112 Slim Select initial impressions

B

bryan123

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Feb 7, 2017
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A few days I purchased a 112 Slim Select at Cabela's with a 50 dollar gift certificate. The only other knife they carry that i considered was the RAT 2 in AUS 8.

As a point of reference the other inexpensive knives I own are the RAT 1 in AUS 8, Cold Steel Tuff Lite, Spyderco Dragonfly 2, and the 10 dollar Gordon- Harbor Freight 8CR13mov unassisted flipper liner lock.

These are my initial impressions:

Pros:

I love the pocket clip. It looks unconventional but works very well. Deep carry and the holes in it allow for a good grip to extract it from the pocket.

The stonewashed blade finish is my favorite. Hides scratches better than satin and seems more immune to fingerprints.

Light weight

Great pocketability, leaving enough room in RFP for my Samsung Galaxy S9

No vertical or horizontal blade play, solid confident lock up.

Cons:

It can't be flicked, but neither can my other back locks like the Tuff Lite, Dragonfly and Delica. So not really a con.

Tougher to open with one hand than my other back locks. Does it need a break-in period?

Blade is not well centered, favoring the clip side. It doesn't seem to be affecting the function, but my other back locks are all well centered. Could this be why it's harder to one-hand open? My 10 dollar Harbor Freight came centered and it cost less than a third the price.

The centering would be a more significant issue with one of the more expensive 112's with S30V steel I would think.

How do my observations and experience compare to yours? Thanks.
 
I've had a few Buck Slims and sold or gifted all but one. Overall, I'm pretty impressed, but there are a few things that I think could be addressed. My biggest complaint is the pressed fit thumb stud. It came loose on two of my 112s and I repaired it myself with good results. The first one came completely loose and I refitted it with JB Weld. My brother is still using the knife without issue. The second one would spin when I tried to open the knife, so I applied some loctite and squeezed it in a vise. I'm still using it, no problem. Opening the knives requires a deliberate action. I attribute this to the location of the thumb stud in relation to the pivot. There isn't as much leverage as there would be if the blade were taller to allow a longer moment arm when pushing the stud forward. The thing that I have to wonder about the most is, why didn't Buck start making these knives 30 years ago?
 
Correction, I have two Slims and this thread needs pictures.
vxWCgYSl.jpg

CQINe38l.jpg
 
I have a 110 and 112 Slim Select. They are terrific budget knives, great for job carry.

Stiffness and grind seem like a mixed bag. But they've loosened up over time.

Hell, I removed the factory thumbstud from the 110 and installed a Snaggletooth. It waves open very easily, now.
 
I think the 110 and 112 slims are very good knives (especially at the price points) when considered as unique models. My problem is that I judge them based on the standard 110 and 112 and I greatly prefer the blade shapes of the original models.
 
rhino said:
I think the 110 and 112 slims are very good knives (especially at the price points) when considered as unique models. My problem is that I judge them based on the standard 110 and 112 and I greatly prefer the blade shapes of the original models.
Click to expand...
The blade shapes are growing on me.
 
I had one (Blaze Orange) that I bought at an Academy Sports to see if it was useful to me before splurging on a 112 Slim Pro. I liked the knife, your review syncs with my memory of it, gave it to a hunting buddy a few years back and went ahead and bought the Slim Pro. OH
Buck_112_Slim.jpg
 
stevekolt said:
I still need to grab the current black, OD.and orange to complete the set...View attachment 2097469
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Isn't the one on top Orange? Or is a new color of which I am unaware? It is hard to find the ones with the thumb studs. I have the set in the "nail nick" variety (for Canada market, I presume). Another one that was harder to find for me was that 112 LT (black). It is similar. I bought it at the Boy Scout shop.
 
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Happy Hippo said:
Isn't the one on top Orange? Or is a new color of which I am unaware? It is hard to find the ones with the thumb studs. I have the set in the "nail nick" variety (for Canada market, I presume). Another one that was harder to find for me was the 112 LT (black). It is similar. I bought it at the Boy Scout shop.
Click to expand...
There's a lot of good discussion about the slim selects, colors etc... in this recent thread:

Slim Selects

I did not pay very much attention to these when they first came out but peaked my interest recently. Has anyone put together a list of all the colors offered to date? Were the 110's and 112's always offered in the same color? For added interest to the thread, Here are the nail notch reds I...
www.bladeforums.com www.bladeforums.com
 
plb said:
There's a lot of good discussion about the slim selects, colors etc... in this recent thread:

Slim Selects

I did not pay very much attention to these when they first came out but peaked my interest recently. Has anyone put together a list of all the colors offered to date? Were the 110's and 112's always offered in the same color? For added interest to the thread, Here are the nail notch reds I...
www.bladeforums.com www.bladeforums.com
Click to expand...
Great. Just when I finally got all 8 there are a bunch more which I probably will never have. It is funny that one of Buck's cheapest knives have gained in value so much. I see people trying to sell the uncommon colors for $70. I don't even see the real rare ones for sale.
 
Happy Hippo said:
Isn't the one on top Orange? Or is a new color of which I am unaware? It is hard to find the ones with the thumb studs. I have the set in the "nail nick" variety (for Canada market, I presume). Another one that was harder to find for me was that 112 LT (black). It is similar. I bought it at the Boy Scout shop.
Click to expand...
The one on top is more of a "caramel" rather than the orange OH posted a picture of.
 
Happy Hippo said:
Isn't the one on top Orange? Or is a new color of which I am unaware? It is hard to find the ones with the thumb studs. I have the set in the "nail nick" variety (for Canada market, I presume). Another one that was harder to find for me was that 112 LT (black). It is similar. I bought it at the Boy Scout shop.
Click to expand...

The 112 LT is hard to find since it was discontinued a couple of years ago. I almost missed the boat!
 
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