Friday, September 11, 2009

USA-Made Buck, under 20 bucks. Paklite Skinner


I'm VERY pleased to see Buck Knives returning to doing much of their manufacturing here in the United States. Evidently they have a spanking new facility in Idaho. Inexpensive, American made designs have been coming forth since the beginning of the year. I'm not a hunter, but I really liked the looks, price and general idea of this knife. It should be here early next week, so I'll throw out some further impressions after I've had a day with it. I found it on a retail knife site for $16.95, brand new. It's from Buck's new Paklite series, and they have this to say;

"Lightweight, sturdy and effective. This skinning knife can be carried alone or used to compliment any hunting knife. The skeletal steel frame is heavy-duty, yet lightweight for easy carry. You won’t even know it’s there. The 420HC stainless steel blade ensures durability and corrosion resistance, while the minimalist design is effective and reliable while in use."

Pretty cool, I'm a fan of carrying small neck-knife style fixed blades in a pants pocket, and that's likely where this one will go. It has a brother, a slightly thinner caping knife, with a unique profile, that looks cool too.
Kudos to Buck for helping to keep jobs here in our country, and hopefully redeeming themselves for some of the less-than-impressive product they've put forth from China and Taiwan in recent years. More to come...

9-17-2009; post-arrival addendum:
So, I really AM impressed with this piece. It's stout, with a high hollow grind, the spine thickness is nice, and consistent throughout the entire length of this knife. The handle is nicely shaped and comfortable, surprisingly, even in larger hands like mine. There are little patches of 'jimping', areas on the handle treaded for traction. I tried it in my hands under running water, and found the grip to be decent. The sheath, while not great, does leave plenty of handle room, and doesn't lock the knife in like kydex, so you could wrap the handle in some cord fairly easily, and it'd still fit the sheath, which secures the knife in a hard plastic insert with a snap-strap.

I'd like to check out the little Paklite caping knife too. Way to go Buck! For bringing back American manufacturing!!

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey guys, just a TOTALY random quip, i just stumbled across this blog, and i love what you guys have going on!

also, Theres a Knife atore about 3 times the size of Plaza in the Inland Empire www.firebloodarms.com O_O
might be the biggest int he country, SMKW excluded

Aaron said...

thanks for reading Kingb!!!!!!!

Timbo said...

Yo. Came across this post and while my comment is a little late, I have one point of contention: That sheathe will NOT accept a cord-wrapped handle. Tried it and failed. To be honest with you, that is my only real complaint with this knife. Tremendous value.

Also, I agree entirely with your statement about less than impressive pieces from Buck. They are a company that lost me as a customer for anything other than the old tried and true designs to Spyderco and Benchmade on account of vastly superior designs and functionality. But, you know, I want to love Buck. Buck knives are an American icon, in my opinion. If they can keep impressing me like they did with this knife, I will come back to them real, real fast...

Aaron said...

right on Timbo! I hadn't tried cord wrapping myself, it just looked like it might work, 'course if a person wanted to get a custom kydex sheath made, that might do it...but hey, that'd cost more than the knife!

Good thoughts on Buck, and thanks for reading!

Unknown said...

I have had a chance to use the new PakLites on a recent Idaho bear hunt. I thought well enough of them to recommend them to "Backyard Deer Hunters." To view video go to http:/www.hoveysmith.wordpress.com.I have a blog entry on the knives which has a link to the YouTube video. I think that it is now down to entry 5 or 6 on the current first page of the blog.

If you can't find it there go to www.hoveysmith.com and click on the "Recommended Products" link on the upper right-hand side of the blog. This also has a link to the YouTube video.

hoveysmith

Aaron said...

good to hear positive feedback from the hunt Hovey. I think Buck is back on the path to greatness now that they're doing much of their manufacturing back in the USA.
thanks for reading.