Let me start off by saying, I am an enthusiast when it comes to knives. I have educated myself through the knowledge of other people as well as with myself through the years of purchasing knifes. I can tell whether a knife is worth what it actually is and so on.
A couple years ago, I purchased my first "good" knife which was a spyderco Endura 4. I was looking for a quality knife that was priced decently and I was sold on the endura. had it for about 2 years of use and started to get more interested in knifes and found myself purchasing a Benchmade 940. why? because all the folks and YouTube and especially the forums RAVED about it saying hoe perfect it was and how some people would own them for 5 plus years without breakage. Little did I know it would be a nightmare.
Now, giving you the full story in detail would take forever, so I'll shorten it up. I received my 940 with lots of hope and was nothing but disappointed from that point and after. the blade grind came very un-even and the centering was piss poor. Especially for a $180 knife! so I sent it in to benchmades "legendary" warranty department and got it back with the blade still uncentered. I called them and the lady was very nice and sent me a shipping label. Once I got it back the centering was good... until about 3 months went by and a spring broke. There I was again filling out their warranty form and sending it back in. Later received the knife and was told the spring had gotten out of place. This is a premium priced knife??? Anyways, had it for a little while longer and what do ya know? the spring broke again. I called them up and kindly told them how absurd this is and told them to just send me a new knife as I was convinced I had a lemon. They kindly agreed to on a "courteous" fashion to do so. when I received 940 I though the problem was finally solved. around 6 months went by and yet ANOTHER SPRING BROKE! I called them yet again and asked them "am I doing something wrong here???" she asked me questions as to whether I was pulling the lock bar back with 2 hands and if I lived in a humid environment. She couldn't give me a straight answer as to why I kept breaking these damn things. I sent the knife back and then gave it away shortly after.
In between all that time I had purchased more benchmades such as the crooked river, valet, and the foray as well as more spyderco's such as the blue paramilitary 2, and the sprint run manix 2. all of the spyderco's came perfectly centered with a drop shut action and no blade play in any direction! and for a lot less money (except for the manix) Around Christmas time in 2017 I purchased another 940 because I truly do love the design and it came with WAY worse Q.C than the first one. There was a defect on the blade tang that made the action rough, the scales came scratched and the screws were stripped. Not to mention serious side to side play. It took benchmade twice to fix this knife and now we are at current day. Take a good guess... a spring literally just broke!
Now I take care of my knifes. I oil them and blow them with air to get all the pocket lint out. I also currently have my foray in service do to a broken omega spring. So clearly this can't be bad luck. I have given Benchmade many chances and they can't even keep a dang knife working properly. I have spent around $100 dollars in shipping already. How could they charge these premium prices for a knife of this quality and fit and finish? If I knew how to post pictures without exceeding my limit, I would show you all the warranty work I have received from them. I FIRMLY believe benchmade is not what they are known to be or at least not what they used to be. My old Endura still hasn't failed me and that thing has been through hell and back, with no blade play, good centering, and a heck of a lot cheaper? so whats the deal???
I hope benchmade reads this and at least does something about it. I'm not even asking for much. All I ask for is a centered blade, good grind and action, with no play whatsoever.
If you made it this far God bless hahaha. BTW all my knifes have been purchased from BladeHQ with great customer service!
