303 Buck Cadet

Like many of you who may be looking at this knife, I had a knife like this when I was very young. I have no idea what happened to it. I hadn't really thought about it until recently, when I've been more interested in small knifes with slipjoints - things that are non-threatening that can just disappear in a pocket. I was given a new old timer a few years back - and it, bluntly, was awful. It wasn't the knife I remembered in so many ways, from the overall feel of it to the build quality. In particular, it felt like it was going to rip my fingernails off every time I tried to open it. So I never used it, and ultimately gave it away. I didn't think about the American classic knives again until recently- After the old timer, I thought that maybe I was fondly remembering a knife I had when I was younger while overlooking the flaws inherent to them, and maybe all slipjoints were like this. Then I used a modern slipjoint and realized that I was way wrong. This renewed my interest in the classic knives. I looked through a few, and when I started looking at the US made bucks and saw people complaining that the spring wasn't strong enough and similar, I got excited. Because here's the deal - A spring is really supposed to be enough to bias the knife towards a closed position if it's anything less than half open, and enough to keep it open so that it doesn't just fall on your fingers. Folders, in general, shouldn't be used for tasks that would allow the slipjoint to close - there's no need for a stronger spring than required to keep it open/closed without any looseness. And too strong of a spring is asking for accidents when things spring shut. Do you want an automatic knife with it's functionality reversed - i.e. manual opening, spring loaded closing? No, of course not. Nobody does. But that's basically what you get with too strong of a spring. Us "knife guys" have become accustomed to liner locks, compression locks, AXIS locks, and other locking mechanisms, and it's easy to see these as "better," and completely ignore the slipjoints -- and I think that's a mistake. There's an elegance and simplicity in the mechanism, it's a reminder of the knives intention. And if you, like me until recently, have only used the ones that seem to require a fingernail made out of high carbon steel that's held on to your skin with two part epoxy, and finger muscles that you can visibly flex - then you are missing out on what a good slipjoint is like. I have no issues with the build of this knife. Tolerances are well within what you'd expect, nothing is loose. The blades may not be the sharpest out of the factory, but that's fine because they are beveled evenly and appropriately. There is a bit of residue on it that I'm assuming was either a remnant of the finishing of the blade, or some sort of protectant. The knife could use a bit of lubrication at the joints for the smoothest possible action, but it's not bad out of the box. About the only thing I'd like from the slipjoint is a detent for the halfway position, but that's honestly not necessary, it just feels nice. Some of you may turn up your nose at 440 stainless, but having been a "knife guy" for a long time, I've realized that "premium" steel largely doesn't matter as much as I thought it did. For an every day folding knife, it's strong enough, it will hold an edge well enough, it's easy to sharpen, it holds up to corrosion "good enough", and most importantly - it's a classic knife steel that still keeps the price reasonable that doesn't need a ton of care. So is this perfection from a knife engineering standpoint? No, but very little is, and that's not the point of this knife. The point of this is, IMO, to have a well made American classic that will look good and hold up for actual use. And for the price, getting a US made knife of this quality is a rarity. Look - I'm not a rah-rah, flag-waving, truck driving sort of guy. I'm not the normal market for Buck knifes. Some would probably call me a Coastal Elite (they'd be wrong, but they'd still call me that.) But I believe in American labor, and I appreciate a classic knife like this. I feel a bit of national pride every time I open this knife. Few knifes can claim the heritage of the Stockman knife (yes, this is a "cadet", but really... it's a stockman) - everyone who claims to like knives should have one of these, and this is one that the people who don't identify as "knife people" can appreciate as well, be it as an everyday utilitarian tool that disappears in a pocket (in a good way), or simply as a bit of US heritage and history in your pocket. This is the rare knife I can recommend to absolutely anyone.

I ordered the Rosewood handle version of this knife. Received it today and was a little apprehensive because of some of the negative reviews due to quality or weak springs. I'll have to say everything about this knife is excellent and reflects the outstanding craftsmanship of USA made products. This knife is heads and shoulders nicer than any comparable China made product. I consider it heirloom quality -vs- China disposable quality. The fit and finish of everything on this knife is 100%. From perfect mating surfaces between the wood and brass on the sides to the finish on all the materials. Absolutely no complaints. All functioning components on this knife work exactly as expected. The blades open smoothly with what I consider to be the perfect amount of tension applied by the springs (which I'll discuss later). When the blades are open there is no noticeable wobble from side to side. All blades arrived sharp and ready for business. First let's address MINOR quality issues reported by other reviewers. Buck warranties their knives for life. Personally if I received something less than USA quality I would address it with Buck directly and ask for an exchange. Alternatively you could exchange it on Amazon. This should resolve any minor issue. Now for MAJOR quality issues like knives looking used. My instinct is anyone reporting major flaws like this may be attempting to get a free replacement knife for something they've owned for a while and haven't taken care of. I can think of no instance on Amazon where I've ordered something like this (which is new) and received something heavily used. I order a lot of product. So right out of the box I don't believe these reviewers. In any case if they really did receive something unsatisfactory they should return the product instead of issuing a review on an item that shouldn't have been shipped by a vendor in the first place. Spring tension. I personally don't think a lot of people understand what the purpose of the spring in a pocket knife is for. It is NOT for securing the knife in an open position if backward pressure (like folding it from open to closed - which can occur if you stab straight into something) is applied on the blade. The spring's sole purpose is to hold the blades fully closed, or fully open, and require minimum force by the user to change the blade's position. In my opinion the tension applied is perfect on this knife. I've had knifes with stiff springs and all that accomplishes is to put a lot of undue pressure on my fingernails when opening and it encourages bad habits when using the knife. If you need a knife which will not close on you when using (for whatever reason) then you need to get one with a locking mechanism. In summary this knife is exactly what I expected and reflects the pride and craftsmanship of our countrymen, and women.

I purchased this for whittling and woodworking, I've never been much of a granddad knife guy, but I'm impressed with this for the price. My edc knife is a spyderco delica wave, which is a fantastic piece of modern engineering and workmanship at a reasonable price, and I don't think the Cadet is going to supplant it in my pocket. But heck, it sure is small, cool looking, and the blades are decently sharp. The grind quality isn't up to spyderco standards, the blades have a little bit of recurve ground into them and the Spey blade doesn't have a sharp tip, but they all are hair popping sharp, so I can't really complain, I'll do a little work on the diamond stones if I need to castrate a bull anytime soon. There is nothing wrong with the fit and operation of this knife, the finish is perhaps a little rough around the edges, but I don't expect any better for an inexpensive USA made product, it is nicely done overall. I honestly like the black plastic scales, but seeing as I like this knife, I may someday spring for a wooden handled model, which would look even better. I feel good about giving this product 5 stars. I'm not a Buck fanboy and was not expecting to like this as much as I do, so I may try out a couple more if this proves to be a workhorse. This is one of the better made in USA values I've come across as of late, kudos to the Buck people for striking a nice balance of price and quality.

So far so good. I don't mind products made in China if they exhibit quality, however many Chinese made knives will not take an edge for anything. I have the Chinese version of this (373) but I just can't stand the steel. That 420j is crap-ola, but the fit and finish is amazing. The made in USA 303 Cadet is a fine small 3 blade pocket knife. The 420HC steel is head and shoulders better than the other. It takes a wickedly razor sharp edge with virtually no effort. The scales are made of black plastic with grippy molding. This knife is not a heavy duty use combat knife. It's a light to medium task small pocket knife for light duty tasks like slicing candy bars or fruit, opening packages, light whittling or minor detail work. Again It is a small pocket, which is why I bought it. I like small because I have other things to put into my pockets as well and don't need them weighed down with big useless knives. As I've gotten older and better with my knife skills, smaller is better and even my Victorinox Super Tinker is just to big for daily carry. I pair this with a Victorinox Executive on my keys for the scissors nail file and toothpick.

Best little pocket knife ever. Love this model. I bought three of them.

It's embarrassing how many black dlc coated tactical, spring assisted, flipper, pocket clipped super steel knivez I own (which by the way ain't cheap, and sort of silly as I've never really needed one in my quiet everyday life) Sometimes you just grow weary of all that jazz and want to trade it all in for a more traditional route. I love this classic pattern (It was good enough for grandpa). Inexpensive great quality and made here in the U.S. slips right in your pocket and won't raise any eye brows at the office when you pull it out to cut up your avocado or open up a flax pack. Hope this helps Cheers

I've owned several Buck knives over the years and every one of them have been more than satisfactory. Buck builds really nice knives at a good price point. They don't polish their blades to a mirror finish or use exotic steel in the majority of their knives but they do a great job with their 420HC stainless. I'm really a fan of Buck's way with their blade steel and I have no complaints. This 303 came fairly sharp but took on a hair-popping edge with just a little work. The three different blades are nice to have for a variety of cutting tasks. The Rosewood panel covers look good and the brass hardware adds to the overall handsomeness of this knife. Consider that the size is rather small but it carries well in a pocket without weighing you down. You can spend just about same amount of money and get a pretty sorry excuse for a knife. You can also get a nice Case knife. In general I like Case knives better than Buck due to their "gussied up" polish and choice in handle materials as well as Case CV carbon steel blades. At one time, I considered Buck's stainless superior to Case's stainless but more experience has indicated to my satisfaction that the two blade steels are comparable. That is, both are excellent. So, for a good stainless knife in a very easy to carry size, I think this 303 is a good choice.

Good knife holding a sharp edge better than other knives I’ve had glad I made the purchase a knife that I recommend to others

außerordentlich schönes kleines taschenmesser. verarbeitung ok aber nicht super. trotzdem ein , zugegebenermaßen teures, tolles jeden tag messer. wer den stylefaktor außer acht lässt ist aber mit einem victorinox besser beraten

Un coltellino da tenere sempre a portata di mano, ideale per piccoli lavori di intaglio/incisione. Le tre lame (clip, pen e coping) sono perfette e di acciaio 420HC. Qualità Buck, cioè al top!