I have for the past three years carried a Buck Vantage Pocket knife as my every day carry (EDC). I actually had two of these, the first one I lost after about a year. Its blade was the Sandvik 13c26 with the BOS Heat Treatment. The second one was Bucks Standard 440 Stainless with the BOS Heat Treatment. The 13c26 blade was INCREDIBLY hard and kept a an edge for a long time at first. The 440 had similar results, held the edge very well at first but after Six months of use I have sharpened into the meat of the blade more and noticed the edge would not hold up like when they were new. I used these like all my EDC knives nearly every day and for a variety of uses. It is not uncommon for me to have to sharpen a knife more then a few times. When I do this I generally use a cheap course sharpening stone. When I get home I use a finer stone to put a better edge on them. Here is a photo of the second Buck Vantage which I had used for nearly TWO years non Stop.
After a bit of constant use and sharpening I started to thin the blade some. (So much so that BUCK is no longer visible.) One reason I did this was that it greatly aided in cutting thick stuff like rubber or plastic.
The liner lock on this one has held up very well. I did mess up the first one by batoning through some small tree limbs. This resulted in the blade always being a little loose. I never used the second one in such a manner and it is still tight. The only real issue I have had with it was when I took it apart for cleaning. Shortly after I reassembled it all the screws became loose and I had to take it apart and use Thread Locker. This fixed the issue and I have not had any problems with it since.
This Year I have switched to Bucks New PaperStone Ecolite 11o model. I got the Grass Green version. I also bought a KWIK Thumb Stud to add to it. The only thing I have done to the knife itself was round the edges on the blade side of the handle with some sand paper. While it was not really an issue I felt it would make it more comfortable when I do some really hard cutting. I had done this on both the above knives as well. The Knife has worked well so far, however I have noticed that if you are really torquing on it you can feel some flex in the handle but have not had any malfunctions. I think this flex is because it does not have full Liners. The liners have had a large section in the middle removed to save weight. I don't see this causing any issue for normal use.
The KWIK Thumb Stud is USA Made and the one I purchased was in Stainless Steel. It attaches nicely to the blade and is held on by a Non Stainless Hex head screw. I did also use Thread Locker on the screw after deciding where on the blade I wanted it. This addition to the knife makes it easy to operate with one hand. It also makes a nice "CLICK" sound when opened. So far I have not had any issues with it and I do not expect too. I am sure this knife will serve me at least as well as the previous two.
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