Vantage Force Pro.

J

Joshua J.

Joined
Feb 27, 2005
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I guess this is proof that they do listen.

I've always been impressed with the price of the Vantage Pro, but was a little hesitant due to my experience with the Bravo (thin lock-bar that travels way too far), and that has been my main concern with the Vantage. Now I see the "Force" edition and they say they've beefed up the lock.
Does anyone have one of these to take measurements off of? I would like to know how thick the lock-bar is. And can we get pictures of the lockup?

Thanks.
 
Don't have any pictures of the lock, but my Vantages (large models) all have the same 1/16th of an inch thick liner lock as my Vantage Force.
 
I don't know if that is good news for the regular Vantage (which looks much classier), or bad news for the Force.
You wouldn't happen to have a digital caliper would you? I hate to nitpick but on other knives the liners all look about 1/16", but some are .05" and some are .075". A 50% increase in thickness makes a big difference.

If the liners are exactly the same, then I don't know what to think of the promotional material.
 
Joshua J. said:
I don't know if that is good news for the regular Vantage (which looks much classier), or bad news for the Force.
You wouldn't happen to have a digital caliper would you? I hate to nitpick but on other knives the liners all look about 1/16", but some are .05" and some are .075". A 50% increase in thickness makes a big difference.

If the liners are exactly the same, then I don't know what to think of the promotional material.
Click to expand...

Have you had one of the other's fail or just don't like the look of the thinner (?) lock? I'm not nit picking either, just wondering.
 
Joshua J. said:
I don't know if that is good news for the regular Vantage (which looks much classier), or bad news for the Force.
You wouldn't happen to have a digital caliper would you? I hate to nitpick but on other knives the liners all look about 1/16", but some are .05" and some are .075". A 50% increase in thickness makes a big difference.

If the liners are exactly the same, then I don't know what to think of the promotional material.
Click to expand...

I'm not to experienced with liner locks, but by the looks of the lock on my Vantage, if you can make it fail your way out of bounds on proper use of the knife. I don't hesitate to use a knife beyond "proper usage" as it is the tool I always have with me. However, I try harder to make sure I have the proper tool so I don't ruin my knife, doing something I shouldn't have been doing.
 
I love the liner lock on the vantages. I stopped carrying my sirus due to the liner lock being too thin.wasn't a safety issue was just harder to close with it being so thin.made the liner lock kinda harder to get a good finger grip on.
 
Both my Vantage Avid and Vantage Force Pro measured .05"

DSCF0212.jpg
 
Plumberdv said:
Have you had one of the other's fail or just don't like the look of the thinner (?) lock? I'm not nit picking either, just wondering.
Click to expand...

It's just personal preference.
After experiencing how sturdy a good thick liner lock can be, I have a hard time going back.

st8yd said:
I'm not to experienced with liner locks, but by the looks of the lock on my Vantage, if you can make it fail your way out of bounds on proper use of the knife. I don't hesitate to use a knife beyond "proper usage" as it is the tool I always have with me. However, I try harder to make sure I have the proper tool so I don't ruin my knife, doing something I shouldn't have been doing.
Click to expand...

I agree that on the Vantage itself, the thickness of the lock-bar is probably appropriate.
The thing is I don't actually want the Vantage.
My ulterior motive for wanting a thick lock-bar on the Vantage is that I love the design, but not the size. If a 4" Vantage were ever to be made it would easily be one of my top three favourite knives, as long as it had a beefed up lock.
Until Buck demonstrates that they're willing to put a thick lock-bar onto an existing platform, I have no reason to believe that they would do anything different on a larger variation of the Vantage.
It's actually an issue that's been bugging me for a while. I got the Bravo with the Besh Wedge which is designed to make the blade a better pry-bar (so it should be a sturdy knife), and the knife has two very beefy liners on it that would make for a very beefy lock-bar, but instead of using one of those they put their standard liner lock in with a third liner.
So it seems to me that the company is stuck on one size of liner for lock-bar use, and any change from that (on the thicker side) would be a huge deal (for me). I thought that had happened.
 
Well coming in at the end of this, Josh J wanted to know if the promotional ads for the Force " Beefed up locks" were acurite. I just went back to see the ad and they boast an oversized liner lock. If this is incorrect there is an issue. It appears that Buck is using the same size liner in the Vantage as in the Force despite the claim of having a "oversized liner lock". Its neither hear nor there to me, I love them both and see no need to break out the digital calipers to squable over .25 . But in the grand skeem of things and knowing how us Buck guys are if there is a flaw and something to complain about we will find it and beat it to Death. In the long run will anything be done about it, Probably not,, except 1% of the people out there who really care about the .25 diff won't buy one. But I will make up the diff and buy 2
 
I'm not an engineer or a designer, but I worked in the pipe trades for over thirty years, most of the time building supports and restraints. If something is designed to restrain or support a pipe or piece of equipment and .50" steel is sufficient, making it .75" (50% bigger) doesn't make it better, just heavier and bulkier.
 
Plumberdv said:
If something is designed to restrain or support a pipe or piece of equipment and .50" steel is sufficient, making it .75" (50% bigger) doesn't make it better, just heavier and bulkier.
Click to expand...

:thumbup: At a certain point it just becomes wasteful/pointless
 
Plumberdv said:
I'm not an engineer or a designer, but I worked in the pipe trades for over thirty years, most of the time building supports and restraints. If something is designed to restrain or support a pipe or piece of equipment and .50" steel is sufficient, making it .75" (50% bigger) doesn't make it better, just heavier and bulkier.
Click to expand...

st8yd said:
:thumbup: At a certain point it just becomes wasteful/pointless
Click to expand...

And harder to unlock :D
 
Plumberdv said:
I'm not an engineer or a designer, but I worked in the pipe trades for over thirty years, most of the time building supports and restraints. If something is designed to restrain or support a pipe or piece of equipment and .50" steel is sufficient, making it .75" (50% bigger) doesn't make it better, just heavier and bulkier.
Click to expand...

that's a sound assesment of overengineering.
 
Joshua J. said:
Yes, I was ranting.

There are probably other people who wish Buck would use thicker lock-bars though.
And yes, I love over-engineered stuff.
Click to expand...

I'm sure there are, but I just wonder why? Unless they are prone to failure (never heard of a failure on a Vantage) I see no reason for it. Maybe it's just a macho, "mine's badder a**ed than your's is" thing.;)
 
I noticed that the liner lock on my Alpha Dorado is smaller than Vantage .042 vs .052. The Alpha locks up like a tank, no worries for me about either knife.
 
Plumberdv said:
I'm sure there are, but I just wonder why? Unless they are prone to failure (never heard of a failure on a Vantage) I see no reason for it. Maybe it's just a macho, "mine's badder a**ed than your's is" thing.;)
Click to expand...

I guess it's a combination of having such a bad experience with my Bravo and such a good experience with thicker locks. I've put one of my "thick" liner locks through some pretty extreme stuff, and it seemed no worse for the wear. I trust the thicker bar, both for the larger contact patch and the lack of flex.
 
Joshua J. said:
I guess it's a combination of having such a bad experience with my Bravo and such a good experience with thicker locks. I've put one of my "thick" liner locks through some pretty extreme stuff, and it seemed no worse for the wear. I trust the thicker bar, both for the larger contact patch and the lack of flex.
Click to expand...

That's a tantalizing statement, that you didn't explain or elaborate on. Did the Bravo lock fail, or does it just "look" like it might? If there was a failure, could you describe how it occured?
 
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