Urgent help needed: Buck Cadet vs Schrade Minuteman

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zeppos

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Mar 3, 2006
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I need some help urgently: i bought a John Primble barlow for a fiver on the bay last week but the seller managed to send it to someone else. He was kind enough to tell me right away when he realised what he had done. As a compensation he offered to send me another knife for the same $5 (he also offered me a refund but when i buy a knife, i can't stand the disapointment of not getting one :D). He proposed a couple of knives. Some were crap, others were better and two of them in particular i suspect are worth having:

Buck Cadet stockman (stamped Buck 303 USA, so i think it should be a Camillus made one)

Schrade Minuteman (stamped Schrade 1040T USA)

I like them both, and if what i could find about these two on the net isn't all BS, they're not too bad. Which one would you guys advise me to take as a "compensation knife"?
 
I may be going against the grain here, but I have very fond feeling toward the 300 line of Buck pocket knives.

These knives were on sale dirt cheap at all the army PXs where I was stationed, and a great many of my fellow gi's bought the cadet and stockmans, myself included. If you are lucky and get a Camillus made Buck, you will have a very tough, good cutting knife. In abusive field testing, (like when non-knife loving young gi's abuse pocket knives) I saw some of the Schrade Old Timers loosen up badly or break, while the steel bolstered and stainless steel pivot pined Bucks just kept on going.

I'm not sure just when Buck actually started making them in San Diego, but in either case, with the Buck you will get a knife that is still under a warenttee by a company still in operation. And Buck factory service is right up there with Victorinox. The cadet is one tough little working knife, that is still being made in Idaho.
 
They are pretty much both gonna be good knives, the Buck one should be a Camillus contract if that tangstamp is right.

Tough choice, I have mor of a thing for Bucks than Schrades, so if it were me, I'd choose the Buck.
 
zeppos said:
I need some help urgently: i bought a John Primble barlow for a fiver on the bay last week but the seller managed to send it to someone else. He was kind enough to tell me right away when he realised what he had done. As a compensation he offered to send me another knife for the same $5 (he also offered me a refund but when i buy a knife, i can't stand the disapointment of not getting one :D). He proposed a couple of knives. Some were crap, others were better and two of them in particular i suspect are worth having:

Buck Cadet stockman (stamped Buck 303 USA, so i think it should be a Camillus made one)

Schrade Minuteman (stamped Schrade 1040T USA)

I like them both, and if what i could find about these two on the net isn't all BS, they're not too bad. Which one would you guys advise me to take as a "compensation knife"?
Click to expand...

Ask for both of them for $7.50 and combine shipping!
 
80% Buck (@ Jackknife: you should have more faith in the grain ;) thanks for sharing your experience!), 20% undecided (asking both is not an option), i think that's clear then: Buck it will be...
 
If they are both new or in very good condition, I would take the buck. I have two 303's and both are very good in terms of fit and finish and are great cutters. If both are used or only one is used than i would pick what ever one is in the best condition. For 5$ you cant go wrong with either of them. Joe
 
I'd go the other way, and go with the Schrade. There is a pretty good chance you would get carbon steel blades instead of 420HC...and the Schrade will have 2 backsprings and exhibit more hand finishing (like crinking) than the Buck, with 3 backsprings.

But, that's just my contrary opinion...:D

Bill
 
Schrade seems to be pulling back some points, but i've already asked the seller to go for the Buck.

All i can do now is wait for it to land in my mail box, together with the other knife i bought from the same seller...
 
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