Benchmade quality

I won't speak for anyone else, but on certain selected things, I am (was) brand loyal. ONLY a Porter Cable 33 palm sander. Only Porter Cable or Milwaukee Sawzall. Milwaukee 8 1/2" circular saw, etc. Now they are imported. Sure they are assembled here, but the metallurgy and electricals are Chinese.

Thing is, they are just another cheap commodity now. Might as well buy Dewalt or Craftsman as Milwaukee or porter Cable. I bought a higher end German triangle sander and it did not last past the first job.

Tying this into the current discussion, knives are close to the last area where you can still find quality if you are willing to pay for it. I'm beginning to worry that, once Chris Reeve, Phil Wilson, and others like them retire, then this may go the way of what used to be good tools. Just another disposable item. In the end it doesn't matter to me since I have more than I will ever use up, but it does matter. I think all this will go away when we are all gone and the millenials become the buyers. I don't see the interest.
 
^ I agree with this! R RCFL

It’s too bad too. Seems like all tools are going the way of “disposable.” So much for the millenials caring about the environment. :/
 
You pushed one of my buttons with that one. When I was a child my mother bought one iron. One toaster. One table radio. We repaired the TV and resoled our shoes when they needed it. We had a solar powered clothes dryer.; no electricity, gas, or raw materials wasted with a clothes line. We returned our Coke bottles for deposit. My mother washed, smoothed, and folded aluminum foil and reused it.

Now everything, including our spouses, is disposable. If they want to Save the Planet, maybe think about making things that last longer then ti takes for the check to clear the bank.

I still have an old Black and Decker grinder that turns at 14,000 RPM. It is older than I am and it literally feels as if it is turning at about 800 RPM. Quality that lasts. Now we seem to be in a race for the bottom. Other than, as I said above, certain knife makers that still strive for better and better quality. They deserve a pat on the back.
 
I won't speak for anyone else, but on certain selected things, I am (was) brand loyal. ONLY a Porter Cable 33 palm sander. Only Porter Cable or Milwaukee Sawzall. Milwaukee 8 1/2" circular saw, etc. Now they are imported. Sure they are assembled here, but the metallurgy and electricals are Chinese.

Thing is, they are just another cheap commodity now. Might as well buy Dewalt or Craftsman as Milwaukee or porter Cable. I bought a higher end German triangle sander and it did not last past the first job.

Tying this into the current discussion, knives are close to the last area where you can still find quality if you are willing to pay for it. I'm beginning to worry that, once Chris Reeve, Phil Wilson, and others like them retire, then this may go the way of what used to be good tools. Just another disposable item. In the end it doesn't matter to me since I have more than I will ever use up, but it does matter. I think all this will go away when we are all gone and the millenials become the buyers. I don't see the interest.

I think there will always be a demand for quality. Look what happened with the watch industry, once quartz movement came out it triggered about 50 year down fall of mechanical but now they're back in demand and pushing mechanical design even further.
 
R RCFL

I hope i didnt push the wrong button. ;)
I agree wholeheartedly. I have an old Black & Decker power drill that is still drilling away...the new ones just arent made the same. Mind you, its now in my basement shop and not on the job.
There is so much hype about saving the environment, and “advancements” in all the wrong places. Its extremely sad.
Sorry if i upset you, didnt mean to.
S&F

Now...back to knives? :D
 
Sharp & Fiery, you didn't upset me, the manufacturers did. I drive a 1977 F150 4X4 and due to poor quality, it looks as if I'll be driving a Prius pickup some day so as to enable B&D, Dewalt, Ryobi, and everyone else to continue dealing poor quality at high prices to us.

I don't mind spending money, but I hate like hell to waste it, especially on something I know will be junque soon.
 
Benchmade is Toad Approved. :thumbsup:

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And that's good enough for me. ;)
 
Nowadays I try to buy from the secondary market unless the knife is a limited run. All the six Benchmades I bought here were issue-free. Maybe the sellers kept the low quality ones to themselves?;) The three Benchmades I bought from KW were all good except a 940-1501 which had poor asymmetric grinds, not a big deal as it happens to other brands like ZT and Spyderco too.

Some of the Benchmade are overpriced, but so are some from other Brands, again, ZT and Spyderco included.

I do find most Benchmades are a bit too thick in the handle due to the Axis lock, though the Axis lock itself is one of my favorites.
 
I own four Benchmade knives but three is all I can justify:

Dress: 531
EDC: large griptilian
Field/camping: 162

Add a SAK for traveling and a utility knife for construction.

Do you really need any more than that?
 
I have not been the biggest fan of BM since @ 2013. But I can say that their automatics (Rukus2 and AFO2) which I bought in the last year have been rock solid and problem-free for me.
 
A BM Mini Grip was the first modern folder that I ever bought & in the 15 years since then I've added a full size Grip & a Rift. I'm not going to get rid of them, but feel that Spyderco has BM beat by a long shot as far as f&f, range of models, choices of blade steels/handle materials, and overall quality.
 
Owning several of both Benchmade and Spyderco knives I just find them to really have different visions/marketing strategies.

I’ve had little to no issues with both brands new knives the last two years (including 3 Benchmade and 2 Spyderco bought in the last 45 days). All were perfect F&F I’m really happy with them all.

Personally, I buy the designs I like Benchmade and then the designs I like Spyderco. The are just totally different designs the ones I have don’t even match up well for a direct comparison.

Price wise I buy only USA made Spyderco’s and Benchmade and really street prices are real similar overall steel to steel , G10 to G10 and carbon fiber to carbon fiber.
 
At one point I have owned 4 Benchmade knives at the same time and nothing else. Currently, I’m down to 2 Benchmade knives, 4 Spyderco knives and 2 Bradford Guardian fixed blades.

Personally I’ve never received a Benchmade knife with a quality issue. The blades have been centered, the grinds have always been good or at least close enough and they all locked up solid. One or two of them have been a little stiff and hard to flick open, but that has always gone away with some use.

However, the two Benchmade knives that I kept are both axis auto Presidios, and I have come to believe that the “Black class” models like these are where the company really shines.
 
I have one Benchmade-an old Ritter Mini-grip that I bought slightly used a number of years ago for a fair price. The S30V steel keeps a good edge and I like the blade geometry. The FRN grips look ho-hum but I never had the knife slip from my hand and I don't worry about it getting scratched up. It is a good little knife that has never let me down but I don't think that I would pay full market price for it. The Emerson Mach One that I also acquired used at a good price falls into the same category-a decent user with some warts that I can live with, particularly when acquired on the second market.
 
This is pure speculation on my part. But how would people know if the reason Benchmade suddenly took such a drastic drop in quality control. Is because they decided to purchase parts from a company that makes BM clones or some other overseas company?
The reason I wonder about this is because that's exactly what happened in the Swiss Watch industry. The Swiss changed the law where only a certain percent of the "value" of the watch had to be Swiss to put Swiss Made on it. Watch cases, certain gears etc, are now made in Hong Kong and other places in China.
 
This is pure speculation on my part. But how would people know if the reason Benchmade suddenly took such a drastic drop in quality control. Is because they decided to purchase parts from a company that makes BM clones or some other overseas company?
The reason I wonder about this is because that's exactly what happened in the Swiss Watch industry. The Swiss changed the law where only a certain percent of the "value" of the watch had to be Swiss to put Swiss Made on it. Watch cases, certain gears etc, are now made in Hong Kong and other places in China.

So true,a substantial portion of the knife parts in the world are produced in China, the same is true for Hong Kong watch manufactures on a global scale.It was quite recent that they were talking import duties applying to Chinese knife parts.I just wonder how much whether or not, BM uses imported parts.
 
Wonder where BM saves money. I'd rather have an inferior handle than an inferior screw. If a handle cracks, replacements are all over the place, so is JB weld, and it is an easy fix. If BM uses inferior screws, if they break part is in the body of the knife and repairs aren't so easy. Getting a small screw out that is seized is tricky and finding the proper grade, size, and thread is even trickier.
 
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