Mentor problem!!!

[leatherman]

I have had this Buck Mentor going on five years now and have been very pleased at the performance of the knife untill now. I carve wood canes and walking sticks as a hobby and I use the mentor to remove bark and small branches. Well, seems I hit a particularly hard knot and heard a "chink" sound, I discovered a c-shaped portion of the blade was gone. The missing area is about the depth of the grind line and about 1/4 of an inch long. Is there any saving my favorite carving knife? I have never heard of this happening, how hard is the steel!? Could this be some kind of defect? Can it be re-ground without costing more than the knife?
Please give me some advice on this matter. I really dont want to throw this knife out.
Thanks,
Dwayne

 

[Tightwad]

Send the knife back to Buck for Warranty replacment. I doubt that
the chunk should have broken out on a knot. Must have caught a
weak spot just right and chipped out. No matter Buck is a very,
very good company so send it in to the attention of Joe Houser and
they will fix / replace it. Your only cost will be postage to get it to
Buck. I'd say that fair enough.

 

[leatherman]

Thanks for the info. It's good to know that Buck is still standing behind their knives when so many others are going to a "conditional" short term warranty!
I will send the knife in this week and see what happens!
Leatherman

 

[Joe Houser]

Dwayne,
Make sure you send the knife to my attention. I would like to take a look at the problem. The blade should be 58 to 60 Rockwell on the C scale. Stripping branches does not sound like especially punishing work and the blade should have been ok.
We will fix or replace the knife under warrantee.

Take care,

 

[leatherman]

Thank you Mr Houser,
I will be sure to send it in your direction. The wood I work with is pretty hard stuff: oak, ash, and persimon(sp?). The persimon is the wood that bit the knife, and it can be a real bear if it is allowed to cure for too long, it will dull a blade in about 30 minutes work. Thanks for the consideration, its not often when one hears from the upper eshelon in a company the size of Buck Knives.
From a long time fan of Bucks (I even have one of the Buck Scoutlite red handled knives!!)
Dwayne aka Leatherman