Are other manufacturers paying attention to the success of BHQ’s M4 knives?

aquaman67

aquaman67

Joined
Jan 27, 2012
Messages
1,764
Tomorrow yet another M4 knife drops from Spyderco. It will likely sell out quickly.

I believe it’s more for the M4 blade than the natural G10. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great looking knife.

But what would happen if Benchmade made available the Griptilian or any other knife in M4?

If you ever find a Mini Grip in M4 on the exchange it commands premium prices.

So other manufacturers - are you paying attention?
 
There's more to it than that though... They've been successful this far, but with exclusives in popular materials AND with models that have established collector markets. I don't think you'd see the same sales frenzy if they did a jade/m4 Ouroboros. Most of the "first 10 minute" sales go to flippers or collectors.
 
The Natural G10 is a great colour and I"m happy to see it more often. I don't have them all but I have a few.

As a note Benchmade just did this.
5_D5_DA455-6197-4150-8_D31-_FC210_A5_E57_C3.jpg
 
aquaman67 said:
Tomorrow yet another M4 knife drops from Spyderco. It will likely sell out quickly.

I believe it’s more for the M4 blade than the natural G10. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great looking knife.

But what would happen if Benchmade made available the Griptilian or any other knife in M4?

If you ever find a Mini Grip in M4 on the exchange it commands premium prices.

So other manufacturers - are you paying attention?
Click to expand...

What's coming out tomorrow?
 
To answer the OP's question,:
As far as I know, Blade HQ is a dealer not a manufacturer.
I seriously doubt other manufacturers pay any notice to, or even care what Spyderco SFO's a Spyderco dealer may order and sell.

M4 may be a good blade steel. However, not every consumer or manufacturer is jumping on that bandwagon.
 
I've got a skinning knife in M4 steel. (I added a photo of the corroded blade in Post #31, below). The steel, itself, generally holds a great edge. But, the smallest amount of blood causes significant corrosion to the steel. Since the corrosion happens all over the blade, it is also happening at the blade's apex, which dulls the blade. If blood causes corrosion in M4, then no doubt other slightly acidic materials will, as well, such as fruits and some vegetables.

A high resistance to mechanical abrasion is great, but a blade quickly going dull due to chemical corrosion still leads to a bad cutter, and thus poor chemical resistance is not a good property in a knife steel.

If use of the M4 blade was restricted to certain environments, then the steel is fine, but who wants a knife that can only be used in limited materials?

JMHO
 
Last edited:
Danke42 said:
The Natural G10 is a great colour and I"m happy to see it more often. I don't have them all but I have a few.

As a note Benchmade just did this.
5_D5_DA455-6197-4150-8_D31-_FC210_A5_E57_C3.jpg
Click to expand...


Ok. What is that?

I can’t find it on Benchmade’s website.

Is that a production knife?
 
If I'm honest, I personally really like natural G10. However, I'm not a fan of CPM-M4 which has stopped me from purchasing any of them.
 
Last edited:
I love M4 but after getting some insight into the kind of dumb issues/questions custom makers have to deal with on $500+ knives sold to presumably knowledgeable enthusiasts, I am completely unsurprised that larger production companies are less interested in dealing with non-stainless steels even if they can sell out 500 pieces of them quickly.

For example, just check Amazon reviews for non-stainless cookware (cast iron or carbon steel) and you can get the idea of how your average person deals with something that can rust. There's an expectation that it totally won't, and if it does then it is junk.

When you're selling a knife that costs over $100, should companies expect their customers to be a bit more knowledgeable than your average Amazon customer buying a carbon steel wok? Yeah, maybe they should. But they probably don't feel like bothering when they can use S35VN and avoid the issue entirely.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top