- Joined
- Oct 11, 2013
- Messages
- 19,821
Good afternoon friends! I have another quick knife review here for you, this time on the Buck 112 Slim Select. I'd like to apologize in advance for wasting your time, and I'll do so by putting the TL;DR up front. LOL
TL;DR Version: A cheap knife that's actually worth LESS than you paid, I can't in good conscience recommend it.
With that out of the way, let's get into the particulars. So, I purchased this knife new-in-package from my local Academy Sports store, and had planned to give it away as part of a White Elephant Exchange gift at a company party I was going to. I paid $25. Well, when I looked more closely at the knife in the clamshell packaging (under lighting at home that was better than at the store, oddly), I pulled the plug on that idea pretty quickly. I opened the knife to get a better look at it, and this is what I found.
The Good:
- Very light. This is as expected, given the "glass filled nylon" scales and 3 inch blade length.
- The orange color was good.
- The molded detail in the scales is crisp and sharp.
- The deep-carry clip as standard was nice, and I wish more companies offered a DCC as standard fare!
- The handle shape does feel good in the hand, it locks in, and the clip doesn't pose a hotspot when gripped tightly. Decent design there.
And that's about it. Alright, onto the could be bett...heh, no, onto the Bad.
The Bad:
- The grind. The grind on this blade is so hilariously poor, it's amazing that it passed QC and it's a flat out insult that they're putting "Proudly made in the USA" right there on the front of the package. Poor quality is poor quality no matter where it was built, simple as that. There's a serious case of "404: Pride Not Found" going on here. What? Oh, how bad is the grind? THE TIP CAME ROUNDED. Heh, yeah, see the pics below.
- The grind (again). This is a brand new knife, in the package, that I bought directly from a retailer, and it came dull. As in, I can run my finger across it dull. And, as this knife came sealed in a plastic clamshelled package, this specific knife actually left the factory like this. "Proudly made in America". Buck, come on, man.
- Why is the handle to blade ratio so wonky? This knife could easily have a 3.5 inch blade, but they decided that a 3 inch blade, with the entire end full of a backspacer/buttplate was more appropriate. What? For a knife trying to be small, it should be smaller.
- Why is there a "nipple" at the join between the back of the blade and the lockbar? It's too small to use as any sort of effective thumb ramp, and I do not understand it as a design element. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that both the blade tang and the lockbar were joined together while both were still forge hot, and then allowed to cool that way, smooshed together. It's just such poor fitment.
- The action of this knife is bad. Like $10 gas station knife bad. I guess I am just used to other guys like Kershaw giving you more knife for your money. This knife should have been a $15 knife tops, at which point, all my gripes would have been easily handwaved away.
- The blade finish is a stonewash, but it's splotchy and poorly done. Now, I had noticed this in the package when at the store, but at the time I actually thought it was shadows caused by the light being refracted through the clamshell packaging. Nope, there are shadows in the stonewash.
- The blade came distinctly off-center. A minor gripe, as I could probably mess with the pivot pin and sort it out.
So, two things in closing. One, I have bought so many Buck knives in my life that I feel like this is just where they are in quality at this point. Hell, I had to stop giving away Spitfires to Scouts because of how many of them came with lockrock and blade-play that couldn't be dialed out. So, this (in my experience) is the level of product they're allowing to be sent to retail at this point. Two, this entire review should be taken as tongue-in-cheek by me, because I understand that this is a cheap, disposable product and clearly is considered so by Buck as well. "You want quality? Spend more money!" Hey, I got it, totally on the same page. BUT: if that's your mindset, Buck, then maybe tone down the whole "Proudly made in America". What kind of message does that send?
One final thing: I actually had bought two knives. This Buck 112 and a Gerber Straightlace for only a few dollars more than the 112. That (Chinese made) slipjoint is a superior knife in every respect over the 112 Slim Select. Fit, finish, action, and so on. That was more disappointing than anything else.
Thanks for reading, and candidly, my advice would be, if you need a cheap knife that will still have SOME measure of quality to it, look elsewhere, maybe one of the Cold Steels in that price range, or even a (man, I hate to say it) Gerber.
Let's end with some pictures:
That tip, tho!!!
That centering, tho!!!
Interesting "moosh" section:
TL;DR Version: A cheap knife that's actually worth LESS than you paid, I can't in good conscience recommend it.
With that out of the way, let's get into the particulars. So, I purchased this knife new-in-package from my local Academy Sports store, and had planned to give it away as part of a White Elephant Exchange gift at a company party I was going to. I paid $25. Well, when I looked more closely at the knife in the clamshell packaging (under lighting at home that was better than at the store, oddly), I pulled the plug on that idea pretty quickly. I opened the knife to get a better look at it, and this is what I found.
The Good:
- Very light. This is as expected, given the "glass filled nylon" scales and 3 inch blade length.
- The orange color was good.
- The molded detail in the scales is crisp and sharp.
- The deep-carry clip as standard was nice, and I wish more companies offered a DCC as standard fare!
- The handle shape does feel good in the hand, it locks in, and the clip doesn't pose a hotspot when gripped tightly. Decent design there.
And that's about it. Alright, onto the could be bett...heh, no, onto the Bad.
The Bad:
- The grind. The grind on this blade is so hilariously poor, it's amazing that it passed QC and it's a flat out insult that they're putting "Proudly made in the USA" right there on the front of the package. Poor quality is poor quality no matter where it was built, simple as that. There's a serious case of "404: Pride Not Found" going on here. What? Oh, how bad is the grind? THE TIP CAME ROUNDED. Heh, yeah, see the pics below.
- The grind (again). This is a brand new knife, in the package, that I bought directly from a retailer, and it came dull. As in, I can run my finger across it dull. And, as this knife came sealed in a plastic clamshelled package, this specific knife actually left the factory like this. "Proudly made in America". Buck, come on, man.
- Why is the handle to blade ratio so wonky? This knife could easily have a 3.5 inch blade, but they decided that a 3 inch blade, with the entire end full of a backspacer/buttplate was more appropriate. What? For a knife trying to be small, it should be smaller.
- Why is there a "nipple" at the join between the back of the blade and the lockbar? It's too small to use as any sort of effective thumb ramp, and I do not understand it as a design element. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that both the blade tang and the lockbar were joined together while both were still forge hot, and then allowed to cool that way, smooshed together. It's just such poor fitment.
- The action of this knife is bad. Like $10 gas station knife bad. I guess I am just used to other guys like Kershaw giving you more knife for your money. This knife should have been a $15 knife tops, at which point, all my gripes would have been easily handwaved away.
- The blade finish is a stonewash, but it's splotchy and poorly done. Now, I had noticed this in the package when at the store, but at the time I actually thought it was shadows caused by the light being refracted through the clamshell packaging. Nope, there are shadows in the stonewash.
- The blade came distinctly off-center. A minor gripe, as I could probably mess with the pivot pin and sort it out.
So, two things in closing. One, I have bought so many Buck knives in my life that I feel like this is just where they are in quality at this point. Hell, I had to stop giving away Spitfires to Scouts because of how many of them came with lockrock and blade-play that couldn't be dialed out. So, this (in my experience) is the level of product they're allowing to be sent to retail at this point. Two, this entire review should be taken as tongue-in-cheek by me, because I understand that this is a cheap, disposable product and clearly is considered so by Buck as well. "You want quality? Spend more money!" Hey, I got it, totally on the same page. BUT: if that's your mindset, Buck, then maybe tone down the whole "Proudly made in America". What kind of message does that send?
One final thing: I actually had bought two knives. This Buck 112 and a Gerber Straightlace for only a few dollars more than the 112. That (Chinese made) slipjoint is a superior knife in every respect over the 112 Slim Select. Fit, finish, action, and so on. That was more disappointing than anything else.
Thanks for reading, and candidly, my advice would be, if you need a cheap knife that will still have SOME measure of quality to it, look elsewhere, maybe one of the Cold Steels in that price range, or even a (man, I hate to say it) Gerber.
Let's end with some pictures:
That tip, tho!!!
That centering, tho!!!
Interesting "moosh" section:
Last edited:
Anyone know if the 112 slim pro is any better? I've seen mixed reviews... more info is always better.
