Benchmade 940-1 review

DeadboxHero

DeadboxHero

Joined
Mar 22, 2014
Messages
5,355
The 940-1, a perfect example of making a great knife greater.
Carbon fiber,



S90v steel,




the blue stand offs.




This is the race car of production folders.

I've had my eye on this one since 2014, Its one of the knives that every knife guy slobbers over but the price keeps it out of reach.

The 940 is already a solid knife known having perfect proportions for EDC carry.
3.4 inch blade with great blade to handle ratio
Great handle width and height for good grip yet slim enough more comfortable carry.
Awesome weight, disappears in the pocket.

The blade shape at first was too funky.

I can't stand lines for the sake of artistic expression. I love function and simplicity above all.

Yet this is a great blade shape and geometry for the "everyman"

It's slim yet robust. It's also invisible to the sheeple which is a bonus when doing cutting in a liberal fortress from time to time.

The tip is very thick.

This gets back to the "everyman" theme.

It's a great knife for hard use or what normal people call just use haha

Ill get into more impression details later.

I really love the outdoors so I'll post some bushcrafting performance pictures later.
 
Great review! I just got mine on Saturday after drooling over it for ages. I do have a couple of questions. Did yours come a little dull? It can cut through paper with some effort, but not "push" through it. Also, does yours have a little blade play when closed? If I give my a gentle shake, I can feel the blade go back and forth. I can also move it quite easily with my fingers.
 
Sounds like ya need to tighten her up a bit. I was playing with the pivot and forgot the loctite!

I developed a rattle as well but I loctited, adjust and lubed it. Just a part of regular PM.

As far as push cutting from the box,
Mine wasn't there either but I usually don't care about the out of box sharpness. For most part I always put my own edge on the knife.

I'll cover more details about the steel later
 
Firecrafting with the 940-1

I notched a pine branch to break in half. The geometry doesn't bite as deep as a scandi, or a convex but its a very aggressive with what it grabs

I then debarked the branch.

I carved some feather on the outer wood on the branch which is always harder due to small knots preventing nice long feathers.
The blade feels nice in the hand for hard carving.

These feather are ugly but get the job done with the LMF rod.


With the other half I used to make more kindling and tinder.

I batoned the other piece with the lock disengaged to prevent premature wear on the lock.


This is a great technique for wet conditions. 940 is fully capable.
Just make sure to select knot free pieces or sections.
I can carve better feathers with the inner wood
The dash one feels great when carving fine feathers for tinder.

Before the these demonstrations, this blade was razor, hair popping sharp, afterwards it was not able to shave arm hair almost at all.


I touched up the edge with my DC3

Back to popping hairs. This steel seems to really "bite" when sharp.

Hopefully this helps break away from the mystic and fables about this steel.
If your obsessed with having a hair shaving edge at all times S90v will not hold that edge any longer then vg10.
But when other steels have gone dull S90v just keeps cutting.
It also just cuts savagely, it a great steel for heavy use.


This would make a great outdoor folder for camping, bushcrafting and backpacking where weight and performance really matter.
I'd imagine it to be a great field dressing knife for hunting too.

I'll share more later
 
My knife is no perfect sample. Out of the box, I did have an issue with centering.


This seems to be a hit or miss issue. Some have it, some doent.

I tried all the tricks, fully tighting and loosing the pivot.
Nothing,

I loosened the entire knife and was able to adjust the centering by moving the scales. However when I tightened it down. Nothing.
It wasn't rubbing but the OCD kicked in. It was time to get her fixed

Whats great is Benchmades commitment to customer satisfaction and repairs

I've had a great experience with their services when I was really into balisong flipping. It's a like having a pit crew on stand by, I love it.

This helps when spending the retail on this beauty. I doubt I would have spent what I did without knowing Benchmade has got my back like they do.

This is also the best part about living in "Knife Mecca"
Benchmade,ZT/Kershaw, Leatherman, Gerber, CRKT are only a short drive away.
Haha Oregon rules!



The face to face service is awesome. It always a good time talking to a fellow knife freak. They know what's up.



The Tech noticed I had some wear on my pocket clip
"Do you want a new clip"

:)

Guess it was time for a deep carry.

I asked them to mail it to me because of my busy schedule.

No problems.

Should be back soon.
 
Thanks for the great info. My blade was pretty centered out of the box. That is actually the first thing I looked for. I just popped it in the mail to get it tightened up and sharpened. I would love to sharpen it myself, but I have only practiced on my Blurs with a $15 pen sharpener and some green compound/strop. I need to invest in some knife tools and a sharpener.
 
NG VI said:
That's a really great looking knife, thanks for doing a review on it!
Click to expand...
Thanks bro
cda555 said:
Thanks for the great info. My blade was pretty centered out of the box. That is actually the first thing I looked for. I just popped it in the mail to get it tightened up and sharpened. I would love to sharpen it myself, but I have only practiced on my Blurs with a $15 pen sharpener and some green compound/strop. I need to invest in some knife tools and a sharpener.
Click to expand...

Yeah man, I'd invest in the torx bits and blue loctite and some lubricant.

The strop is great, quick tip, use light pressure.

Thanks for reading my ramble haha
 
The things I didn't like about the 940-1 and mine in particular is that the blade was not symmetrical the grind on top of the nose of the blade was at an angle instead of straight across and the handle screws that hold it all together are long enough to that you can see them on the inside of the handle for something with carbon fiber I expected a little better fit and finish but I do understand it's just a blue class knife and they do have excellent customer service so I know they would make it right but I'll just use as is.
 
Kbrockjones said:
The things I didn't like about the 940-1 and mine in particular is that the blade was not symmetrical the grind on top of the nose of the blade was at an angle instead of straight across and the handle screws that hold it all together are long enough to that you can see them on the inside of the handle for something with carbon fiber I expected a little better fit and finish but I do understand it's just a blue class knife and they do have excellent customer service so I know they would make it right but I'll just use as is.
Click to expand...

From what I have read, the screws are intentionally long. Benchmade wanted maximum "grab" through the carbon fiber since the liners are so thin. I have read that people have successfully gotten shorter screws from Benchmade if you call in.
 
Missed the UPS guy yesterday.

5 day turn around.

I'll keep ya guys posted with results when I get the blade in hand.
 
Package left at the door. Awesome!

Came in a sweet grey "ghost" box.

Good enough for me.

Love that pit crew.

"Sharpened as needed" haha ;)


This clip really flows with the design, very cool.


It seems to provide more real estate for fingers when opening and closing the blade.

I just with it was pakerized.
 
Great write up brother.......but I don't like you at all.....you can drive to headquarters???? Color me zombie green with envy!!!!!
😬😬😬😬
Joe
 
palonej said:
Great write up brother.......but I don't like you at all.....you can drive to headquarters???? Color me zombie green with envy!!!!!
😬😬😬😬
Joe
Click to expand...

Lemme pour some gas on this :D :P


[YouTube]nYOxpWIKygw[/YouTube]

Haha XD

Yea Portland is the knife mecca for the country. I'd almost argue it being in the same league as Solingen and Seki

And believe it or not it all started with Gerber at the turn of the 20th century.
 
Oh man, being in diving distance would be dangerous for my financial stability lol. I've always loved the 940 design, and this looks like a home run iteration on it

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk
 
Great review! I've always liked the blade shape on the 940-1

I have been on the fence about a 940 for quite some time. Can't seem to make the decision between the different variants and whether or not go for the S30v or S90v. You have me leaning towards the S90v now..

The knife looks REALLY good with that deep carry pocket clip. That will be a must.

Time to start saving!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top