Made in the USA

Was curious if their was an event in your life that Buck upset you. Not trying to do any thing to upset you myself. Sorry that it did or seemed that way.

Their is a classification for everyone.
Your quest that knife models should only be built in the country of origin has me curious.

Makael,

There is no "event" per se. But, I am critical of some of Buck's decisions. Recapping at the risk of repetition:
  • I think traditional patterns should be made in their country of origin. A Brazilian-made puuko, a Slovenian "Swiss Army Knife" and a Chinese-made stockman are all equally wrong headed IMO. I'm the sort of traditional knife fan who wants traditional knives with actual tradition associated with them.
  • I think 420J2 is a terrible knife steel and I think Buck is wrong to use it on any knife that bears their name.
  • I don't think Buck should be chasing the $10 Walmart market under the Buck brand name. It creates an association of the Buck brand with low end knives. IMO, they would do better to sell that stuff under a different brand name.
  • I think Buck should move to 8CR13MoV or some similar steel for their Chinese made knives. Having Chinese 420HC without BOS heat treatment and US 420HC with BOS heat treatment creates a branding conflict for the value of BOS heat treatment.
  • I suspect but cannot prove that the over seas production of traditional slip joints is a test case for Buck to help them judge the market's willingness to accept other traditional Bucks being moved off shore. Walmart certainly wants to see the Buck 110 to sell for even less and the only way Buck could do that is to move it to China.
  • I'm fine with Buck's non-traditional knives being imported. I don't care one bit if the Spitfire or Vantage are imported.
 
Makael,

There is no "event" per se. But, I am critical of some of Buck's decisions. Recapping at the risk of repetition:
  • I think traditional patterns should be made in their country of origin. A Brazilian-made puuko, a Slovenian "Swiss Army Knife" and a Chinese-made stockman are all equally wrong headed IMO. I'm the sort of traditional knife fan who wants traditional knives with actual tradition associated with them.
  • I think 420J2 is a terrible knife steel and I think Buck is wrong to use it on any knife that bears their name.
  • I don't think Buck should be chasing the $10 Walmart market under the Buck brand name. It creates an association of the Buck brand with low end knives. IMO, they would do better to sell that stuff under a different brand name.
  • I think Buck should move to 8CR13MoV or some similar steel for their Chinese made knives. Having Chinese 420HC without BOS heat treatment and US 420HC with BOS heat treatment creates a branding conflict for the value of BOS heat treatment.
  • I suspect but cannot prove that the over seas production of traditional slip joints is a test case for Buck to help them judge the market's willingness to accept other traditional Bucks being moved off shore. Walmart certainly wants to see the Buck 110 to sell for even less and the only way Buck could do that is to move it to China.
  • I'm fine with Buck's non-traditional knives being imported. I don't care one bit if the Spitfire or Vantage are imported.
I disagree with the bulk of your opinions and beliefs stated here. I also believe buck has real insider knowledge very few here have and are making better decisions than any of us could...due to them being in the actual business.

you do realize we arent in the business and there is no way our idears could be better than bucks, since they are actually risking their money everyday running the business. we arent risking anything at all.

so you have no proof or facts rather you just made up conspiracies on buck and walmart?

having opinions is fine, but that's all they are.
 
I'm fine with Buck's non-traditional knives being imported. I don't care one bit if the Spitfire or Vantage are imported.

Not sure what your point is in saying this. Both of those are made USA models. Are you saying that, especially with the importance placed on moving into the modern knife market, you'd be ok if Buck moved manufacture of their modern knives overseas?

Not being combative, just trying to understand your perspective since it seems to be rather unique.
 
One thing I noticed recently with Knifecenter is that knives made in Taiwan are frequently labeled as Chinese made, and vice versa. A nitpick to some, but in my mind it's an important distinction, as I'm sure it is to the majority of people in Taiwan who do not believe themselves to be part of China.



I have never ever seen a Chinese made Buck knife in a box that marks it as Made in USA. That is a pretty bold accusation against either Buck or the retailer, not that I'm faulting you for it, but if you've got some proof to back it up, I'd love to see that.

The Chinese made slipjoints, as far as I can tell never said Made in USA. At least not as far as I can tell. I've only seen them in blister packs as below, and I have never ever seen a "Made in USA" tag on one.

BUCK-Stockman-371-Knife-420J2-Steel.jpg

Couple years back had to do a double and triple take and asked to see the box and verified model number and all on my phone right than and there as I couldn't believe it myself. It was the Buck 371 as I have had the 301 on my to buy list for about 5 years now and I thought it was strange seeing made in USA on the box and chatted with the person behind the counter for a few minutes on this.

No picture, this was 3-5years ago at a Walmart in California if your curious though. Was in a box not the blister pack. Side of the box where it opened had the barcode and model number I looked up and verified on my phone my suspicions. I remember it quite vividly as I couldn't believe it myself.
 
Verification of the model number is always good.
Verification of the BOS heat treat symbol?
Not so much.
Buck does not use the BOS heat treat symbol on any knife that has their standard 420HC blade steel, even though the blade(s)does/do have the BOS heat treat.
On the blade I was looking at the USA made version the Buck 301 would, Buck 371 wouldn't. Certain USA made ones in premium steels have or don't ha e them, it's not reliable I will admit. But it helps.

My Buck 110LT in CPM154 has it, look up Buck 110 Shield and you probably find it online.
 
Makael,
  • I think traditional patterns should be made in their country of origin. A Brazilian-made puuko, a Slovenian "Swiss Army Knife" and a Chinese-made stockman are all equally wrong headed IMO.
You do of course know that most of the 'traditional USA patterns' are in fact British in origin? Should Barlow's not be made in the US for example?
 
Couple years back had to do a double and triple take and asked to see the box and verified model number and all on my phone right than and there as I couldn't believe it myself. It was the Buck 371 as I have had the 301 on my to buy list for about 5 years now and I thought it was strange seeing made in USA on the box and chatted with the person behind the counter for a few minutes on this.

No picture, this was 3-5years ago at a Walmart in California if your curious though. Was in a box not the blister pack. Side of the box where it opened had the barcode and model number I looked up and verified on my phone my suspicions. I remember it quite vividly as I couldn't believe it myself.
people at walmart lose the boxes on the display models or used to. seen it myself and knife put in wrong box. sure this isnt what happened?
 
people at walmart lose the boxes on the display models or used to. seen it myself and knife put in wrong box. sure this isnt what happened?

Multiple identical boxes behind them which I assume we're the same exact knife. One barcode sticker with the model number and barcode on it. I have my doubts it was simply put in the wrong box. A batch mixup and put in the wrong box before being shipped out I can see though.

There were no blister pack Bucks from what I recall except maybe the bantams i usually see and the salesperson I talked too seemed like he genuinely thought all the Bucks were USA made so I was under the impression this is how they all came to them or at least that shipment.

Edited in:
They were in a locked display labeled and when I saw the Made In USA it threw me off which is why I wanted to see it. The ones behind we're identical boxes as well with a tag in front saying what it was.
 
Last edited:
Multiple identical boxes behind them which I assume we're the same exact knife. One barcode sticker with the model number and barcode on it. I have my doubts it was simply put in the wrong box. A batch mixup and put in the wrong box before being shipped out I can see though.

There were no blister pack Bucks from what I recall except maybe the bantams i usually see and the salesperson I talked too seemed like he genuinely thought all the Bucks were USA made so I was under the impression this is how they all came to them or at least that shipment.

Edited in:
They were in a locked display labeled and when I saw the Made In USA it threw me off which is why I wanted to see it. The ones behind we're identical boxes as well with a tag in front saying what it was.
never seen that before in any walmart over many many years. I dont see buck or walmart lying or cheating so something else is amiss there with that event. thanks for clarifying what ya saw in detail.
 
Makael,

There is no "event" per se. But, I am critical of some of Buck's decisions. Recapping at the risk of repetition:
  • I think traditional patterns should be made in their country of origin. A Brazilian-made puuko, a Slovenian "Swiss Army Knife" and a Chinese-made stockman are all equally wrong headed IMO. I'm the sort of traditional knife fan who wants traditional knives with actual tradition associated with them.
  • I think 420J2 is a terrible knife steel and I think Buck is wrong to use it on any knife that bears their name.
  • I don't think Buck should be chasing the $10 Walmart market under the Buck brand name. It creates an association of the Buck brand with low end knives. IMO, they would do better to sell that stuff under a different brand name.
  • I think Buck should move to 8CR13MoV or some similar steel for their Chinese made knives. Having Chinese 420HC without BOS heat treatment and US 420HC with BOS heat treatment creates a branding conflict for the value of BOS heat treatment.
  • I suspect but cannot prove that the over seas production of traditional slip joints is a test case for Buck to help them judge the market's willingness to accept other traditional Bucks being moved off shore. Walmart certainly wants to see the Buck 110 to sell for even less and the only way Buck could do that is to move it to China.
  • I'm fine with Buck's non-traditional knives being imported. I don't care one bit if the Spitfire or Vantage are imported.
You need to get over Walmart hatred. The Buck 110s and other knives sold at Walmart have kept Buck alive and successful. Per your earlier remark, I know people who both supply Walmart and work there and they haven't sold their souls to any devil.
 
Multiple identical boxes behind them which I assume we're the same exact knife. One barcode sticker with the model number and barcode on it. I have my doubts it was simply put in the wrong box. A batch mixup and put in the wrong box before being shipped out I can see though.

There were no blister pack Bucks from what I recall except maybe the bantams i usually see and the salesperson I talked too seemed like he genuinely thought all the Bucks were USA made so I was under the impression this is how they all came to them or at least that shipment.

Edited in:
They were in a locked display labeled and when I saw the Made In USA it threw me off which is why I wanted to see it. The ones behind we're identical boxes as well with a tag in front saying what it was.

never seen that before in any walmart over many many years. I dont see buck or walmart lying or cheating so something else is amiss there with that event. thanks for clarifying what ya saw in detail.

Agreed. Bob, thank you for clarifying that. That's a bad situation, regardless of who caused it. Based on my experience, and that this is the only report I've seen, I'd like to think it's a statical outlier and not representative nor indicative of a broader issue.
 
I dont expect it to be representative, I kind of expect it as some mix up or they ran out of containers for it and an employee shipped them off with that instead. Or at least I hope that's what happened.

Some people may think I don't like Buck from my postings on this thread. But I honestly do, they do a lot of things I like but that experience tarnished my trust in them. I know if this was common place we be talking about it a lot on this forum but as far as I could tell over the years I've never heard someone encountering exactly what I've seen.
 
Buck makes it very CLEAR on every knife where it's made. When you you purchase in the store every knife is labeled clearly. It's not a problem and there is no wrong doing. The guy in that department at Wal-Mart is educated as well.
 
I dont expect it to be representative, I kind of expect it as some mix up or they ran out of containers for it and an employee shipped them off with that instead. Or at least I hope that's what happened.

Some people may think I don't like Buck from my postings on this thread. But I honestly do, they do a lot of things I like but that experience tarnished my trust in them. I know if this was common place we be talking about it a lot on this forum but as far as I could tell over the years I've never heard someone encountering exactly what I've seen.
So your experience has tarnished your trust? You've got to be kidding. So nobody is allowed to make an error? Or did it happen at all? Is it just a story? If I were you I would call CJ himself first and then make a judgement call,
 
So your experience has tarnished your trust? You've got to be kidding. So nobody is allowed to make an error? Or did it happen at all? Is it just a story? If I were you I would call CJ himself first and then make a judgement call,

I'm just replying to when I get quoted at this point.

Any questions on my experience?

To answer some of yours questions. Believe what you want, a healthy dose of skeptism is always good in my opinion. It's a story of what I experienced in the past, felt the need to tell it as I'm usually not that critical of a company so I felt the need to share why I'm actually saying it this time. And lastly attempting to contact him seems like an over reaction especially for an event that's transpired a few years ago.
 
Feb 2, 2017#18

J HubbardModeratorModeratorPlatinum Member
861
Mar 28, 2001
We are currently running about 15% import rate. The USA stuff has a flag on the box and the knives will have USA on the blade.

Jeff

Jeff Hubbard
Manager of Quality and Warranty
Buck Knives
 
I'm just replying to when I get quoted at this point.

Any questions on my experience?

To answer some of yours questions. Believe what you want, a healthy dose of skeptism is always good in my opinion. It's a story of what I experienced in the past, felt the need to tell it as I'm usually not that critical of a company so I felt the need to share why I'm actually saying it this time. And lastly attempting to contact him seems like an over reaction especially for an event that's transpired a few years ago.
I only quoted and have read this post. Did you feel posting an obvious mistake on a public forum was more important than contacting them directly?
Buck has grown on some serious morals and beliefs.

If you are a new Buck knife owner, "welcome aboard." You are now part of a very large family. Although we're talking about a few million people, we still like to think of each one of our users as a member of the Buck Knives Family and take a personal interest in the product that was bought. With normal use, you should never have to buy another.
Now that you are family, you might like to know a little more about our organization. The fantastic growth of Buck Knives was no accident. From the beginning, management determined to make God the Senior Partner. In a crisis, the problem was turned over to Him, and He hasn't failed to help us with the answer. Each product must reflect the integrity of management, including our Senior Partner. If sometimes we fail on our end, because we are human, we find it imperative to do our utmost to make it right. Of course, to us, besides being Senior Partner, He is our Heavenly Father also; and it's a great blessing to us to have this security in these troubled times. If any of you are troubled or perplexed and looking for answers, may we invite you to look to Him, for God loves you.
 
As I said I felt the need to post why I was more critical of Buck over other companies concerning their imports. Which stemmed from that experience.

When this happened I didn't even think of emailing the manufacturer my thought process was along the lines of, Ok I can't get a Buck 301 here and I need to verify it is one when I find one locally.
 
I think Buck deserves more credit than trying to pull something like that, so they can get a black eye on purpose?

A small posting of distrust not true isn't fair, if you really thought something was amiss I would think you would avoid the brand forever.
 
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