To set the record straight, THANK YOU all for your helpful comments. I am not trying to complain about this, just airing out frustration on a knife I had hoped to be better. I am glad to hear that many of you have had great luck with the Vantage. If one of you want mine, let me know. Other wise I will work something out with a friend locally. I am not a very big fan of having to send things back to the maker. If someone that loves folders as much as I do would like to take on that adventure, I will make it worth your while. I have an insane schedule, 3 little kids, 2 jobs, and just moved my mom in with us, so yes, having to deal with sending a knife back with issues is just not on my list of things I want to deal with. I would rather someone else deal with it, and then enjoy the knife when they get it back. Just want to get it off my very full plate. Life has been very stressful lately and I bought this knife as a treat to myself, sorry if my frustration came across as complaining. You all are always very helpful and I value your advice.
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So I took the plunge and got the Vantage Force Pro (My Thoughts)
- Thread starter Bolt
- Start date
I will say that what I do find to be a bit funny, is that here you have a guy that is willing to sell a knife at a considerable savings, but knowing the knife needs to get sent to Buck for warranty repair, no one responds. The responses are all to send it to Buck, they will make it right, Vantage's are perfect, yet no one jumps at the opportunity to get one on the cheap and deal with having to send it to Buck. Funny in a round about way.
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- Apr 20, 2001
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- 18,423
Or maybe it's since as a "registered user" you're not allowed to sell on BF, so any of us buying from you would violate forum rules?
The time and effort it took to come back and toss out that last post, you could have used to drop that knife in the mail to Buck, or find some other resolution, so it's kinda starting to look like you just want to troll.
The time and effort it took to come back and toss out that last post, you could have used to drop that knife in the mail to Buck, or find some other resolution, so it's kinda starting to look like you just want to troll.
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- Sep 26, 2008
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- 8,160
No surprise here. Why would I pay even a discounted price for a relatively inexpensive knife, pay shipping from you to me and then to Buck. Hell, I'd just buy a new one.
On the other hand, if you lived next door and said "give me $10 and it's your's", I'd take it in a heart beat and send it to Buck. That is, if it really has a problem that I couldn't fix myself.
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- Apr 20, 2001
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- 18,423
Well Bolt, what do you expect? All we've heard on this is complaining, and one excuse after another, against every simple straight forward suggestion we've made on how to handle this, and then you have the audacity to wait 24 hours and come back and toss out another snarky post complaining because nobody will take care of YOUR problem for you.
In the 9 or so days since you started this post, the knife could have already been back for factory repair or replacement and you'd probably have it back within 2-3 weeks tops.
For God's sake, $4.95 for the smaller "if it fits, it ships" box, and a few minutes to box it up and this could have been over and dealt with.........
Bear, I have been collecting knives for 21 years and I have honestly only had to send one folder back to a manufacture and it was a custom, and one of the owners called me personally to make it right after I had sent in pictures of the issues. I have sold off folders that were below standard, but in this case, I expected more from a top level Buck. I don't want to send it back for repair, I don't want to take the time to do it, I would rather cut a deal to a fellow knife lover and be done with it. I started this by asking about a washer issue, then offered to just get rid of it, yet now I am a complainer and a troll. You my friend are grade A. If you even had a small fraction of a clue as to what my life has been like in the last 6 months, you would understand why I would rather not deal with this, and just pass it on to someone else. Otherwise the knife will just sit in my collector bag and be wasted. The knife sells for about 90 and to call it an inexpensive knife, well, guess everything is relative to someones wallet size. I was trying to just side step a pot hole and offer a Buck lover a shot at a top level Vantage well below market, since they would be willing to deal with the waiting and mailing. Forgive me for trying to be nice. Lessoned learned. As for breaking rules on selling, I simply asked for an email and offered to make it worth someones time, as this is a specific issue on a topic about a specific knife, not a general knife up for sale. I have played by the rules for the last 5 yrs.
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- Apr 20, 2001
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- 18,423
You've already spent more time talking about how you don't want to "take the time to deal with it", than it would have taken to deal with it.
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2011
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- 487
Sidestepping the whole issue of sending it back to buck vs selling and all that business, I'd like to address the washer issue.
The washers on the Buck Vantage line are pretty small compared to other knives. This is because the Vantage design uses a hidden stop pin that goes through the blade of the knife and rides on tracks in the liners. If you take apart a Vantage, you can see that the washers are just about as large as they can be without running into the stop pin going through the blade. I assume that if the stop pin mount was moved out further out there would be concern about the amount of material supporting the track in the liner or the hole in the blade, and I still don't think the washers would be that much larger.
I think that a large portion of the centering and blade play issues people have noted with Vantages are due to the small washers and could have been resolved with the use of larger washers. However, that means completely redesigning the pivot area of the knife because of the aforementioned hidden blade stop design.
For what it's worth, on my personal EDC Vantage, the blade is reasonably centered and I do not experience blade play when the knife is open.
The washers on the Buck Vantage line are pretty small compared to other knives. This is because the Vantage design uses a hidden stop pin that goes through the blade of the knife and rides on tracks in the liners. If you take apart a Vantage, you can see that the washers are just about as large as they can be without running into the stop pin going through the blade. I assume that if the stop pin mount was moved out further out there would be concern about the amount of material supporting the track in the liner or the hole in the blade, and I still don't think the washers would be that much larger.
I think that a large portion of the centering and blade play issues people have noted with Vantages are due to the small washers and could have been resolved with the use of larger washers. However, that means completely redesigning the pivot area of the knife because of the aforementioned hidden blade stop design.
For what it's worth, on my personal EDC Vantage, the blade is reasonably centered and I do not experience blade play when the knife is open.
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I just had one delivered day before yesterday. No problems.
Perfect, in fact. Centered. No wobble. Sharp. Everything you could ask for.
I wonder how many problems are caused by owners who have to take apart and play with every knife they get?
Mark this day in Buck history.
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- Nov 10, 2005
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- 44
I like mine. However the pocket clip came loose out of the box as they apparently cross threaded the screws. I've lost three torx bits and stripped one of the screws aftee getting no reply from Buck via email. I can't complain too much as I never picked up the phone and calles them, but I'd rather toss it in the center console than go through the hassle of shipping it out. I love it otherwise though and the blade is perfectly centered and tight.
I have recommended it to others, but I can relate to the OP on not wanting to bother with it. I don't know that I'd write it completely off as he did though.
I have recommended it to others, but I can relate to the OP on not wanting to bother with it. I don't know that I'd write it completely off as he did though.
BG42EDGE
BANNED
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- Nov 6, 2009
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- 7,593
Maybe you damaged it, maybe you didn't......and maybe you don't know for sure and don't want Buck to make that determination.
Just trying to keep things honest and cover all the possibilities.
I do know there are too many buyers out there who think the ability to hold a screwdriver qualifies them as an expert.
:thumbdn:
Just an update on the Vantage Force Pro Problem: I offered it to a few local knife nuts, and they were not happy with all of the play in the blade in all directions and were not willing to take on the task of sending it in even with a good discounted price. SOOOO, I went with what you all had originally said and sent the knife back to BUCK at the end of last year. I called them today wondering what was possibly taking so long, and was told that my knife was repaired a week ago and is awaiting shipping. It will "probably" be sent out next week. Wow, sits for 2 weeks in an out box. Now that is top level customer service. Even assuming the knife is fixed properly, this is exactly what I hate about sending in a knife for repair. The length of time that it has taken only can speak to two things, either they are very understaffed, or they have a lot of poorly built knives to warranty. I lean towards the second option. This will be the last of my Buck purchases. Please proceed with the bashing.