S30V Akonua and Kalinga Pro value

danaz56

danaz56

Joined
Apr 27, 2010
Messages
21
I have a couple knives I need help on values.

First is an Akonua s30v bought without box and sheath but looks as new. It's got the newer etched Buck vs stamped into blade and nickel or aluminum trim with cocobolo handle. No custom marks. I haven't seen this knife before. I don't like the square edged handle like the rounded edges on the older ones.

Second is a Kalinga Pro 408 in S30V, red wood handles, and original sheath but no box.

I can't do pix at moment but would like ballpark values.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
danaz, Generally we don't do sales talk on the Buck forum as it leads to selling or offers all of which are prohibited. You can go to the Buck home page and up in the top area is a link to the Buck knife selling area where you likely can find some values. And you can try Ebay. As a gold member you have private mail, you can do a search on the Buck forum for your knife and Private Mail someone who has shown photos of one or more of your knives. Check in the Sunday Photo thread area. When you get an idea of you sale value you can put it on the Buck sale thread as a fixed cost. You can lower your offer but not raise it.
That's about the best we can do for you but I will be a nice guy and leave your thread up a while for the sake of a new Blade Forum member.
300Bucks, Moderator
 
Last edited:
He is gold which makes it okay?

I edited my initial response to remove some suggestions.
 
He gold so he has Private Mail, contact in that manner. I am just leaving his post visible for a hour or so, because I am a nice guy.
He would not have received a post from me if he had said. I am a new member, I have this knife and that knife and was wondering about the values. Could someone contact me via Private Mail with any useful info.

But, as you yourself have seen, new folks show up wanting values and info threads turn into selling threads. There are spots for that on Blade Forums. Two spots I believe. Not here. Photos would have been good. So often its just get the money an run.
300
 
Sorry if I posted this in the wrong place or the wrong method. I was trying to set a reasonable value and validate my investment in case I trade with somebody at a gun show.
I was told I had to pay gold fee when. I tried to ask questions about value of a Busse knife. I paid the fee to join and had an answer to my question within minutes.
If I'm unable to ask direct questions about value, and my inquiries about prices are subject to delete, then I'm nothing sure of the value I receive as a paying member. If I have to scan the board for random messages about value I can do that without gold membership.

I thought it was a simple harmless question.
 
I don't know if you were wrong, but I do know that this is not a great place to get value information.

What I would do is go to e-Bay and search using the advanced search, putting a check in the "Completed Listings" function.

Then you get what items like yours actually SOLD for in a large public market in recent days. You also get a record of the items like yours that FAILED to sell (maybe because they were priced too high). That's useful info, too.

When you ask here you get opinions and you have no way of knowing which opinions are expert.
 
Last edited:
Ballpark $125 for the akonua, you can buy it online as it’s a newer release. The kalinga around $250 ish. Those are pretty popular.
 
I was not correct and with gold membership you can get information on values. Feel free to answer. Danz nothing goes on your record you were following rules as written. The no selling on open forum still holds, accept for licensed Buck dealers. And those folks have agreed to no price quoting just showing the new offerings on their websites.. 300Bucks
 
VorpalRain said:
Oh well......he lost me at "newer etched Buck vs stamped into blade" anyway. :D
Click to expand...

Pretty sure this has been discussed before. Buck has found that stamping causes micro-fracturing in the premium blade steels. The OP was talking about an S30V knife. Earlier S30V blades such as the Alaskan Guide knives were stamped but the newer ones are now laser etched. I do not know what year the change happened. It was not a move to "cheapness". 420HC is still always stamped. Hope this helps. /Roger
 
Well, I'm glad they're still stamping ALL the 420HC. Seems odd that the expensive premium steels are too weak to be stamped and the cheaper steels are ok with it. Can't fight progress, though. Thanks much.
 
It's the same reason a grade 5 bolt should be used for trailer hitch applications and not grade 8. People use grade 8 thinking it is stronger but actually will fail under shock load because it is more brittle.
 
I wonder why the BG-42 could be stamped every which way on the tang and multiple sides and out on the blade? Wasn't that a premium steel? I also have D2 blades that are stamped on both sides of the tang.

Odd. Oh well........
 
I did a little research(very little), as I know next to nothing about steels and it's properties. From what I found out my guess would be that BG-42 and D-2 being tool steels and those like S30V are powdered. They are heat treated to different levels and that makes a difference in the way the steels react to stamping. Just SWAGing on my part. Preston
 
Thanks. The S30V must be the problem. I've always been skeptical about the powder steels......but there again I suppose they are cheaper and easier to work with than the tool steels.

Looking around I realized I have some folding Kalingas, and......lo and behold, they are all stamped (with real, old-fashioned stamps) on both sides of the tang with Buck 419 on one side and BOS S30V on the other side.

Guess we'll never see any more like that. They'll never make the Pro again and they'll apparently never make it with real tang stamps.
So I own some interesting pieces of Buck history.
:)

Maybe one of these days they'll make some knives with BG-42 and real tang stamps again. I'd buy some.

The OP has vanished. Maybe he got the PMs he wanted and has sold his knives by now.
 
Isn't stamping done prior to heat treat?

Doesn't matter to me whether its etched or stamped.
 
I think the prints are tacky compared to the stamps. I figured it was a cost thing as it usually is. Does that stuff scratch off? And Buck may have lasered knives in the last decade too I’m not sure.

^Yes they are stamped before heat treat. Back in the day they started stamping custom shop blades on both sides until they started breaking... That’s how you can tell you have a real oldie from the early 80s
 
MT_Pokt said:
Isn't stamping done prior to heat treat?

Doesn't matter to me whether its etched or stamped.
Click to expand...

Heat treat is a dark and secret art known only to hooded, smoke-stained cognoscenti that dwell in the deepest dungeons.......but I did get this from one of them after much pleading and bribery. He said if quoted he would deny everything.......and I would possibly vanish without a trace.

Proper sequence.
- normalize
- anneal
- stamp (nail nick would also be put on folding knives at this time)
- normalize
- normalize again
- heat treat.

 
I notice that many of the stamps we see on recent knives look odd and somewhat different than the older ones.
I wonder if they've found a way to laser them so they look like stamps?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top