Special Titanium Nitride coated model 119

J

JD Spydo

Joined
Nov 20, 2004
Messages
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About 10 years ago I just about pulled the trigger on a Buck model 119 that I saw for sale at one of the Bass Pro stores. For a short time Buck was making their model 119 and if I remember correctly were also making some of the 110 models with a special titanium Nitride coating on the blades.

You were only supposed to sharpen them on one side. The idea was to have the super hard coating as your cutting edge. I know that Buck didn't make those knives very long and I did finally land one of the coated model 119 in a trade but I never used it. I ended up trading it for a Spyder.

But I never heard what the final verdict was on those knives. I never heard whether or not that super hard coating made for a good hard use blade or not. I did hear that they were a disappointment on the sales charts but I never heard anyone say if they worked good or not.

So I was hoping you Buck Experts here would tell me what the final verdict was on those coated models.
 
I could not tell you how good they are, mine is still sitting in its original box locked in a safe! Had to have one at the time, then decided to see if they where going to be around for a while befor I used it. HL
 
I remember the ads; Joe Houser answered a couple questions about them here some years back...

Yes, you only sharpened the uncoated side (only one side was coated IIRC), the other side was too hard to sharpen anyway... :p

Also, again IIRC, the edge was jagged...Well, all edges are under magnification, but the TiN coated edge was actually visible to naked eyes...

...No demand for it, I guess...Another good idea dies young... :(
 
From chickentrax's info I'd imagine it would make a fairly good general population knife for people that lacked honed sharpening skills, but anyone with some honing skill would produce a better edge on a similar knife.

Reminds me of a CRKT product that had a small angled diamond grit plate in it that would "sharpen" the knife when closed, edge was ugly as heck, but I'm sure some people thought it was the best thing around.
 
They were a ok knife,but not for hard use,it just didn't hold up,except skinninganimals ,thats where it worked soooo awesome it was unbelievable.I had one of the first buckcote 110's with nickel silver bolsters and gray blade,until i wore the snot out of the blade,sent it back and they put a bg-42 blade into it and man she was sweet...some sob stole it from my house a couple years ago,but buckcote did serve a purpose.not many guys i know could sharpen that edge right.lol
 
The Buckcote/ionfusion knives were alright. Razor pretty much hit the nail on the head. It was a sweet skinning blade but for "hard" use it was bad. (IMHO) I had 2 users in a 110 and I used my 119. The edge angle was so steep from having one side sharpened to a chisel grind that it would deform relatively easy. Stayed razor sharp for a long time though! Especially cutting cardboard or carpeting etc, the softer 420HC would wear, leaving the ionfusion coating exposed. You can still find them from time to time also.
 
I remember the BuckCote models and didn't purchase one but always wondered if they worked . Thanks guys for the information . DM
 
Thanks guys for the info, makes me kinda of glad that mine was put away befor being used. Will just have to use some of the other ones that I have instead! HL
 
If anybody is looking for a BuckCote......I remember seeing a Vanguard at Jay's Knives for about $130 as I was Googling recently.

Not my cuppa tea.

If posting such info is frowned on......please just delete without any rage or retribution.

Thanks.
 
One other thing I was wonder about those BuckCote blades is whether the coating actually stayed on them? It seemed like I had heard a couple of reports about the coating itself came off on a few occasions.

For my own purposes I'm kind of a steel fanatic. I would rather spend more $$ and get a blade made with ZDP-189, VG-10, S90V or even D-2. Because if the coating was really that hard then the only thing you really could have used to sharpen it was probably diamond. Which is why I would have rather seen a series of model 119s with a cryo-quenched D-2 or S90V.

That to me would have not only been a collector piece but also one you would have cherished using in the field as well. Well it's an idea to throw around anyway. But if they ever would do something like that>> well I guess I'll be buying me another model #119.

thanks for the great input guys :)
 
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