Benchmade 485 Valet. I will have this!

somniloquist said:
Thanks for the comments on the action of this one, guys. I am still pretty tempted. I may wait until I see a good deal on a used one in the exchange. It looks like a great knife!
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If this knife tempts you I hope my comments do not discourage you from trying one. IMO every knife can be considered flawed in some way and every knife is beautiful in it's own way at the same time. For me this knife's beauty is in it's handle and blade profiles. Plus M390 is such a great material for a little blade that clearly will only see light duty use. I can put a razor's edge on this blade and expect it to stay sharp for a decent amount of time.
 
I took the clip off and although the knife is small it feels very nice in the hand. I think I may keep this clip-less.
 
Hello all, my first post here.

I just received Valet 485 and I'd like to share some impressions.

The knife looks great. But the stone wash... I'd call it "economy stone wash".
Knife is not in the same league of QC as my Spyderco Techno or Chaparral, which came in
absolutely flawless. If you saw Techno's blade finish, you would hardly accept the 485's blade as
having a "stone wash".

485 came with issues out of the box. It had a scratch on the blade and blade play in both directions.
Screw tightening fixed horizontal play and re-releasing the AXIS lock a 2nd time
after the blade is open fixes the vertical play. But it has to be done every time.

The random scratch on the blade is no surprise, given that the m390 steel is softer than I expected.

OK, at least m390 is harder than N690Co (aka VG-10). Valet leaves a scratch mark on the N690 blade,
but N690 does not scratch Valet's blade. Good.
But CTS-XHP blades leaves a scratch on the m390, and m390 cannot scratch the XHP blade.
Verdict - Spyderco's XHP has a higher HRC than the m390.

In agreement with that, if I tap gently Chaparral's XHP blade against the m390 in Valet, I can
feel blade damage to Valet's m390 blade with my nail. But there is no damage to the CTS-XHP steel blade.
(both sharpened at 40o angle)
I understand that how m390 and XHP are compared can change depending on heat treatment.
But I am describing what I actually have in front of me: two standard production knives with
standard heat treatments by two mainstream vendors.

I am going back to Spyderco Techno for my EDC choice.
Here is a quick ranking of my steels, in the order of hardness
(harder will leave a scratch on the softer steel):
H1 << N690/VG10 < m390 < CTS-XHP < ZDP-189
ZDP-189 is prone to chipping and corrosion, so XHP keeps the sharp edge longest of
all my steels, unmaintained.

Hope this helps someone.
If you have thoughts about m390 vs CTS-XHP, or other thoughts, or disagree, chime in by all means.
 
Group shot of my newer G10 handled Benchmades including the 485.
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Benchmade iskkilling me. No one has normal blades.


It's like a hot chick with a hideous face tattoo
 
I found one and made the mistake of passing. The next day we had a family trip planned. I was obsessed and kinda whined to my wife about it. She snuck off when we got home to get it for me but they had sold it the day after I walked away from it.
Don't make the same mistake if your on the fence about it.
 
I just picked one up and I'm liking the very slim and small size yet its still very sturdy and looks to be my new dress up and go fancy places knife.
 
Damn Benchmade you're killing me.


Limit the marked up knives to 500 or something. Waiting is driving me bananas
 
valetdebut_zps9aza19f5.jpg



Finally got one, right before I had to go so I paired her up with my 21 and got going.


Love it so far. Perfect size to keep a low profile, handle most easy tasks and came freaking sharp out of the box. Locks up tight, the mini axis works great and centering is perfect
 
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