Review on: The Buck Solution
I have to agree with OleWVCoot on this one, as I read a review on that knife and it said:
There is a problem with the deep checkering on the grip as it is easily contaminated with food and can be difficult to clean, it does however give a very secure grip even when lubricated with fats and oils. For carving woods, the thin edge of the Solution readily makes deep slices and is easily controlable to allow shallow shaping cuts. It was also used for light batoning and it worked ok however the boxy handle was very uncomfortable and vibrations from impacts made heavy batoning quickly nonfunctional.
On harder woods there were durability issues. The solution was chopped into 5/8" thick birch, and torqued to the side which left a huge piece of the edge in the wood. This was repeated breaking out another large pice. The penetration into the wood was fairly low, as the handle ergonomic issues prevented serious swings. For similar reasoning it wasn't heavy torque, just wrist rotation. The Solution was then batoned into a spruce log and walked on. with 1.5" of the blade in the wood it easily took 200 lbs on the handle. However a light pop from a hammer to loosen it and the blade broke in half and another piece broke out of the edge up by the handle, not in the impact area, just from the vibration in the blade. Cutting a variety of light materials like bubble wrap, plastics, paper and fabrics, the Solution was very efficient as these materials are too flimsy to exert any pressure on a blade so as long as it is sharp it will cut that class of material well. However on thick cardboard and other binding materials the blade would wedge readily due to the sabre grind, on such materials a higher grind would be more efficient, however it still outperforms blades like the Camp Tramp which while having a higher grind has a thicker edge.
The Solution was used to dig a hole in rocky soil large enough to fit a one gallon bucket. The edge chipped readily in rock contacts, about 0.5 millimeters deep, three large visible chips, the tip also fractured, lost about a millimeter. No fine cutting ability was left on the edge used to dig, the Solution could not even score ropes for example. This was semi-stressful digging, initially using the knife as pick and shovel, but as the hole progressed more as a pick with the off hand removing the debris. It was not going really light trying to concentrate impacts on the spine, which make it easy on the knife but hard on the user, but nor was it raising the knife up and slamming it hard like a pick, it was more poking than actual stabbing as would be done with an actual pick.
It took 10 minutes to fully resharpen the blade. The edge was reset with an x-coarse waterstone (7.5 minutes), then honed on a 1000 and then microbeveled on a Sharpmaker to a hair popping level of sharpness. The chips were not removed, this would have lost too much metal, the rest of the edge was just brought back to full sharpness. The tip was also still damaged, penetration was 58 +/- 5 on phonebook, less than half of optimal. It would require the removal another half a millimeter of edge to bring the tip back in line, too much material wasted, it would be more sensible to sweep the edge up.
Much of the promotion for this knife is centered on extreme toughness "where failure is not an option", however this really isn't a sharpened prybar kind of knife. The blade steel, ATS-34, is a high carbon, high alloy stainless steel, and is uniformly heat treated 59-61 HRC. The steel has good corrosion resistance, high abrasion resistance, high strength, however low ductility and low impact toughness. It is difficult to bend but will snap under a low flex, and will deform very little before it chips. The the Solution has a decently thin and acute edge and thus cuts well for shallow work, it compares for example to some of the better Spyderco folders in this regard. However the efficient cutting edge also leads to a low durablity, combined with the brittle steel leads to chipping readily on significant impacts and blowouts of the primary grind possible even in moderate wood working. This is more of a skinner than a tactical utility blade.
Source: Blade Magazine
You pay $230 for that... pfffffft please. No thanks I'll keep my handmade hunter its tested, tried, and proven.
Beo,
fixed bade - Tom Brown Tracker
If your really want one knife to depend upon it's th eTom Brown Tracker (got mine from TOPS knives) in my opinion. A little heavy but it can do a lot of things well.
