Benchmade Support for Blade Forums

Well I checked with CS this morning and I stand corrected! Like buccilli mentioned, you can upgrade your steel when you purchase a knife through our custom program. There are additional fees based on the material upgrade. However it must have come from our custom program direct.

Sorry for the confusion.

Thanks buccilli!

I'm also a Design Engineer...helping a brother out :thumbsup:
 
Hey guys,

I will start off by introducing myself. My name Is Jimmy and I am one of the Design Engineers at Benchmade. I will be monitoring and moderating this forum moving forward as well as helping to answer any questions you may have. However, some information regarding new product details may not be confirmed until the product is officially announced.
+1 Benchmade
It is good to see someone from the motherland over at another one of my haunts and as it turns out a friendly, familiar face/name too.

Welcome Jimmy!

It is good to have you here.
 
+1 Benchmade
It is good to see someone from the motherland over at another one of my haunts and as it turns out a friendly, familiar face/name too.

Welcome Jimmy!

It is good to have you here.

Thanks Keyman. Keep up the good work!
 
Hey guys,

I will . . . be . . . helping to answer any questions you may have . . ..

Jimmy :
My question is can I get a blue spacer to add to my 710 that is identical in appearance to the stock spacers ?

I posted this in a more subtle way earlier in this thread. It may have gotten over looked . . . or . . . something. The link I put in my post above to a detailed explanation of my problem posted earlier in the year has been disabled in the post above.

I will post the details bellow.
. . . so basically . . . bump.

BEGINNING OF DUPLICATE POST
In working with my 710 I noticed that if I inadvertently grip the scales while releasing the blade lock the blade will stay in place / not drop. If I then relax my grip the blade will drop and swing closed. I began wishing I had a spacer to prevent the sides from moving in and pinching the blade.

Hello . . .
while admiring the 710 in the sunlight I was looking at the relived areas in the steel liners and saw . . . small holes drilled about where I would want to place a spacer.

Do we suppose they planned to put one there and then decided not to ?
Had they contracted to have them put in but then the maker failed to follow through and no body has noticed yet.

Boy I notice and I notice that my Ritter Grip has a spacer / screw there and the Ritter flies open and closed like ten times better than the 710.

BENCHMADE . . . ARE YOU LISTENING TO THIS ! ! ! !
Will you send me a third spacer ? Maybe it just sets in there (if it had pegs on the ends it would) and does not require a screw. In that case I don't need to drill the scales. If it requires a screw I am FULLY PREPARED AND HAPPY to drill the scales and install it myself. Counter bore the hole in the scale. I can tap the hole on one liner and thread it too if needed. Work with me here . . .

Please, please, please with sugar on top send me a third blue spacer to put in there.
I want my 710 to work like my Ritter Grip.





END OF DUPLICATE POST
 
Welcome from another fellow engineer! I've owned a Rift 0950, a 62 and 63. The two balisongs really blew me away with the quality of construction on those. I am eagerly awaiting the release of the 87!!!
 
Jimmy :
My question is can I get a blue spacer to add to my 710 that is identical in appearance to the stock spacers ?

I posted this in a more subtle way earlier in this thread. It may have gotten over looked . . . or . . . something. The link I put in my post above to a detailed explanation of my problem posted earlier in the year has been disabled in the post above.

I will post the details bellow.
. . . so basically . . . bump.

BEGINNING OF DUPLICATE POST
In working with my 710 I noticed that if I inadvertently grip the scales while releasing the blade lock the blade will stay in place / not drop. If I then relax my grip the blade will drop and swing closed. I began wishing I had a spacer to prevent the sides from moving in and pinching the blade.

Hello . . .
while admiring the 710 in the sunlight I was looking at the relived areas in the steel liners and saw . . . small holes drilled about where I would want to place a spacer.

Do we suppose they planned to put one there and then decided not to ?
Had they contracted to have them put in but then the maker failed to follow through and no body has noticed yet.

Boy I notice and I notice that my Ritter Grip has a spacer / screw there and the Ritter flies open and closed like ten times better than the 710.

BENCHMADE . . . ARE YOU LISTENING TO THIS ! ! ! !
Will you send me a third spacer ? Maybe it just sets in there (if it had pegs on the ends it would) and does not require a screw. In that case I don't need to drill the scales. If it requires a screw I am FULLY PREPARED AND HAPPY to drill the scales and install it myself. Counter bore the hole in the scale. I can tap the hole on one liner and thread it too if needed. Work with me here . . .

Please, please, please with sugar on top send me a third blue spacer to put in there.
I want my 710 to work like my Ritter Grip.





END OF DUPLICATE POST

Hey Wowbagger,

We don't typically give out parts to customers to modify their knives like this as it would void their warranty. I believe the slot in the liner was originally used for the plastic backspacer.
 
Hey Wowbagger,

We don't typically give out parts to customers to modify their knives like this as it would void their warranty. I believe the slot in the liner was originally used for the plastic backspacer.
Not only that; but the stop pin in the 710 is shouldered and should stop the liners from being squeezed together in such a manner.
In addition the blue standoffs are flush to the liner; there is no neck to fit into the hole.

You are right though; you could install a standoff there if you wanted to, a hole and counter-bore from each side is all it would take.
Still though, it seems odd, you should not be having this squeezing of the blade issue.
Weird.
 
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We don't typically give out parts to customers to modify their knives like this as it would void their warranty. I believe the slot in the liner was originally used for the plastic backspacer.

Jimmy :
Thank you for responding.
I will risk it. Void the warranty and send me a blue stand off and screw (bolt=screw and nut).
please.
I will pay for it as well.
PS: I can drill and counter bore the scales near the slot. I am very comfortable doing precision work of this kind.
 
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Jimmy :
Thank you for responding.
I will risk it. Void the warranty and send me a spacer and screw (bolt=screw and nut).
please.
I will pay for it as well.
PS: I can drill and counter bore the scales near the slot. I am very comfortable doing precision work of this kind.

This is up to our customer service team. I doubt you will have any luck but you can give them a call.
 
I have or have had several Benchmades over the years. All have been top notch in fit and finish and all have been bought sight unseen. I have knives from many makers so am not just a "fanboy" I recently bought a 940-2 nib here on the exchange and it is darn near perfect.
 
Jimmy, welcome aboard. I'm very glad to see you jumping in here.
One thing about S30V, I find that Benchmade does do a phenomenal heat treat on the steel and it is an excellent all around steel. I know some people have made it a hobby to systematically state that it's a bad choice for knives, but that has not been my experience. I don't sit and cut thousands of linear feet of rope or cardboard, but in real world use it have never let me down.

Now, if I can get you guys to make an Adamas 275 in S30V my life would be complete. ;)
 
Hi Jimmy,

Welcome to the forum! It is nice to have some official representation here from Benchmade!
First off, I encourage you to not take it personally when (inevitably) forum members (like me) come to the forum asking about issues we have had/are having with Benchmade knives. Please understand that the VAST majority of us are not here to denigrate Benchmade in any way... We just want to provide useful feedback to help make Benchmade knives even better.

That said - I have to echo the feedback of a couple of other forum members about problematic fit & finish. Some of my personal examples: Of the eight (or so) Benchmades I own, only 3 of them were what I would call 'good' in the fit & finish department. Problems with the other five:

Benchmade North Fork: Received with noticeably/annoyingly uneven grind at the tip. I fixed it by re-grinding the tip to my liking. Also has a slight amount of up and down blade play, which varies depending on how vigorously the blade is deployed.

Benchmade 555HG Mini-Grip: Blade arrived noticeably off-center. I was able to adjust the centering a bit by taking it apart and re-assembling, but the blade is still slightly off-center (I was never able to get it just right). Also has a roughly cut opening hole (compared to other knife companies' opening holes, anyway).

Benchmade 903: Slight amount of up-and-down blade play. Not enough to send back, but enough to be annoying. Haven't messed with it, I just kind of deal with it.

Benchmade 940-2: Very uneven blade grind, both at the edge and the spine. I spent hours evening out the spine so that it looks decent. Still need to re-profile the edge.

Benchmade Valet: The edge came very... obtuse. Almost dull feeling. I mean the edge was sharp but the geometry was terrible, enough so that this small knife just wouldn't cut well. I spent HOURS re-profiling this to a 30 deg back bevel with 40 deg micro bevel (and re-profiling M390 sucks).

So there you have it, out of 8 benchmades, 4 were immediate 'projects' that needed to be fixed.

And it isn't just limited to the ones I have actually purchased. I've inspected a few benchmades at knife shops that were absolutely horrid. Once, while passing through southern IL, I was planning to buy a 484 Nakamura at GP, but the only one they had in stock had up and down blade play so bad that you could SEE the movement. UGH! So I bought a Southard instead. (I really hope GP sent that 484 back to Benchmade, because it was truly a BAD example that should never have left the factory)

I keep coming back for more because the axis lock is a great locking mechanism, and I think Benchmade does a fabulous heat treat - but like others on here, I've stopped buying benchmades 'sight unseen'. Too bad, because there are a few that I would LOVE to buy, but I can't source them locally as my local knife shop has a somewhat limited selection.

So, my online knife purchases are usually limited to other knife companies, whose fit and finish is a bit more reliable.

Now, I'm not saying Benchmade's competitors are PERFECT in that regard either... But when the other guys are damn near perfect ~80-90% of the time, and my track record with Benchmade is like 50%....

Not that I expect a production knife to be perfect... But a $170 production knife shoud be pretty damn good.

Again... Not trying to denigrate Benchmade in any way, I think they are wonderful when I can find a good one locally, I just wish the QC was a bit tighter. Thanks again for coming aboard, and we look forward to seeing what Benchmade has planned in the future - those 319s look interesting for sure!
 
One thing about S30V, I find that Benchmade does do a phenomenal heat treat on the steel and it is an excellent all around steel.

I couldn't agree more... HT can make all the difference in the world, and of the 2 Benchmade S30V knives I own, the HT is magnificent on both.
 
I recommend the OP read all the past 3.5 years worth of threads.

Those are issues with QC, MAP, value, models, dropping H&K/Ritter, etc.

A lot of negatives have happened with Benchmade in the past few years.

I disagree. There are a lot of positives in the Benchmade world.

Per your signature, your post is not a very "cordial" "constructive" or "civilized" way to welcome the new face of Benchmade. You may not be "fooling" anyone :)

Good luck Jimmy :)

My initial post in this thread was to point the new Benchmade rep towards reading the wealth of information in the Benchmade Forum on BladeForums and the many issues and problems of the past 3.5 years. It's all there. People are more forthcoming in this BF forum than Benchmade's own forum.

The one and only positive the past few years has been the great responsive customer service that I've dealt with.

I have about 60 Benchmade knives going back to 2005 when the build quality and prices were much better. I had so many QC issues with my 2014 Benchmade purchases that I've only purchased about 5 since with two being H&K.

Here's the last thread I created on the Benchmade BF Forum in January 2017: My favorite All-Time Benchmade: The 940
 
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My initial post in this thread was to point the new Benchmade rep towards reading the wealth of information in the Benchmade Forum on BladeForums and the many issues and problems of the past 3.5 years. It's all there. People are more forthcoming in this BF forum than Benchmade's own forum.

The one and only positive the past few years has been the great responsive customer service that I've dealt with.

I have about 60 Benchmade knives going back to 2005 when the build quality and prices were much better. I had so many QC issues with my 2014 Benchmade purchases that I've only purchased about 5 since with two being H&K.

Here's the last thread I created on the Benchmade BF Forum in January 2017: My favorite All-Time Benchmade: The 940

Unfortunately I'm going to have to echo these same sentiments. Love Benchmade but the QC is lacking sometimes and that's unfortunate for the price point. Customer service is excellent and has always been super friendly and quickly fixed any issues that I have had but it really shouldn't be needed. I would have to think a little more stringent QC on the front end would save money on the backend but I guess if people don't send them in to be fixed then maybe it doesn't
 
Unfortunately I'm going to have to echo these same sentiments. Love Benchmade but the QC is lacking sometimes and that's unfortunate for the price point. Customer service is excellent and has always been super friendly and quickly fixed any issues that I have had but it really shouldn't be needed. I would have to think a little more stringent QC on the front end would save money on the backend but I guess if people don't send them in to be fixed then maybe it doesn't

Guys, thanks for the feedback regarding our QC issues. I am passing along this information to the rest of the BKC team. When I first started at BKC over 3 years ago we made a very strong effort to improve our sharpening process, based off customer feedback like this. Our edges were not sharp with very obtuse angles at times and poor cosmetics. I now look at knives from that time period and notice now how far we have come. Although, we can always continue to improve.

Your voice will not go unheard.
 
I have seen an improvement in sharpening from when I first bought mine which was around the time period you speak of. However, there is still a significant need for improvement on the finishing of the edge. Most all the knives I have purchased in the last year or two had significant burs still left on the edge. Some more then others but all had some form of a bur left. The 940-1 I got recently needed a significant amount of stropping to remove the bur. So much so that it lost a lot of bite off the edge in the process. Seems like there just needs to be one more finishing step in the sharpening process.
 
. . . .
One thing about S30V, I find that Benchmade does do a phenomenal heat treat on the steel and it is an excellent all around steel. I know some people have made it a hobby to systematically state that it's a bad choice for knives, but that has not been my experience. I don't sit and cut thousands of linear feet of rope or cardboard, but in real world use it have never let me down.

Jimmy :
Tell me the real deal here . . . I thought I learned a year or so ago that S30V was one of the few alloy steels to be developed / engineered FOR knife blades. Now I know the S35V was but specifically wasn't S30V ?

I don't have much experience with it; my only example is a safe queen, but what little I have done with that edge I like S30V.
 
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