Hey lads so i thought i would consolidate my finding in this thread. Basically i bought a bunch of fake buck knives and i tried them out with my standardized testing procedure (let me grab my glasses while saying that lol).
Testing producer (cookie cutter)
- Cutting a branch by hacking at it machete style
- Batoning wood
- Shaping a branch into a point
- Throwing the knife (Not always shown on camera)
I never actually reviewed them as per say i more just tried to break them and i succeed in breaking two. They are all fine now and fixed by me so you know its quality!
What did i find? People can not understand when you put clone in your video description and get angry when they dont agree with my testing techniques lol. I honestly have a lot more fun doing knife video then torches.
I can still recommend the 3 knives seeing as they are super cheap i have no issues with breaking them. Even thought the buck 480 i put a lot work into. I basically cleaned it up and made it shiny and pout a really good edge on it by hand.
Okay so first was the buck 009 clone. This video seems to be the most popular.
Me breaking this knife was 50/50 my fault lol. I broke it while throwing it and having it hit the wrong way around. I did feel the handle moving like slipping while i was using the Buck 009 the throwing just finished it of.
Would i still buy this knife? Its damn cheap have a look on Aliexpress its the cheapest out of the three and it comes the sharpest from the “factory” the steel is fairly soft so that would be why it is so sharp. Also i got blisters while using the knife and its not a proper full tang so i would not recommend for heavy duty use. I like the design and its a nice looking knife.
Buck 480 clone. By far the popular choice
Every man and there dog owns one of these knives and for good reason its a solid choice and it looks really pretty. Mine broke while testing now now now kids lol the steel is actually harder then the the 009 so it was weird that it morphed. I would say the blade itself is not thick enough to sustain batoning in a hard wood. Softer woods this knife will have no issues.
The blade is only 0.67mm in thickness at the edge i would say this is the issue. Overall build quality is good its a proper full tang and has proper a wooden handle. The actual spine of the knife is really thick so i am not sure why the blade is so thin.
Would i buy this knife? Yes! it looks to good to pass up lol. I would sharpen and put a thicker edge on this knife if i could. If it had a 25 degree edge it be able to sustain more abuse it comes at a much thinner angle from the “factory” The knife overall is feels very good in the hand and it feels ergonomic the handle offers a good amount of grip. The Choil is a good size and the Buck 480 has jimping so extra grip while doing finer work. The best out of the 3 for finer work it does have the thinnest blade out of all of them. Price is right in the middle and it can be bought from Fasttech or Aliexpress and i have seen them on Ebay also.
I did beat this knife the hardest.
Last but not least this is actually video number 2. Buck 390 Clone
The buck 390 clone this is the one knife that actually look exactly like the retail version. This is by far the best knife out of them all. I can fully recommend this knife if you can find one! I wouldn’t be surprised if this was actually a proper buck 390. I got mine from Aliexpress the specs are a bit over the place with the different sellers.
Would i buy this knife? Yes! I would rather carry this knife over some other real knives i own. It is the smallest out of the 3 so its not the best for all jobs and it looks a bit plain. The steel is proper steel so its a bit harder to get sharp but it holds a edge really well. being a harder steel and full tang you can feel the vibration through the handle. The edge thickness is 120mm so almost double of the Buck 480 clone.
I will add some pics soon so you can see how they look. I hope to buy a few more clones and test them.
Thanks for reading
Regards Chris