Oct. Buck of the Month: 301 stockman, S30V steel

Fixall said:
Mine came in today. For a $130 knife, I am super under-whelmed. This knife has the worst gaps of any knife I've ever owned. I can slide four pieces of printer paper through the length of the gaps. The grind lead-off is uneven on both blades. The Micarta is poorly finished, with different thicknesses in different spots. It also has several voids. The primary grinds on the blades are good, and the brass looks nice at least.

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Gaps
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And the other side
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I love bucks, but that is by far the worst I have ever seen. That must have slipped through quality control.
 
Murphjd25 said:
As you can see only real imperfection is on the right side show side, the micarta could of been hand sanded and finished a little better. No gaps, nice even grinds. Perfect blade centering. I’m keeping mine, but I’d probably return most the ones I’ve seen here.
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Glad yours is good to go…gives me hope mine will be too
 
Murphjd25 said:
Man, this is sad seeing all these bad ones. I got mine yesterday and I just got lucky. No gaps at all, but the micarta is a little rough. Doesn’t bother me to much though as all the gaps and crappy grinds I’ve seen. I’ll cherish this one as one of the “better” ones.
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It's weird that this is some kind of lottery for an acceptable knife. Mine has gaps, but nothing like Fixall's. Good snap, sharp, and decent heft. I really like the super square bolsters on mine, but those may be another indicator of sloppy QC. I got an acceptable knife, but this thread and it's cousin on the Buck subforum make increasingly sad reading.

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FranklinG said:
It's weird that this is some kind of lottery for an acceptable knife. Mine has gaps, but nothing like Fixall's. Good snap, sharp, and decent heft. I really like the super square bolsters on mine, but those may be another indicator of sloppy QC. I got an acceptable knife, but this thread and it's cousin on the Buck subforum make increasingly sad reading.

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Sign of the times... its increasingly hard to find people to work and when you do they take no pride in what they do/make, unfortunately thats probably what we are seeing here.
 
jwh720 said:
Sign of the times... its increasingly hard to find people to work and when you do they take no pride in what they do/make, unfortunately thats probably what we are seeing here.
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Well... They could pay them more. Buck's last Fabrication/Assembly posting was for $14 an hour and required use of stamping tools, grinding, pressing, polishing, drilling, and heat treat. Also responsible for inspecting parts and finished product quality, as well as using calipers and micrometers.

Thats just enough money to rent a one bedroom apartment in Post Falls, Idaho if you spend 100% of your paycheck on rent…. But I bet Mr. Tobiasson is eating well.


Not to mention the benefits that have been taken left and right from employees lately.

I wonder why Buck has had a 60% turnover rate in assembly and fabrication these past few years. It sure is a mystery. 🙄
 
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I would have like to have seen wood or jig bone covers on his knife….. micarta just isn’t what many of us want on this knife, but the steel and blade selection is good.

I think the Buck Bladeforum knife may have been the peak of Buck slip joints…….. I love mine.

There were gaps in the Buck forum knives, but not like Fixall Fixall is showing. What is strange is my Buck 303 is really well made, no gaps, etc. and it cost 40 bucks?

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Fixall said:
Well... They could pay them more. Buck's last Fabrication/Assembly posting was for $14 an hour and required use of stamping tools, grinding, pressing, polishing, drilling, and heat treat. Also responsible for inspecting parts and finished product quality, as well as using calipers and micrometers.

Not to mention the benefits that have been taken left and right from employees lately.

I wonder why Buck has had a 60% turnover rate in assembly and fabrication this past few years. It sure is a mystery. 🙄
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Very fair point.
 
It's a shame there are reports of issues with these. Mine arrived a couple days ago, and thankfully I seem to have gotten one of the good ones. Not gappy, the covers are well finished, decent grinds. If I was nitpicking I'd say the pull on the main blade could be a little firmer, but fit and finish wise I'm pretty happy with it.

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I’m just sending mine in for a refund. I played back and forth way to much when I tried to exchange my poorly finished, $350 212 legacy.
 
Buck told me they would send me a shipping label so I could send it back. That was five days ago. Crickets...
 
Fixall said:
Buck told me they would send me a shipping label so I could send it back. That was five days ago. Crickets...
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Yeah, I'd just return it and be done with it.

In the past Buck would make some amazing knives, considering the price they sold them for.
Lately I've noticed they struggle with the quality of basic designs.
Yeah, there's problems everywhere with production and workforce, but I do my job, and I'm not gonna settle for substandard products.

They need to figure it out.
Their enclosed card even states "each knife must reflect the integrity of management".
Sure they'll fix it, but that shouldn't be a fallback solution.
5 days to send an email..... That's just BS.. You feel like you've been ignored.


I'm a fan, but I'm more hesitant regarding their products.
 
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A few years back, Buck invested in a lot of high tech manufacturing equipment. But that was geared to make their basic models. I've never had a problem with one of those. I'm guessing the custom shop is the problem.
 
Buck finally got back to me with an email apologizing for the delay, and saying they attached an shipping label to the email.

Except there's not shipping label attached to the email. 🤦‍♂️
 
Still no response from Buck.

I called them today to get that label sent. The person in the warranty department informed me that that was the customer service department's job and promptly transferred me... Which then told me no one was available to take my call and hung up.
 
I just called sales instead…. They physically walked over there and got it handled, lol. Label is in my email now. :)
 
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