DeSotoSky
Gold Member
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2011
- Messages
- 6,642
Hello and welcome to the Sunday Picture Show. Share your Buck knives with others by posting pictures of them here. New or old, plain or custom, user or safe queen, one or a collection, we love to see them all. This weekly tradition was started in 2010 by ItsTooEarly (Armand Hernandez) and Oregon (Steve Dunn). Help keep the tradition alive. Feel free to click that 'LIKE' but lets not let it replace discussing and complimenting each others knives. Above all, enjoy the show. DeSotoSky (Roger Yost)
New arrival in the mail today (Saturday), 9 days from Post Falls to St Louis, I ordered this knife on impulse when I ordered the May Brass 110 BOTM. I was intrigued primarily by the blade, both the shape and steel. D2 has been offered as a premium steel on some USA made Buck knives in the past but I am unaware of any other ChinaBuck being offered with D2 steel. About the knife itself, it is the model 263 Hiline and was new in the 2022 catalog. A 3-1/4" blade (2-7/8" sharpened) in an anodized aluminum frame with G10 scales. It is a frame lock and I find that interesting because I don't consider aluminum to be "springy" and there is no liner. Not a metallurgist but I wonder how that works. (Addendum 5/17 Not described correctly in the catalog but the frame lock side handle is stainless steel and the opposite handle is anodized aluminum. I can think of no other Buck knife with such dissimilar handle sides) The action is super smooth (ball bearings) and the action snaps open quite nicely once you get it moving with the finger hump. The top of the blade has a good patch of jimping and the choil is well rounded, enough for even my large hand to move a grip up closer to the action if desired. I carried and played with this most of the afternoon and have to say it has grown on me. My only use was to butter a piece of French bread and have to say the large blunt end worked very well for that, even better than a table knife. Only problem was that dang hole in the blade filled with butter and didn't wipe off. If anyone has any notion about that hole I'd love to know. Other than the hole, my only real complaint about the knife is the pocket clip, too small, thin, and stiff. It's a struggle to clip and unclip, just not very functional. I'm already considering just removing it if possible. The knife is not marked China anywhere, only on the box. I can't think of any other modern Buck knife where country of origin is not marked. I think Buck should have been responsible and marked it. All in all I think the knife is well worth the $30 something price of admission but if I could have a do over I think I would have ordered the XL version in copper I mention below.
addendum - There is a larger version of this knife new in the 2023 catalog, the 263XL. Similar features in a larger size and available in black, copper, and gray anodized aluminum frames. Only $4.50 more and NO hole in the blade. Another difference is the XL has a steel liner for the lock, the jimping on top appears to be longer, and the pocket clip is reversible. Buck used the same model number (263) for both.
adddendum - There was a recent thread on the 263 HiLine by
Uncle Timbo
263 HiLine
I ran across a 263 HiLine and wondered if anybody has one and what your thoughts are about it?
www.bladeforums.com
Last edited:
