Lenny
Gold Member
- Joined
- Oct 15, 1998
- Messages
- 2,487
I received a Mini Buck/Strider spearpoint in BG-42. This was definitely my most anticipated knife due to all the great write ups these knives have received lately. I ordered it from Mike at BadAss Knives who, I must say, is one of the most pleasant people to deal with this side of the Reeves and Doziers. Heres a point by point rundown.
Ive only had it a few hours, so keep in mind, these are only initial impressions.
Size: perfect, smaller than my large Sebenza, larger than my small Calypso
Handle: without fail, every review Ive read of these knives has said that the handle is blocky, and it is; however, it fits my hand very nicely; the edges were very edgy which I took care of with 10 minutes on the Dremel; the G-10 surface has the feel of 60 grit sandpaper, which I kinda like; definitely a good thing for wet conditions; additionally, there are really nice thumb ridges on the blade spine, just perfect in the sharpness category, and ridges in the liners around the spine thumb ridges, plus ridges in the liners around the butt of the handle; all this makes for a very secure package in the hand
Lock-Up: rock solid; the liner travels approx 50 % across the tang; needless to say, it passed the spine whack test with flying colors
Action: the action was quite loose when I first took it out of the box, and some blade wobble was evident; this was fixed with a tweak of the pivot bolts with a small Torx driver; interestingly, the bolt on each side of the pivot tightens independently of the other
Blade: THICK! I love the shape of this blade; slightly modified spear point with a swedge from the point to approx 1.5 back; good for penetrating; very remniscent of the Sebenza; grinds were perfect; scary sharp edge; under a 10 X loupe, it was obviously sharpened with a coarse grit which I think is perfect for a knife like this intended for hard use; feeling it, it felt like a micro saw, lots of teeth; I whittled a piece of Spanish Cedar for a few minutes and BOY did the chips fly; this edge really bites! I then sliced up a bit of cardboard; the thickness of the blade and slightly obtuse edge angle doesnt make for the best slicer, some resistence was felt
the blade is finished in a bead blast? with lots of writing on it First Production Run, 188/500, and stamping BOS (yeah I know, Paul Bos), BG-42, USA, SB.2 and a symbol that looks like an upside down U and of course the Buck/Strider insignia. Id much rather have a cleaner looking blade, but,I can live with it since the knife is so outstanding
Thumb Stud: very nice; round, one ridge furthest away from the blade, and exactly the same height as the width of the handle; its one of the easiest thumb studs Ive ever used
Clip: very beefy; and simple, held on with 3 Torx screws; very tight; same finish as the blade; I dont know why Buck didnt make it black to match the handle
Overall: very nice construction, very good finish everywhere;
one very strange thing, though; the blade isnt perfectly centered (it doesnt hit the liner though); inspection with the loupe reveals one brass washer on the liner side of the pivot, and 2 washers on the other side; this obviously is the cause of the non-centered blade; I called Mike at BadAss and asked him about it; he took a look at another one and confirmed that it also had one washer on one side and 2 on the other; STRANGE! Can anyone shed some light on this?
Summary: I guess you can tell that I like this knife a lot. I think itll be sitting in my pocket for quite a while. Hope my Sebenza doesnt get jealous. I really cant wait to give it a good workout and see how it holds up.
The only puzzling thing about the knife is the off centered blade and the 1 washer on one side/ 2 washers on the other side thing.
Lenny
Ive only had it a few hours, so keep in mind, these are only initial impressions.
Size: perfect, smaller than my large Sebenza, larger than my small Calypso
Handle: without fail, every review Ive read of these knives has said that the handle is blocky, and it is; however, it fits my hand very nicely; the edges were very edgy which I took care of with 10 minutes on the Dremel; the G-10 surface has the feel of 60 grit sandpaper, which I kinda like; definitely a good thing for wet conditions; additionally, there are really nice thumb ridges on the blade spine, just perfect in the sharpness category, and ridges in the liners around the spine thumb ridges, plus ridges in the liners around the butt of the handle; all this makes for a very secure package in the hand
Lock-Up: rock solid; the liner travels approx 50 % across the tang; needless to say, it passed the spine whack test with flying colors
Action: the action was quite loose when I first took it out of the box, and some blade wobble was evident; this was fixed with a tweak of the pivot bolts with a small Torx driver; interestingly, the bolt on each side of the pivot tightens independently of the other
Blade: THICK! I love the shape of this blade; slightly modified spear point with a swedge from the point to approx 1.5 back; good for penetrating; very remniscent of the Sebenza; grinds were perfect; scary sharp edge; under a 10 X loupe, it was obviously sharpened with a coarse grit which I think is perfect for a knife like this intended for hard use; feeling it, it felt like a micro saw, lots of teeth; I whittled a piece of Spanish Cedar for a few minutes and BOY did the chips fly; this edge really bites! I then sliced up a bit of cardboard; the thickness of the blade and slightly obtuse edge angle doesnt make for the best slicer, some resistence was felt
the blade is finished in a bead blast? with lots of writing on it First Production Run, 188/500, and stamping BOS (yeah I know, Paul Bos), BG-42, USA, SB.2 and a symbol that looks like an upside down U and of course the Buck/Strider insignia. Id much rather have a cleaner looking blade, but,I can live with it since the knife is so outstanding
Thumb Stud: very nice; round, one ridge furthest away from the blade, and exactly the same height as the width of the handle; its one of the easiest thumb studs Ive ever used
Clip: very beefy; and simple, held on with 3 Torx screws; very tight; same finish as the blade; I dont know why Buck didnt make it black to match the handle
Overall: very nice construction, very good finish everywhere;
one very strange thing, though; the blade isnt perfectly centered (it doesnt hit the liner though); inspection with the loupe reveals one brass washer on the liner side of the pivot, and 2 washers on the other side; this obviously is the cause of the non-centered blade; I called Mike at BadAss and asked him about it; he took a look at another one and confirmed that it also had one washer on one side and 2 on the other; STRANGE! Can anyone shed some light on this?
Summary: I guess you can tell that I like this knife a lot. I think itll be sitting in my pocket for quite a while. Hope my Sebenza doesnt get jealous. I really cant wait to give it a good workout and see how it holds up.
The only puzzling thing about the knife is the off centered blade and the 1 washer on one side/ 2 washers on the other side thing.
Lenny
