New Nighthawk

N

numbersman

Joined
Nov 28, 2010
Messages
596
I have been thinking about picking up a Nighthawk or Mini Nighthawk for a while. However they were discontinued before I got around to it. Now I see they are being made again. However I have to ask how they compare to teh old ones. Are they up to the same standard? Where are the new ones being made?
 
I don't know how they compare, but they are made as a collaboration with Tops and now have their signature holes in the blades. They are made in the USA.

TopsBuckNighthawk.jpg
 
I love my original, and I own a few knives from TOPS. TOPS has an excellent HT, their grinds are always very even, as well as the F&F of their handles. TOPS has some over-the-top designs, more like movie props than cutting tools, IMO. Yet, many of them are great. Is the HT the same as Buck did on the original? I don't know, but TOPS does have lots of hard use knives, as well as a couple of Pry Knives.
Looks like the same type of handle design as before, and that was the failure point during a knife destruction test. I don't put much stock in those, but if you beat that handle with a sledge hammer, it will fail. The blade itself, kept on going, and going...
 
... and the short Nighthawk lost the serrations. The holes show the morse code for "R".
That remembers the user for whatever he likes. For the rest the holes are more or less
senseless, just to integrate three more predetermined breaking points.

;) :)
Haebbie
 
I have several of the old versions(before tops collaberation) and really like them. I can't see buying a new one because I think those holes are rediculase. Who the hell needs an Oxygen bottle screw opener and if you do you have no business with a 6 1/2" fixed blade...
 
mbjannusch said:
I have several of the old versions(before tops collaberation) and really like them. I can't see buying a new one because I think those holes are rediculase. Who the hell needs an Oxygen bottle screw opener and if you do you have no business with a 6 1/2" fixed blade...
Click to expand...

Maybe not... I don't have a lot of use for combat knives, but before they ship me off to the nursing home one of these could be handy. It could be usefull for fending off surly orderlies and cracking open a fresh bottle of air in my little cart.
 
As exciting as that sounds, don't most oxygen bottles come with their own key or knob to open it up. Its still rediculous and who ever came up with the idea should be fired, not to mention the people that gave their blessing to start production. If they wanted to hole there knives they should have been smart and put in a beer bottle opener...
 
I explained the whole oxygen bottle thing to my wife and she made a good point that I never thought of. Would the oxygen bottle opener, open a scuba tank???
 
I'll add my 2 cents from a warranty redemption point of view. I rarely get a Nighthawk back for a broken handle. By rarely I mean maybe 3 a year. The new Nighthawk has the same handle, same heat treat.
Personally I like the look of the holes, although I will never use them, I just think they are cool looking. I'm not a big fan of cut outs for the reason Haebbie mentioned but these are far enough away from the backbone so as to minimize this risk.
 
I dearly love Buck Knives but I just cant see why they made the Nighthawk a collaboration. The knife did'nt change, they just added those mall ninja holes TOPS puts in their knives and now its a TOPS/Buck collaboration.
 
To be honest, the thing I like least about the new design is the price jump that went with it. It really dropped the performance/price ratio, considering that I'm not really a Tops fan (nothing against them, it just doesn't add any value to me), a transverse hole that size carries a stress concentration factor of about 3.. maybe not a big deal considering how thick the blade is, but it does have a net weakening effect, and I actually liked the green handle. Oh well. I don't have the budget to buy many knives, but this definately dropped the knighthawk off my list.
 
Were both the original Clip Point and the original Tanto with partial serrations made from 420HC? For some reason I thought that the originals were made with a different steel.
 
Buck changed the steel from 425mod to 420hc in 1992 and the Nighthawk did not come out until 1994 so they are all made of 420hc. I did hear of a few prototypes made of one of the premium steels although I dont recall what steel that was.
 
I think I may have been pretty upfront about my opinion of TOPS knives, so I'll not start one of those fights again. But, when I was at the Buck factory store yesterday ( I dropped off another 124 and 110 for a spa visit at the warrenty dept) I see they have some short Nighthawks and Nighthawk Bravos in both the closeout and factory blem displays in the $50 range. Might be worth picking up a couple of them at that price.
 
Joe Houser said:
I'll add my 2 cents from a warranty redemption point of view. I rarely get a Nighthawk back for a broken handle. By rarely I mean maybe 3 a year. The new Nighthawk has the same handle, same heat treat.
Personally I like the look of the holes, although I will never use them, I just think they are cool looking. I'm not a big fan of cut outs for the reason Haebbie mentioned but these are far enough away from the backbone so as to minimize this risk.
Click to expand...

Many thanks, Joe, for the kind comment. I folllow you that the risk is not too high that the Nighthawk blades
will crack at the holes. But why to increase the risk if it is not necessary? I don't like these eyelets. They are
use and senseless and they bug the optical line of these great knives, especially at the short one.
At least a heretical question: What will survive? The Nighthawk or the collaboration with Tops? ;) :) ;)

Best,
Haebbie
 
Here is a hint for Buck: revive the Striderhawk! Get rid of those goofy holes in the blade, do a full width tang with G-10 scales shaped & textured like the newer TOPS knives with the new sheath.
 
The new sheath looks better I will give it that but like others have stated the holes in the blade don't do much for me.
 
So I'm the only one that thinks those holes are "cool" huh? Well just remember that I was calling the Buckmaster cool when others were calling it useless years ago and look at how collectible they are now. :p

I find it interesting that some of the comments go beyond stating that posters have no use for the holes. It seems that, for this crowd anyways, they actually detract from the knife in some way.
I'll pass these comments on. Who knows, maybe the knife will be offered "with" or "without" the holes much like some models come with our without serrations.
Great comments, thanks!
 
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