Buck Pilot Knife Review
The Buck Pilot has been around for a few years. Judging by how much people talk about it, I’d say it’s one of Buck knives better sellers. Straight up you need to know that this is a knife imported from China. As so many manufacturers are doing today, they outsource a lot of their knife making over seas. I’ll be the first to tell you that I don’t think this is a good thing. The only reason I picked the Pilot to do a knife review is because I got it on sale, a very good sale matter of fact!
Anyway, this Buck Pilot comes with a partially serrated drop point edge. This is one area where I’ve changed my mind over the years. There was a time that I only preferred smooth edged knives. For some reason, I know prefer partially serrated knives. I don’t know, maybe my use habits have changed!
My particular Buck Pilot is a full sized stainless steel knife. The blade length is 3 3/8ths 420HC stainless steel. The overall length is 4 1/2 inches when closed and it weighs in the neighborhood of 4.2 oz.
It has a stainless steel clip so you can wear it either on a belt or the pocket. I prefer the pocket. I don’t really like everyone to see that I’m carrying a knife. Some folks get bent out of shape over stuff like that and in some States, it’s against the law. So be mindful of the politically correct police!
The Buck Pilot has a thumb stud that helps you open the blade. Now I’m not much for flicking my wrist trying to open a knife. You may think it’s cool but I think it just makes you look like you d0n’t know how to open a knife the right way. This is especially true if the knife doesn’t open the first time and you have to flick it more than once. You just end up looking really stupid!
Although this particular knife can be opened with one hand using the thumb stud (without flicking), I still prefer to use two hands unless I’m using the other one. It’s just plain safer. The knife also had a grip ridge at the top that helps in securing it while opening and using the knife.
One thing I was happy to see is that the Pilot came out of the box sharp. One of my pet peeves are new knives that come from the maker dull. To me it just screams that the knife maker is either to afraid to send out a sharp knife or their knives are junk and probably won’t hold an edge anyway (of course I know that’s not true, but if I didn’t know any better I might think it was true).
Closing the knife is done by moving a spring loaded locking lever to the side that allows the blade to fold up. This lever was pretty easy to move and the knife closed up smoothly. A lot more so that some other frame lock knives I’ve used!
When I field tested the Buck Pilot, I found the grip to be easy on my hands and easy to control. I have big hands and a lot of these folding frame locks don’t fit me well. The Pilot did and I appreciated that.
In the past, and I mean way back, a lot of Buck knives that I had were made of very hard steel and some were hard to put an edge on. This is the first new Buck knife I’ve bought in a long time. After giving it a good use, I was surprised at how quick it lost its edge, but even more amazing is how easy it was to put an edge back on the knife.
This always leads us back to the debate on what’s better, a knife that loses its edge quicker but is easier to sharpen, or one that holds an edge well and is more difficult to put an edge back on. I know I’m not your average knife user. I can put an edge on any knife out there. If I know I’ll be using a knife a good deal, I’ll carry a little pocket steel to keep my edge honed. Personally I like a knife that keeps its edge longer. But if you’re of the type that has trouble putting an edge on a knife, then this may be right up your alley.
The bottom line is this. If you need a cheap knife to throw in your pack or maybe one to carry on a day hunt, this knife may be your ticket. If you lose it, you’re out of about $15 to $20 bucks. It will be sharp enough to field dress a deer as long as you stay away from heavy cutting like splitting the rib cage or pelvis bone. It would make a good small game knife if you prefer folding knives.
Overall, I don’t think this Buck Pilot is half the knife of Bucks older USA made line like their still popular Buck 110 folding hunter. I have two of those knives and I don’t mind taking them hunting one bit. They’re USA made and hold an edge much better than the Buck Pilot and only cost around $10 to $15 more.
So there you my Buck Pilot review. The knife is a good value for what I paid for it. I got it for under $20 with some change left over. I personally wouldn’t pay more than $20 for one, but it’s your call. If I need a folding hunter from Buck, I’d pass on the Buck Pilot and go for the Buck 110. If I need something that I don’t care about losing or a knife to use for whacking on stuff like limbs or other objects, then I’ll pull out the Pilot!