If you’re just interested in finding the lowest prices on a Buck 119 or to read other Customer reviews, click here.

The Buck 119 Special has a 6 inch blade and is 10 1/2 inches overall. The blade steel is a 420HC steel that Buck uses in most, if not all, of it’s knives. It’s an older type of steel but it still works great today. It’s not the hardest knife steel out there, but it holds an edge well and is easy to resharpen if you know what you’re doing.

The handle is Phenolic, which I believe is a type of extra hard plastic. I could be wrong because I’m not aware of any other knife company who uses it. I love the look of this handle material, plus it has ever so slight finger grooves at the bottom. The handle is not as slippery when wet as you might think, or at least it wasn’t for me.

The guard and butt are aluminum, so don’t go using the butt for a hammer or you’ll ding it up!

Older Buck 119 Specials came with leather sheaths. I guess in an attempt to cut cost, Buck has started shipping many of the newer ones out with nylon sheaths, but they do still offer the leather ones if you look hard enough. They’re still a good sheath, but I prefer leather. You can find the leather sheaths online at several place for between $10 and $15. I’ve even seen custom leather sheaths for the Buck 119 Special on ebay for around $25.

Two other great features about this knife are that it’s made in the U.S.A. Plus, it comes out of the bubble pack razor sharp! If that was the only two things this knife had going for it, those two things alone would make it worth the price! I simply can’t stand a knife manufacturer who sends out dull knives!

What is the Buck 119 Special Good For?

In my opinion and experience, the Buck Special is too large for field dressing deer and other big game such as Elk. The 6″ clip point blade is just too unwieldy and it makes puncturing intestines or the stomach a real possibility. Not to mention cutting yourself when working up in a chest cavity of an animal.

I’ve seen some reviews where the people say they use it to clean small game such as squirrels and rabbits…umm…yeah! I’ve created hundreds of gut piles in my time from all types of big and small game animals including and up to Moose. The best all around blade length for getting the insides of an animal on the outside is a 3″ to 4″ blade, preferably with a drop point.

Two things that I do use if for when I have an animal down is splitting the brisket and the pelvis bone. I cut through the hide and mean down to the brisket, find me a good stout stick and hammer the knife from back of the rib cage to the front. This makes getting to the guts an easy chore. The same goes with the pelvis. Take a good club and whack the Buck through and get the remaining intestines out of the canal that runs through the pelvis. This job is make much easier with a small saw, but if my saw is forgotten and I have the Buck, the job goes just as quickly using a club.

So what other uses do I use the Buck 119 for? I use it as a general camp knife when I’m camping. I also carry it trapping and hiking. It’s a great all around general use knife.

If you don’t have a Buck 119 Special, get yourself one ASAP! If you have one, you know what a great knife it is, so get you another one!

Compare Prices on the Buck 119 Special Fixed Blade Knife

Lowest Prices on a Buck 119 at the time of this writing… *with Leather sheaths

Amazon.Com = $46.89
Knifecenter = $49.95
Cabelas = $54.99
Oregon Knife Shop = $58.95

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!

Having said all the above, I will say that although I love knives, I really, really hate cheaply made knives! Especially all the junk that is being imported into the U.S. today. I think if a person is going to own a knife, then own a good quality knife. Don’t be a cheapskate and buy some puny junk knife made from junk iron from some country you can’t pronounce!

Sadly, many of the traditional knife makers in this country have sold out to foreign interest. What were once well made, quality knives are now nothing but cheap junk. Unfortunately the average consumer hasn’t kept up with the times and do not know that the knives they had as kids are now made of low grade steel with low grade components.

I intend to give you thorough and realistic knife reviews. If the knife is junk, I’m going to tell you. If it’s worth spending your hard earned money on, then I’ll tell you that as well. I believe every man should own one good knife and know how to use it, care for it and sharpen it. But in today’s society, that’s asking way, way too much! Heck, there are a lot of women out there who can handle a knife better than a lot of men!

Feel free to drop me a line if you have any comments, suggestions or would like for me to review a particular knife. You can use our handy Contact page to get in touch with me. I like talking knives so you can also use the comment section after each post to leave your thoughts about the article. Just remember, on this blog, comments close on a post after 30 days. Too many people trying to spam the site. Also, all comments will have to be approved by me before they are published.

So sit back, get your favorite hunting knife by your side and browse the website. Don’t be a lurker, drop me a line and let me know what you think about the new site. Heck, you can even tell me about your favorite hunting knife!