Is it worth it?

Rsmith_77

Rsmith_77

Joined
Jun 4, 2010
Messages
4,186
So i bought me a buck 301 with diamondwood scales about 6 weeks ago. When i got home and took a closer look at it i noticed that one of the pins (the center one) was raised a little. Now its not massive but enough to catch your fingernail.

in addition the clip blade had a small amount of side to side blade play but the other two blades did not. Now i am noticing that all 3 blades have this slight side to side blade play.

So, my question is, is it worth it to send it to buck for repairs. I am not sure if i am being unreasonable in wanting it to be perfect. i dont believe either of these issues effects the performance of the knife, but i worry that the blade play will continue to get worse over time.

I may be a little OCD, so i figured i would ask around and see what folks thought. Might be that there isnt much buck can do about these issues and i will just have to live with it. Might be that everyone's 301s have small amounts of blade play and its perfectly normal and wont be a big deal in the long run.

anyways, feel free to comment about your experiences.

Ryan
 
all the 300 series stockmans i had the center pin was bigger on the back but flush in the front. so i suppose its normal. blade play kinda bothers me a bit...i just stick the bolster in a vice clamp and squeeze it. it works good but the pin tends to protrude from the bolster. i need to find a way to fix that...
 
i actually have a plastic clamp (figured the plastic would do less damage/scratching of the bolters than vice clamps) and i tried your idea of squeezing the bolsters. It seemed to work pretty good on the sheepsfoot. Not so much for the clip/spey blades, but i am still working on it.

good idea :) thanks
 
Rsmith_77 said:
i actually have a plastic clamp (figured the plastic would do less damage/scratching of the bolters than vice clamps) and i tried your idea of squeezing the bolsters. It seemed to work pretty good on the sheepsfoot. Not so much for the clip/spey blades, but i am still working on it.

good idea :) thanks
Click to expand...

i'm glad it worked out for you! i guess i should of put this in my first post but if you wrap the knife in a cloth or leather it'll help keep the bolsters nice. :thumbup:
 
You could place the knife between two small pieces of wood and put this as a whole in a normal vice. That's the way I do it. Be careful and check very frequently, overtight is worse than having a little bladeplay.

Math.
 
lol so i took an old pair of jeans and covered the bolters and grabbed a pair of vice grips and just started working on it
the blade play is gone!!

very happy about that. Thanks a ton folks, great idea
the pin is still a little high, but i guess i can live with that
 
hehe well i noticed i had in fact done some damage to the bolsters even through the thick denim
then again the 301 is a user and that doesnt bother me, i can always try and buff them out if it starts to become a problem

yeah i am pretty pleased
thanks again
 
Next time, try with some small pieces of wood, large enough to cover only the bolster. I tried with cloth also before and that indeed left some marks on the bolsters. Wood won't let this happen.

Good luck and have fun with your "new knife".

Math.
 
Even wood can leave scuffs on the bolster. The tiniest grains of sand/dust on the wood will scratch it. Found this out the hard way, with a new knife (w/stainless bolsters). The wood is obviously better than bare steel, and even better would be to wrap the bolsters in CLEAN fabric or smooth plastic/rubber, before squeezing between the wood.

If the bolsters do get scuffed, some 400-2000 grit sandpaper, followed with some Simichrome, will clean & polish 'em up nice.
 
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