Obviously still not recovering from that Buck fever I added my first 119BR and a 173 to my small but growing collection - now that inverted T on both blades isn´t mentioned on the Buck site yet but with the "T" for 2003 the head-standing inversed "T" would make sense for 2004 I suppose - anyone care to comment ?
In regards to the 173 I can say that its very nicely done IMO, I do own one 172 which after some help from Joe is pretty perfect now but the 173 is right there behind its more expensive brother and IMO well worth the money.
One can see and feel it in the details that its less expensive but at 1/3 the MSRP it just has to be - I swapped it in as my EDC and have retired the 172 for now and will see how it does. I did smoothen the edges of the handle a little as they were a bit on the sharp side and the liner does move over a bit too much for my taste at 3/4 of the tang for a new knife but we´ll see how it behaves.
In regards to the 119BR - what a beauty and so very well balanced, just a little too big for urban EDC though - so that one has to wait a little until it gets more than my eyes thrown at it.
Both knived were pretty sharp out of the box and the grind was 100% on spot for the 173 whereas the 119BR was a little bit off at the very edge of the tip with a tiny bit of bad swedge - but nothing to be concerned or complain.
Thx @ Buck for two more great products
Klaus
In regards to the 173 I can say that its very nicely done IMO, I do own one 172 which after some help from Joe is pretty perfect now but the 173 is right there behind its more expensive brother and IMO well worth the money.
One can see and feel it in the details that its less expensive but at 1/3 the MSRP it just has to be - I swapped it in as my EDC and have retired the 172 for now and will see how it does. I did smoothen the edges of the handle a little as they were a bit on the sharp side and the liner does move over a bit too much for my taste at 3/4 of the tang for a new knife but we´ll see how it behaves.
In regards to the 119BR - what a beauty and so very well balanced, just a little too big for urban EDC though - so that one has to wait a little until it gets more than my eyes thrown at it.
Both knived were pretty sharp out of the box and the grind was 100% on spot for the 173 whereas the 119BR was a little bit off at the very edge of the tip with a tiny bit of bad swedge - but nothing to be concerned or complain.
Thx @ Buck for two more great products
Klaus