just received poor example of custom 110

[Makael]

Well, guys, have a look:

Asymmetric blade root and bolsters and a lot of dirt

Asymmetric grinding

Bumps on the bolsters (both sides). Nickelsilver is polished away

Rocker doesn't fit to the frame (blade closed)

Enough space for the finger nail between scale and frame

Asymmetric Bolsters

And these are not the only issues.

Haebbie

What knife is this? The bolster look really thinned down. The whole knife looks like it had a lot of time on the polishing wheel removing material.

 

[Haebbie]

That's the point, Makael, I never would do what the knife maker did with the knife. And I am not the professional.
The knife is a 501. Have a look at the back spacer. All the eges have been polished away.

At least I paid 250 Euro (not Dollar) for the knife. More than 50 Dollars for the shipping to Germany.
For such a small knife? With this high shipping fee it beats the limit for import tax. And so on. I am really,
really upset.

Haebbie

 

[DocT]

For that, I cannot blame you, Haebbie. No knife should leave a custom shop like that. It is, after all, a custom shop. Things do happen but this is not the first time this has been brought up. I hope that the Custom Shop will address these issues. I know Buck stands behind every knife, but when we pay so much money for a knife and we have dreamed of it, it should be perfect. My exchange, a simple one, with the Custom Shop simply soured my desire to get one. I know Buck can do better. No company is perfect because people are not perfect, so I cut them some slack.

 

[RAZORBLADES]

We

Bound and determined to make this a point.

Please take it up with Buck and not on here. People on here have hundreds if not thousands of Buck knives with hardly any issues at all. It's too bad you got one that isnt perfect. I'm sure they will take care of it. If your posting here do you want someone to take the knife in? I'm happy to do so and send pics of what it looks like before sending back to you.

maybe you should just back off your high horse a little,they can post any problems they want to for discussion ,if you don't like it,don't read it and don't comment,pretty simple eh?I have had the same issues and I'll also post and talk about them on a knife forum if I so choose to.noboy said you had to open the thread and read it.I am glad they posted their problems,and I'm sure buck is going to take care of them.

 

[White Crown]

I have a custom 110 that is completely and utterly perfect. I have several other Bucks that have had small issues, some I fixed myself, some I sent in to their amazing customer service. That being said, this shouldn't have happened. The fact in reality that it did happen is completely fair game for valid conversation. By my experience, I'm sure Buck will make it right. Just because Buck will surely take care of it doesn't mean the customer lacks the right to bring attention to the fact that it happened.

I have received a lot of backlash in this forum a while back for voicing similar issues with another company. If the forum rules were that you can only say good things about knives and companies that make them, then this entire forum would be pointless.

 

[pinnah]

We

maybe you should just back off your high horse a little,they can post any problems they want to for discussion ,if you don't like it,don't read it and don't comment,pretty simple eh?I have had the same issues and I'll also post and talk about them on a knife forum if I so choose to.noboy said you had to open the thread and read it.I am glad they posted their problems,and I'm sure buck is going to take care of them.

I agree.

What is more concerning is that the OP seemed to follow Buck's recommended process and told us all that in his first few posts. He email Buck right away and boxed it up and sent it off - just like he's supposed to do.

If I were Buck, I'd want these issues posted here where I have a reasonable chance of addressing them. More to the point, I'd want the Buck forum to be the kind of place where people can discuss their experiences with Bucks, both good and bad and for the forum not to become the sort of place that drives off negative reports. All that will do is ensure that disgruntled posters start posting about their bad experiences in places like the General forum or the Traditional forum, making it much harder to respond to complaints as it forces Buck to have to follow multiple forums more closely.

I used to work in a product management role and as a part of that, had to moderate and manage a forum dedicated to our product. We would regularly get our heads handed to us by "haters" but over the years, I learned that the people who were the most vocal about our shortcomings were our best friends and allies. While it's fun to read the adoring posts of fan boys (and we had our share), the fan boys didn't help us make our product better. Our critics were the ones who were the most helpful.

Based on my experience, it does Buck a disservice if this forum goes after people who have a bad experience with Buck.

 

[Makael]

We

maybe you should just back off your high horse a little,they can post any problems they want to for discussion ,if you don't like it,don't read it and don't comment,pretty simple eh?I have had the same issues and I'll also post and talk about them on a knife forum if I so choose to.noboy said you had to open the thread and read it.I am glad they posted their problems,and I'm sure buck is going to take care of them.

Not on a high horse here. Your expressing your opinion just like I can. My point is Buck will take care of it. Thats all. Your welcome to skip past my posts as well. Dont have to read them.

From Berlin I can see the frustration there would be.

This is what I initially responded about. Didnt seem right to say they drag their feet on it so early in the game.

rxavage
rxavage is offline Registered User


i immediately boxed it back up and packaged it for return shipping. if they want to drag their feet rectifying the issue or honor their "forever" warranty i will ship it back on my own dime and file a chargeback, then ill wash my hands of buck. i know stuff happens but a "custom" order should involve some form of qc.

 

[Haebbie]

From Berlin I can see the frustration there would be.

thank you, Makael for your understanding. Just this morning I got a parcel, several weeks earlier as expected
Buck sent me a "new" 501. It is a lot better than the old one, but not perfect at all. What do they always do with
the polishing wheel? No handwork anymore? Press the knife at the wheel as long as you can see any grooves
on the bolsters? What happens is: the pin ereases as a bump out of the surface. How do they do it with the
production knives? These knives does not have these bumps. I think they don't have the time to polish as
long as they do it with the custom knives. I don't like these bumpy wave desing.

Now I send it to the guy who has not the guts to order the knife by himself. The favor to him costs me a lot of
nerves and the shipping to America and now from me to him. That was the last time I did this favor to anybody
else. Basta.

Haebbie

 

[JD Bear]

It definitely happens. I just had a 501 I sent back and the replacement they sent had just as many issues as the one I sent in. I contacted Buck and they sent me a replacement for the replacement. Which had the same problem the initial 501 I sent in had (hard to follow, I know). I know they tried, but I gave up on it since it's a $35 knife. If it was from the CS I might feel different. I would like a custom 501 one of these days. Until then I still like the 501 even with some issues. Sorry you have to go through that since it sounds like it's not easy to get resolved due to your location. I still think Buck is an outstanding company and they still have my loyalty...

 

[pinnah]

It definitely happens. I just had a 501 I sent back and the replacement they sent had just as many issues as the one I sent in. I contacted Buck and they sent me a replacement for the replacement. Which had the same problem the initial 501 I sent in had (hard to follow, I know). I know they tried, but I gave up on it since it's a $35 knife. If it was from the CS I might feel different. I would like a custom 501 one of these days. Until then I still like the 501 even with some issues. Sorry you have to go through that since it sounds like it's not easy to get resolved due to your location. I still think Buck is an outstanding company and they still have my loyalty...

I think one of the things going on here may be consumer expectations based on automation versus a traditional product that involves a lot of hand finishing.

Automation is tough thing. It requires a massive up-front investment in tooling, is less nimble (generally) and it guts the labor force. But it also drives down costs per item over time and generally speaking (and if done well) produces a better, more consistent product in the end. The bicycle industry saw this in the late 80s and early 90s as automation replaced high end hand-built frames. Victorinox is often pointed to as on the leading edge of automation in knife making, but I'm sure there are Pacific Rim manufacturers who rival that.

Schrade wasn't able to make the combination of older automation and human labor work. Bear and Sons has been struggling with QC problems too.

These sorts of threads make me wish that Buck would consolidate their line into fewer models with more material variants and focus more on QC. My 110 stays in my EDC rotation and it's a great knife. But the Bucklite Max folders and the Slimlines that I've purchased haven't been close to that. At some point, warranty doesn't mean as much to me as out of the box satisfaction. Buck is one of the last knife brands that I care anything about one way or the other and threads like this make me sad. That's not saying the OP shouldn't post. He should. But the stories like Habbie's and JD Bear's and RAZORBLADE's are sad.

 

[gsea]

I think one of the things going on here may be consumer expectations based on automation versus a traditional product that involves a lot of hand finishing.

Automation is tough thing. It requires a massive up-front investment in tooling, is less nimble (generally) and it guts the labor force. But it also drives down costs per item over time and generally speaking (and if done well) produces a better, more consistent product in the end. The bicycle industry saw this in the late 80s and early 90s as automation replaced high end hand-built frames. Victorinox is often pointed to as on the leading edge of automation in knife making, but I'm sure there are Pacific Rim manufacturers who rival that.

Schrade wasn't able to make the combination of older automation and human labor work. Bear and Sons has been struggling with QC problems too.

These sorts of threads make me wish that Buck would consolidate their line into fewer models with more material variants and focus more on QC. My 110 stays in my EDC rotation and it's a great knife. But the Bucklite Max folders and the Slimlines that I've purchased haven't been close to that. At some point, warranty doesn't mean as much to me as out of the box satisfaction. Buck is one of the last knife brands that I care anything about one way or the other and threads like this make me sad. That's not saying the OP shouldn't post. He should. But the stories like Habbie's and JD Bear's and RAZORBLADE's are sad.

This is dead on. I much prefer less automation and more "hand made" unfortunately profit margins suffer big time and the rich can't get richer. I can count on one hand the number of "modern" buck knives I've bought. But I do use and have a collection of their "traditional" knives. It's the culture brother not going to get any better so make the best of it. Like they say you get what you pay for.

 

[White Crown]

Not on a high horse here. Your expressing your opinion just like I can.

Pushing someone multiple times to stop expressing their own opinion (4 times by my count), is not called expressing your own opinion. Its called oppressing other peoples opinions.

This is what I initially responded about. Didnt seem right to say they drag their feet on it so early in the game.

This may be where this started to go south. He said:

... if they want to drag their feet rectifying the issue or honor their "forever" warranty i will ship it back on my own dime and file a chargeback

"IF they want to drag" indicates futurity, not past tense; "they drug their feet". He wasn't accusing Buck of something he thought they were doing, thus "dragging Buck's name through the mud." He probably has a slightly negative disposition towards the company that sent him a bad knife, hence the negative attitude, and anticipation of another negative interaction with said company.

 

[rxavage]

thanks for understanding white crown.

buck has responded to my email in a timely fashion and is sending a return label. so far so good.

 

[RAZORBLADES]

Rxavage,they will take care of you contact jeff Hubbard of Joe houser,either of those gentlemen will see to it you are taken care of.haebbie,I understand your frustration,give them another chance,I've been in the same circumstance and Buck did take care of my issues,I'm in Canada and understand the distance and frustration.they will make it right .

 

[Makael]

Not oppressing. Just talking. My Bad.

 

[STEELHEADBULLY]

Buck does not have a Custom Knife shop. It closed in 1993. 25 years ago....They only put custom scales on a small handful of their production knives. If you want a real Buck custom you must look for something made over 25 years ago..... or get an employee service knife. Hardly any others made in the last 25 years even come close in comparison when it comes to perfection(fit finish etc...

 

[VorpalRain]

Well, if Rxavage's report is authentic.......they're not even doing a good job with the "Not so" Custom Shoppe.

I consider it a Custom Shoppe even if it's not by strict definition.

I have some BG-42 knives that I could never have acquired were it not for the not so Custom Shoppe.

I hope they get their problems squared away.

The idea of having to return any Buck knife as unsatisfactory rankles me.......but shoddy work from the Custom Shoppe?????????

That should simply NEVER happen.

 

[White Crown]

https://www.buckknives.com/custom-knife-shop/

I also have a Jim Cabelas (model 919) custom skinner that is completely custom and not a reiteration of any other Buck knife that I purchased 2 years ago. It also has the word "CUSTOM" stamped into the tang...

The "Custom" 110 I bought last year also has more than custom scales. S30V blade, Nickel silver bolsters, the pivot pin is hidden. They also have options for serrations, no rivets, drop point blade shape, black oxide coatings, mirror polished blade... it's pretty custom by definition.

Also, buck has also moved to an entirely different factory in a different state since 1993...

 

[rxavage]

i receive production knives from various companies that arrive flawless all the time. i know stuff happens and things get missed but a custom order should command a little more attention to detail, especialy considering i paid 3x as much for a different set of scales and blade. this isnt a matter of me being scrutinous, and clearly it isn't a one time thing confirmed by haebbies pics. there is obviously a flaw somewhere in the process if knives with similar issues keep getting through. as an american company with such heritage i want buck to do well and succeed. but i will not sugar coat anything or turn a blind eye.

 

[Daniel]

i receive production knives from various companies that arrive flawless all the time. i know stuff happens and things get missed but a custom order should command a little more attention to detail, especialy considering i paid 3x as much for a different set of scales and blade. this isnt a matter of me being scrutinous, and clearly it isn't a one time thing confirmed by haebbies pics. there is obviously a flaw somewhere in the process if knives with similar issues keep getting through. as an american company with such heritage i want buck to do well and succeed. but i will not sugar coat anything or turn a blind eye.

This pretty much sums up my feelings on it. I might add that it is frustrating to wait for the knife and then having to return it-at your cost-and wait again for it to either be fixed or repaired. When the buyer is in another country, it is even worse and more expensive.

Surely, they will get the customer taken care of in the end, but it should not even happen in the first place. I would think that it would not be that difficult to have a different person review it with a critical eye before it leaves on these custom shop orders??