AFOII: Any Good?

M

Mitch Taldison

Joined
Jan 26, 2019
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87
Guys I was recently issued a Benchmade AFOII knife by my unit and am wondering if these knives are considered any good? I looked up prices and boy are they high. Are these considered a quality made knife? Why so expensive, are they worth the money? This is the model we got in:

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I normally just carry a $15 Douk-Douk knife and don’t know a thing about Benchmades other than that they appear very costly and it has a purty butterfry on it. Thankfully Uncle Sam bought mine. Any thoughts on these knives?

Thanks gang,

-Mitch
 
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i don’t own that model but i do own 10+ benchmades including one auto & they are all outstanding. the materials, blade steel, fit & finish, etc, are all way above what you get with a cheaper knife. they are more expensive but they are built for a lifetime of use.
 
Easily the best auto they’ve ever made. Mine has seen all kinds of abuse and just keeps asking for more. It’s the knife I carry when I know there will be blood and guts, or water submersion.
 
I quite like that substantial looking handle.


Cypress said:
Easily the best auto they’ve ever made. Mine has seen all kinds of abuse and just keeps asking for more. It’s the knife I carry when I know there will be blood and guts, or water submersion.
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So you use it for hunting?
 
BladeScout said:
I quite like that substantial looking handle.



So you use it for hunting?
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And fishing, and occasionally work. If I need to chew through a million feet of cardboard, the handle is super comfy and the blade has a slicer geometry.
 
Cypress said:
And fishing, and occasionally work. If I need to chew through a million feet of cardboard, the handle is super comfy and the blade has a slicer geometry.
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Doesnt gunk get in the mechanism?
If it can be cleaned easily, it might not present much of a problem. I use a fixed blade for hunting though.
 
Personally never cared for the AFO. Not bad really, would just rather have many other BM autos instead of it. Like presidio, cla, adamas, ruckus, ect. AFO find clunky and uncomfortable and don't like blade shape. Prefer axis auto Benchmades, too.
 
BladeScout said:
Doesnt gunk get in the mechanism?
If it can be cleaned easily, it might not present much of a problem. I use a fixed blade for hunting though.
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For sure. I have used folders (auto and manual axis) on big game and they get the job done but the actions can get really plugged up. I also primarily use fixed blades for this reason.
 
Benchmade said:
Benchmade originally started making balisong knives aka butterfly knives. Hence the butterfly logo.
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Extremely cool, thank you. I did not bring my AFOII to Afghanistan but my buddy had one that went through several deployments. That son of a bitch (the knife, not my buddy, but also applicable :)) had almost no finish left, was dull as a butter knife, and caked with building materials (we’re engineers). Still locked up great. I always figured they were a good knife but wanted to see what others thought. Seems they think they rock!
 
Awesome! So how many times can you press the blade release button? In other words, how long till the knife wears out from opening too many times?
 
Mitch Taldison said:
Extremely cool, thank you. I did not bring my AFOII to Afghanistan but my buddy had one that went through several deployments. That son of a bitch (the knife, not my buddy, but also applicable :)) had almost no finish left, was dull as a butter knife, and caked with building materials (we’re engineers). Still locked up great. I always figured they were a good knife but wanted to see what others thought. Seems they think they rock!
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Your buddy needs a knife sharpener.

The AFO is a fabulous knife, I've not had the updated version and I don't know the difference but everything looks the same on screen. The handle is full-size so you can do a lot of work with it without the hand getting cramped up, aka, no hot spots. Firing has been good for me and from the best I can tell, if the spring fails it should work just fine as a manual opener. The all metal handle is something I like but in hot/cold, you'll notice it, unless you wear gloves (I usually do). I think the blade shape is fantastic. It's heavy, another downside, but for a full-size handle, that's kind of what you get. The guard also feels like it perform well in hurried use when you might not be as careful.

As far as price, benchmades are high priced, generally high quality knives that should last a life time or two, even under hard use. Part of that reason is because they will repair pretty much all of the knife as long as someone is able to send it back to them, including blade replacement which seems to be a sticking point for some other well known brands.

I had the combo edge and still didn't mind it, and I hate combo edges. Now that I have the plain edge, I really enjoy it, even though I don't carry as much anymore as I've kind of gone into slipjoint and fixed blade phase.
 
Cypress said:
Easily the best auto they’ve ever made. Mine has seen all kinds of abuse and just keeps asking for more. It’s the knife I carry when I know there will be blood and guts, or water submersion.
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Trust this dude.
 
Mitch Taldison said:
Awesome! So how many times can you press the blade release button? In other words, how long till the knife wears out from opening too many times?
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No idea. The stop pin is stepped, so if it ever gets loose you could adjust it out in about 3 minutes. I have yet to adjust mine in what I can only imagine is multiple-thousands of openings.
 
When I enlisted in 2013, my recruiter carried one of the originals that he had been issued and taken on deployments to sandy places. Worked fine still. He wasn't a knife guy and didn't even know how much it cost, so it probably got abused a bit. The pivot screw was loose like every Benchmade ever, the handle and blade were missing a lot of paint, and it needed a sharpening, but functionally it was fine.
 
Mitch Taldison said:
How does this compare to a Sebenza?
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They are almost incomparable. The Seb is a manual Ti framelock with the tolerances of a Swiss watch, and the AFOII is an automatic brute. It’s like comparing a Porsche 911 to a Dodge Ram 2500 diesel...Both are great for their intended purposes. You can feel the quality of Chris Reeve knives when you handle them. When you hold the AFOII, you immediately know it was built for pushing metal through stuff. You can even lock the knife open, if that’s any indication as to the theory of use. If I recall correctly, the lock on the AFOII is one of, if not the, strongest locks Benchmade offers.

The AFOII handle is thick, but the blade is thinner behind the edge than the Seb. The Benchmade will cut better initially, but won’t hold an edge as long as CRK’s S35VN. The ergos of the Benchmade handle are designed for hard use and it takes up hella pocket space.

I carry an Umnumzaan when I’m not at work, a 550HG at work, and the AFOII when there’s death afoot.
 
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