Another Lifesharp Mulligan

[Cypress]

I sent two knives in to have the blades replaced (much needed) a little over a month ago so I figured I’d share my experience. I’ve done this several times before and it’s nice to be able to get new blades on knives that have reached the end of their “life” on the sharpening bench. I tend to walk my knives into the factory (I live 55 mins away), but Benchmade isn’t allowing walk-ins right now.

I received an email from Benchmade on November 10th asking me to call them to square up on paying for the new blades. I called that morning and settled up. I was glad to have talked to the CS rep as they had my AFOII listed as a serrated blade, when it’s definitely not (I hate serrations). The Griptilian I sent in has always been way off center, so I made sure to reiterate that I’d like to get the new gray blade centered in the handle. I was assured that the reblading process includes centering. I wrapped up the call with repeating that the AFOII is a plain blade, and the Griptilian was getting a gray blade centered in the handle. The rep repeated it back to me so I settled up and was told it’d be about 1.5 weeks.

After about 3 weeks of waiting I called to inquire the status of my knives. I was told that a blade hadn’t yet been allocated to my Griptilian, and that there was no estimated allocation timeframe. It was a bummer to hear, but I’m not hard-pressed for knives.

Today (Dec 12th) I received my knives back. It’s been a few years since I’ve sent any knives in, but at some point they stopped sending the knives back in the blue box and are only going with a blue drawstring bag. I don’t totally care about this with regards to my beaters, but two knives with an MSRP of nearly $500 banging around in a shipping box with only two pieces of thin cloth surrounding them seems like a recipe for disaster, especially with the brutish angled glassbreaker on my AFOII flying around when UPS plays soccer with the box.

My AFOII looks great. This is the second time this knife has been rebladed. The action feels absolutely perfect. I’m guessing the mainspring has been replaced, even though the paperwork didn’t say so. Unfortunately, it’s not sharp. It’s got some rough patches on the edge that catch printer paper, and it definitely can’t shave hair. At least it isn’t serrated?

The Griptilian arrived with a black blade (not gray) and is still off-center to the point that it’s rubbing the handle and has started to mark the coating of the blade. It also has some rough patches on the edge and is slightly more dull than the AFOII (the edge of both knives can be rubbed against my skin without too much worry). The action was stiff and gritty. One drop of Knife Pivot Lube improved it a LOT, and a small turn of the pivot screw made it flickable and almost drop-shut. It’s kind of bittersweet that it only took 30 seconds to make the knife usable. Seems like something that could have easily been handled at the factory before it got “bagged”...

The AFOII is great the way it is, and I’ll sharpen it to my standards. The Griptilian is a bummer, but it’s my main work knife. The marks from handle rub will disappear into a menagerie of damage from normal use, and the off-centeredness isn’t anything new. Both knives exhibit “Left Beef” tips with one side being sharpened drastically more than the other, nearly creating a chisel grind. It’ll take me a while to straighten them out, but I guess it’ll allow me to get through the often-burnt edge steel.

I’m fortunate enough that my Benchmade’s are my beater knives that I have very little emotional attachment to, especially given the company’s lackadaisical attitude towards advancing their product line and quality control. If my Griptilian was near and dear to my heart and it arrived in the condition/configuration it’s in, I’d be pissed.

 

[BMCGear]

Man, that is disappointing.

 

[Silent H]

If my Griptilian was near and dear to my heart and it arrived in the condition/configuration it’s in, I’d be pissed.

Yea, I sent in a few knives lately, and I was not happy with my lifesharp experience either. I even called them to talk about it, and the CS rep told me to send an email with the pictures of my issues, and they would look into it. I sent that on November 18, and almost a month later, I haven't heard anything. I even called a few times, and they seemed dismissive of my email and told me they had a long wait on replying to emails.

The kicker is, of the three knives I sent in, one of my beaters, my wife's beater, and a gift from my wife, it was the gift that came back messed up. I had sent in the gift, a 496 Vector, that my wife got me last year for my commissioning, because the assist broke. I decided to get a custom laser engraving on it while it was in, because it was very special to me. There was a small but noticible roll on the edge near the tip, which I asked them to fix, and in the process of sharpening it, they butchered the entire blade. The knife originally had a compound grind with a recurve, but they completely rounded over the point where the hollow and flat grinds meet, taking a significant amount of steel with it. The recurve is less of a recurve, and more like two or three connected flat sections of blade. Finally, the heel of the blade was so obtuse it wouldn't cut paper, and about a quarter of the blade had large visible burrs on it.

I would send in the blade for a replacement, but I also paid $30 for a custom lasermark while it was there. I used to carry this knife all the time, but I haven't touched it since it came back.

I wish they would at least answer my email, even if it's just to say that they think this is within standards (which IMO it's not). I'm really not happy with Lifesharp right now.

 

[mveach]

Yea, I sent in a few knives lately, and I was not happy with my lifesharp experience either. I even called them to talk about it, and the CS rep told me to send an email with the pictures of my issues, and they would look into it. I sent that on November 18, and almost a month later, I haven't heard anything. I even called a few times, and they seemed dismissive of my email and told me they had a long wait on replying to emails.

The kicker is, of the three knives I sent in, one of my beaters, my wife's beater, and a gift from my wife, it was the gift that came back messed up. I had sent in the gift, a 496 Vector, that my wife got me last year for my commissioning, because the assist broke. I decided to get a custom laser engraving on it while it was in, because it was very special to me. There was a small but noticible roll on the edge near the tip, which I asked them to fix, and in the process of sharpening it, they butchered the entire blade. The knife originally had a compound grind with a recurve, but they completely rounded over the point where the hollow and flat grinds meet, taking a significant amount of steel with it. The recurve is less of a recurve, and more like two or three connected flat sections of blade. Finally, the heel of the blade was so obtuse it wouldn't cut paper, and about a quarter of the blade had large visible burrs on it.

I would send in the blade for a replacement, but I also paid $30 for a custom lasermark while it was there. I used to carry this knife all the time, but I haven't touched it since it came back.

I wish they would at least answer my email, even if it's just to say that they think this is within standards (which IMO it's not). I'm really not happy with Lifesharp right now.

Whoever sharpened it didn't have a clue.

 

[Nbrackett]

While I’m not usually one to complain, it was disappointing to send this one off and get it back looking like it does. While I have 20-25 Benchmade’s I’ve probably had 150 or more pass through my collection through the years. I can fix most of the “issues” that we all see but I wanted this one “professionally” sharpened. Looks like mine was given to the new guy in the warranty department. I got it back noticeably shorter and almost a tiny tanto tip (that may be hard to see in this picture). It’s just been in the drawer since.

 

[Cypress]

I'm really not happy with Lifesharp right now.

That’s atrocious! The only knife I’ve had BM sharpen was my Infidel because of the chisel grind. It came back to me with a rainbow-colored tip (overheated/ruined), but nothing butchered like that!

 

[Silent H]

I wanted this one “professionally” sharpened. Looks like mine was given to the new guy in the warranty department.

Sadly, it seems like the Lifesharp department is very bad at sharpening, which is ironic given the name.

The last few Benchmades I have bought new have come with better than average edges. In my opinion their new knife sharpeners have improved a lot over the past two or three years. It's disappointing to receive a "professional" sharpening like this.

The worst part is the customer service department brushing me off, telling me to email them, and not replying in nearly a month.

 

[42Jackbauer23]

Let me start off by saying that I really like Benchmade as a company, I have 23 Benchmades in my collection, and I feel like for the most part they are a quality American company. In the past I could send in a knife or 2 and get it back with a pretty good edge, a new clip, new screws, and washers. It was clear that they disassembled the knife, cleaned, and oiled it. It was a good service in my opinion and I felt like I was getting a "new" knife back.

That said I have had some poor lifesharp experiences lately. A few months ago I sent in a 940 green aluminum for a simple sharpen and tune job. After about a month door to door it came back in the blue cloth bag. I thought that was a nice touch, different from the lifesharp boxes. Opened the knife to see a terrible sharpening job. Very dull and very uneven on the show side and much wider grind on the back side of the blade. The aluminum handle had a scratch that I was certain wasn't there when I sent it in. No new screws, no new washers and no new clip, but thats fine as I didn't request one.

Another separate example was a large presidio 2, got it back more dull than the 940. It was obvious that they didn't even take the knife apart and clean it, as it still had pocket lint on the inside of the liners. The screws were the same ones and had not been replaced. The blade centering was worst than when I sent it in. It appeared that all they did was do a quick "sharpening" job and put a little oil on it.

Last I requested a new blade for a barrage. Came back ok, no new scews, still bad sharpening, slightly off center, and old beat up clip. But new blade was nice.

Maybe I'm being too picky as it's a free service, but Benchmade is known for their lifesharp. And I realize a lot of companies do not even offer this kind of service life sharpening and blade replacement for $30. Not to mention I believe we pay a bit extra for a Benchmade, likely because it's american made and covers their lifesharp program. I appreciate that we no longer have to send $5 for shipping, but I would rather pay that and get a quality service like I used too. Seems like they are cheaping out on replacing small parts and their sharpening is not improving. Maybe they have grown significantly and are receiving more lifesharp requests than in the past, but they sure seem to not put the care that they used to in the past.

 

[BMCGear]

Maybe I'm being too picky as it's a free service, but Benchmade is known for their lifesharp. And I realize a lot of companies do not even offer this kind of service life sharpening and blade replacement for $30. Not to mention I believe we pay a bit extra for a Benchmade, likely because it's american made and covers their lifesharp program. I appreciate that we no longer have to send $5 for shipping, but I would rather pay that and get a quality service like I used too. Seems like they are cheaping out on replacing small parts and their sharpening is not improving. Maybe they have grown significantly and are receiving more lifesharp requests than in the past, but they sure seem to not put the care that they used to in the past.

I have owned more Benchmade's than probably any other brand at this point including several Custom Shops that I paid MSRP for. My point is that I do like Benchmade. With that being said the Lifesharp warranty is not a free service. It's a service that you pay for every time you buy a Benchmade. They hang their hat on it and tell you that it's "Yours for life" (https://www.benchmade.com/yours-for-life). The issue is every year or two that butterfly tax goes up with very little innovation within the product line - s30v is considered a premium steel. Nothing wrong with s30v but Kershaw who has a very similar warranty (cheaper blade replacement) sells an aluminum/s30v Blur for less than half of a 940. So what I justify the butterfly tax with is that warranty that's really not looking so good in this thread. Since John has taken over changes are being made that I'm not sure about. To name a few:

Pocket clip limit (not a huge deal but meh).
Actively telling customers taking their knife apart voids the warranty.
$600 steak knife set.
Discontinuing a ton of classic models.

Spyderco you get innovation but very little after sale service. I guess you can't have it all.

 

[Silent H]

Update on mine, I called Benchmade again, and the CS rep was far more helpful than the other two I spoke to over the past month. She searched through Benchmade's inbox, and said there was no record of my email arriving. She said their spam filter usually filters out emails with pictures attached. That would have been nice to know when they asked me to send in pictures, or when I called to check up on the status of my email. She sent me a UPS label so I could send it in, and warranty could inspect it to see if it was out of spec. I'm not holding my breath on them finding it out of spec though, because why would they have considered it good enough to ship back to me if it was out of spec?

 

[mveach]

I just got my knives back.super freek for blade replacement... like new. 551-1 for sticking lock and stripped screw... Perfect. It is now my new favorite.

 

[toker]

She searched through Benchmade's inbox, and said there was no record of my email arriving. She said their spam filter usually filters out emails with pictures attached.

I doubt they even check their emails. I've sent them emails in the past about broken Omega springs and I've never received a response from them. I had to call them and send the knife in for service. Once they got the knife, they replaced the spring and sent it back within a week along with sharpening.

I've never been impressed with Benchmade's factory edges or sharpening since I use a Wicked Edge.