Gollnick
Musical Director
- Joined
- Mar 22, 1999
- Messages
- 29,258
I stopped by The Beavercreek Road Address this morning and picked up my first Benchmade Model 42, the new Bali-Song butterfly knife. So, I thought I'd share my first impressions of this new edition to the great Bali-Song line with y'all.
The first impression you get is from the anodized colored handles. They have shades of green and pink which create iridescent shades of purple and blue gray as the light plays off of it at different angles. It's going to be very hard to adequately photograph this.
Next, you pick the knife up and wonder if you actually got it in your hand or not. If you're used to the old stainless steel Model 44 or 45, the 42 is like a feather in your hand. The handles are titanium and very light.
This knife is actually a bit larger than a 44 or 45. My handy 45 is 5.410" long closed. My new 42 is 5.525 inches. The 45 is .490" thick at the punyo while the 42 is .500". The 45 is 1.030" wide at the punyo and the 42 is 1.087". But, a 44 tips the scale at 6 1/2 oz. The 42 only 4 1/4 oz (my scale is only good to 1/4 oz increments). By comparison, the 42 feels very light.
The third impression you get handling the 42 is how "warm" it feels. If you're used to taking 6 1/2 oz. of cold steel into your hand, the Ti handles on the 42 just feel warm. I like to put my 44 or 45 into my pocket and let it warm up for ten minutes or so before working with it. That won't be necessary with the 42.
The handles feel light and almost cheap. You have to remind yourself that they're Ti and actually tougher than the old steel ones.
The mass difference makes manipulating the knife different. It took a bit of getting used to. After adjusting, though, I found that the lighter handles sure to let you fly.
The joints are all super smooth and move just perfectly. There's very very little wobble in the joints yet they are not the slightest bit tight. You can see a washer between the handle and the blade. I suspect that this washer (which essentially allows two moving joints instead of one) plays a big roll in how nicely this knife moves. (Of course, this is nothing new. The older Benchmade Bali-Songs have a washer too, but you've got to look harder to see it.)
Speaking of flying, this knife loves to fly. It's remarkably easy to catch so air with this knife From simple toss-and-catch to complicated aerial tricks, I've never had a balisong that flies as well as this one.
The new latch design is a great improvement. It is impossible for the latch to strike the blade. However, the latch can still strike the back of the opposite handle. For a knife you're going to carry and use, this is just fine. A little bit of scratching on the opposite handle is no problem. It's damage to the edge of the blade that you worry about. However, if you want to keep your 42 perfect, you'll still need a patch of tape on the opposite handle (which is really not objectionable at all).
The Batangas-style latch locks up firmly both open and closed. Just as you should with a good balisong, you have to squeeze the handles a bit to either latch or unlatch the handle either open or closed. The lock open is as strong as Benchmade's Production Quality Bali-Songs have always been... THE strongest lock of any folding knife ever made. Locked open, this thing is a strong and as stable as a comparable fixed blade.
Unlike the previous "Production Quality" Bali-Songs (such as the 44 and 45) which tried to hide the pins, the 42 celebrates the pins. The pins are nicely finished, though, not quite flush to the handles, but not like those on many cheap balisongs which can actually catch and cut your hand.
The handles feature the classic "two small holes between large holes" skeleton pattern, but the counter sinking makes the large holes seem almost oval-shaped. Thankfully (and I know that some balisong artists disagree with me on this one) Benchmade has kept the thinner handles from their previous designs.
The 42 comes with Benchmade's new-style sheath. They've gone back to the "dual carry" option which has three straps on the back configured to allow vertical or traditional balisong horizontal carry. The new sheath is made of a stiffer material (a welcome change. Balisong artists won't have to put nails into the flaps to stiffen them up anymore). But, the new sheath is unfortunately just a touch to short of the knife. With the knife fully inserted tang-first (the popular horizontal carry for people who prefer a latch-drop-opening draw), a little less than half of the velcro actually mates. You can see that the flap is not bending where is was designed to. On the other hand, if you, like me, prefer to sheath your balisong punyo first to draw by the horns and open with, perhaps, a double-flip out-to-in opening (as you can see me demonstrate on my web site), because of the sheath's rounded end, the punyo does not go all the way down into the sheath. The flap is barely able to stay shut with only about 1/4" of velcro mating. Benchmade needs to make the sheath a 1/2" or so longer and square up the end. On the other hand, I like the rather small, discrete, blue-on-black Benchmade label much better than the shouting, giant white-on-black Bali-Song logo used on the old sheaths (I have to confess to having cut the logo off of several sheaths that I actually carry because it was just so loud. This new one can stay on.)
Oh, by the way, there's a blade too. You can tell this is a balisong review because the blade is the last thing discussed. It's a classic Weehawk. It's just about the same length as the 45's Weehawk, but the swedge is cut back much farther, about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way back on the spine. If you're thinking about sharpening your swedge and yet still want to be able to do manipulations such as finger-rolls, this swedge is about as deep as I'd like to take one. The ricasso, kick, and tang including the horns are approximately the same as the 45. There is only a very slight choil. The median ridge is much lower on the blade than the old 45, so the swedge looks more pronounced. The blade is ATS-34 and has a nice, brushed finish. The ricasso on the front of the blade had the traditional Bali-Song butterfly logo acid-etched on it. The back is acid-etched "Benchmade over USA" and mine also reads, "Prototype over 11/25".
While it will take me a bit to get used these substantially lighter handles, I have to say that I am very pleased with this new Bali-Song. The tradition continues with quality of design and quality of construction.
I'll post pictures shortly.
------------------
Chuck
Balisongs -- because it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!
http://www.4cs.net/~gollnick
The first impression you get is from the anodized colored handles. They have shades of green and pink which create iridescent shades of purple and blue gray as the light plays off of it at different angles. It's going to be very hard to adequately photograph this.
Next, you pick the knife up and wonder if you actually got it in your hand or not. If you're used to the old stainless steel Model 44 or 45, the 42 is like a feather in your hand. The handles are titanium and very light.
This knife is actually a bit larger than a 44 or 45. My handy 45 is 5.410" long closed. My new 42 is 5.525 inches. The 45 is .490" thick at the punyo while the 42 is .500". The 45 is 1.030" wide at the punyo and the 42 is 1.087". But, a 44 tips the scale at 6 1/2 oz. The 42 only 4 1/4 oz (my scale is only good to 1/4 oz increments). By comparison, the 42 feels very light.
The third impression you get handling the 42 is how "warm" it feels. If you're used to taking 6 1/2 oz. of cold steel into your hand, the Ti handles on the 42 just feel warm. I like to put my 44 or 45 into my pocket and let it warm up for ten minutes or so before working with it. That won't be necessary with the 42.
The handles feel light and almost cheap. You have to remind yourself that they're Ti and actually tougher than the old steel ones.
The mass difference makes manipulating the knife different. It took a bit of getting used to. After adjusting, though, I found that the lighter handles sure to let you fly.
The joints are all super smooth and move just perfectly. There's very very little wobble in the joints yet they are not the slightest bit tight. You can see a washer between the handle and the blade. I suspect that this washer (which essentially allows two moving joints instead of one) plays a big roll in how nicely this knife moves. (Of course, this is nothing new. The older Benchmade Bali-Songs have a washer too, but you've got to look harder to see it.)
Speaking of flying, this knife loves to fly. It's remarkably easy to catch so air with this knife From simple toss-and-catch to complicated aerial tricks, I've never had a balisong that flies as well as this one.
The new latch design is a great improvement. It is impossible for the latch to strike the blade. However, the latch can still strike the back of the opposite handle. For a knife you're going to carry and use, this is just fine. A little bit of scratching on the opposite handle is no problem. It's damage to the edge of the blade that you worry about. However, if you want to keep your 42 perfect, you'll still need a patch of tape on the opposite handle (which is really not objectionable at all).
The Batangas-style latch locks up firmly both open and closed. Just as you should with a good balisong, you have to squeeze the handles a bit to either latch or unlatch the handle either open or closed. The lock open is as strong as Benchmade's Production Quality Bali-Songs have always been... THE strongest lock of any folding knife ever made. Locked open, this thing is a strong and as stable as a comparable fixed blade.
Unlike the previous "Production Quality" Bali-Songs (such as the 44 and 45) which tried to hide the pins, the 42 celebrates the pins. The pins are nicely finished, though, not quite flush to the handles, but not like those on many cheap balisongs which can actually catch and cut your hand.
The handles feature the classic "two small holes between large holes" skeleton pattern, but the counter sinking makes the large holes seem almost oval-shaped. Thankfully (and I know that some balisong artists disagree with me on this one) Benchmade has kept the thinner handles from their previous designs.
The 42 comes with Benchmade's new-style sheath. They've gone back to the "dual carry" option which has three straps on the back configured to allow vertical or traditional balisong horizontal carry. The new sheath is made of a stiffer material (a welcome change. Balisong artists won't have to put nails into the flaps to stiffen them up anymore). But, the new sheath is unfortunately just a touch to short of the knife. With the knife fully inserted tang-first (the popular horizontal carry for people who prefer a latch-drop-opening draw), a little less than half of the velcro actually mates. You can see that the flap is not bending where is was designed to. On the other hand, if you, like me, prefer to sheath your balisong punyo first to draw by the horns and open with, perhaps, a double-flip out-to-in opening (as you can see me demonstrate on my web site), because of the sheath's rounded end, the punyo does not go all the way down into the sheath. The flap is barely able to stay shut with only about 1/4" of velcro mating. Benchmade needs to make the sheath a 1/2" or so longer and square up the end. On the other hand, I like the rather small, discrete, blue-on-black Benchmade label much better than the shouting, giant white-on-black Bali-Song logo used on the old sheaths (I have to confess to having cut the logo off of several sheaths that I actually carry because it was just so loud. This new one can stay on.)
Oh, by the way, there's a blade too. You can tell this is a balisong review because the blade is the last thing discussed. It's a classic Weehawk. It's just about the same length as the 45's Weehawk, but the swedge is cut back much farther, about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way back on the spine. If you're thinking about sharpening your swedge and yet still want to be able to do manipulations such as finger-rolls, this swedge is about as deep as I'd like to take one. The ricasso, kick, and tang including the horns are approximately the same as the 45. There is only a very slight choil. The median ridge is much lower on the blade than the old 45, so the swedge looks more pronounced. The blade is ATS-34 and has a nice, brushed finish. The ricasso on the front of the blade had the traditional Bali-Song butterfly logo acid-etched on it. The back is acid-etched "Benchmade over USA" and mine also reads, "Prototype over 11/25".
While it will take me a bit to get used these substantially lighter handles, I have to say that I am very pleased with this new Bali-Song. The tradition continues with quality of design and quality of construction.
I'll post pictures shortly.
------------------
Chuck
Balisongs -- because it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!
http://www.4cs.net/~gollnick
