That one bad experience that totally ruined the brand for you.

Smaug said:
I'm a slow learner; it took TWO bad experiences for me to swear off Buck.

The first one was a 112 Paperstone. Some chucklehead had ground the backspring too thin, so that when everything was riveted together, it bound up. Disgusted, I put it in the bottom of my knife tote and forgot about it for years. One day, I was showing it to my daughter, who had been taking an interest in knives, and she fell in love with it. Everything about it, but especially the deep green scales. I gave it to her, but it bugged me. When she'd forgotten about it, I sent it off to Buck and asked them to fix it. They weren't sure if they could at first, as it was a discontinued model. The knifesmith decided he could fix it up properly, and he did. He even polished up the whole back of the knife. It's now the way it should've been when it left the factory.

Just at the end of 2023, I saw a nice-looking Buck locking folder with thumb stud at Menards. Daughter liked it. I told her no, then bought it for her later for a stocking-stuffer. I unpackaged it, intending to sharpen it and maybe break in the action a bit. The action was so tight I couldn't open with with one hand with the thumb stud. Can you imagine that? I took off the pocket clip to look for the pivot screw to loosen up; no luck, it's riveted. I tried a bit of oil; didn't make a difference. I put the clip back on, packed it back up and returned the POS to Menards. I'm not about to send another one off to Buck. They've made it clear they don't give a damn about QC and now I'm done with them. At the price I paid, I understand the decision to use 420HC and polymer, but I still expected basic attention to function. To ignore that is something the Chinese will do when left unsupervised. I expect better from Buck, even a Chinese-made one.

This is the same thing Schwinn went through 50 years ago. The cost to manufacture in the USA was going up in the 70s. They closed the Chicago factory and moved to Alabama or something, where they could pay less, but didn't keep on top of QC. Sales declined and they went out of business. Then, Giant (who used to be a Schwinn supplier) bought the brand name and now they're made in Taiwan.

Moral of the story is that Americans will pay more for American-made, but only if the quality is there. (and after-sale customer service!)

It seems like Spyderco and Benchmade understand this but the Buck family has forgotten.
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Buck's quality has waned for sure over the years, I think it's hard finding good people to stick around since they are made in Idaho well at least the American made ones.

But at the same time Buck sells 100x more than most USA made knife companies, sure Benchmade has a presence and Spyderco and others but when you sell that many knives the Quality Control slips it's inevitable and there's plenty of horror stories on here about QC issues but at least Buck always tries to make it right and yes it might take a few attempts but I've never heard of someone just flat out saying they never made it right.

I can understand not wanting to test your fate and buy more Buck's though.
 
CSG said:
Sure they did...
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Fallkniven’s website is clear about their warranty. If the warranty claim is not accompanied by a receipt from an authorized dealer, they will not honor it. If Steve no longer had the receipt, or had purchased it on the secondary market, Fallkniven would have told him to pound sand. There are some companies that offer a no questions asked lifetime warranty, but Fallkniven is not one of them.
 
I've always loved the Buck 110 design.
When I finally found out I could order a custom version, with upgraded steel, I ordered one.
When I got it, it wasn't good; off center blade, blade play, ridiculously hard to release lock back,
tons of grit in the pivot, etc.
I sent it back to them and when it returned it was a little better, but not perfect.
I sold it.
I didn't learn and went through the whole process 3 more times, each time receiving a knife that had defects.
Sold them all and never looked at another Buck again.
Real shame because I love supporting made in USA companies.
 
RoyalHolic said:
Buck's quality has waned for sure over the years, I think it's hard finding good people to stick around since they are made in Idaho well at least the American made ones.

But at the same time Buck sells 100x more than most USA made knife companies, sure Benchmade has a presence and Spyderco and others but when you sell that many knives the Quality Control slips it's inevitable and there's plenty of horror stories on here about QC issues but at least Buck always tries to make it right and yes it might take a few attempts but I've never heard of someone just flat out saying they never made it right.

I can understand not wanting to test your fate and buy more Buck's though.
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It's probably true that Buck makes and sells many more knives than Benchmade or Spyderco, but that's not an excuse for poor quality control. QC just costs money in the form of the extra production step. If each knife was $25.95 instead of $24.95, but had good quality, that would be money well-spent. The problem is that they're trying to compete down to the cent vs. the cheapest Kershaws and house brands, instead of holding the line on quality, as we would expect with their storied brand.
 
Smaug said:
It's probably true that Buck makes and sells many more knives than Benchmade or Spyderco, but that's not an excuse for poor quality control. QC just costs money in the form of the extra production step. If each knife was $25.95 instead of $24.95, but had good quality, that would be money well-spent. The problem is that they're trying to compete down to the cent vs. the cheapest Kershaws and house brands, instead of holding the line on quality, as we would expect with their storied brand.
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I wouldn't say they have poor quality control, they have QC issues like everyone else and they have more because they sell more I mean at one time they were probably in every Walmart in the USA or a damn lot of them.

Double Edge Sword as people complain about QC but also complain when they raise the price to try and combat it too but they have to penny pinch in todays competition or they will find themselves being bought out by some super conglomerate

I've bought quite a few Buck's last year and only one irked me. I 100% agree with you if the QC was a tad better by raising prices by a dollar I would say by all means Buck please do.
 
Benchmade, hands down.

When I was starting out in the hobby they were the top dawg, I still keep my old ones, 707, 710, 950, but somewhere around 2016 I guess they decided to let go of their quality control and sharpening departments because out of the dozen or so Benchmades I've gotten since I've only kept two, everything else was promptly returned due to atrocious fit and finish. My last 940 had recurve and an edge so mangled it would have taken a decade of sharpening to correct, to top it off the pivot was so tight it was nearly impossible to open one hand, so I loosened it a hair to where it's like a "Sebenza" type action, and I kid you not it has horrible side-to-side. Immediately returned it, that was the straw that broke the camel's back for me.
 
scorpnsnake said:
Man, I really need to dig through some old threads and research the meat and potatoes behind some of the strong opinions of these owners. Might save me a fortune if I find a reason to stop drooling over some of these unicorns. lol

I'm new to collecting but not using/ carrying. I have a few from most of the brands named here. No bad experiences outside of the fact that they all seem to be haphazard about the factory edges. Which seems like an important factor for the end user feeling good about the purchase. Especially considering it's a value detractor to change the factory edge in the second hand market.

Feels like that would be an easy opportunity for a manufacturer to really put their best foot forward and get people out there talking up the products.
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I certainly dont think you are wrong here, BUT, if you are collecting for resale im afraid you will be very dissapointed.
 
crk1984 said:
I certainly dont think you are wrong here, BUT, if you are collecting for resale im afraid you will be very dissapointed.
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Wouldn't dream of it. Only for daily rotation and gifts. No cheerleaders.

Selling is only to fund purchases as my tastes focus and knowledge grows. Figure I'll see 50-60% on the new stuff I buy and carry, and close to even on pre-owned at the time of resale.
 
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6thtexas said:
I hate to hear that about Benchmade. i don't have but one. It's a Griptilian with a D-2 my wife bought me for Christmas many years go.
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You'll hear a lot more complaints than praise because people who are happy with a product are much less likely to leave feedback. And my recent experience with them is probably an extreme edge case. I'll tell you this, if you wanna get a Benchmade do so at a shop, not online. Yeah it's more expensive, but that way you get to avoid all the issues I described above. Unfortunately I didn't have that option, some I even purchased from outside the EU where I live, which made returns an even bigger hassle which only added salt to the wound.

I still keep a few, but most of them are long discontinued. I think the 710 is the oldest, that particular version was released in 2010 I believe (scales are aftermarket).

https://imgur.com/zFM0bV7
 
CSG said:
Sure they did...
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Fallkniven certainly didn't fix or replace my knife or make any effort to rectify the problem after I contacted them.
What do you expect of a company who pretends to have a factory and make their knives in Sweden, but in reality the knives are made in Japan.
In fact they make nothing and are only a marketing company for second rate product.
 
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Anything made by CRKT or Cold Steel.

I’ve literally never used a knife manufactured by either company that wasn’t as soft as cheese.
 
Steven65 said:
Fallkniven certainly didn't fix or replace my knife or make any effort to rectify the problem after I contacted them.
What do you expect of a company who pretends to have a factory and make their knives in Sweden, but in reality the knives are made in Japan.
In fact they make nothing and are only a marketing company for second rate product.
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Unfortunately, your experience is similar to others I have read about with regards to Fällkniven. I like their designs and really don't have any issue with Japanese manufacturing, but their knives are way overpriced for the lack of warranty support and the number of issues that seem to pop up.
 
Terry M. said:
Funny I read this thread now. I just a few minutes ago sent a follow up email to Spartan Blades regarding the dull out of box Harsey folder I recently received. I was quite disappointed and while I can obviously sharpen it myself it kind of takes away from the fun of a new knife. I sent the original email 2.5 weeks ago and not one peep. Kinda sours me on Spartan going forward.
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A good friend of mine has 3 shfs. Every one of them was dull out of the box.
 
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