Buck stainless steel knife at Manafont

Yes, yes. We really need to X-ray this puppy.

Original Buck Vanguard has thin long tang attached to the back. At least according to this video -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC04GFsaPpE&feature=related Lots of other knifes are x-rayed in this video.

Looks like the original Vanguard has a screwed-on handle tail, so if anyone wants to try to unscrew it.... be careful though.

Nice youtube find Paranid.

It must be nice to have access to an xray machine. At 1:20 in the video, "The Buck screw is not straight. I think this is great junk..."

Thats the thinnest tang Ive ever seen on a knife this size. In the xray, you can certainly see the probable failure point at the end of the tang where the threads begin at an angle. I bet most would probably never break the Buck under normal light duty use, depending on your definition of "normal".

Given their legendary combat history, the Ka-bar's extremely robust build doesnt surprise me.

Anyone know if the knife in the OP is full-tang?

Problem with knife descriptions on the Chinese sites is you have no idea what you are getting. I flat out will not buy a knife that has the hilt bolted/glued/attached to the tang. And I sort of like to know exactly what kind of steel they are talking about (assuming they are really telling us the truth in that).

I mean I could easily live with 3/4 tang knife. But to see original Buck Vanguard under X-ray is little disappointing.

Perhaps someone should contact Sanrenmu and ask them.. But again we still don't know if this "OEM" Buck is built by SRM. Ahh, great Chinese riddle

I can't see why it wouldn't be full-tang - it would be easiest for the manufacturer to just copy the original design (if, in fact, they are not the oem already). In this case, it would not be a great investment in materials, and the design work would already be done.

Update - my measurements for overall length and blade length (gross length, from guard to tip including non-cutting edge) are in complete agreement with the Sanrenmu specs for the Strike Civil. Though they list the weight at 5.93 ou, and my postal scale tips slightly over 7 ou. My scale tends to weigh a little heavy. So it might be the real deal. Actually, I just found the spec for the the Buck Vanguard and it's 6.6 ou, so that's good! Might also answer the question about the full-length tang. The pommel is also steel, btw.

Thanks for the info boomhauer. Are you measuring just the knife or the knife and sheath with that weight?

Just wondering, what kind of jobs do people do that need a fixed blade? I mostly get by with swiss army knife unless I'm cutting stuff in the kitchen.

Just the knife. Like I said, my scales weighs a little heavy so the actual weight is probably right on.

This particular knife is a classic hunting knife style for field dressing an animal the size of deer and larger. It's actually larger than it needs to be for deer, but still fine. Best to have a fixed blade for such heavy tasks. Food prep too - folding knives get too messy in hard-to-reach places.

Is there anything that make these particularly suited unlike kitchen knives? I see forged sets with like 10 of them for not too much. Not wustof or global but pretty decent. Like I just got this: http://www.amazon.com/Ginsu-07100-Chikara-Cleaver-Stainless/dp/B001FB56DO/ref=pd_sim_k_4

Not the right profile, but even bigger :D

I've never used a cleaver like that, and I worked in a restaurant doing food prep for almost seven years. Seems like a butchers blade for big chopping, but I could also see such a knife being used for fast dicing, much like a large chef's knife. Fast dicing... reminds me of the days of chopping 50 lbs of onions at a time (and loosing an ocassional knuckle before getting the hang of it).

It's a chinese style "cleaver", but it's used for all food prep work (chopping/sliceing/etc). That's the classic profile for home use, but in restaurants they use a slight more square one, namely precisely this one: http://www.amazon.com/Dexter-Russell-Dexter-Russell-Chinese-Cleaver/dp/B0015DG3FM

So if you ever go to a chinese restaurant, you know exactly which knife they used to make the dish with. :)

Amazon seems to give reviews for that ginsu model, but I wanted to test the waters with 1 knife before I commit to getting the whole 12piece set (only $70 shipped!). Those are kind of thin (not "squat") though and may not work if I need to cut open a deer.

Thickness of the blade is one of the biggest factors. Most kitchen knives rarely exceed 2MM thickness which gives an easy to hone, but not very tough blade (meaning it could snap under hard usage, especially at the tip). Hunting and heavy-duty outdoors knives generally start at 3MM and go up.

Balance is a second factor. Kitchen knives tend to have a balance point at the bolster, because regular chopping motions are most comfortable with that balance point. You generally don't want your hands on the blade on a hunting knife.

Comfort and grip is a third. Most if not all good kitchen knives use hard handles, either polyimide, steel or some kind of wood/epoxy composite. Comfortable and hard wearing, but not so great if your hands are wet. In a kitchen, not a huge deal - you always have a towel handy. Outdoors, you need a knife with exceptional grip that you can use comfortably with wet, numb or gloved hands. This often means wrapped leather or rubber/kraton grips, or heavily textured plastic handles.

My Buck 768 arrived. I don't know too much about knives, is this good? :)

Sheesh.

Alright, so avoid that Buck-branded fixed blade then. Good to know

My crappy full tang "Buck" looks so much better now in my eyes... at least I can see it is 1 piece of metal (I hope it's some kind of steel ;-) )... thanks for the pics... so it is like I expected... avoid everything cheap with a western brand label on it...

So Vectrex, you're taking one for the team next time, right?

Actually, the knife is probably worth (to me) what I paid for it. It's certainly not one of those hidden gems I had hoped for. If not worked hard, it might last a long time - depending on the integrity of the tang weld. No chopping for this one. It is a nice looking knife. But in the future I would go the Mora route for this price range.

I already did take one for the team... actually I did several times, when also counting flashlights (Hugsby P31, BrinytePD03A ... on Jayki)... but I am pretty much done buying western brand label knives from China... good fixed blades aren't that expensive in Germany (Mora and others) ... not worth the risk... like folders better anyway... maybe I should try to unscrew the wooden handles on my full tang "Buck", but I am a little afraid what I would find underneath...

Perhaps some innovative new technology that incorporates paper mache?

Well I'm no longer going to be shy about taking this new Buck apart, now that I know what I'm dealing with. I may just fill that whole weld joint with some JB weld to fortify it. Certainly couldn't hurt.