specs picked out and the engraving I wanted. I was just waiting to see how this normal everyday 110 was to see if I liked it. Unfortunately, I don't know if I want a custom knife anymore as I feel that I might get something similar to this one and for over eighty dollars for a custom knife, that just doesn't feel right.
Can anyone tell me if I just got a bad one? Do your knives come scuffed out of the plastic packaging like mine did? Is this something that anyone else has noted or am I just really picky? Is it normal and acceptable for most of you to open a new knife and see a blemished and scratched up body? Mind you the blade itself was in perfect condition.
I also understand that this is meant to be a tool and will get scratched up eventually, but what about the people who might want to keep it looking new in a collection (not really my intention however). I know that Buck is aware of these people but how can a collector collect a new perfect copy of an item if none of them ship that way?
Thanks a lot guys for your input. Please let me know as well if there is a way to get a nice new from factory and pristine 110 because as I said earlier, I'm learning myself.
p.s. I was really excited to open this thing and was really hoping to love it. Maybe next time!
