Unfortunate review of the Buck Fluid

Yo Mama

Yo Mama

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Sep 25, 2011
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I want to start with the obligitory statement any time a negative review is made, that i love Buck and own more than a few of them.

That said i have received 2 examples of the Buck Fluid. The first one had tons of side to side play, the second one had tons of side to side play an up-and-down play. Once I started looking more at the design of the lock and construction my concerns raised in terms of stability of this design and price point.

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Hidden under six very tiny handle screws that were coated in blue Loctite but somehow came out with no resistance whatsoever is the pinned construction of the knife. You can see the pin for the lock back is very close to the front of the knife by the pivot pin. With very little force the entire lock wiggles inside of the frn handles.

Yes I understand many lockback knives are designed with pins. However most of the time the lock pin is located halfway down the lock or a little bit further down than it is on this model. The result really looks to be that force is not distributed equally throughout the lock and the frn handles do not have nearly enough strength to hold it in place.

In addition with where the lock is placed in the size of the knife in your hand, with a firm grip at the right angle the lock can easily disengage in your hand unintentionally.

https://youtu.be/xiaXn5jVkAA

This video shows the lock wiggle I'm describing.

I really did like the blade design with a gentle recurve and the harpoon style. However as this knife is designed to swing freely approximately two-thirds of its path if your finger was in the way it's getting sliced upon disengaging the lock. As a side note it is pretty cool to throw the blade out by just disengaging the back lock and then closing the knife again by just engaging the back lock and swing it shut one handed.

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So here is where the price point just doesn't match up to me in terms of a value for Buck. Right now these are retailing for $35. This puts it in direct competition with a few other of their own models. The buck Vantage either in the Select or Avid varieties are both at that price point and in my experience has been very solid performers. The Spitfires that I've tried are much better as well. Lastly to compare apples to apples or lock backs to lock backs the buck 110 crushes the Fluid in build quality and can be found for a couple bucks cheaper usually.

And that's kind of where I'm left on this one, there are just better offerings from Buck themselves. They could have done better, a lot better on this design but in the end it just feels cheap and poorly designed.



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I really do not like a lot of Buck's newer folder designs. They seem to all have issues. Their older designs are top notch, even the modern takes on older designs are top notch.
 
I worry when I start to see knives like this come out. Comments start showing up more and more frequently. Such an inexpensive knife from Buck can blemish the brand. Kind of like the Vantage model has done occasionally. Appears to be what I call a cartridge type of knife. Very little adjustment available.

I love Buck knives and the people who build them. I would fix this model or discontinue it.
 
I wish buck never got into the " cheap knife" market,they should of kept their name and brand to the highest standards and quality and let the cheap stuff be made under another name.more and more older folks won't buy bucks now because they saw one buck that said made in China and now think all are made there.
 
I've always been less than impressed with the modern knives designed by Buck. It seem their collabs always fare a little better than the stuff they come up with in-house. It's a shame, because I was initially interested in the Fluid as a work knife. But, the oddball way they have the pocket clip set up, as well as the overall construction of the knife has kind of turned me off.

Also, am I seeing things, or is that a staple 2/3 of the way down the metal insert?
 
The blade play doesn't seem too severe, it looks functional enough for skinning and other light duty jobs. I probably wouldn't sharpen a stick into a point with it though. LOL.
Hopefully they can revise the design to fix the problem. It seems like a better 285 but not at the 285 price point.
 
RAZORBLADES said:
I wish buck never got into the " cheap knife" market,they should of kept their name and brand to the highest standards and quality and let the cheap stuff be made under another name. more and more older folks won't buy bucks now because they saw one buck that said made in China and now think all are made there.
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I agree.

IMO, inexpensive can come in 2 flavors: cheap (junk) and value (solid). I've no problem with Buck producing hi-value inexpensive knives. Many other makers are hitting the ball out of the park in that market like Ontario (the Rat folders), Mora, Opinel and Victorinox. [Note, the last 3 are routinely under $30 and not made on the Pacific Rim with cheap labor.] So, I'm happy to see Buck produce some knives in the expensive range, but they need to be bullet proof, otherwise the Buck name becomes synonymous with "junk".

I've purchased 3 Slimlines in the past few years. All of them had considerable lock rock out of the clamshell and two them had scales so badly out of alignment that the exposed sharp edges caused hot spots. At this point, I'm leery of buying anything other than 110s and I don't have much occasion to do that other than the occasional gift.

I wonder if Buck is trying to figure out what sort of company they want to be in the 21st century? Do they want to be a we have something for everybody sort of company like Kai/Kershaw, CRKT or Boker or do they want to be a more focused company that nails a particular niche like Victorinox, Case, Opinel and Mora?

My preference would be that they be the world's leader in hunting and outdoors sports knives. I don't see how a knife like the Fluid fits into that at all, which leads me to think that Buck wants to be everything to everybody. IMO, that just leads to a lack of focus, which is a deeper problem than cheap cartridge folders like the Fluid or equally cheap Chinese made "traditionals" made from soft steel.
 
I got a Bantam 284 a few years back because it was cheap, US made, locked open and I could open one handed. And i really liked the shape of the blade. It was small and light and suprising to me it turned into my EDC even at work in an office. Fast forward a few years I bought the 285 and 286. Guess what, with a minor alteration to the thumb stud for better control, the 286 has replaced my Spyderco PM2 as my EDC. It functions well and it won't break the bank if I lose it. For me it's okay for Buck to make these less expensive knives provided they function and are US made. The problem with the Fluid appears to be with function, so they need to fix that or move on.
 
BuckShack said:
I got a Bantam 284 a few years back because it was cheap, US made, locked open and I could open one handed. And i really liked the shape of the blade. It was small and light and suprising to me it turned into my EDC even at work in an office. Fast forward a few years I bought the 285 and 286. Guess what, with a minor alteration to the thumb stud for better control, the 286 has replaced my Spyderco PM2 as my EDC. It functions well and it won't break the bank if I lose it. For me it's okay for Buck to make these less expensive knives provided they function and are US made. The problem with the Fluid appears to be with function, so they need to fix that or move on.
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I have 3 Bantams, each has a name of one of my children. They are solid, and well made. I have no problems with them.
 
BuckShack said:
I got a Bantam 284 a few years back because it was cheap, US made, locked open and I could open one handed. And i really liked the shape of the blade. It was small and light and suprising to me it turned into my EDC even at work in an office. Fast forward a few years I bought the 285 and 286. Guess what, with a minor alteration to the thumb stud for better control, the 286 has replaced my Spyderco PM2 as my EDC. It functions well and it won't break the bank if I lose it. For me it's okay for Buck to make these less expensive knives provided they function and are US made. The problem with the Fluid appears to be with function, so they need to fix that or move on.
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Yo Mama said:
I have 3 Bantams, each has a name of one of my children. They are solid, and well made. I have no problems with them.
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When Buck finds an excellent design like the Bantam or like the 110 (or 500 or several others), I would much prefer to see Buck producing more variations of that proven design, instead of producing knives that look like could be made like anybody. Upgraded steels, upgraded handles, different grinds... Full flat ground Bantam with G10 handle and S30V blade? Sure.
 
Price point isn't the problem so much. I think the issue is simply design and quality control. Kershaw, Ontario and others manage to make make quality knives under $50, there's no reason Buck can't do the same. However, I've never really found any knive I bought in the $20 range to be any good. Seems like the sweet spot for a value knife is in the $30 range where you can get the Fluid. So, IMO, if the Fluid is a bad knife it's due to bad design/QC. Sad to say this about my favorite knife maker but I have not been impressed with their value knives. Still, their higher quality knives are great and their classic designs cannot be beat but the new designs look like the junk knives you buy by the case from China.

The 110 is one the greatest knife designs ever, I love the 420HC steal for the value and their other classics are nothing short of awesome but these new designs are beginning to eat away at the Buck name. Now I understand business and they probably can sell a boat load of these cheap knives at Walmart..ect. It makes Buck money, I don't begrudge them that one bit. Perhaps they should have a division that is under another name to make these knives so as not to degrade the Buck name?

Sort of sad to see this happen to great names. Schrade, Camillus...ect.. all used to be great names now they are more known for the junk they sell at Walmart. I'd hate to see Buck go further that direction.
 
Bump.

Not trying to doubt you, but the pins on the 284 are a lot closer to the pivot than in the Fluid and yet it does not suffer from any form of play.

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pinnah said:
When Buck finds an excellent design like the Bantam or like the 110 (or 500 or several others), I would much prefer to see Buck producing more variations of that proven design, instead of producing knives that look like could be made like anybody. Upgraded steels, upgraded handles, different grinds... Full flat ground Bantam with G10 handle and S30V blade? Sure.
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^
THIS +100000 I would love to see the bantam series upgraded with g-10 and better steel.
 
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