I was comparing a 2023 110LT and a 1990-something 110, and noticed that the clip point profiles are markedly different. I love the old Buck sweeping curved clip point on the older knives. I’m sure the new profile was adopted to reduce tip loss, but I find it less aesthetically pleasing than the older blade profile.
The Buck Clip
- Thread starter jude_061
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Do you have some photos you can share with us so we can see the difference?
Top one is a 1990 knife. Bottom is a 2023 knife. I think the blade on the older knife, with the more pronounced curve in the clip is much more aesthetically pleasing. I saw a picture on the interweb and thought I’d compare from my collection. My 2023 LT and 2023 110 have the same blade shape (the LT has less of a finish, which I don’t mind since all of my knives are users at one point or another). I think my oldest 110 is a 2 dot and I prefer that clip profile as well.
bertl
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Aesthetically I agree, but the warranty department probably preferred the change. The clip on the earliest 110s was even more pronounced. Since the blade on the early knifes was shaped by hand there was a lot of variation.
Bert
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Thanks for the comparison! Looks like the real difference is that the point on the older knife is higher, giving more curve and belly near the end, which accentuates the clip.Top one is a 1990 knife. Bottom is a 2023 knife. I think the blade on the older knife, with the more pronounced curve in the clip is much more aesthetically pleasing. I saw a picture on the interweb and thought I’d compare from my collection. My 2023 LT and 2023 110 have the same blade shape (the LT has less of a finish, which I don’t mind since all of my knives are users at one point or another). I think my oldest 110 is a 2 dot and I prefer that clip profile as well.
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I don't think I own a single buck clip point with an identical blade. Not unhappy with any of them.
I’m most definitely not unhappy. I want to pull out all of my 110s and see what variations exist between the versions I have. Of all the knives I’ve used over all of the years I’ve used knives for work or leisure, I always came back to some kind of 110, some leatherman, and some kind of Vic SAK. For a non-multitool knife, there is very (very) little that a 110 CAN’T do when it comes to cutting things. I work much of the time in an NPE so I’ve been carrying a 110LT. I’ve carried a 110 in the past in my pocket and don’t really mind the weight. In fact I prefer the heft. Come summer and more outside work, I’m certainly going back to the proper 110.
Non-permissive environment.
dsutton24
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As others have said, the blade profile of the 110 has changed a lot over the years. If you have numerous knives with tumbled blades like the LT series you'll notice the blade length and shape varies a lot. Finishing a blade by hand will introduce some variation even with machine blanked blades. Tumbling removes material in a fairly random way. If the finish isn't uniform you just have to tumble more. You can't really just concentrate on a missed spot.
There was a thread here not long ago about the tumbling thing. The guy was annoyed, somebody owed him an 1/8" of blade.
I don’t mind the tumbled blade. The 110lt knife sees a lot of work. I was mostly just remarking on the differences in blade shape that I noticed. I, personally, prefer a nice clip like on the old 110s. I’m partial to clip point blades but the old 110’s clip, a swedged clip like on Western Sorckman knives, and the humpback German clips like on an okapi are my faves. This is purely an aesthetic thing.
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That could explain why the first 112 LT I received seem to be missing a significant amount of blade in the "belly" when compared to a standard 112. I sent it back, but since it's tough to find them now, I wish I'd also kept that one!
bertl
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This probably won’t interest anyone. After ten years or so, it barely interests me. Years ago, I thought it might be interesting to look at the shape of the 110 clip on the early knives. I discussed this with Bruce Dollinger, and his comment was that it probably was a waste of time—the blades of the early knives were hand-shaped and there is too much variation. Bruce was right.
I used a Version 3 Variation 2 for my first, and last, measurements. After my calculations, I agreed with Bruce—there is too much variation. If you remember your geometry class, three points on the arc of a circle can determine the radius and center of a circle. For my test, I chose 3 points on the spine of the clip arc. Then I repeated my measurements twice but chose different points each time. My conclusion is that while the shape of the clip is close to the arc of a circle, it is not. If it were a true circle arc, the radius arc and the circle center would be the same. Variation from one knife to another probably is a result of who was doing the shaping and what day it was.
If you look at the numbers in the attachment, the right to left variation of the circle center (Column, N (Center X)) isn’t bad, but the length of the radius (Columns O and P) has significant variation.
The second attachment shows my calculations.
My conclusion is the same as Bruce Dollinger’s—these blades were shaped by hand and there is a lot of variation. Once Buck started fine-blanking blades, most of that variation was eliminated.
Bert
