What Steel in the 119 special?

lagarto

lagarto

Joined
Oct 26, 2001
Messages
1,438
Does anyone know what steel Buck is using in the 119 special these days. I know some of their recent Buck Striders and I think the Short Nighthawk as well have gone to 420 HC and I was hoping that this wasn't the case with the special. I was just at Wally World and their price was so low that I had to pick one up. Even if the steel isn't that great I got it for such a great price that I don't feel like I got taken, would just hate to hear that this classic model had succumbed to cost cutting measures. Thanks for any information you can provide.

Lagarto
 
According to the Buck website it's 420HC. I've been wanting the Cocobolo one for a while now, i needs me some moneys.
 
Mirror-Saw thanks for the update, I was hoping they were still going with one of the 440's for these, oh well still a great knife. See if you can get your local Wally's to order you the Cocobolo one, I'm in the same boat financially but I got mine for only $35.

Lagarto
 
One thing to keep in mind is that we typically get rockwells on the 420HC that are right up there with the 425mod we used to use. We don't consider 420 a bad steel at all around here. Before we made the switch, back in the 90's, we did extensive testing on our C.A.T.R.A. machine and any diferences in edge retention we negligible. With Paul Bos in our heat treat department, we are making a great blade steel out of 420.
I hope you will be happy with the Special you just purchased.
 
Joe, thanks for the excellent information, I knew Paul Bos was doing the heat treat for the Buck - Striders, I didn't know he was doing these as well, please forgive my ignorance. So far I am extremely impressed with this model, it was one of the sharpest knives out of the box I've purchased in a long time, and I love the feel of the handle. I have large hands, but it does feel as if it's contoured to fit them. Haven't used it for any outdoor chores yet, but it handles vegetable chopping just fine. Really quite a lot of knife for the money, my only concern was the edge retention/holding abilities of the steel used.

Lagarto
 
The 420HC on my 110 has actually held it's edge longer than alot of my other knives. I haven't put it to much hard use but i'm still quite surprised...did that rhyme? anyways...

So i'm optimistic about getting my 119, but i do have some issues. The Cocobolo version comes with a brown sheath (i'm pretty sure, maybe burgundy?) which is an issue for me...well...it's not a huge deal but i'd really prefer black.

I could always order one from Buck, but there's the cost issue (i live in Canada) so shipping and the exchange rate would put me at twice the cost for the 14 dollar sheath (i think, i can't be bothered to do math right now). I don't remember the cost of the Cocobolo version, but the Phenolic handled Wally World type are around 70.

I could check with the hunting/outdoor sports place that i know sells Cocobolo versions, but i'm pretty sure it's around a hundred dollars.

Ick.
 
MS. If sheath costs are your concern and you know where to get them in the U.S. cheap feel free to email me. I'd be glad to pick one up and ship it to you if that would cut down on the cost, I'm sure we could work something out. Just a thought. Better yet, if it's the same style sheath, and color is the only difference we could just trade. I have the black sheath, but am really more of a "function over form" kind of guy and don't care about the color as long as it works. In any event don't let the sheath color turn you off from this knife, someone here will help you out I'm sure.

Lagarto
 
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