Recent Benchmade Quality?

CometJo said:
My recent disappointing experiences with Benchmade QC:

To their credit, I own 18 of their knives and only these two experiences were less than stellar. But still, out of a sample of 19 (including the one I returned), that's slightly over 10%. Contrast that to my 39 Spydercos (US, Jap, Taiwan) with no QC issues... :D

REI 940-1702 G10 EX "Osborne"

Ordered the REI 940 exclusive from their website. Had to return it to my local store because the texturing on one of the G10 scales was "missing" -- IOW it was like sanded down smooth and the other side was normally textured. Not cool for a $200+ knife.


570-1 "Presidio II"

Was fine except for the edge grind. The bevel was "ripply" like the blade had been chattering along a rotary grinder. Spent a good 90 minutes working it over properly with my Edge Pro Apex to get the bevel to where it should have been.
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That’s great experience with Spyderco! I’ve only had 1 out of the last 10 that didn’t have QC issues. Crooked or warped blades, bad centering (fixed by adjusting handles with 1 exception) and 50/50 on lockup. That’s a pretty even mix of US, Taiwan and Japanese models. I can’t buy another Spyderco without seeing it first in store, but I’m not keen enough to try and keep looking for a good one.
 
Since I had to return my REI exclusive 940, I decided I should try again. So I bought a traditional 940 -- aluminum scales and purple jimped spacer -- with CPM S30V blade from KSF last week. Fortunately, this one is literal perfection. And now that I have actually learned to strop a blade properly, I got this thing so incredibly sharp it can peel the top few skin cells off my palm without breaking a sweat. I can see why the 940 is such a favorite amongst the EDC crowd. It just ticks all the boxes.

Just ordered yet another Osborne, too. This time a BladeHQ exclusive with ghost jade green G10 scales and a DLC M4 blade. They are on sale for like $159 so you better get one before they are gone!
 
OK another data point for y'all.

Today I found a plain edge 980 Turret on 20% off sale at my local ranch store. So like $159 out the door. Couldn't resist it, of course. Have been unable to find one of these online.

The edge on this one was a bit "gravely" on the belly arc, but I bought it anyway. After an hour on the Edge Pro Apex starting with a Shapton Pro 120 stone up to a 1500 it was fine. Otherwise the QC is good on blade centering, pivot smoothness, lockup, blade play, etc.

Factory Edge:


EdgePro Edge:
 
This year I bought a BM Bugout, Bailout, and a Griptillian. All were fine.
I do buy from knife sites online...
I wonder if they do a quick check before shipping ?
 
The only issue I've had with any recent Benchmade's is the edge being ground a little more on one side than the other. Nothing that I can't fix with a sharpening.
 
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got a 535-4 last week, everything was perfect.. have a 535-3 on the way.
 
I was told this is due to right handed or left handed person doing the grinding.
 
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Orlok said:
That’s great experience with Spyderco! I’ve only had 1 out of the last 10 that didn’t have QC issues. Crooked or warped blades, bad centering (fixed by adjusting handles with 1 exception) and 50/50 on lockup. That’s a pretty even mix of US, Taiwan and Japanese models. I can’t buy another Spyderco without seeing it first in store, but I’m not keen enough to try and keep looking for a good one.
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Yep, just got another - a Blade HQ exclusive Native 5 with minty green FRN handles and M4 blade steel. This is #40 Spyderco and it's also perfect.
 
the 535-3 was just about perfect, the finish on the lock bar was alittle skuffed but nothing that won’t correct itself. grind and centering is perfect
 
I have always received good quality from Benchmade. They’re also good for sending replacement pocket clips and screws when I’ve reached out to them in the past.
 
I just got an Auto Adamas last week and out of the box it is pretty spot on. Equal grinding, the blade closes and rests in the dead center unlike my Mini Grip that was very misaligned.
I'm very surprised with the quality with the Adamas and each time I open it, the action gets smoother and smoother
 
I recently bought a Vector from a local dealer. Other than the axis lock sticking when the blade is opened, it is pretty much spot on. I’ve had several Benchmades over the years that had their share of issues such as blade play, blades loosening up, blades not centered, poor grinds, etc. IMO, Benchmades QC is much better than it was a few years ago.
 
My newest Benchmade knife is a 945BK-1 Mini Osborne, gotten recently from the local BM dealer. Blade centering, grind, closing/opening action and lock up are all perfect. No QC issues at all. 👍🏻
 
This forum is bad for my wallet. I saw the Bass Pro/Cabela's exclusive knife that someone had posted before, and I immediately had to order one. The good thing is that I realized I had enough Club points to cover it, so nothing will show up on the credit card statement!
 
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I got a Mini Bugout delivered from a French knife dealer last week ( I live in France). All ok with the knife - it was the orange handled one that I bought.
All aligned ok , only a slight honing necessary on my Sharpmaker to make it perfect. My next EDC
 
I started collecting benchmades about 2 years ago and it’s been spotty quality at best, the most common issue I’ve had is an uneven blade grind where one side is a steeper angle than the other or it’s uneven along the same edge. That’s pretty much been the only gripe to be honest. The action, I find, on new knives is pretty stiff at first but loosen up over a fairly short time so I wouldn’t try adjusting anything until after a week or so break in period.

Fortunately, the last several benchmades I’ve purchased have been flawless so I feel pretty confident they are past the QC issues. I have 19 benchmades in my collection currently and maybe 2 or 3 were QC issues. Oddly enough they were all purchased from the same authorized online retailer. One I sent back to Benchmade to fix the off center issue and uneven blade grind they replaced the whole dang blade lol. It was a first edition so when they replaced the blade I lost the first edition marking. Fortunately they made an exception for me and I sent it back again for the first edition marking to be put back on. So I give high marks to Benchmade’s service for sure.
 
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I have purchased several BM knives in the past three or four months from a variety of sources, and all have been flawless. In my personal experience, their QC has been excellent. All grinds perfectly symmetrical, centered blades, all smoothed chamfered edges, the action that smooths out within twenty or thirty open/closings, just really well made knives. For the record, I've purchased:

- Large Cruwear Adamas
- Auto Cruwear Adamas
- 2 small Cruwear Adamas
- Shootout
- Claymore
- 3V Boost with the pry-tip (a score I was excited for, as these are now discoed)
- M4 large Freek
- Large Griptilian in 20CV

One or two more I'm forgetting. I went on a bit of a Benchmade kick. But that said, I also have to say that the Claymore and that 20CV Grip are two of the sharpest-as-they-came knives I've received, and that's no small feat.
 
I own twelve different Benchmades, and enjoy owning them, but, I had my first really bad Benchmade quality experience, this last week.
I purchased a 2022 Shot Show Limited Edition Mini Adamas, from Bass Pro Shops, online, last Tuesday.

The knife arrived on Thursday, and the first thing I noticed, when I took it out of the box and bag, was that the blade was off center.
I figured, OK, I should be able to adjust that. But then, upon further inspection, I found a real deal breaker.

While checking how tight the pivot was, by pushing the blade side to side, I also pushed and pulled the blade, up and down, and, WTF?!
It had a small amount of vertical play, between the Axis Lock, and the flat area of the tang, above the pivot, that it wedges against.

That's when I noticed what you can clearly see, in the stock photo, below, from Bass Pro Shop's website.
Look how far forward the Axis Lock is sitting in the frame. There's no room left for it to travel forward, and adjust for wear, over time.
My example looked exactly like this. (Don't get thrown off by the chamfer in the cutout, the lock is all the way forward.)

I then checked all of my Benchmades, and on none of them does the Axis Lock sit that far forward, with the blade opened and locked.
They all have a gap, between the axis lock stud and the front of the cutout, ranging from 3/32" to 1/16" wide.

Long story short, I initiated a return, that evening. Took it to a FedEx drop-off location around noon, today,
and received my refund notification from Bass Pro Shops, as I was typing out this post.

Now, I'm leery of Benchmade's quality, to say the least.

JS

download.png
The sound of crickets chirping......
 
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Both custom shop grips I bought last year were horrible. The liners shifted inside the handle. One I could fix . The other was beat.

Also picked up 2 mini Adamas. 1 had vertical play that would not go away and the other did not.

My bugout came perfect.

Most of the time I can fix just about any minor flaw with a field strip. But if I can't fix it I'm not impressed.
 
Recently the local shop got in a new shipment of Benchmades and I had the opportunity to try them out. They had plenty of regular models such as Griptilians/Mini Griptilians, Bugout/Mini Bugouts (many different types), Osbornes/Mini Osbornes etc as well as some assisted ones like Emissaries, Arcanes etc. The many units that I looked at had no QC issues I could see. Centering, grinds, actions were all good. Did not buy any on that day but the 945BK-1 that I got on the previous visit was perfect, no complaints.
 
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