Buck 0722 Spitfire Folding Knife, by Thomas Christianson

The Buck 0722 Spitfire Folding Knife is a rugged, well-conceived, American-made design that is hampered somewhat by stiff blade deployment.

The Spitfire has a shaving-sharp, 3.25 inch blade made of 440HC stainless steel; a nicely-machined, anodized aluminum handle; a robust locking back; and a thumb-hole deployment notch. The knife weighs 3.2 ounces.

At the time of this writing, the knife had a manufacturer suggested retail price of $49.99 at www.buckknives.com. That is an excellent price for a good, American-made knife. If they can figure out a way to smooth out blade deployment, this will be an outstanding knife. With the stiffness that currently characterizes its deployment, I can only give it a qualified recommendation for people with a measure of patience and strong thumbs.

Background

I am always on the lookout for knives in the under $50 price range. There are good ones in that price range, so I know that it is possible. When those knives are also American-made, it is icing on the cake.

A disproportionate number of high-quality, reasonably-priced, American-made knives are manufactured by Buck Knives of Post Falls, Idaho. I don’t know how Buck manages to control both quality and cost so effectively, but I admire them for it. As a result, I regularly check out their product line when I am considering new knives to review.

During a recent scan of the Buck product line, I noticed the 0722 Spitfire. I was especially interested to note that the Spitfire has a thumb-hole deployment notch. I have become a growing fan of knives that utilize that method of deployment. The thumb hole allows for ambidextrous, one-handed deployment while being less prone to snagging than knives equipped with thumb studs.

An American-made knife under $50 with a thumb-hole proved impossible to resist. I placed my order. Not too many days later, a 4.5 x 1.25 x 1 inch padded envelope arrived in the mail.

First Impressions

The 4.5 1 1.25 x 0.94 inch paperboard product box had suffered rough treatment at the hands of the US Postal Service. I was happy to find that the knife inside the box was none the worse for the wear.

With strong enough bifocals, it was possible to glean much useful information from the product box. An American flag printed on the end of the box directed me to the label for details. The label informed me that the knife was “Made in the USA of USA parts and imported clip.”

The anodized aluminum handle provides a rugged build with a thin profile.

As mentioned above, blade deployment was surprisingly stiff. The thumb-hole contributed to a thin, snag-free profile while allowing for ambidextrous one-handed opening.

The blade was shaving sharp right out of the box. The 440HC stainless steel of which it is made is now considered a budget steel, but Buck’s cryogenic heat treating process brings the most out of that alloy. The resulting blade is durable, corrosion-resistant, easy to sharpen, and holds an edge surprisingly well. The blade is also sturdy, with a thickness of 0.13 inches at the spine. The jimping on the spine of the drop point blade helps to provide an extra measure of control during delicate cuts. This is accentuated by the way jimping is paired with the curve in the spine that surrounds the thumb hole.

The combination of a lock back and a sturdy aluminum frame results in a very solid lockup.

The robust pocket clip can be moved to four different positions, accommodating the preferences of absolutely everyone.

The Warranty

The box informed me that the knife has a “Forever Warranty.” A card inside the box contained details of the warranty. That warranty covers defects in material and workmanship, but does not extend to misuse, abuse, or even normal wear.

Defects in material and workmanship typically manifest themselves almost immediately. So I am not enthusiastic about using the term “Forever Warranty” when used to refer to a material and workmanship only warranty.

Of course, the appropriateness of the term is related to the attitude of the customer service department. Some customer service departments seem to think that if the blade falls off while you are taking the knife out of the box, it must be because you misused the knife by removing it from the box too hard. Other customer service departments seem to be of the opinion that if the knife melts when dropped into a blast furnace, it must be due to a defect in the metallurgy of the blade.

I have owned several Buck knives, and have never had cause to contact their customer service department. That in itself is a testimonial to the quality of their knives, since I tend to be hard on my knives. But if any SurvivalBlog readers have had reason to contact Buck Knives Customer Service, a brief report about that experience in the weekly Snippets Column would be deeply appreciated.

Testing

I clipped the knife to the back edge of my left front pants pocket and carried it daily for more than a month. During that time I used the knife for a variety of different tasks:

I opened a box in the church nursery. The box contained a toy that the Children’s Ministry Director wanted me to assemble. A child in the nursery asked me, “Why do you carry a knife.” I replied, “So that I can do things like open boxes.”
I opened packages containing the children’s devotional booklet Keys for Kids, the teen’s devotional booklet Unlocked, and the adult devotional booklet Our Daily Bread. We distribute these booklets in the church foyer as a way of encouraging our church family to spend time daily in the word of God.
I removed a staple from the manuscript of a translation of 1 Corinthians that I am proofreading. The manuscript was in the host language of the country where I served as a missionary back in the last century. I have been proofreading various portions of the Bible in that language for more than 25 years now. I hope that the new edition of the entire Bible in that translation will be published later this year.
I opened a package of Nielsen radio diaries. My wife, “Kari”, and I had agreed to track our listening for a week.
I opened a 40 pound bag of wild bird seed.
I pried up the head of a bent finishing nail. The nail was located over the closet in my daughter, “Rivka’s”, bedroom. Rivka and I had used the trap door over the closet to access her attic. We were installing some additional insulation. On the way out of the attic, I knocked a piece of molding off from the frame around the closet. I needed to remove the nail so that I could remount the piece of molding.
I opened a package of mini-books from New Growth Press. These books deal with a variety of current issues from a biblical perspective. We are preparing to distribute them from a rack in the church foyer.
I opened several 40-pound bags of rust-remover salt for our water softener.
I opened a 55-pound bag of dog food so that I could transfer its contents into smaller storage containers.
I opened the dog’s monthly dose of heartworm medicine.
I opened the dog’s monthly dose of flea and tick treatment.
I opened the seal on a water test kit.
I opened the package containing a new toilet paper wall mount. The inexpensive mount that we had installed 12 years ago was not holding up well. Kari decided that we ought to replace it with something that looked nicer and that was more durable.
I pried the wall anchors from the old toilet paper wall mount out of the wall so that we could replace them with the anchors for the new mount in the appropriate place.
I cut a strip of red, rip-stop nylon from a larger piece of nylon. I then tied the strip to a carabiner, and attached the carabiner to a line holding a tarp to the top of a wood stack. The red streamer marks that wood stack as the one next due to be moved into the woodshed.
I opened a package containing Volume 4a of The Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. I am preparing a sermon on John 3:1-21, and I wanted to glean some insights from the patriarchs of the church on that passage.

Throughout my testing, the only significant reservation that I had related to the Spitfire involved the stiffness in deploying the blade. I tried to reduce this stiffness by opening and closing the blade 100 times to break it in. The blade remained stiff. I tried loosening and tightening the pivot screw with a T10 bit. The blade still remained stiff. I tried lubricating the pivot point and the detent spring with sewing machine oil. Blade deployment still remained stubbornly stiff. I can only conclude that the stiffness is due to a design or manufacturing flaw. It is the only notable defect in an otherwise excellent design.

Conclusions

The Buck 0722 Spitfire has many characteristics of a really outstanding knife. It is sharp, rugged, attractive, corrosion resistant, locks up well, is easy to sharpen, reasonably priced, and American-made. Its only significant flaw is stiff blade deployment.

Perhaps someday Buck will develop a version of the Spitfire that solves the blade deployment problem. If they do, it will be a truly great knife. In the meantime, the Buck 0722 Spitfire is a knife that aspires to greatness but does not quite attain it.

Disclaimer

I did not receive any financial or other inducement to mention any vendor, product, or service in this article.