American Knife of the Year - Benchmade Narrows

King of the Cheese said:
So your defense of a knife is a mention of lack of competition? We don’t have to AGREE with the Bladeshow ivory tower. We CAN disagree on the selection. It is permitted.
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He never defended anything. He was just inviting further conversation. Maybe you should turn down the hate a little bit, it’s clouding your judgement.
 
Good grief this thread just keeps on giving.

"The Narrows brings nothing new."
"I'd rather spend that kinda $$$ on X."
"So yeah X is totally a 1990's design but they're frickin' sweet and Imma get another one with that new steel and fancy lock..."

I love this forum.
My people.

I think I'll order three Narrows and break them all for YouTube clicks. Then I'll do some PM2's.

Mwaaahaaahaaahaaa!


PS. King of Cheese is winning this thread, objectively.
 
Silent H said:
So you think that putting an old lock design on an old folder design is inspired?


People have been asking for a compression lock Military longer than I've been on Bladeforums. I guess that is pretty inspiring.
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I never said the Millie 2 was inspired. It’s an old design and old lock. But at least with Spyderco I’m supporting a decent company. Not one that constantly infringed on others IP.

Following your argument, Benchmade is guilty of the same trick as well. Axis lock this, axis lock that, piss poor qc, 154cm etc. If Benchmade actually innovated a new lock I’d be more interested, but it’s just another clapped out Axis lock.

The only Benchmade I’d spend good money on is a 741, but even then I’d rather spend that money on CRK.
 
Are people really getting this $550 knife because a 2 cent piece of piano wire might break on the regular axis locks? 😂 I’ve never had any of mine break.
 
Originally I thought nobody would buy it or even think about buying this @ $500. If you want a thin slicey knife, TRM is where it’s at these days.

That said I am not the intended market for this type of knife anyway…The Narrows does look good, I don’t know how anyone will be able to hold onto the thing however, seeing as it’s only like 1/4” thick…

, I actually sold my titanium Atom & Nuetron, BECAUSE they were too thin for me. Great knives tho, and congrats to the folks who like them and are enjoying them (the Narrows and the TRMs)
 
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I stopped by a dealer on Thursday and looked at the Narrows.

I wasn’t prepared for just how thin the knife is. Thinner than a Chaparral, but considerably larger in other dimensions.
The little plates for the lock bar are really well done; a lot of thought went into that.
It seemed well executed and I find it aesthetically attractive.
It’s not comfortable in my hand (at all) and it’s not something I’m interested in owning.
It doesn’t strike me as being any more “premium“ than a ZT, but it’s still kinda impressive in its own right.

Bashing the price is warranted IMO, but that’s nothing new with BM. The niche will be worth it to some people.
 
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BD_01 said:
I stopped by a dealer on Thursday and looked at the Narrows.

It doesn’t strike me as being any more “premium“ than a ZT, but it’s still kinda impressive in its own right.

Bashing the price is warranted IMO, but that’s nothing new with BM. The niche will be worth it to some people.
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The vast majority of us have hobby budgets that are in some way at least restrained. That means every price point you move up you get new competition and other options for the same money. If BM wants to sell 90% less at 500 than they would at 250 that's their business call.

I still want to play with one but I will be very surprised if it competes favorably quality and fit and finish wise at it's price point considering the wide array of other highly polished semi customs. I tried last week but my local store didn't have any in stock. To me it seems like their pricing is a business mistake. Similar to if civivi released something comparable to their 50 dollar price point priced at 200. It's not that they're bad knives, if that they don't compete at that price point with similarly priced competition. If they publish sales number's we'll see what long term.
 
Congrats to BM. Not sure I agree it deserves knife of the year but there are a lot of things in the world I don't agree with.

I've handled one too. Not for me.

As a member of the big hand club, I like a beefy handle. The Narrows and Bugouts are too thin for my liking. I'll stick to my Rift and Contego.

can understand if you are runner or backpacker and trying to shed every ounce and size profile, it would be appealing.

As for the price, I think it is high for what you get but that is ok. I just won't buy one.
 
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