IBM Model F Buckling Spring vs Kailh BOX Jade
The IBM Model F Buckling Spring and the Kailh BOX Jade do not fit the same keyboard, so this comparison starts with what you already own rather than with how either one sounds. Our full switch library links the two to each other for that reason. Play the A/B bursts below to hear them back to back, match the volumes, then read the spec table and the verdict.
Hear them back to back
simulated from real specssound loads on your first tapShortcuts: press A or B anywhere outside a text box to fire that burst. Use the volume trims to loudness-match the pair before judging which sounds better.
Spec by spec
| Spec | IBM Model F Buckling Spring | Kailh BOX Jade |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Clicky | Clicky |
| Brand rates force at | actuation | actuation |
| Actuation force | 62 g | 50 g |
| Bottom-out force | not published | 65 g (our estimate) |
| Pre-travel | 2.3 mm | 1.8 mm |
| Total travel | 3.8 mm | 3.6 mm |
| Silent (dampened) | No | No |
| Factory lubed | No | No |
| MX-compatible stem | No | Yes |
| Price tier | Premium | Mid-range |
| Street price | varies | varies |
IBM and Kailh both advertise an actuation force, so the two headline figures in this table are measured at the same point and can be read against each other. Kailh publishes no bottom-out figure for the Kailh BOX Jade, so the figure marked "our estimate" is our own derivation from the forces that are published rather than a rating. How that derivation works .
Verdict
The type row says clicky twice, which undersells it: these two clicks are produced by different mechanisms. Check your board first: the IBM Model F Buckling Spring does not use an MX style stem, so the two are not interchangeable in the same keyboard. 12 g at actuation is a bracket apart, not a shade, and it is the IBM Model F Buckling Spring carrying the heavier end at 62 g. The scoring splits them: the Kailh BOX Jade for gaming and typing, the IBM Model F Buckling Spring for a shared office. Read that office call as relative: the IBM Model F Buckling Spring clicks too, just less insistently.
- Gaming pick
- Kailh BOX Jade
- Typing pick
- Kailh BOX Jade
- Office pick
- IBM Model F Buckling Spring
Force curves
IBM Model F Buckling Spring
IBM publishes no bottom-out force for this switch, so the dashed end of the curve is an estimate, not a spec. Everything up to actuation comes from the published numbers.
Kailh BOX Jade
Kailh publishes no bottom-out force for this switch, so the 65 g at the end of the stroke is our estimate and the run into it is dashed. Everything up to actuation comes from the published numbers. How we derive it.
IBM Model F Buckling Spring or Kailh BOX Jade: the long answer
This pair has a fit problem to clear before feel or sound matter. The IBM Model F Buckling Spring does not use an MX style stem, so it will not drop into a standard hot-swap board or accept ordinary MX keycaps. The IBM Model F Buckling Spring is premium priced, while the Kailh BOX Jade is mid priced. Neither ships lubed, so budget an evening with a brush if you want either at its best.
The specs are the smaller half of this pair, but they are not nothing. Springs split them by 12 g at actuation: 62 g for the IBM Model F Buckling Spring, 50 g for the Kailh BOX Jade. Neither the trigger point nor the depth matches: 1.8 mm to actuation on the Kailh BOX Jade against 2.3 mm, and 3.6 mm of total travel on the Kailh BOX Jade against 3.8 mm. The stroke itself is shared: both stack a click mechanism on a bump you already feel. With the stroke shared, that spring gap does most of the deciding here.
What the table cannot tell you is how either one lands in a room. The IBM Model F Buckling Spring sits at higher-pitched ringing ping-click off a metal backplate; the Kailh BOX Jade answers with loud, crunchy, metallic double click; unapologetic. They do not even click the same way: a spring buckling against the hammer on the IBM Model F Buckling Spring against a click bar snapping inside the housing on the Kailh BOX Jade, which is most of the tonal difference you are hearing. Either way, both of these are heard by everyone in the room, so the choice between them is a choice of tone and not of volume. Worth repeating: the audio here is a simulation built from specs and community descriptions, not a recording of either switch.
The split is simple. Buy the Kailh BOX Jade for how it plays and how it writes: it wins on a lighter spring at actuation and a shorter distance to actuation, and at the keyboard all day, the click is a metronome for a long draft, which some writers will not give up. Buy the IBM Model F Buckling Spring if other people have to sit near it, as neither of these belongs in a quiet shared room, and this is only the less punishing of the two clicks. Match the trims above, play both, and trust whichever one you keep replaying.
There is more on both than a head-to-head can carry. Start with the IBM Model F Buckling Spring page and the Kailh BOX Jade page. Or leave switches aside for a minute and run your current keyboard through the free keyboard tester.
Frequently asked questions
Is the IBM Model F Buckling Spring or the Kailh BOX Jade the better gaming switch?
We pick the Kailh BOX Jade for gaming. It takes this one on a lighter spring at actuation and a shorter distance to actuation, which is what a fast repeated press actually cares about.
Which is quieter, the IBM Model F Buckling Spring or the Kailh BOX Jade?
Neither is quiet. Two click mechanisms means two switches that broadcast every press, and picking between them will not save your colleagues. If noise decides this, look at a silent tactile instead.
Is the IBM Model F Buckling Spring heavier than the Kailh BOX Jade?
The IBM Model F Buckling Spring, and the comparison is clean: actuation on both sides, 62 g to 50 g.
Can the IBM Model F Buckling Spring and the Kailh BOX Jade go in the same keyboard?
No. The IBM Model F Buckling Spring does not use an MX style stem, so it needs a board built for it and will not take ordinary MX keycaps, while the Kailh BOX Jade is a standard MX switch. Whichever you pick decides the keyboard, not the other way round.
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