Buck Knives Hunting Season Factory Sale

[ArfinGreebly]

Buck's having one of their one-week, 10:00am - 6:00pm, 50% off sales this week at their factory in Post Falls, Idaho.

Personally, I think it's a conspiracy. They only hold these things when I'm broke.

However, I did manage to swing by yesterday and pick up a couple of pieces.

I had hoped to pick up a new (spare) Vantage Avid for half off. *Sigh* They were out when I got there. However, they did have some Vantage Avid "factory blems" (manufacturing seconds). I decided, what the heck, and asked to see one. Box clearly says "factory blemish." Knife has the red sticker dot that's used to identify blems. Problem is, there's no blemish that I can detect anywhere near the red dot. Gal at the counter looks, also can find nothing. I check the blade closed position. Blade is very nearly perfectly centered. Open and close knife. Okay, it's a little stiff, but that will work out. Look over the whole knife. Can't find the blem. Oh, well, I'll take that one. (Hey, at half off the reduced blem price, even if it turns out there's a ding, it'll be fine.)

Vantage Avid, stock photo:

BU346GYS.jpg

As long as I was getting a half-off-on-reduced price on that, I had a few nickels and dimes left, so I grabbed one of the new Revel pieces (in yellow). It's kinda like a slightly smaller RedPoint, but without the serrations. I'd be happier if it were the same size and basic shape as the RedPoint, but it'll do (an extra half inch would do wonders for this design). I mostly got it so I could try out this new spin lock thing they're doing.

Got home and had a chance to look at both knives more closely.

The Vantage has a tiny burr by the rear screw hole on the obverse side, right behind the badge. What? That's it? Wait . . . where's the "FB" symbol that's etched on all factory blems? Hmm . . . not there. So, I have a well-centered, well finished Vantage Avid that's a little stiff opening and has a tiny burr at a screw hole? For less than half off? Well, broke or not, the knife gods have smiled. Heck, I may even leave the clip on this one.

On to the Revel.

Buck Revel, stock photo:

BU0766YWS.jpg

Okay, the SafeSpin opening system is gonna be a little bit of a problem for me, cuz I have arthritis in my right index finger. Still, it works well enough. They've supplemented it with a flipper tab which helps.

This is a very light knife, but very well constructed. Has removable/reversible tail-mount pocket clip (tip-up carry). Its blade is about the same length as my Buck 444, but thicker and more secure. Very sharp and slicy. The handle has some sort of grippy rubbery plastic insert. Holds the hand well.

However, that "grippy" business assures that I will be removing the pocket clip. It's actually small enough that I wouldn't use a clip anyway, and the texture of the handle (which would be hard on pocket fabric) seals the deal.

I'll move it into the EDC rotation and see how it does. For now, it's a handy little sucker.

Soon as my camera and I are both available at the same time, I'll grab some pix. I'm already behind on knife pix, so perhaps I'll do a whole spread.

[Smokey Joe]

Arfin Greebly--for the benefit of those of us who are not w/in an easy drive of Post Falls, ID, tell us please that the sale is mail-order, or website-based, as well as in the bricks-and-mortar Buck store!!

I'd LOVE to attend the sale, and see the Buck factory, and mebbe even meet one of the Bucks, but, my schedule is a little crowded to work in a 1500-mile one-way drive this week.

Envy, envy.

[catspa]

Only about 400 miles for me, and I still can't make it. I did, however, pick up a pre-letter Western L628 at a yard sale for 2 bucks last weekend.

Parker

[ArfinGreebly]

Well, no. Sorry.

However, it is mitigated by something on their site called "Web Specials."

For example, week before last, just before the sale opened, I ordered two Web Specials Paperstone Ranger 112 build-outs* at $20 each. The EcoLite 112 (which is the standard build of the 112 using Paperstone handles, available in maroon-red and granite-green) sells in stores for $42, and the black handled, matte finished version (the Paperstone Ranger) sells at the factory for $50, when you can get them.

But on the Web Specials page they're $20. They also have the 102 Woodsman build-out in Orangewood for $40. A normal wood-handled 102 is $88, and the standard phenolic-handled 102 is $68.

So you can get a specially built, limited production, fully warranted knife for half the normal price if you can catch it on the Web Specials page.

I narrowly missed a Cherry Dymondwood Vantage Avid (*not* a standard production) a few weeks ago for $30 simply because I was broke at the time.

If you check the Web Specials every few days, you can get the factory sale prices in a trickle (which is really all my wallet can handle).

The big difference is that, at the factory sale, EVERYTHING is half off at once. If you have a couple of grand spare that you wanna blow, and the factory sale comes along, you can score some amazing deals.

There's a regular who shows up at every one of these and walks out with literally cases of markdowns and factory "blems" (manufacturing seconds). He then takes them and puts them up on eBay. He typically sells them for somewhere between his price and MRSP. Buyer saves some money, he makes a bit, and the factory gets some inventory relief. But . . . every single piece is covered by Buck's factory warranty.

If the piece fails to function, they will make it right, blem or not.

Gotta love that.

* Build-outs:
From time to time, Buck has blades and handles left over from special order runs or limited productions, or simply a surplus of spares. They will take this assemblage of parts and use them to "build out" as many complete knives as they can. These are then sold at the factory sales or on line via their Web Specials page.
It is not unusual for these pieces to be non-standard combinations of steels and handle materials (like a red-handled Vantage, of which I have seen exactly one), and occasionally you'll get handle panel mismatches (brown on one side, red on the other, or two different shades of bone or stag), or odd combinations of bolsters and wood that you won't find available via retail, stuff like that.
Some of the Web Special "bargains" are not all that inspiring, but there will usually be a handful in any given week that are a good grab, if for no other reason than the fact they are unique.

[bifyjatyfe]

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