Tell me about the Buck Zipper. . .

[Guyon]

Was in Bass Pro Shops with a gift card dying to be spent. Over in the knives, I spotted a Buck Zipper in ATS-34. It's this year's production, because it has the anvil stamp and anniversary stitching on the sheath.

Now, I've always like the shape and size of the Buck Vanguard and Buck Zipper knives, but I was put off by the 420HC steel. When I spotted this one in ATS-34, I snatched it up. It was the last one in the store, though I suspect they'll get more in eventually.

It was sharp out of the box, but I touched it up a bit on my Spyderco Sharpmaker. Now, it splits hairs in a scary manner.

A few questions:

1) Has Buck started making all the Vanguards and Zippers in ATS-34? I looked on the internet with a Google search but found only the 420HC versions.

2) Does this zipper hook really work? I've only bought plain hunting knives in the past, but I thought I'd give the zipper a try--particularly since it was the only model I saw in ATS-34. I read this page: http://www.buckknives.com/cms/index.php?Category=16 Very informative.

3) When the zipper blade dulls, how in the heck do you sharpen it?

Thanks for any info you can offer.

 

[CJ Buck]

The ATS-34 blade was a special run for Bass Pro. It sold pretty well for them.

The gutting/skinning hook really works. I use it more for skinning then gutting. Gutting is just not that hard but if you have an animal haning, you can make an incision over the knee, hook the zipper into that incision and pull the knife down. You will have opened the leg all the way down without cutting any meat. On all 4 legs that saves me at least 30 mins in skinning. For those of us who only shoot one animal every few years (or when they do the guide skins it) the zipper hook really helps skinning.

Resharpening works with a serratation sharpener. You need to be careful not to change the geometry of that little blade as it was tested extensively in development. If you use it correctly, it does not come in contact with the fur and won't be dulling soon anyway.

I have one knife that has done about 6 hogs and though I have sharpened the edge, the zipper is still doing fine.

Hope this helps

 

[Guyon]

Very helpful. Many thanks, C.J.