New Buck Strider

[Buckaholic]

I don't remember the number, I wish I had written it down darn it.:grumpy: I vaguely recall it was somewhere around the 220's.

I went back and forth a long time about buying it, since it was quite pricey all things considered and hard to justify, but finally I just did it. The knife itself was beautiful, the ironwood was great. I really intended it to be a user for those times where a black or green tactical-type knife was not appropriate. Sadly, it ranks as one my greater disappointments knife-wise since I had thinking about it for so long.

BS...
Not wondering about the specific s/n but wondering if the serial numbers are engraved on the blade.

Are you getting an exchange or a refund?

I am thinking exactly as you state in your second paragraph...to make it a EDC not a show piece. I've never seen ironwood (though I have been called that now and then) and personally think it looks "plastic". But, that is what I used to think of asian waterbuff handles until I got one. Now I love 'em.

 

[Blue Sky]

BS...
Not wondering about the specific s/n but wondering if the serial numbers are engraved on the blade.

Are you getting an exchange or a refund?

I am thinking exactly as you state in your second paragraph...to make it a EDC not a show piece. I've never seen ironwood (though I have been called that now and then) and personally think it looks "plastic". But, that is what I used to think of asian waterbuff handles until I got one. Now I love 'em.

Sorry, I misunderstood. The number was on the back side, along the spine. It was fine line script engraving, visible but not very prominent: "XXX/1000".

I asked for a refund. I was pretty disappointed at that point and just wanted to be done with it. I did consider returning it to Buck for a bit but in the end didn't. I had no issue with the appearance of it, the ironwood was real nice. Overall it would have made a good user.

 

[chickentrax]

Jim...I'm looking at changing my diet from McDonald's Double Cheeseburgers to Taco Bell.

I've been on the peanut butter diet since the 110 Custom came in...unfortunately, I had the Peter Pan 2111 jar... My colon got a lot of workout... :barf:

But I'm much better now...

 

[DarrylS]

I've been on the peanut butter diet since the 110 Custom came in...unfortunately, I had the Peter Pan 2111 jar... My colon got a lot of workout... :barf:

But I'm much better now...

...That stuff really made our "business" kick into overtime too...The hours have been ridiculous...Who'd ever think all those "senior citizens" down here ate so much peanut butter... ...I wonder how an 889 would work to scrape that "stuff" off'n a colonoscope??... :barf:

 

[Buckaholic]

I've been on the peanut butter diet since the 110 Custom came in...unfortunately, I had the Peter Pan 2111 jar... My colon got a lot of workout... :barf:

But I'm much better now...

Damn...I got to this post and hour late and Darryl beat me to it about himself being Da MAn for peep plumbing!

Trax, glad you are better!

 

[Buckaholic]

The 889 is one of my favorites w/o question and I've recommended it more than once. That said, I am starting to think there is something to the lock-up issues that get reported here with distressing regularity.
...
A fourth went back to the dealer last week. It was an ironwood LE and when open the blade would rock back and forth (spine-to-edge direction) with no effort. It would rattle with a slight hand shake. That one shook my confidence a little.
...

Well...today is a first for me. My first NIB Buck from a dealer that is a toad.

Thank God I have a small herd of Buck knives that prove to me that these knives are quality goods.
Blue Sky, maybe I got your returned knife...but I'm thinking not as this one seems worse. It is number 228/1000 BTW. You mentioned yours' was in the 220 range

I am so disappointed that this almost deserves a new thread. But I will take off where Blue Sky left off and hope that Joe sees this post.

My 889LE just arrived less than 20 minutes ago.

Out of a possible four smileys it gets four unhappys'.
The ironwood is knice. The polished blade is knice.

But like they say in the MC world..."chrome don't get you home".
The blade wobble is terrible. Over an 8th of an inch at the tip.

Liner lock failure? Can't have lock failure if it never locks in the first place. For real. It doesn't engage at all. Don't matter if you open it slow or flick it. It has not locked once in at LEAST 50 attempts. No exagerration.

Once it is open, I can push the liner lock in just a tad and it will fail with the pressure of my index finger on the spine. That ain't no spin "whack" test Buckaroos...literally just can push it with my index finger then feel the lock slip.

MAYBE I can tweak by adjusting the torx. But why should I for any knife, let alone a Buck, and a LIMTED EDITION at that? Thinking of sending it back. It's embarrassing and shameful as a HUGE Buck fan for me to see this.

Who the hell checks these before they leave the plant?

Had this been my first Buck I would definitely been underwhelmed and it would have been my last Buck.

You never get a second chance to make a first impression...



BTW, the 271 154CM that was shipped with it is flawless. More on that later. Right now I'm going to the Prayer Tower to see what I should do with this model 889POS.

 

[Maverick4546]

I know its bad... but can you post some pics of the offending 889LE?

 

[MikeSEA]

Sorry to hear about that 889LE Goose. That really sucks.
Like you said it's sure a good thing it wasn't your first BUCK. For it sure might of been your last. They don't just give those things away either.

I'm beginning to think I just lucked out with mine. After reading your story I just had to take mine out of the box and re-examine it to make sure I wasn't just imagining that it such a great knife. But no I wasn't dreaming the thing locks up like a tank and won't budge. And the blade is rock solid you'd have to put it in vice to wiggle it in either opened or closed position.

The only good thing that could come out of all this is. YEAH it's a limited edition but the chances of getting one that works out of the box may be even more limited.

So if you latch on to a good one like I did you better guard it and insure it. I can almost hear the price going up.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

 

[jb4570]

I just pissed in my pants and nobody can do any thing about it!!!....Oh sorry watching Dances with Wolves . But, anyway that statement sums up what da Goose said. Send it back Attention "Joe H" he will take care of it for sure.

I second what Mav said......Pic's brother goose...we need to see it. Aside from the poor assembly of the finished goods....What does the Ironwood look like? I have not bought any of the Ironwood knives....some I've seen just pop with awesome grain and color....and others are plain and dull. For the money...I want grain and color. So come on goose Pic's.....Please.

jb4570

 

[Maverick4546]

Could it have already been returned to the dealer once before? I know that JH will look after you... but it may be that someone had that problem then returned to the dealer and the dealer should have sent it back to Buck.

Just a thought.... but there does seem to be a lot of threads about this style of Buck that has problems....

 

[Hawkeye5]

Goose.....

Sorry to hear that they got to you on a NIB Buck.
It is :grumpy: But as the others have said.Send
that puppy back.
They will take care of it for you.
Jeff

 

[jb4570]

Well...today is a first for me. My first NIB Buck from a dealer that is a toad.


Hi Goose,

Maybe you should have MRS. Goose give it a kiss....it could be a prince in disguise .

jb4570

 

[Buckaholic]

Deployed by flicking hard:

Liner lock pushed in as far as it will go.
Tapping the blade with my index finger on the spine will cause lock failure:

You can see that the lighting impacts the appearance of the wood.
This is my first ironwood John. I was hesitant at first cause I had never seen it in real life and it never looked good to me. Changed my mind after looking at more pics and now especially that I have this lemonwood, whoops, I mean ironwood. It's quite nice...at least this one.
Reminds me of this gorgeous chick at a bar I was yakking to one day a few years ago. Looked fine as heck but whacky as heck too. I mean wierd kine whacky. So, this knife looks good but I wouldn't even poke pickles outta a jar with it.

MikeSea, I'm glad your's is working good. I was pretty confident that Blue Sky had the bad luck of the draw and I anticipated mine to be stellar as have my other new purchases. IF this had been my first Buck, and knowing it was a Limited Edition, I would be hesitant to get another Buck...wondering if the quality on the LE was so poor, what would the "stock" knives be like?

As for sending this back to Buck. I dunno. Might as well get my coin back now and get that Franklin Mint Elvis plate I've been gazing at instead of waiting for a brand new knife I paid for to be stuck in the process for a month or two. Do it right the first time. I may take out the torx and a set of needle nose instead.

BTW, Mrs. Goose kissed me about six years ago...I'm still a toad.
And Jim, thanks for the pics along with MikeSEA. MikeSEA, your 889LE is gorgeous...I would poke pickles with that one

 

[cool_hand_luke]

Goose,

Thanks for sharing those pictures. Very disappointing. I own buck and strider, and have handled a buck/strider. Buck = Great! Strider = Great! On their own, they produce great knives. The buck/strider marriage, however, seemed to be less than efficient. The buck/strider knives look great, but the issues regarding lockup are unacceptable. I too experienced lockup issues. The problem I had was that the liner-lock engaged so far across the blade that I literally had to pry on the liner to disengage. Very unfortunate.

Thanks again for sharing the pics and info Goose.

Andy

 

[Messersmith]

It really does look nice Goose. I think with a few tweaks back at Buck it will be an awesome knife.

 

[Maverick4546]

Deployed by flicking hard:

Liner lock pushed in as far as it will go.
Tapping the blade with my index finger on the spine will cause lock failure:

You can see that the lighting impacts the appearance of the wood.
This is my first ironwood John. I was hesitant at first cause I had never seen it in real life and it never looked good to me. Changed my mind after looking at more pics and now especially that I have this lemonwood, whoops, I mean ironwood. It's quite nice...at least this one.
Reminds me of this gorgeous chick at a bar I was yakking to one day a few years ago. Looked fine as heck but whacky as heck too. I mean wierd kine whacky. So, this knife looks good but I wouldn't even poke pickles outta a jar with it.

MikeSea, I'm glad your's is working good. I was pretty confident that Blue Sky had the bad luck of the draw and I anticipated mine to be stellar as have my other new purchases. IF this had been my first Buck, and knowing it was a Limited Edition, I would be hesitant to get another Buck...wondering if the quality on the LE was so poor, what would the "stock" knives be like?

As for sending this back to Buck. I dunno. Might as well get my coin back now and get that Franklin Mint Elvis plate I've been gazing at instead of waiting for a brand new knife I paid for to be stuck in the process for a month or two. Do it right the first time. I may take out the torx and a set of needle nose instead.

BTW, Mrs. Goose kissed me about six years ago...I'm still a toad.
And Jim, thanks for the pics along with MikeSEA. MikeSEA, your 889LE is gorgeous...I would poke pickles with that one

Ya know goose... after looking at your pics the fact that your knife is faulty is not just a shame. Its not just bad luck either.

ITS A TRAGEDY!

That has to be one of the most stunning knives I have seen in a long time. I can totally understand that you are pi$$ed off about it.

I really hope that Buck sorts it out for you.

 

[chickentrax]

BTW, Mrs. Goose kissed me about six years ago...I'm still a toad.

Could have been worse...you could have turned into a skinny egotistical rock & roll singer...The Artist Formerly Known As Goose...

 

[chickentrax]

I may take out the torx and a set of needle nose instead.

Wh4f pointed out this page in another thread...

http://www.buckknives.com/care.php

Repair
Self-repair of a Buck knife will void your warranty.

Send it back...or warranty it...don't attempt to repair it yourself...

 

[Hawkeye5]

Deployed by flicking hard:

Liner lock pushed in as far as it will go.
Tapping the blade with my index finger on the spine will cause lock failure:

You can see that the lighting impacts the appearance of the wood.
This is my first ironwood John. I was hesitant at first cause I had never seen it in real life and it never looked good to me. Changed my mind after looking at more pics and now especially that I have this lemonwood, whoops, I mean ironwood. It's quite nice...at least this one.
Reminds me of this gorgeous chick at a bar I was yakking to one day a few years ago. Looked fine as heck but whacky as heck too. I mean wierd kine whacky. So, this knife looks good but I wouldn't even poke pickles outta a jar with it.

MikeSea, I'm glad your's is working good. I was pretty confident that Blue Sky had the bad luck of the draw and I anticipated mine to be stellar as have my other new purchases. IF this had been my first Buck, and knowing it was a Limited Edition, I would be hesitant to get another Buck...wondering if the quality on the LE was so poor, what would the "stock" knives be like?

As for sending this back to Buck. I dunno. Might as well get my coin back now and get that Franklin Mint Elvis plate I've been gazing at instead of waiting for a brand new knife I paid for to be stuck in the process for a month or two. Do it right the first time. I may take out the torx and a set of needle nose instead.

BTW, Mrs. Goose kissed me about six years ago...I'm still a toad.
And Jim, thanks for the pics along with MikeSEA. MikeSEA, your 889LE is gorgeous...I would poke pickles with that one

Man, that is a shame Goose. Those scales are way cool.
Waiting for a new knife and them this shows up. I would be
pissed myself.Good luck with it.
Jeff

 

[Buckaholic]

Thanks Cool Hand Luke (nice avatar BTW), Messy, Mav, El Pollo, and Jeff for your comments since my last post about my 889 SlipJoint.

Well...I decided to take it upon myself to "fix" it. Under close inspection I found there was a rough edge on the tang where the liner lock engages.
It took more than a few hard scrapes with a mico tool screwdriver to get in there and rub that pup down. Gave me something to do. The liner lock now sits flush with the tang when deployed. Wish it would engage a bit further over the tang back...but more on that in a bit.

Torxed the pivot and the blade play is reduced from over 1/8" to an annoying wobble. But now it doesn't deploy as fast or as easy. "Choose your problem" I guess.

As for the liner lock overlap with the blade tang. There has been some discussion about the "bevel" on the tang engagement area with the liner lock with 889SBMF knives. I note that my 2005 889SBMF blade and this 2007 889LE have different geometry in that area.

The 889SBMF is finished at an angle that starts at one edge and runs to the other. The 889LE has a "cutout" in the tang where the liner lock should be engaging. Then the balance is at 90 degrees...straight across. Ya gotta look close, but it's there.

So, all in all, while disappointed in the QA that was ("wasn't") done on the 889LE I was able to get it right. Even though I plan to use this in my EDC rotation, I shouldn't have had to tweak it. C'mon...no joke, wouldn't lock outta the box after at least 50 tries (I'm a determined monkey) and the play was over 1/8" at the tip.

BTW, my 889SBMF is rock solid in all regards and I could have bougt three more of those for the cost of the 889LE.

This is gonna sound insane, but I am thinking of ordering another 889LE to display on the shelf instead of the Elvis plate. Part of the reason is for Buck redemption in that I must've gotten a rare lemon. Plus, as stated, this will be a user and I'd like one to save for whateve the reason is we save these for.

That's it for now...
Agent Orange.
Over and out.