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Benchmade Knives

I'll start this off by saying I like Benchmade knives, have one in my pocket now (Mel Perdue automatic). There are several in my desk drawer including a titanium liner lock with rosewood scales and a mini Pardue automatic. I think they are better made than most anything excepting maybe Emersons and I really like the design.

That said I have THREE broken Benchmade Mel Pardues sitting in front of me. Yes I use knives hard, they are a working tool. Two were sent back to Benchmede a few years back by way of my dealer and they were sent back to me in the same condition. The excuse was they had been abused and thus they would not touch them.

Great knives, customer service sucks.

In comparison I sent in an old Buck 110 I got back in 1973 or so to Buck and it was fixed no problem.
 
I always stop by their booth at IWA to talk. Nice guys. I bought 10 knives from them over the last 10 years. I lost 2 of them on holiday, one was stolen but still have enough to play with:).
 
I have a Benchmark that just fits my hand perfectly. Still sharp but, I don't use it much. I also have a nice folding Buck that somehow I busted off a tiny(?) bit of the point. It has my initials carved on the handle. It was given to me by my deceased wife in 1980. I called Buck Knives and they said they would send me a new one but, I would have to send the old one in first. They couldn't guarantee I would the old one back. Not happening.
 
At one time, I was a great Benchmade fan. We used to buy a lot of them to give to customer's & employee's.
We bought 10 of the Anniversary edition Infidel's when they came out. The one that I kept for myself broke the spring mechanism and wouldn't extend / retract the blade.
Benchmade had a big booth at the NRA Convention in Dallas that year, so I took the knife with me and showed it to them. They couldn't fix it there, so they filled out a repair form and took it back to the factory with them.
A week or so later I get an email from UPS that my knife was shipped - Shipping tag was made, along with a tracking #. Waited a few days and checked the tracking # - Nothing!
Called UPS and was told they haven't picked it up. Called Benchmade and they couldn't locate my knife.
So, Some A-hole that works at Benchmade stole my limited edition knife. No problem, Just make me another one with the same serial# on it. Benchmade says they can't do that, We only made so many of them!
How hard can it be to paint / annodize a couple pieces on a knife, and laser engrave my serial # on it? I have the original box, certificate, and limited edition coin that came with it, and one of your employee's stole my knife- it was never shipped.

In the end, all I got was a standard Infidel to replace my Limited edition, and they allowed me to pick any knife from their catalog for my inconvenience. So I picked the most expensive knife they had at the time.
I'm still pissed off about it, and will never spend another dime on a Benchmade product!
 
Harder steel holds an edge longer but is also more brittle, I ran across a chart including the latest "super steels" showing the near perfect correlation. Obviously harder is more difficult to sharpen as well, so the best compromise must suit the user. But strong customer service rules!
 
I bought a Benchmade in the late 90's, titanium tanto, chisel grind half serrated folder. Back then I think it was around $250 and was a production copy of an Emerson handmade if not mistaken. The action was terrible so I carried it as a backup and used it often to loosen and break it in, which it shouldn't have needed. cutting the normal stuff it wasn't long before the edge rolled. I sent it back for the edge roll and action service. They returned it or a replacement under warranty. The action on it was stiff and within no time the edge rolled. It went to the garbage. I doubt this is typical but my patience was thin and I run out of time to fuss with them.
 
BartsBullets said:
Not if you get a benchmade with blade made out of CPM-S90V
Click to expand...
I kept a Bugout with graphite scales and CPM-S90V steel. It was a great knife, but recently it was stolen out of my truck glove box...:( I have another custom knife made out of S35VN, it's a much nicer knife but I preferred the thin profile of the Bugout. As for the steel, I have no idea, I just use my EDC for whatever task comes up, it'll open boxes, cut straps, and whatever I need a knife to do. Cut fruit, no problem, even a steak. I try not to use my knives as a screwdriver, that's what a Swiss Army Knife is for.

I have a Benchmade Hidden Canyon for skinning small game. It is also CPM-S90V.

Neither of my Benchmade knives with S90V were very sharp from the factory. Both purchased from REI. After I sharpened them at about 29 degrees (that's 14.5 degrees per side) they were very sharp. Last year I used my Hidden Canyon to skin 1/2 a pig, it's a very comfortable knife to skin with, even though it's only got a blade that is slightly less than 3" but it has 2 sets of jimping on the top of the blade and is very comfortable to dress game with. Also has a G10 handle so it won't suck up blood.

That said, I plan to make my own drop point hunter pattered after the Bob Loveless. drop point hunter. R.I.P. The only reason is that I like to make my own tools...I think of it as blacksmith mentality.
 
I saw this thread and thought "man, I gotta have a Benchmark". 30 minutes later I realized they don't have anything I'm interested in. I don't like any of there designs. I'll stick with my Rat ll in D2 for less than $50. That's high end enough for me.
 
I’ve packed a knife since I was 3 years old, never without at least one in my pocket, i don’t know how many I own but lots n lots of them!… I own 6 Benchmade folding lock blade knives and there nice I’ve bought twice that many as gifts to my hunters and cousins but there no better than a $80 Case which are my favorite everyday knives. I’m glad to hear you had good luck with their customer service. I am curious why people send there knives back to the factory for sharpening?…. I sent one back in my life and it was a high dollar ceramic knife that I’ll never make the mistake of buying again. But any knife worth its weight in salt can be sharpened in the back side of your belt quickly if you never let it get real dull and if that happens a few strokes on a stone , steel or ceramic and you can shave with it again.
Back to benchmade im very Conservative and due to some of there politics I doubt I’ll be buying anymore of them. I wouldn’t mind buying a Spyderco they have a couple fixed blades that don’t look to bad but all there folding blades I’ve ever seen looks like it came outta Star Wars or something there not a normal usable blade for sure.
Wayne
 
LVLAaron said:
I'll be that guy... I'm a spyderco guy.... I've had some benchmades... and the omega springs tend to break on them...
Click to expand...
I was a bench fan boy until I had a few break. I found it silly they wouldn’t ship out the springs it had to be an in house repair. I moved to spyderco also.
 
I use to think the Solingen German carbon steel was the thing on Eye Brand and such. But I don’t think the quality of steel is still there now.
 
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