Just got a Benchmade Mel Pardue 530 in the mail yesterday. I've been carrying it around for a day, and I'm quite happy.
I know there seem to be some reservations about this knife (especially in the Benchmade Forum Duds thread), so I thought I'd put my impressions up.
First - let's remember this is a knife with a $90 MSRP. Mine was less than $60, shipped.
I always liked the 350. It was lightweight Zytel knife, but it felt like a serious step up from an unreinforced Zytel/FRN lockback (BM Ascent, Spydie Delica) with no metal liners. I gave my old one away last year, to a friend heading out in harm's way, and promptly acquired another one. And now BM has turned the 350 into an Axis, and knocked $10 off the retail price. (The steel did drop from the 350's 154CM to the Griptillian's 440C.)
OK, this is absolutely the lightest Benchmade I've ever felt, and I'm pretty sure it's the lightest they've ever made. Yes, that means it's lightly built. I can squeeze and twist the frame and it does flex. Maybe a little more than my BM 551 or my 835HS, but if so not much.
There are definitely some new cost- and weight- cutting measures. The Axis bar is one piece, no separate heads and shaft. (Less to go wrong?) The blackened thumb studs are tiny, but flared, rounded, and dimpled - not uncomfortable. They do looked extruded rather than machined. The blade stock is a hair thinner than my 350. The axis module only has exposed tread on the spine side, it does not extend to the blade edge side. The module liners are definitely thinner than my 551, maybe a hair thinner than on my 940CFD2 (maybe not). The module is over half an inch shorter than the one in my 940, about an inch shorter than the one in my 551. (We're talking about the steel liners here.)
The handle thickness is about 1/16" (~1mm) thinner than my 350 - I do wish it had the slightly rounded cross section of the 350. It's nicely shaped though, both texture and profile. This is one that does not slip around in your hand the way that, say, a 940 does in mine. A very secure grip. It handles nicely in gloves, too. The thumb- and Axis-studs work much better with gloves than I would have thought looking at them. It moves nicely to and from sabre, hammer, and reverse grips. The edge indexing features are pretty subtle - axis module tread on the spine at the thumb ramp, thumbstud indent just behind the forefinger ramp. And the rear-offset Axis studs on the flats, of course.
It has the new BM split arrow clip, and it's tight indeed - snug in slacks, very, very secure in jeans. Still an easy draw though. The clip has the new shiny black finish, which I suspect is a paint and will not hold up as well as the old surface treated clips. And the clip is completely unmarked - no "Benchmade U.S.A.". It looks like the same 3-hole pattern and Torx screws, so I'm guessing it interchanges with the old clips.
Of course, it has the new Benchmade logo, so despite being made in the USA, you can't tell. The new blue box IS marked "MADE IN USA" (and "Printed in USA"), as well as "HANDLE WITH CARE - Benchmade knives are packaged extremely sharp". (The new black boxes, which I just got some old knives back in from Angie after bronzing and Lifesharping, are NOT marked Made in USA, but they also don't have the slide-in insert and sleeve construction - maybe these are just for returns, and are different from the boxes that Black knives will ship in?)
Fit & finish is snug and tight. The edge shaves (not quite scary hair-popping sharp), the point is perfect, the screws are all tight, the blade is exactly centered. My 530 came with bronze washers, I presume this is standard. It wouldn't flick open right out of the box - the blade is very light - but after a day of breaking in it's starting to flick nicely. There is a small nick on the choil, which looks like it came from the hand sharpening. I can live with that, it might bug a perfectionist collector. The edge is sharpened ALL the way back to the choil, just the way I like it - unlike, say, my 835 and 501.
The four little San Francisco style "filework" notches molded into either end of each scale are slightly unequal to my eye, although that may be the light. Again, if they are different - rather than catching the light differentially - I guess it could be seen as an imperfection. To me it looks as if the mold was made to resemble a hand-filed original, and I like it.
So far it's been a sweet little utility cutter, and an easy, easy carry piece. I'm spending part of today in the shop, I'll try to give it a workout doing nasty things. It absolutely disappears in your pocket - thin, flat, no noticeable weight. It's drilled for ambidextrous clip swapping, but point-up only.
I can get some flex out of the handle, and even a little out of the thinnish blade. But the lockup is rock steady, vertically and side to side, no play what so ever. The thin blade, a hair wider than the 350, seems to have very nice cutting efficiency. An inch wide 0.09" thick flat dagger grind is teh blade geometry equivalent of a full height grind on a 0.18" blade. In other words, it should - and seems to - cut like a full flat ground blade a little under 3/16".
Wish list - I'd like to see this, same profile, in a full height flat utility grind, like the 556/625/835. I'd like the option to pay extra for S30V or M2. I'd absolutely love a Limited Edition 530 in G-10.
Pending beating the living crap out of it,
I think it would make an excellent under $65 EDC. It carries excellently, has a useful blade shape, grips securely, and cuts deep. EDC problems are that it did go from the 350's 2.95" blade to 3.25", which is bad if you're someplace with a 3" rule. And it's descended from a line (3500, 350) of folding boot knives, and looks it. It looks like a *classy* folding boot knife, with that Price-ish San Francisco handle, but it does look dagger-y, especially with the swedged center grind. So it may be a little sheeple unfriendly, compared to something like an 856.
I'll come back in a day or three with some "OK, now that I've beaten it up" thoughts.
I know there seem to be some reservations about this knife (especially in the Benchmade Forum Duds thread), so I thought I'd put my impressions up.
First - let's remember this is a knife with a $90 MSRP. Mine was less than $60, shipped.
I always liked the 350. It was lightweight Zytel knife, but it felt like a serious step up from an unreinforced Zytel/FRN lockback (BM Ascent, Spydie Delica) with no metal liners. I gave my old one away last year, to a friend heading out in harm's way, and promptly acquired another one. And now BM has turned the 350 into an Axis, and knocked $10 off the retail price. (The steel did drop from the 350's 154CM to the Griptillian's 440C.)
OK, this is absolutely the lightest Benchmade I've ever felt, and I'm pretty sure it's the lightest they've ever made. Yes, that means it's lightly built. I can squeeze and twist the frame and it does flex. Maybe a little more than my BM 551 or my 835HS, but if so not much.
There are definitely some new cost- and weight- cutting measures. The Axis bar is one piece, no separate heads and shaft. (Less to go wrong?) The blackened thumb studs are tiny, but flared, rounded, and dimpled - not uncomfortable. They do looked extruded rather than machined. The blade stock is a hair thinner than my 350. The axis module only has exposed tread on the spine side, it does not extend to the blade edge side. The module liners are definitely thinner than my 551, maybe a hair thinner than on my 940CFD2 (maybe not). The module is over half an inch shorter than the one in my 940, about an inch shorter than the one in my 551. (We're talking about the steel liners here.)
The handle thickness is about 1/16" (~1mm) thinner than my 350 - I do wish it had the slightly rounded cross section of the 350. It's nicely shaped though, both texture and profile. This is one that does not slip around in your hand the way that, say, a 940 does in mine. A very secure grip. It handles nicely in gloves, too. The thumb- and Axis-studs work much better with gloves than I would have thought looking at them. It moves nicely to and from sabre, hammer, and reverse grips. The edge indexing features are pretty subtle - axis module tread on the spine at the thumb ramp, thumbstud indent just behind the forefinger ramp. And the rear-offset Axis studs on the flats, of course.
It has the new BM split arrow clip, and it's tight indeed - snug in slacks, very, very secure in jeans. Still an easy draw though. The clip has the new shiny black finish, which I suspect is a paint and will not hold up as well as the old surface treated clips. And the clip is completely unmarked - no "Benchmade U.S.A.". It looks like the same 3-hole pattern and Torx screws, so I'm guessing it interchanges with the old clips.
Of course, it has the new Benchmade logo, so despite being made in the USA, you can't tell. The new blue box IS marked "MADE IN USA" (and "Printed in USA"), as well as "HANDLE WITH CARE - Benchmade knives are packaged extremely sharp". (The new black boxes, which I just got some old knives back in from Angie after bronzing and Lifesharping, are NOT marked Made in USA, but they also don't have the slide-in insert and sleeve construction - maybe these are just for returns, and are different from the boxes that Black knives will ship in?)
Fit & finish is snug and tight. The edge shaves (not quite scary hair-popping sharp), the point is perfect, the screws are all tight, the blade is exactly centered. My 530 came with bronze washers, I presume this is standard. It wouldn't flick open right out of the box - the blade is very light - but after a day of breaking in it's starting to flick nicely. There is a small nick on the choil, which looks like it came from the hand sharpening. I can live with that, it might bug a perfectionist collector. The edge is sharpened ALL the way back to the choil, just the way I like it - unlike, say, my 835 and 501.
The four little San Francisco style "filework" notches molded into either end of each scale are slightly unequal to my eye, although that may be the light. Again, if they are different - rather than catching the light differentially - I guess it could be seen as an imperfection. To me it looks as if the mold was made to resemble a hand-filed original, and I like it.
So far it's been a sweet little utility cutter, and an easy, easy carry piece. I'm spending part of today in the shop, I'll try to give it a workout doing nasty things. It absolutely disappears in your pocket - thin, flat, no noticeable weight. It's drilled for ambidextrous clip swapping, but point-up only.
I can get some flex out of the handle, and even a little out of the thinnish blade. But the lockup is rock steady, vertically and side to side, no play what so ever. The thin blade, a hair wider than the 350, seems to have very nice cutting efficiency. An inch wide 0.09" thick flat dagger grind is teh blade geometry equivalent of a full height grind on a 0.18" blade. In other words, it should - and seems to - cut like a full flat ground blade a little under 3/16".
Wish list - I'd like to see this, same profile, in a full height flat utility grind, like the 556/625/835. I'd like the option to pay extra for S30V or M2. I'd absolutely love a Limited Edition 530 in G-10.
Pending beating the living crap out of it,
I think it would make an excellent under $65 EDC. It carries excellently, has a useful blade shape, grips securely, and cuts deep. EDC problems are that it did go from the 350's 2.95" blade to 3.25", which is bad if you're someplace with a 3" rule. And it's descended from a line (3500, 350) of folding boot knives, and looks it. It looks like a *classy* folding boot knife, with that Price-ish San Francisco handle, but it does look dagger-y, especially with the swedged center grind. So it may be a little sheeple unfriendly, compared to something like an 856.I'll come back in a day or three with some "OK, now that I've beaten it up" thoughts.
