Vantage Force liner lock issue

T

timann

Joined
Aug 27, 2008
Messages
104
I bought a Buck Vantage Force, and while the knife itself is great I have an issue with the end of the liner where it meat the back og the blade and hold it in place. The blade seems to lock just fine, but soon I realized the end of the liner appear to be ground the "wrong way", so just (a part of) the "edge" of the liner meet the blade. This can`t be good, can it?

Btw the knife lacked the point as well but it was an easy fix with a diamond hone.
 
I`m still trying to comprehend what I see in the end of the liner, but it`s pretty dark and tight in there. It might seem like it is somehow rough cut and left as is with no attempt at making it sit flush tovard the back of the blade in locked position. As a result there is only one corner of the liner who touch the blade, though it sits in a perfect position behind it.
While it seems like it might hold the blade in place it looks quite horrible compared to, say, a spyderco military
 
Does yours look like any of these? Left to right: select, avid, pro.

linerlocks.jpg
 
Mine, also a select, looks like the select to the left in the picture. The liner looks (to me) like it`s cut or ground "the wrong way", not square off.
 
I would say that condition is ok. That is a very good lock up. With time and use the wear pattern will be to your adVANTAGE.
 
That, Hogger, is the kind of answer I want and hope for;) I want to use the knife and not worry.
It might be that Buck think this is good enough as it seems to lock the knife up well enough. But it is still a tiny ugly part of a beautiful knife.
 
My EDC Vantage lock is also cut a little like you describe, timann. In the roughly year and a half that I have had it, the lockup has remained solid and the lock has not changed position in terms of lockup. Based on my experience with my knife, I'd say you have nothing to worry about. I realize one knife isn't a good sample size, but it is a data point for you to consider. YMMV, of course.
 
Thanks for the input, GundaManiac. It`s good to know it`s not just my knife, and that it probably will work just fine.
 
I`m still slightly curious, though. Is this how it is on these knives. Is there a quality difference of the locking liner between the vantage select/avid/pro, or is there some great and some not so great among them all.
I am qurious because I sometimes buy Buck knives(, I bought my first two around 1980, a 110 and a 119, when I was apprx 16 years old) and I`d like to know what to expect.
 
timann said:
I`m still slightly curious, though. Is this how it is on these knives. Is there a quality difference of the locking liner between the vantage select/avid/pro, or is there some great and some not so great among them all.
I am qurious because I sometimes buy Buck knives(, I bought my first two around 1980, a 110 and a 119, when I was apprx 16 years old) and I`d like to know what to expect.
Click to expand...

Since the only difference in the three grades of Vantages is the blade steel and the handle material (same frame and lock in all), I don't see the problem being a quality issue limited to one of the grades.
 
Plumberdv said:
Since the only difference in the three grades of Vantages is the blade steel and the handle material (same frame and lock in all), I don't see the problem being a quality issue limited to one of the grades.
Click to expand...

However, Force blades are different shaped. I think there's a slight spec prob with them matching the rest of the standard works or something. I had two Force Avids, both locked up almost touching the far liner.

Neither would flip worth a durn either. Thought it was the black coating maybe, took it off around pivot on the second one, no joy there either.

Buck worked out a compromise, a nice hybrid: regular Avid but using the Force Avid aluminum scales. I really bought the model to get the aluminum scales and Sandvik, didn't care about the black coating or the jimping on the different blade.

Then again, I had to send a regular old basic Select back once too, lock up was actually touching far liner AND it had vertical play, as the mating surfaces were not milled to fit at all, only a tiny part touched.

My other 4 or 5 various model Vantages lock up here and there, but all in acceptable range, and securely. Seems this lockup position is the biggest problem variable on the whole line, don't really understand why they're not all within a hair of same with the wonders of modern machining lines.

- OS
 
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"Buck worked out a compromise, a nice hybrid: regular Avid but using the Force Avid aluminum scales. I really bought the model to get the aluminum scales and Sandvik, didn't care about the black coating or the jimping on the different blade."

That's a model/variation that I've not seen. :confused: Could you post a link to where you found or saw the hybrid? A photo would be nice if you have one.
 
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Plumberdv said:
"Buck worked out a compromise, a nice hybrid: regular Avid but using the Force Avid aluminum scales. I really bought the model to get the aluminum scales and Sandvik, didn't care about the black coating or the jimping on the different blade."

That's a model/variation that I've not seen. :confused: Could you post a link to where you found or saw the hybrid? A photo would be nice if you have one.
Click to expand...

I "negotiated" this with Buck repairs, by suggesting that option in my letter to them. I guess it's a one of a kind, unless some other screwball got them to do same thing, or has done it himself combining two knives.

They put the aluminum scales (with the black pocket clip, which was also nice) on a standard Vantage Avid.

Or actually, they may have put blade from standard Avid in the Pro Avid body, since I note the black pivot screw (but liners aren't black, and they are on the black bladed Force line?).

Either way, perhaps a slight bit of a "downgrade" I guess, but that was what I wanted at that point -- if Buck would sell scales and clips, that's what I would have done from the gitgo:

I carry several knives, this one set up for left hand, tucks in corner of left cargo pocket in my normal daily wear.

vantagehybrid.jpg




- OS
 
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I thought a scale change by someone was the answer, not a new unknown model. I went the opposite way myself.

I totally HATED the aluminum scales on my Vantage Force Avid the moment I took it out of the box. I happened to have a set of G10 scales from a Vantage Pro laying around, so I made the switch. That turned a knife I'd never use into one I'd carry and use everyday. Different strokes as they say.

modifiedvantagea.jpg
 
Plumberdv said:
.... Different strokes as they say....
Click to expand...

Yup. I have the Pro, find those G10 scales "adequate" but not superior. Feller had the Pro Avid, soon as I grabbed those aluminum scales, I loved them, had to have one.

That Force have decent lockup AND flip open easily? Certainly looks very nice, I've give it that.

- OS
 
Flips open like a champ, slick as grease. The lockup is solid as you can see from the photo below.

I just checked and I have 22 Vantages of all versions (not counting three of the little guys) on a shelf in my office. I've given away at least 6 or 8 as gifts and I've never had a major issue with even one of them. I've had to loosen or tighten the pivot screws on a couple to make them open to my satisfaction, but that's it. Either I've been incredibly lucky or the problems that we keep hearing about aren't as common as people let on.

I did find a good use for the aluminum scales I took off. I attached them to a handle and use them as wood rasps. ;)

vantagelockup.jpg
 
I have had a few liners that I felt didn't lock up like I wanted too. I just bent the lock in the direction I wanted it to go. These liners all just get stamped out of a piece of steel. There isn't much technology involved. They all run through some machine that bends the steel and it goes through to the next step. Its pretty simple and not quantum physics by many means. There isn't much chance that your liner lock will fail and if it does it's probably because you're using your knife as some other tool it wasn't made for...
 
Plumberdv said:
Flips open like a champ, slick as grease. The lockup is solid as you can see from the photo below.
.... Either I've been incredibly lucky or the problems that we keep hearing about aren't as common as people let on.
Click to expand...

I've gotten all the bad ones I guess. ;)

Seriously, I have 6 Vantages, 4 are way past center, if not upon initial opening, as soon as you put any force on the blade.

Not to mention the three I've sent back, two to Buck, one to vendor.

vantagelockup.jpg


Left to right: Select (early-excellent IMO), Select w/ Dymondwood, (centered - good ), Select w/ Paperstone, Avid, "hybrid" Avid, Pro (all four way over to other liner).

Note that only the "hybrid" has been carried and used for cutting (and was this way when I got it about 4 months ago) so none of this is due to wear.

Oh, I also have the small Select, which is just a tad past center, okay. Ironic the cheapest models have the best lockup.

- OS
 
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