What's the consensus on the Buck Spitfire?

C

csisland

Joined
Aug 8, 2013
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I see mostly good reviews but a few here and there that mention blade play. Is the Spitfire a solid buy from Buck?
 
all mine have blade play, but it think its normal blade play for a lockback style. they are nice knives, you can carry the clip 4 ways. Not my favorite knife, but it is a cool one
 
I like my three. If you try you can move the lock in the frame. AFAIK it is just part of the design and so far I cannot see where it has any negative effect on my use of the knife. If they come one with more color combinations I'll buy more.
 
I am a big Buck fan, but I have one and it has terrible blade play. I tried about three others at stores and they were all just as bad. I kept the one I have for my collection, but I am not pleased with it, and I can't think of another Buck that I would say that about.....
 
tom19176 said:
I am a big Buck fan, but I have one and it has terrible blade play. I tried about three others at stores and they were all just as bad. I kept the one I have for my collection, but I am not pleased with it, and I can't think of another Buck that I would say that about.....
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This was what I was reading and concerned about. Having second thoughts now and might just go with a solid 112.
 
Seems like blade play is a hit or miss on some of the lock backs like the spitfire and also GEC's 72.
 
I've had mine about two weeks now. Mine had the blade play like others mentioned but the good news is this puppy has all screw construction. I just loosened everything and tinkered with it until I found the sweet spot for both opening and closing snap. On mine the closing snap was the harder to find. Now there is no blade play and this is the smoothest lock back of all the great many I have had! I'm a sucker for a good anodized or T6 aluminum knife and this is a very good one. I would have liked to see Buck not be so sloppy with putting it together that's my only complaint. I like the hole very well. It's the next best hole I've tried to the round hole we all know about and one I had with an oval hole made by the company with the butterfly. I changed my clip to down carry and this one is as fast as all my round hole models out of the pocket! I really like the blade grind it makes for a handsome modern carry! This 722 like my other Bucks feels great in the hand! This last thing I just have to say is the best pocket clip ever! The clip is not to tight and the top of it has a memory groove you can feel when it seats or feel the lip of the pocket in the opening with your thumb/finger.
 
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Peter, can you say what you did to correct the blade play?

I was looking at the Walmart variants (forget their name) and the one I got for a relative last year was just horrible in terms of horizontal play.

If it can be adjusted out, that owuld be intersting.
 
pinnah said:
Peter, can you say what you did to correct the blade play?

I was looking at the Walmart variants (forget their name) and the one I got for a relative last year was just horrible in terms of horizontal play.

If it can be adjusted out, that owuld be intersting.
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Like any other knife, I think you just loosen up the screws and play around with them until blade becomes centered.
 
csisland said:
Like any other knife, I think you just loosen up the screws and play around with them until blade becomes centered.
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The issue with these knives as I've seen and as widely reported isn't lateral play or centering, it's with vertical play. One the one that I handled it looked like the center pivot and other things were moving under stress.
 
pinnah said:
The issue with these knives as I've seen and as widely reported isn't lateral play or centering, it's with vertical play. One the one that I handled it looked like the center pivot and other things were moving under stress.
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Hmmm. I wonder why Buck doesn't address this issue.
 
The one I handled at wally world, several months ago, had some play.
It appeared to be the pivot assembly moving in the pivot hole in the handle slabs.
I did not bring it home with me.
If there is a fix for that, I wouldn't mind having one though :)
 
I believe(could be wrong most certainly) but I think that rocking is when the lock pin is under sized for the lock indent. I have one 112 that is that way all though barely discernable and one of my lock backs with the round hole made in Seki. When I got mine and felt the play it was just a little more then the other knives I mentioned; I tightened all the screws and over snugged the pivot screw. The result as you might know is knife want open! I then got the pivot the way it felt best, and then the knife wouldn't close unless I guided the blade in, so I then went to work on the back spacer mainly, all though I did have to back off the others so slightly. I ended up just holding the bit with my finger and tightened with out the driver part just barely hand tight. Then it was good enough to start working with it. I started using it and breaking it in and had to at least a time or three re-tighten the back spacer(I really like the anodized back spacer). Since the last one everything remains tight including the lock up. Like others mentioned there seems to be a hit and miss so if it's over sloppy and none of this works refund it or send it off for correction.
 
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Peter, I'm not following this. Sorry, not enough coffee in my blood stream....

How do the adjustments help with the fit between the lock pin and and lock indent? I thought this was driven by slop in the stamped and unfinished parts and once there, can't be adjusted out.
 
I can't explain it any better then I did. I think there could have been some luck involved with all this. Maybe someone here with(not hard to do over me) better understanding of the mechanics of lock backs could say. I do remember thinking that some of this may not have been necessary and I know for sure of snugging the pivot wasn't necessary.
 
I think the point in all of this is this model does not meet the normal high standards of a Buck product. As I said I am a Buck fan ( big time) but any model that needs this much tinkering out of the box is simply not a good product. I looked at mine again after reading this, and it is very loose and "sloppy". Perhaps if could be taken apart and some how made tighter but why is this needed for a NIB knife?
 
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