Source: Buck 119BR Review
Review: Buck 119BR is one of the best hunting knife if you are a hunter. If you’re not, it is definitely ok!
Buck 119BR is not only an awesome hunting knife but also one of the best survival knives I have ever bought. My first impression about Buck 119BR is it’s a beautiful knife. It somehow has got some elegant features. Compared to other survival knives in my hand, Buck 119BR is not the strongest one. It’s a razor sharp out of the box with an aggressive clip point. It doesn’t have a “barbarian muscular style”, though.
This Buck 119BR looks so beautiful that it should be put in your collection only. But in normal use, you’ll find it a fully functional fixed blade knife. The combination between brass and wood make the knife look very nice.
Buck, an American knife manufacturer started in San Diego, California and at the moment it’s located in Post Falls, Idaho. The company has a long history which has lasted through five generations of the Buck family from 1902 to now. Buck Kitchen knives primarily manufactures sport as well as field knives. It is credited along with inventing the actual "Folding hunting knife". Buck folding knives were so popular that the term "buck knife" has become synonymous with “folding lock back knife” including those produced by other producers. You can learn more about Buck Knives on Wikipedia
I bought my Buck 119BR for camping trips.It has a beautiful typical bowie design. The 420HC stainless steel blade of the knife is extremely sharp. It won't rust and will maintain a good sharpness for a long time. I always love knives with classic clip point.Clip point is perfect for hunting and fighting as its shape is ideal for stabbing and skinning.
Buck 119BR looks like a piece of art in general, but you shouldn't be deceived by its appearance. This is a very dangerous knife!
I've also seen other reviews on Internet about corrosion resistance of Buck 420HC, and it is highly rated. I personally think we should not do hard test on this knife. I kept Buck 119BR away from batoning woods, chopping braches of trees or other heavy duty tasks because I think they’re not what the knife is design for. Instead, Buck 119BR performs extremely well in fishing, hunting, skinning and even fighting. It fits my hand as well as lightweight enough to carry around my campsite all the time. The guard and pommel are made of polished brass, the handle is made of cocobolo wood which brings a warm feeling and classic appearance. I usually use Buck 119BR knife in my hunts for food in survival trips.
I remember one day in September, I stayed in a Thai forest with 2 guys for 4 days. They’re local people who work as my assistants as well as my interpreters. Because it was a long trip but we didn’t prepare enough food. On the last day of the trip, we ran out of food. WithBuck 119BR knife in my hand and a Kabar D2 Extreme Fighting knife in the backpack, I tried my luck of finding some food in the wild.
We looked for food separately to increase chance of finding some food. I went to a river because I knew we usually find a lot of food a long side the water. With Buck 119BR in hand I tried searching around. About 20 meters away from my stand, there was a wild cobra. In South East Asia nowadays, we cannot see many wild animals except snakes and catfishes. I know playing with a snake is not a good idea but at that time I just silently pick a long bamboo stick up, then got closer to the snake. I used the stick to keep the snake’s head on the ground. My Buck 119BR helped me to do the rest.
We had a decent dinner that day. But let me tell you this: if not necessary, please never try doing that. This is a dangerous game in which prey could become predator in a glance. If you have to do for survive please play teamwork.
Buck 119BR knife is a full-tang knife, meaning that the blade goes all the way through the handle and into the pommel, where it is attached with a brass rod. I think this is a big advantage because you can trust a full tang knife’s durability. When I was deciding which knife to get next, I considered this one, as well as the standard Buck 119. After sampling all two knives in a store, I liked the feel of the wood/brass handle better so I chose Buck 119BR.
Having only 10.5oz in weight, Buck 119BR’s balance point is about an inch behind the guard which makes it sit nicely in the palm (on the other two, the balance point was right at the guard). I personally like the heft of the knife, but I could see it’s getting tiring after extended use.
When I caught the handle of the knife, it seemed slightly smooth in my opinion. In case your hands tend to be wet, or you don't have a powerful grip, you might have a concern holding this adequately.
Buck 119BR Knife is the most admired fixed blade, no doubt. The special feature includes a 6" cut point 420HC Stainless Blade. Its overall length is 10-1/2" . The 119BR Unique also includes a Cocobolo handle with a polished metal butt as well as finger safeguard, and has a fitted dark leather sheath.
The Buck 119BR’ sheath was designed in a good form fitted for this knife. Somebody did not believe this sheath is leather because it’s too good. Believe me it’s leather – real leather. When I put the knife in the sheath, sheath’s strap hold around the handle. It not only keeps the knife in place securely but also protects the handle form scratching. Both the knife and the sheath are very well made. They’re all proudly MADE IN USA!
I think Buck 119BR is absolutely a must-have knife for every knife user/collector. It is really an eternal classic hunting knife that has been around for a long time like the 110 as well as 300 series. Buck knife is well known for having the ability to get a great temper out of the highly corrosion resistant 420HC.
Overall, I am very happy with the purchase and I highly recommend it to you. The actual 119BR Unique, like all Buck Knives, includes Buck's 4-Ever unrestricted life time warranty. If you’re a hunter/camper/knife collector, or you just like to join a game called “survival adventure” in your free time instead of laying on sofa, I think you should consider to have a Buck 119BR in your backpack. If you like Buck 119BR Hunting Knife just like me, you can get it here on Amazon. It is a great knife!
