Recent Benchmade Quality?

Joined
Jan 7, 2019
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79
I know that Benchmade has been having issues with quality control (blades not being centered, blade play, ect.) the past few years. Can anyone who has bought a new Benchmade it the past year comment on the quality of the knife they received, have these defects been ironed out, or is this still an issue? Also which deep carry pocket clip should I get for my new Northfork?
 
Purchased several Bugouts in 2019. All of them were excellent. Good blade centering on all. A couple of them needed pivot adjustment to get drop free. Grinds were fine on all. Bugout standard mini deep carry clip works great.



TXPO
 
Of the 7 I bought for myself & 1 I purchased for my wife in the last year all have been excellent, with but one exception: the 4400-1 Casbah Automatic. Blade centering, grind & all that is perfect, the issue that I found with that particular knife is that it has a bit of blade play both laterally & vertically.
Really the amount of blade play is very little & what little amount of wiggle there is gets reduced 50% to 60% upon engaging the safety lock. Considering the Casbah model is a push-button automatic & doesn't feature the venerable AXIS lock, it's likely I'm just being nitpicky & looking to find fault with an otherwise great knife.

I'm what one might call "anal retentive" about that, though I find the term "particular" might be more accurate; so what bothers me might not be a big deal or it might not even perceptible or bothersome for someone else. To give you an idea, I let my knives break in before making any adjustments to the pivot & I will generally set my manual open knives to where it takes a tiny bit of movement to get the blade to close, but the blade will drop free by pulling the AXIS lock back.

As far as pocket clips go, the deep carry pocket clips can't be beat. Both the mini Grip I bought for my wife & the regular Griptitlan came with the same split-arrow pocket clip as the Northfork & I had Benchmade send me out a deep carry clip & hardware for both, satin for the Mrs. (cause she likes the 'shiny' clip) & black oxide for mine. She says her mini Grip rides much better in the front "pocket" of her jeans, if they can be called pockets. I don't carry my Griptillian everyday, it's more my task/hard use knife, but when I do carry it in my off-hand pocket, it is much more natural feeling & discreet. Plus it doesn't look like a the side of my pants grew a metal penis, so that's a plus. ;)
The mini deep carry is very nice, it came on the Knife Works Exclusive Grizzly Ridge that my wife bought me for Christmas.
 
I purchased around six and they were all good except an Anthem. It had vertical blade play and terrible centering.
 
All of my BMs, regardless the manufacturing date, are flawless. Regarding the actual production, I bought this year a Turret, a special edition CLA, two Presidio 2 and two Tactical Triage. All perfect. The Turret and the Presidio 2s are gone meanwhile, but this is related to my personal taste and not to quality issues.
 
I purchased 5 or so Benchmade knives last year and in terms of quality I was very happy with all but one, which was a 417 Fact with a rounded tip. I was very surprised to see a rounded tip and returned the knife (it also wasn't my cup of tea). The blade centering, which seems to be considered the proxy for quality these days, was always good and the edges were also good although there is a tendency for asymmetrical grinds (I think it favors the right side, I can't remember). Besides the inexcusable rounded tip of the 417 I have yet to see the rampant quality issues everyone online talks about, maybe I'm lucky.
 
2019 was a Benchmade year for me bought about 10 Benchmade some here and some from a dealer all 100% perfect.
 
This black friday when I purchased a 417 fact.I looked at 4 knives - 2 had burnt(brown) tips,2 had off centered blades, and only one was perfectly centered and did not have a burnt blade.
 
Have about a dozen or so Benchmades, ranging from around 2010 to 2019. All bought from dealers, both local & international. Only 2 older knives had slight centering issues that was able to be fixed by loosening the body screws & adjustment. As for 2019 ones, I have the 531-1901 Pardue, 940-1501 Osborne & 810-1401 Contego; all perfect, no QC issues at all.
 
Got my knifeworks contego last year, I think the box said it was built in 2018. Aside from a slight off center blade (very slight) I have no issues. Love the knife, it's one I carry a lot when before I didn't think I would dig a Benchmade.

I'd like a full size crooked river as well... And maybe a mini.
 
Got my knifeworks contego last year, I think the box said it was built in 2018. Aside from a slight off center blade (very slight) I have no issues. Love the knife, it's one I carry a lot when before I didn't think I would dig a Benchmade.

I'd like a full size crooked river as well... And maybe a mini.
Yup, just checked; my Knifeworks 810-1401 & 940-1501 boxes does say 2018 :)
 
Got my knifeworks contego last year, I think the box said it was built in 2018. Aside from a slight off center blade (very slight) I have no issues. Love the knife, it's one I carry a lot when before I didn't think I would dig a Benchmade.

I'd like a full size crooked river as well... And maybe a mini.
Delete, double post
 
New here...I can vouch for qc issues with Benchmade...hell there qc has been bad from the beginning! Have an old Elishewitz model 910 Stryker that the stop pin rattles in it and the lock up is damn near over 100%. Never used the knife. Now 20 years later...bought a 556-1 with the g-10 scales. Blade centering is off, and blade deployment sucks. If I loosen the pivot screw for better action...I get side to side blade play...for $175.00, I would expect better qc. Chinese can do much better. No more Benchmades for me...Spydercos are much better all around!
 
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New here...I can vouch for qc issues with Benchmade...hell there qc has been bad from the beginning! Have an old Elishewitz model 910 Stryker that the stop pin rattles in it and the lock up is damn near over 100%. Never used the knife. Now 20 years later...bought a 556-1 with the g-10 scales. Blade centering is off, and blade deployment sucks. If I loosen the pivot screw for better action...I get side to side blade play...for $175.00, I would expect better qc. Chinese can do much better. No more Benchmades for me...Spydercos are much better all around!

Always interesting how our individual experiences shape our decisions. Mine has generally been opposite from yours between Benchmade and Spyderco. I still buy both when the model is what I really want, though. LOL :)

The thing with Benchmade centering and action is it seems scale/frame screw torque can be almost as important as the pivot screw.

I totally get your point of view, though!
 
It seems I'm the pedantic minority here, but I find issues with every Benchmade I see. Uneven grinds, bad actions, bad finishes, etc are the norm. I've posted pictures before, so there's no disputing this. I walked into a Sportsman's Warehouse and every single Infidel they stocked had an off-center grind. I went to a local knife dealer and played with the $1200 Gold Class Crooked River and the action was a total joke.

Sort of unrelated: It drives me nuts when people say that their knife (from whoever) came from the factory "hair whittling" or "tree topping" sharp. I've only had one factory knife ever come close to hair whittling (K390 PM2), and it just happened to be the luck of the draw. Methinks a lot of people have no idea what hair whittling sharp actually is, and I've NEVER had a Benchmade come sharper than "average effort to shave arm hair."
 
I generally love my Benchmades. Looking back, I had an old 3500 from 10 years ago where the scales didn't line up. It wasn't simply a loosen / re-tighten deal. I sent it back and they fixed it (I'm not sure how), but it was good to go when they returned it. So, Benchmade made it right.

Yesterday I just received my CF Proper (318-2). It is absolutely perfect, EXCEPT one screw is not totally black. It's more of a worn black/copper color. I don't want to return it, but thought I'd just ask Benchmade for about screw. I doubt they'll send one though and require me to send in the knife for warranty. I'll probably just live with the discolored screw.

Other than that, things have been good.
 
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