Greetings Buck-folk!
I recently purchased and received a Buck 112 Slim Pro (brown) as well as a Select in black, and added to that a Rival I (little guy).
I bought the rival after not being able to find a new BuckLite Max 484 (nice that little scalpel) and am very impressed with this inexpensive USA-made cutter. The mid-lock is excellent, although the heel of the blade can catch your finger when you disengage if not careful. Other than that, I like everything about it and prefer it to a number of mini-knife imports i have tried recently, including the Kabar mini Dozier knife and the Ontario Wraith (although I prefer the thin grind on the Wraith). I like that Buck kept the pocketclip on the Rival I, its absence is the main reason I was not interested in the Bantam BBW, and the unobtrusiveness of the clip is also a plus. I alos like the shape overall and the FEEL of these scales is an unexpected joy! The scales on the Bantams and BuckLite Maxes are much smoother and slippery whereas these new scales have grit to them. The tang is beautifully polished for a smooth action, and the spring-action is perfect. This will now be my go-to 'gift knife' and I will get a larger version as well (hated the pocket-clip on the Bantams, wouldn't pay money for them).
The 112 Slim Select is a similarly excellent knife, very impressive for the cost and USA-made.
The faux-inlay pattern in the scales and that gritty texture makes the scales feel 'warm' to the touch and pleasant to behold and are not rough on the pocket. The edges of the handle are comfortably rounded, and the spring action is again just perfect. The blade, which came perfectly centered, is easy enough to deploy using the thumbstuds, and that classic blade-ship is a major selling point for me - I FAR prefer this to the BuckLite Max 482, perhaps in part because of the absent rear-guard/flare on the 482. The 112 Slim select is
excellent.
Somehow, the 112 Slim Pro doesn't match the Select. The blade is beautifully polished, it is S30V, and I like the micarta scales (was actually the main reason I even made this purchase, i wanted a micarta-scaled folder and found out about this offering through an internet search, simply added the other knives to my cart to increase the total for free shipping
). But the micarta is too smooth and flat, it doesn't have the appeal of thicker, shaped micarta that reveals the layers... perhaps the look would be neater with a burlap or other medium. But because it is slick, it is hard to hold and deploy one-handed, or even hold while closing - I have to press my fingers into the clip that covers nearly the entire rear of the knife on one side, and that is quite uncomfortable. Add to this that the spring on my 112 Slim Pro is MUCH stronger than on my Select and makes the thumb-studs altogether
useless. I notice that there is a recent thread in this subforum about removing them - it came too late for me as I had already tried searching around and using heat+screwing to get them off before finally finding a post about just pulling them apart with force. I then tried adding a Kwik-bar but no position on the blade provided adequate leverage against the strength of the spring coupled to the slick thinness of the handle to allow me to easily deploy
So I will leave the blade bare of such accoutrements and use it like a sodbuster (I bought this knife in preference to a micarta-scaled slip-joint sodbuster). In addition to the overly-strong spring and rather slick scales, there is a sharp point in the micarta at the end of the back-lock making the knife uncomfortable to hold and use in various grips. This was most accentuated when i still had the studs in place and was trying to open it open-handed as this corner would stab directly into the muscles beneath my 'pinky' finger - another easy fix but an obvious problem had anyone handled and attempted to one-hand-open the knife before it ever left the factory
And finally, the blade was noticeably off-center.
I still like the knife, and it is wonderfully sharp, but for me the Select version feels like it was better made (despite the clear extra amount of attention given to the blade on the Pro version, and also the tang-stop on back-spring interface).
On the pocket-clip, I am commonly troubled by how little the 'lip' of the clip rises to allow for attachment to a pocket - I evidently wear pants with thicker pocket-seams than those designing these clips! I always need to bend them up/out slightly - that is certainly the case here. I don't mind that the clip is enormously wide since it is at least quite short (I despise long pocket-clips), but the 'corners' at the bend are inadequately rounded, something easily fixed with just a bit of sanding but could have been done at the factory.
So that's my little review of 3 newer Buck knives:
for the 112 Slim Select,
for the Rival, but
for the 112 Slim Pro - I love the style, like the lightweight, glad they used micarta, beautiful blade, but the off-center blade and useless thumbstuds (spring related) and boring/slick scales with sharp points
I am also looking into adding a different pocketclip to that model, something that isn't an issue on the Select since it handles so much better. *shrug* Who doesn't like a 'project' knife
