Received 889 today - mixed feelings

[cool_hand_luke]

Friends,

For those of you who have been following my posts in this thread you'll recall that I was unhappy with my first 889 due to poor lockup issues.

Several posters in that thread mentioned that Buck had changed their liners, and the problems with the lockup were resolved.
So I bit. I ordered a new 889 from NGK. It arrived today . . .


The lockup is great. Seriously it is as solid as I would hope a locking knife would be. It rivals my spyderco military liner lock.
I consider the milie to be one of the best liner locks on the market -- the 889 is in good company with its liner lock now.

Here's where I begin to feel that tinge of disappointment. The blade is markedly offcenter. Almost annoyingly so.
The blade is nearly touching the non-locking liner.

Buck 889. Notice the offset when closed.



I began to think, however, maybe I am expecting too much. It is only a $49 knife . . .

Then I unwrapped my other present from NGK, a Boker Trance. The Trance is a $29 knife from NGK. It centers perfectly.

Boker Trance (left), Buck 889 (right). Notice the difference in blade centering.


Friends, I really enjoy Buck knives. From my beloved 112, to my well-used Swissbuck I have thought very highly of Buck.
My experiences with the Buck/Strider marriage are less than enjoyable. Your thoughts please.


Andy

 

[RAZORBLADES]

Send it to Buck,it WILL be taken care of ,like all their warranty issues ,good luck!

 

[Hawkeye5]

CHL...I think that is why I always like to be able to see the knife before

I buy it.I have not bought very many with out seeing it first.

I do feal your pain .It seem like you have had your fair shair

of problems with the Buck folders.

Can you send it back? If not send to to Joe H. and he will

make it right.

Hawkeye

 

[cool_hand_luke]

Send it to Buck,it WILL be taken care of ,like all their warranty issues.

I really don't want to send it to Buck for warranty work. Why should I have to when the knife is BNIB?​

If not send to to Joe H. and he will make it right.

Joe has treated me right before - with my BG42 swap on my 112. I know he's a good person to deal with at Buck.​

Friends, the more I sit here and look at my two knives (the 889 and the Boker Trance) the more uneasy I get. The 889 is clearly marked on the box "Made in USA". The Trance is clearly marked "Made in Taiwan". Why is it that my made in the USA knife (which I paid $20 more for) is inferior in quality to a Taiwanese knife? Why should I send my made in the USA knife back to the manufacturer to they can 'make it right'. Boker somehow managed to get it right -- and less expensive to boot.

Thanks for your comments, I appreciate your feedback. For now, I think I am going to package my 889 and send it back to NGK.


Andy

 

[RAZORBLADES]

I know what you mean ,I went through the same thing not long ago with a buck/strider 880 spearpoint,I felt the same way,but its your choice as to what you'd like done,Buck can only stand behind their mistakes with heir excellent warranty,chit happens and a bad kife can get out,its the fact they will take care of it that matters.imho

 

[cool_hand_luke]

. . . Buck can only stand behind their mistakes with heir excellent warranty . . . its the fact they will take care of it that matters.

Yes, good point RAZORBLADES. I know Buck is a stand-up company with good people.

Andy

 

[Messersmith]

I'd be dissapointed with your 889 too. It should be better centered than that from the factory.

Have you tried loosening and re-tightening the blade pivot? It worked on my Alpha Dorado which had an off-center blade (picked it up used).

 

[Buckaholic]

My 882SBTK does that off center gig too. For me, adjusting the pivot doesn't help.

I was thinking of monkeying around with the scale rivets and seeing if that helped. But it doesn't bother me "too" much.
An annoyance. But since mine is a EDC and there is no blade wobble when it is open and the blade/spine/handle line is dead straight when deployed, I said the hell with it.

Still, I am not stating that this is acceptable as a product, I'm just saying that I can live with it.
IF such was exhibited in one of my two 889LE knives, I wouldn't tolerate it. Would drive me bonkers.

 

[Messersmith]

Just as an aside, I picked up my 889 from a brick and mortar shop so I was able to look at 5 or 6 and pick the "best". One of them had a *slightly* off-center blade and one had a liner that didn't engage as far as I would have liked. They both went back on the shelf and I took one that was pretty much perfect.

The downside is that my local shop charges slightly less than MSRP while the discount web sellers are sometimes half MSRP.

 

[Joe Houser]

Cool,
it looks like we let you down on that knife and for that I apologize.
If my memory serves me well, our standard is that the blade cant touch either side. Since they are designed for use, and the off center is only an appearance issue, we dont count it as such a big deal.
Now having said all of that, I am hearing quite clearly from our customers (you guys) that IT DOES in fact matter and with that in mind, I am off to the quality department to have a discussion with them about this issue.
I'm sorry you had to send that one back.....

 

[110 Dave]

wow~ now you guys realy know that what we say here
~IS HEARD !~ :thumbup:
and does make a diffreance!!!!! :thumbup:

 

[cool_hand_luke]

My 882SBTK does that off center gig too . . . But it doesn't bother me "too" much.

Hi Buckaholic. If I hadn't received the perfectly-centered Boker Trance in the same shipment from NGK I would have thought 'I can live with the off-center Buck'. But seeing a $29 Trance perfectly center itself, well, I was frustrated.​

. . . and the off center is only an appearance issue, we dont count it as such a big deal.

Hi Mr. Houser, thank you for your comments. I can't speak for anyone else but for me I look at blade centering as a mark of quality. A perfectly centered blade is (in my opinion) a mark of quality craftsmanship. This is strictly my own opinion, but I do believe you are on the right track to discuss the blade centering issue with your staff.​

 

[cool_hand_luke]

My 882SBTK does that off center gig too.

But since mine is a EDC and there is no blade wobble . . .

Yes, that is an important point that I should have mentioned above. I had zero blade wobble (bladeplay, or whatever it is called). The blade was seated solidly between the liners. I just want to be clear that the only complaint I have is the off-centered blade. The lock was solid, and there was no bladeplay.

Andy

 

[ohen cepel]

I feel your pain! I was unhappy with a custom shop order a while back (Thanks again Dave for soothing my pain there!). I'm almost unpacked here.

I love the Buck line and really try to support them as one of the last American made knives. However, I (like others) prefer to buy one that I can inspect first. Shouldn't be that way.

I do keep and eye out for nice used ones in the local shops that I can inspect first and will take a 110 with me on my next deployment. It's a classic like the Randall I will take with me.

I was happy to see that the PX here carries a lot of them to include the 110. That's good to see since there must be demand for them.

Hope you get satisfaction from your blade in the end.

 

[cool_hand_luke]

I love the Buck line and really try to support them as one of the last American made knives.

Hi ohen cepel, your entire post was great but I singled out the sentence above because that really speaks to how I feel. I have a soft spot for Buck. My first real knife was a Buck; it's my 112 that I still carry occasionally. I really like Buck knives and want to see them do well.

I debated about posting anything here. I seriously thought about returning the knife to NGK and not making as much as a peep here. But I hope that Buck will realize that an off-centered blade is just not acceptable.

The Trance was Taiwanese made, and I really don't need to support Asian products more than I already do with everyday purchases from Walmart. I want to buy American. I expect American quality to be the best quality or at least on par with foreign competitors.

Andy

 

[DaveH]

I'd just like to point out that when you have to return a knife, and in this case twice, it significantly increases the cost of the knife.

If you pay yourself $10 an hour for your time, for example, then sending the knife back cost you $10 out of pocket that you can not get back. So you've payed $59 for it. Plus if you can't get reimbursed for postage back add another $10 or so, so now it's a $69 knife.

My point is knife buyers should realize how much knife returns cost them. And obviously not just a Buck issue.

 

[Wraith*]

Friends, the more I sit here and look at my two knives (the 889 and the Boker Trance) the more uneasy I get. The 889 is clearly marked on the box "Made in USA". The Trance is clearly marked "Made in Taiwan". Why is it that my made in the USA knife (which I paid $20 more for) is inferior in quality to a Taiwanese knife? Why should I send my made in the USA knife back to the manufacturer to they can 'make it right'. Boker somehow managed to get it right -- and less expensive to boot.

Maybe because not everythng made in the USA is better than things that come from other countries?

I had an 889 and it was a great knife, it was destroyed saving someone's life and I couldn't ask for more from it. Did the slightly off centre blade affect it's preformance in any way at all? Nope...

 

[cool_hand_luke]

Did the slightly off centre blade affect it's preformance in any way at all?

Good point. I want to be clear that the lockup was perfect and there was no blade wobble. The off-centered blade did not affect functionality in any way, shape or form. The knife itself was solid. But, as I mentioned in my post above, a perfectly centered blade is (in my opinion) a mark of quality craftsmanship.

Andy

 

[Psychopomp]

But, as I mentioned in my post above, a perfectly centered blade is (in my opinion) a mark of quality craftsmanship.

It is a sign of quality and attention to detail. But every now and then a bad one gets by, that's to be expected. What I find so wonderful about Buck, and the knife industry as a whole, is their willingness to work with those of us who expect a little more out of our knives than the average person.

 

[cool_hand_luke]

What I find so wonderful about Buck, and the knife industry as a whole, is their willingness to work with those of us who expect a little more out of our knives than the average person.

I totally agree. I hope Mr. Houser can implement some sort of quality improvement program so that off-centered blades become a thing of the past with Buck. Buck is a wonderful company, and I know that they make great knives.

Andy