Intrepid handle screws

R

R.Miranda

Joined
May 30, 2001
Messages
2
Hi guys.

I am new to the forum, and recently purchased a large Inteprid Tanto.

The screw heads in this knife are "trox" type, and was wondering if Buck may change these to the plain "slot" type heads that can be removed with a flat screwdiver or even better with a small coin.

Geared to the survival market, I believe that the slot head (or even a "phillips" head that are now standard in most swiss army type knives) would be an improvement, if not plain practical. I do not think I will remeber to carry a Trox screwdiver in my person whenever I am camping.

If the screw designed has changed or the slot option available, I would gladly replace mine.

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Best regards,
R.Miranda
 
Welcome to the forums.

My Intrepid has the regular slotted head screws, this is all I have seen in the Intrepids. Guessing, I think you must have a newer style one...Id have to agree with you that a torx screw seems to be an odd choice.

On a side note, can anyone tell me if the new wood handle on the Buck axe fits the large Intrepid? Id love to change mine over to this if it fits.
smile.gif




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Keith D.Armacost
"The wireless telegraph is not difficult to understand. The ordinary
telegraph is like a very long cat. You pull the tail in New York, and it
meows in Los Angeles. The wireless is the same, only without the
cat. " AE
 
R Miranda,

I can't be of any help to you. But, welcome to the forums!

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John Foresman
Lifetime member Buck collectors club
Member NKCA
Member AKTI
 
Miranda,
Welcome to the forums!
I was not aware that Buck had changed to the torx head screws. I will try to run down and engineer to find out why.
Keith, I am almost positive that the wood handle will fit. The plastic handles from the ax are really from the Intrepid.

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Joe Houser
Director of Consumer relations Buck Knives Inc.
Buck Collectors club Administrator and member #123
 
Miranda,
I used Torx head screws on some of the earlier U2s. Maybe someone saw one and decided to change theirs out. They are a common thread size.
 
My Intrepid also came with Torx screws instead of flat head. Has there been any answer as to why this was done. I don't mind the Torx myself but I do agree that in a pinch (i.e. in the woods) flat heads would be easier to take off for cleaning than torx.

Joe
 
Joe,
The change was made from slot to torx a while back. It was done in an effort to keep the cost of the knife down. If you are interested in changeing yours from torx to slot, I "might" have some of the old fasteners. I will not know until after January 7th though since we are closing for the Christmas holiday. Send me an email if you want to do this.

Take care,
 
So Joe, the essential question is, why do slotted screws cost more than torx screws? This seems counter-intuitive to me.
 
Originally posted by Joe Houser
I "might" have some of the old fasteners. I will not know until after January 7th though since we are closing for the Christmas holiday. Send me an email if you want to do this.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, I will do that :)
 
Yeah, how do slotted screws cost more than torx? And by how much? A minor, but interesting, point.
 
Originally posted by marty123
Yeah, how do slotted screws cost more than torx? And by how much? A minor, but interesting, point.
Click to expand...

While I don't know the exact answer I can offer some theories having some bit of manufacturing background. Final costs are not always determined by the cost of the part but also by commonality and assembly. So if the Torx was used elsewhere standardizing on them would allow for carrying one less part. In this case however one could argue that standardizing on the slotted screw "should" be even cheaper. Still there are other points to consider. From an assembly line standpoint torx screws are easier to work with. They stay on the bit about better than any other type of screw which makes assebly smoother etc. And then there's the simple possibility that they did indeed get offered a better price. Sounds strange but it happens. Perhaps the Mfg. of the screws had large orders for the identical torx for another customer and they could offer these cheaper because of that. I don't know and I don't work for Buck so I can't know. I'm just tossing out some possibilities and pointing out that things aren't always as simple as they seem.

Joe
 
jfeenin wrote:

> there's the simple possibility that they did indeed get offered a better price.

Torx Plus didn't come along yesterday, but as it's use increases the price of original Torx fasteners will likely drop.

At least Buck didn't go for those restricted access tamper resistant Torx Plus fasteners that Leatherman uses.

Ken
 
Originally posted by kgrubb
At least Buck didn't go for those restricted access tamper resistant Torx Plus fasteners that Leatherman uses.
Click to expand...

I was just trying to offer some insight to the post above mine as to why Buck would have chose them. If they had chose the "tamper resistant" screws it would pretty much make the removable scales feature moot. I don't mind the torx screws, it's just that away from home the flat heads would be more convenient. Now how often I will need to clean it that I will be away from a source of a torx driver for that long that it would matter? Who knows. In all honestly probably not much. If I was a salt water diver, the seemingly major target market of this knife, then the salt water would do more damage quicker. But I don't dive so it's not a huge issue. I'm still interested in getting the screws mind you, if I can, but it's not an issue if I can't. I still love that knife... along with the several other Bucks I have.

Joe
 
Merry Christmas to all!!
it may be posible that since Buck uses Torx on many models, they buy in bulk. So rather than stock different screws, they simply stock Torx. Plus it does keep people from tinkering with the knives.(liability issues)
guy
 
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