Buck Knives 538 Open Season Small Game Knife Review

Cadet Model 538 Open Season Small Game Knife

Past Gary Zinn

Illustration courtesy of Cadet Knives.

The stock-still blade hunting knives long made by Buck Knives (buckknives.com) are quite familiar to older hunters and outdoorsmen. The Buck Pathfinder, Woodsman, etc., are distinctive and well regarded for their design, part and immovability. These Buck Classic Fixed Blade Hunting Knives are amidst the few traditional outdoor knife designs that have endured to the present day. They and the Buck Model 110 lock dorsum binder recap the term "Cadet knife."

In just the concluding few years, Buck has launched a new Open Flavour line of knives. Currently, there are ii sets of Open Season knives, labeled the Pro Series and the Avid Series. The Pro Serial knives feature S35VN blade steel and micarta handles, while the Gorging Serial knives are made with 420HC steel and have handles of thermoplastic material. At that place are over a half dozen models or variants in each series.

The subject area of this review is the Model 538 Pocket-size Game pocketknife, in Avid Series configuration. (The Model 539 is the Pro Series version.) I give thanks the skillful folks at Cadet Knives for providing the review knife.

Specifications

• Model #: 0538RWS
• Blades shape: Drib bespeak, hollow basis
• Bract length: 3-three/8 inches (length of sharpened edge)
• Bract thickness: 0.120 inch
• Blade material: 420HC stainless steel (Rc 58-60)
• Bract terminate: Satin
• Handle textile: Thermoplastic (labeled "red wood")
• Weight: 2.75 ounces (4.5 ounces with sheath)
• Full length: seven-9/xvi inches
• Sheath: Heavy duty polyester
• State of origin: The states
• Warranty: Unconditional Lifetime
• 2018 MSRP: $75 (retail price discounted about 20%)

I establish much to like about the design and size of this knife. It is one of the smaller knives in the Open Flavour series and would non be the tool of pick for field dressing a mastodon. Information technology will serve well, though, for more mundane (and probable) tasks. It has the characteristics I expect for in a general purpose field knife; it is simple, tough, compact and versatile.

All of the Open Flavour fixed blade knives are elementary, in that they characteristic full tang blades with handle scales attached to the tang with cross bolts and cap screws. In that location are no other items of "furniture" added on. The only affair simpler is a skeleton handle or cocky handle.

A total tang, faced with virtually indestructible handle scales, equals a tough knife. Any knife can be damaged via abuse or severe mishap, but a total tang fixed blade knife with sturdy handle fabric makes for a high degree of strength and immovability.

Compact is a relative term. My dimensional criteria for a general purpose field knife include a blade with 3-1/4 to 3-1/two inches of cutting edge, a handle that is at least four inches long and a weight of five ounces or less.

The Small Game has a 3-three/8 inch bract, four-1/16 inch handle (including the finger choil) and weighs ii.75 ounces (4.five ounces with the sheath). I similar these dimensions. The knife is lite in the hand and on the belt, the working length of the blade is sufficient for most outdoor cutting tasks and the handle is only long plenty for a total-fisted grip with my medium-large hand.

Versatility is a function of blade size and geometry, complemented by good handle ergonomics. To me, a general purpose field knife should exist efficient at field dressing and skinning deer, cleaning small-scale game, fish and doing any number of other cut chores. A drib indicate blade contour is a very good (and popular) pick in outdoor knives, because drop point knives more often than not have this kind of versatility.

My only reservation nearly the blade profile of the Small Game pocketknife is it is a bit more slender than the norm for drop points and therefore does not have quite enough curve in the belly to exist highly efficient every bit a skinning knife.

The satin finished blade sports the characteristic Buck high hollow grind, with the last sharpened edge formed past a narrow micro bevel. The factory border hands fabricated my top qualitative rating of sharpness, Extremely Sharp.

The steel is 420HC stainless, a long time mainstay in the Buck product line. Steel freaks may judge 420HC unfavorably in this age of super steels, but information technology remains a bract steel of proven functioning and it sharpens easily. Anyone who wants a premium steel in a Cadet Open up Flavour knife tin opt for something from the S35VN line (e.g., the Model 539), at about twice the price of the equivalent pocketknife with 420HC.

The blade is 3mm (0.12 inch) thick at the spine. It tapers from fifteen/16 inch broad simply forward of the finger choil to 3/4 inch wide at the midpoint, then tapers more apace to the tip. This continuous, increasing taper accounts for the lack of a pronounced belly in the blade.

At that place is a modest area of jimping on the spine, just forward of the choil. This is nice if 1 wants to utilise the knife with a thumb-on-top power grip.

There have been some confused quotations of both blade and handle length. Facts: the useable working length of the handle is 4-ane/xvi inches, measured from the butt to the lip of the finger choil. The sharpened edge of the blade is 3-3/8 inches long, while the overall length of the knife is 7-9/xvi inches. The handle scales are 3-1/2 inches long, so they do not fully encompass the finger choil area; this, I think, is the crusade of the conflicting length measurements.

Buck has hit a home run with the Open Season handle design. The handle profile looks mod and stylish. More than chiefly, the handle shape is quite ergonomic, so Open Flavour knives feel secure, handle deftly and can be worked hard without hand fatigue.

My introduction to the Open Season handle blueprint was on the Buck Model 550 Selector 2.0 Folding Pocketknife. I was impressed with the feel of the handle right away and handling the Selector and subsequent Open Season knives has reinforced that impression. These knives have ameliorate ergonomics than almost of the electric current generation of new knife designs.

Handles are sized in proportion to the length and majority of blades, then there are no universal measurements of handle dimensions for the Open Season knives. The Small Game and Caper are the smallest knives, and then their handles are somewhat more svelte than those of larger knives. To illustrate, the 4-i/16 inches long Small Game handle is 5/8 inch thick at the middle, with width ranging from ix/sixteen inch at the throat of the index finger groove to one inch at the flared butt.

Past comparing, the Selector 2.0 handle is four-3/four inches long, three/iv inch thick at the heart, with width ranging from three/four inch to i-1/4 inches. Someone with very large hands would likely find the Selector more comfortable to hold and utilise than the Small Game. In general, the Open Flavour handles should fit nearly all users well.

The Pocket-size Game pocketknife has perfect neutral remainder in the paw. Proper balance is an important attribute of a working pocketknife, so I am glad to written report favorably in this case.

Buck says that the handle scales of this knife are "ruddy wood." This is disingenuous; the scales are carmine in color and superficially look like forest, simply the cloth is thermoplastic. (I did a biopsy!) In fact, actual redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) would make a terrible knife handle material, because it is quite soft. Compared with rosewood (Dalbergia spp.), redwood is only half as dense and ane-sixth every bit hard. Rosewood is a good natural handle material, redwood would be very poor. (I studied forestry in college, and then I know how to evaluate wood backdrop.)

Despite having called out Cadet on this, I am totally okay with the handles on this knife. Thermoplastic is a suitable handle fabric for a moderately priced working pocketknife. I actually like the expect of the faux forest scales on this knife, peculiarly compared with the "muddy water" camo scales on some other Open Season variants.

Buck striking a second homer when they redesigned the sheaths for the stock-still blade Open Season knives. Sheaths for the Avid Series knives are polyester ballistic material and leather for the upscale Pro Series knives. There is nothing startling about the materials, simply there is something different almost these sheaths. They are open backed, except toward the tip, and take a rigid plastic inner frame and liner.

When the Small Game knife is inserted into the sheath, the finger choil fits into a rounded shelf on the liner, then the pocketknife is secured in place with a snap strap. This system is very secure and it is easy to both sheathe and unsheathe the knife. Here is an image that shows the sheath blueprint, though the plastic frame/liner is not apparent.

Illustration courtesy of Cadet Knives.

The Gorging Series sheaths are high quality, for they are made of heavy weight ballistic cloth, are well constructed and have a generous belt loop. They add value to the knife/sheath bundle.

Conclusion

Besides the fixed blade knives, the Open Season line includes a folding bract design, in both Avid (Model 556) and Pro (Model 557) variants. In addition, the Model 550 Selector 2.0 shares the handle design of the Open Flavour folders.

I have now had opportunity to review the Selector, the Pocket-sized Game and the Model 557 folder. What I have learned leads me to believe the Open Flavor knife line bids fair to become a new archetype family of knives for Cadet. They should assist the visitor maintain a prominent position in hunting/outdoor knives for a long time to come.

I take only one problem with the Buck Open up Season Small Game knife. I cannot decide whether to proceed it for myself, or give it to i or some other of my great-grand nephews.

Annotation: See the Cutlery: Knives, Cutting and Chopping Tools index page for Buck Pocketknife reviews.

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Source: https://www.chuckhawks.com/buck_538.html

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