kick the tires on a 110

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matt321

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Nov 5, 2004
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What checks do you make on 110's for reasonable fit and finish at time of purchase? What do you look for? What are the most common defects? What are the show stoppers? :confused:
 
matt321 said:
What checks do you make on 110's for reasonable fit and finish at time of purchase? What do you look for? What are the most common defects? What are the show stoppers? :confused:
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If handling the knife; it should open smoothly, with a solid locking <snap> as the lock engages. When opened, there should be no side to side "play" in the blade at the pivot point. The blade should be centered in the knife handle when closed...

Defects? If used; broken tips, badly sharpened blades, dings in the brass, cracks in the wood, etc...
 
I have bought a few. I know the warranty is iron clad, so I don't panic if I see something later.

I noticed if you depress the lock with the blade open you can get a better feel for how well the blade fits between the bolsters. Any lateral play is much easier to detect.
 
with the 110 the only problem i've ever run into is a little lateral play {spelled slop} in the blade, this is easily remedied by trying out another until you find one you like. for the most part i've had really good luck with picking 110's and 112's. good luck.
 
the notion of fit and finish in smoothness of opening and no wabble in the open blade is refered to as 'walk' and the snap of the lock with no heastation an solid lock up is refered to as 'talk' so if knife works as buck intended it to it will
walk and talk on opening and on will closeing center up.
another is - is it balanced ... set it on the spine and see if it is a leaner?
it should be with in a very few digrees or stright up and down and may even spin smoothly thus it is not a leaner were the lock bar is higher then the frame and is squire.
the above knife is one were all tolarences match to the 9's and is harder to find..
if they are not matched there will be some minor verance this is only in a queen that wont be used as in a user it dont mater as break in and use will ware in and some play is going to devlope as it is used hard but bucks wont over ware after break in!
 
Blade play, mainly lateral is the most common problem I have experienced with 110s and 112s. It doesn't interfere with function or safety but really turns me off. As some others have suggested, try a few and be choosy if you can. It is hard of course with on line purchases or knives in sealed plastic packs.

On another note, I recently picked up a new 110 with a noticeable casting defect in the rear brass bolster. Haven't seen this before and it is a worry that it escaped both manufacturer and retailer scrutiny.
 
I always check for play in the blade and lock. Some always develops in use, so I want as little as possible to start off with. Matching scales next. They don't have to be perfect, but I don't like a real light one and a real dark one paired together, it has to be one or another. Last but not least is how the blade is ground. I don't know what it is but lately they are coming with almost a small re-curve area near the tang. I hate that, I want the edge straight all the way back. It's gotten to the point that I won't even buy one w/o seeing that area first. I sent my 172 in a little while ago to have a small nick removed and that's the way it came back, grrr.
 
I just picked one up on Saturday, beautiful knife. All is fine except for the leaning and i can deal with that. Funny, it took me 25 years to get the knife that I always carried copies of when I was a young kid. I can not be happier with my purchase and so far all i've been doing with it is staring at it.
 
In addition to the above comments, I look for gaps between the scales and liners or more commonly between liners and backspring. I also like to have the backspring flush with the handle when the blade is open and closed. I have one or two 110's where the backspring sits slightly higher on one end. None of these are a big deal, but if I have several 110's to pick from I will look at all these things and pick the one I think is best.
 
This is where sealed clampacks really sux...

But you can usually take one back if you don't like it.
 
Blue Sky,

On your point about blade shape. I was noticing something as well but didn't want to mention it as I didn't see anyone else say anything on a post about it. I have a 110 that seems like the front curved portion of the blade almost comes down lower than the rear portion...kinda like an arc rather than a straight line to the back...then I have another 110 which has a different shape...the front portion does not dip down and it's more straight on the blade edge. I was assuming that this was a mistake in that most of the 110's I see have the slight arc to the blade. Is this more or less what you were talking about...and if so, is the slight arcing of the blade edge something that is new and all 110's before were straight?
 
Messersmith,

A question for you or anyone who looks at this....do you notice that on many 110's, the wood scales have a slight dip in them where they meet the brass? ...as if the someone left the grinder or polisher on that point for a little too long, like they were smoothing out the meeting point but just went in a little too far into the wood?

I look at that because it really bugs me when they're not perfectly flat and flush with the brass. Any dip can be seen very easily when light is reflecting off them.
 
They don't happen on the customs (i got three so far) but only on the regular 110's. I've noticed it on about half of the new ones I see. Sometimes it'll be only on one side and sometimes both.
 
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