- Joined
- Mar 24, 2013
- Messages
- 287
I just bought a buck 102 woodsman.
It's a great value knife. For the price point, most bang for the buck, pun intended, ja.
It's very light in the hand. 2 ounces.
Out of the box, it was MORE than shaving sharp, wich only happened to me with an Spyderco Manix 2 XL. Cutting paper, yes. Shaving sharp, yes, say a Yojimbo 2. MORE than shaving sharp, the Manix XL and this one. What I mean with more than shaving sharp? Whenever I unbox a knife, I try the edge on paper and on my personal body hair. So, what I felt is that it shaved very agressively, and that I was very near to take a portion of my personal body meat if not very careful. It's a tactile sensation. Haptic would a techno guy say.
Also, it has a very useful blade shape, a bowie with an almost persian belly sweep.
The size, four inches of blade, and the light weight, mades it a great edc if you want to edc a fixed blade.
It's cheap in price, USD17, but not in fit and finish. It has a real leather sheat, black and silver handle, and a polished blade. It's more than presentable.
The use would be a small game and general fish skninner, a bird and trout design.
As I said, it's very sharp out of the box, and it's very easy to resharpen to a great edge again.
The steel is 420hc, wich stands for high carbon. The conventional knowledge says that as a steel is not in the same league of s30v or better, but due to blade and edge geometry, a greqt propietary heat threatment, and the high carbon plus, in performance the average user won't be able to tell the difference.
The handle is phenolic resin compound. Again, the common ideas refer to it as a cloth or paper material mixed with phenolic resin and the compacted, producing a hard plastic impervious to soaps and other chemical agressors, very resistant. It sounds to me like the father or maybe the granpa of micarta.
So you have a nice looking small fixed blade with great edge and nor less great black leather sheath, for 17 dollars. An all around winner.
Critics say that
a. It's to small, one should get at least a 105 "Pathfinder", wich is an inch longer, or better the 119,
b. the sheath it's worst than in the past, and is produced in Mexico.
c. the steel could be better
d. it's not full tang, so if you baton with it, it will break.
To a, it has the size for it's use, wich is for small game and fish. I've red that you can use it on greater game like deers, but with some discomfort. So I would say the opposite, that this blade packs a lot of wallop for its size.
To b, I never knew the previous sheath, and I like this one. I imagine that leather and its manufacturing it's cheaper in Mexico. As a consumer, I'm happy for the sheath at so a low price. And understanding the ones who only buy usa products, two ideas: 1. hey, its better than China, isn't it?, and 2. There is a worldwide trend to produce again in USA, because compared wages and other costs are rising everywhere. So I predict very soon outsourcing the sheaths will end.
To c, for the price point, it couldn't. If you are willing to pay more, you can get from Buck or other resellers customized models with much better steel.
Finally, to d, it's not a chunk of 1095 steel, it's a small stainless skinner. Don't baton with it, unless you don't mind to break it due to extreme circumstances.
I plan to edc this knife every day, so further thoughts may be added to this post.
Regards.
It's a great value knife. For the price point, most bang for the buck, pun intended, ja.
It's very light in the hand. 2 ounces.
Out of the box, it was MORE than shaving sharp, wich only happened to me with an Spyderco Manix 2 XL. Cutting paper, yes. Shaving sharp, yes, say a Yojimbo 2. MORE than shaving sharp, the Manix XL and this one. What I mean with more than shaving sharp? Whenever I unbox a knife, I try the edge on paper and on my personal body hair. So, what I felt is that it shaved very agressively, and that I was very near to take a portion of my personal body meat if not very careful. It's a tactile sensation. Haptic would a techno guy say.
Also, it has a very useful blade shape, a bowie with an almost persian belly sweep.
The size, four inches of blade, and the light weight, mades it a great edc if you want to edc a fixed blade.
It's cheap in price, USD17, but not in fit and finish. It has a real leather sheat, black and silver handle, and a polished blade. It's more than presentable.
The use would be a small game and general fish skninner, a bird and trout design.
As I said, it's very sharp out of the box, and it's very easy to resharpen to a great edge again.
The steel is 420hc, wich stands for high carbon. The conventional knowledge says that as a steel is not in the same league of s30v or better, but due to blade and edge geometry, a greqt propietary heat threatment, and the high carbon plus, in performance the average user won't be able to tell the difference.
The handle is phenolic resin compound. Again, the common ideas refer to it as a cloth or paper material mixed with phenolic resin and the compacted, producing a hard plastic impervious to soaps and other chemical agressors, very resistant. It sounds to me like the father or maybe the granpa of micarta.
So you have a nice looking small fixed blade with great edge and nor less great black leather sheath, for 17 dollars. An all around winner.
Critics say that
a. It's to small, one should get at least a 105 "Pathfinder", wich is an inch longer, or better the 119,
b. the sheath it's worst than in the past, and is produced in Mexico.
c. the steel could be better
d. it's not full tang, so if you baton with it, it will break.
To a, it has the size for it's use, wich is for small game and fish. I've red that you can use it on greater game like deers, but with some discomfort. So I would say the opposite, that this blade packs a lot of wallop for its size.
To b, I never knew the previous sheath, and I like this one. I imagine that leather and its manufacturing it's cheaper in Mexico. As a consumer, I'm happy for the sheath at so a low price. And understanding the ones who only buy usa products, two ideas: 1. hey, its better than China, isn't it?, and 2. There is a worldwide trend to produce again in USA, because compared wages and other costs are rising everywhere. So I predict very soon outsourcing the sheaths will end.
To c, for the price point, it couldn't. If you are willing to pay more, you can get from Buck or other resellers customized models with much better steel.
Finally, to d, it's not a chunk of 1095 steel, it's a small stainless skinner. Don't baton with it, unless you don't mind to break it due to extreme circumstances.
I plan to edc this knife every day, so further thoughts may be added to this post.
Regards.
