Quality of Chinese Buck traditionals

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will62

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I was in a couple of sporting goods stores recently and noticed some low priced Buck slipjoints in clamshell packs. Checking them out I noticed that they were made in China:eek:. How is the quality of these compared to USA made ones?

Seems just a bit sacreligous to see" Made in China" on a Buck knife. I realize lots of companies have outsourced to China.

Francis
 
Greetings,

First the following contains some personal opinion. But fairly stated.

Yep, Buck has been importing a line of slip-joints (and a few other models) from China for several years.

They are made by a contractor in the Yangiiang area of southern China, an area known as a cultery production area. They even have a chamber of commerce web-site.

Bottom line, cut-to-the chase. Buck had the chance to supply a whole lot of knives to some "Mart" store. But, the way that company works is they tell you how much they will pay and you figure out how to make them for that much....hence a strong reason to bring in an import line. Other sellers wanted prices lower than American production could allow also to compete with there rivals own import lines.

The Buck top dogs will stand and tell you to your face, they do 125% to make sure the standards and quality of the hard earned Buck reputation is recieved from their supplier in China. They will also commit to bringing that production home as soon as economic conditions allow. A few have already come back to Idaho. But in these times it may take a while before the flag is on all Buck packages.

All that political stuff aside, fit and finish has in almost all cases been good. The steel is China steel, 420 J2 stainless. I can not tell you if their heat treatment is Paul Bos designed. The comments by owners in this forum and the Buck forum have generally been decent. Edge retention has been described as just a hair under normal Buck 420 HC.

I own the first model imported as a collector item, and three others that I have gotten in deals. One is a opposite ended small trapper that I have in my EDC rotation. It actually is my second trapper, the first one I gave away and it had great looking jigged scales. This current one is just regular.

One thing about them, they still carry the Buck lifetime warranty. Every man for themselves.

300Bucks
 
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Francis, please take a moment (before this goes any further) to read our forum guidelines regarding overseas manufacturers and China specifically. Just want to ensure that we head off any potential issues before they come to the fore.

Craig, terms like rice-burners, even if not intended to give offense, are inappropriate within these forums on a variety of levels.
 
will62 said:
... How is the quality of these compared to USA made ones?

Francis
Click to expand...

I have to say, I have yet to be disappointed in an imported Buck. I HAVE, however, been disappointed by the Domestic Buck, so take from that what you can.
It seems that as of late, the whole "imported" debate has been pretty much squashed. With knives from Rough Rider, Steel Warrior, Kissing Crane, etc., having made incredible improvements on the quality of their knives, is it even worth asking anymore? Imports are very good nowadays. They are inexpensive, not cheap.
The Buck line is awesome. I don't care WHERE it's made, the good folks at Buck are going to make sure they are still made to Buck's level of Quality. I have a 373 Stockman (Cadet), a Solo, and a Canoe, and they are still tanks. Bucks have always been known as tanks, workhorses, and that's the same with these. If I were to be in a survival situation, probably the knife I would want on me would be one of my imported Bucks. And I have Case, Vic, Boker, and Leatherman (not a knife, but I'd still choose my Buck).
 
I have had scales crack on a couple of my Chinese-made Bucks, but other than that, the quality seems good. I have a little 375 here on my desk, and the snap is excellent. I don't care much for the laminated wood scales though. To me, they detract from what is otherwise a tidy little package. As is the case with many recently imported Chinese knives, the fit and finish you get for the price is pretty darned good.
 
Andy, the laminated wood (as you probably already know) is used on USA made versions too. Not sure if there is any difference quality-wise between what is used for the scale assembly with this material stateside vs. off-shore. (I have the laminated wood on an older 110 as well as on a recent USA made Cadet.)
 
I wouldn't be concerned about Buck's quality standards no matter where their blades are produced. That being said, I try not to buy anything made in China if at all possible.
 
I have a laminated wood Vantage Pro (not a traditional), and the material does seem a lot nicer than what is being used on the Chinese versions. I'm not sure if this is due to the quality of the material itself, or the level of finish, or both? The Vantage Pro is a much more expensive knife than the Chinese-made slipjoints, so that's kind of an apples-to-oranges comparison. It would be interesting to see two similar models with similar laminated wood scales side-to-side. Though I don't know what, if anything, this would accomplish.

I'm not much of a fan of laminated wood scales, regardless of the country of origin. Especially on traditional knives.
 
moonwilson said:
I have had scales crack on a couple of my Chinese-made Bucks, but other than that, the quality seems good. I have a little 375 here on my desk, and the snap is excellent. I don't care much for the laminated wood scales though. To me, they detract from what is otherwise a tidy little package. As is the case with many recently imported Chinese knives, the fit and finish you get for the price is pretty darned good.
Click to expand...

Were they plastic scales?
I noticed that only the wood scales have the pins holding the scales on. The others are glued on.
 
I don't currently own any of the imports and have only handled 2: they were a 2008 set of pearl handled mini toothpick and trapper. The following unacceptable things were found ~ scales had very sharp edges around the full perimeter on both knives, toothpick blade had no snap to the open position, and the spey blade on the trapper would not close on its own. Even at the closeout price of $7.98 at OSH I decided to pass.
Also, I purchased 2 nylon handled lockback imports for my sons. They functioned well but the steel performed far below 420hc in my opinion.
Ymmv,
Stevo
 
Every time these threads start, it always winds up a lot about politics, and a little about knives.

The Chinese made knives are fine. They are well made, and their fit and finish easily surpasses that of most domestic makers. They have a BUCK approved steel, and BUCK enforced quality control during manufacture.

If you like design you saw, the price point hit your sweet spot, and you are comfortable with BUCK's lifetime warranty, support the guys at BUCK :thumbup::thumbup:and buy one. You won't be disappointed.

Robert
 
I think that's enough said on this topic before things begin heading south.
As previously mentioned, the knives carry Buck's lifetime warranty. If you're not happy they will stand behind the product (as will, most likely, your vendor).
I know from personal experience that Buck's customer service is top shelf.
Report back if and when you've had an opportunity to try one out.
 
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