Buck 112 Slim Pro Lockback Knife Marble Carbon Fiber (S30V)

Update: It didn't take long before this knife broke! Per my original review, I never actually used this knife and certainly never cut anything except paper a few times to show friends it was in fact sharp. I rarely even took it out of the box and the most stress it saw, by far, is the snap when it locks open, and that's when it happened... I opened it and the snap sounded wrong, the blade was loose and the pivot pin on the male side fell out. I could then see the OBVIOUS flaw in the design. It's not a barrel or sex bolt like normal knives have. Well, it's kind of a sex bolt but so poorly designed I wouldn't insult sexbots by calling it that. The male side is a tiny #2 screw and the end of the female side does not extend across to the other scale and offers no support for the male side! So any force on the pivot is directly leaning on the last thread of the tiny #2 male. I would love to talk to their design engineer about the thought process that led to this decision. Assuming they have a design engineer. To make things worse, the hole in the scales to accept the heads is too large and unique in shape to accept any barrel or sex bolt I could buy. It will be very involved if I decide to fix it correctly so I doubt that will happen. So my opinion is this knife is for show only, and I guess you should also depress the spine lock when opening to keep it from snapping and shocking it. It's a shame because I really like the looks and feels of this one but apparently, it's only rated to be a letter opener. Want to hear the worst part? I'm ashamed to admit I bought three of these things. I suppose I should rate it one star because this does make it virtually useless, but the rest of the knife is still excellent so I flipped a coin, and two stars it is. When the new Slim Ranger Pro TRX came out I bought that first thing because I want a 112 with removable fasteners and thought this one must be made correctly? I don't know how strong the TRX is because I never used it. I never used it because I'm embarrassed to show it to anyone and admit I paid for it, or admit it was made in the US. Judging by the workmanship it looks like it was made in china. I'd assume the S30V blades on their high-end knives would be done by the more skilled people, but apparently not. It is hands down the worst Buck blade I've ever seen, and I have >65 Buck knives. I suppose I'll swap a blade from one of my letter openers to it but even the scales are worse than any of my other Bucks. You'd think they'd be the same as the other Slim Pros, but they're not. So I think I'm done with Buck because I've noticed quality decline with time but these two models went too far. __________________________ Original review: I have all the Slim Buck folders from the cheaper (0112BKS1), the black G10, and the black G10 with red Micarta liner. I like them all but this one is my favorite. I don't carry it often because I don't want to end up scratching it, losing it, etc since there are only 1000 and I won't be able to get another down the road. As you know, the odds of damage/loss greatly increase with how much you like something. So for that reason, my EDC is a black G10 (0112BKS6). Now that this one has dropped in price I think I'll buy another today. The spring on all these folders is strong like the original 112, which is too strong IMO. So I take the knives apart to weaken the spring. All the other models are riveted together, but this one uses screws!!! This alone is worth the extra $ if you plan on taking it apart, but it also makes for a much nicer-looking knife. Even the clip is nicer with its spacers, which I didn't even notice until I had it in hand. The carbon fiber looks really cool but also feels cool. It's very smooth but not slippery, and hard yet feels very soft. Basically, it feels like wood after sanding with very fine paper. So with a second one, I won't worry so much about damaging/losing it and it may take the spot of my EDC.