Benchmade AFCK

JasonG

JasonG

Joined
Sep 29, 2008
Messages
263
Hi Guys....
I bought a 2nd hand benchmade AFCK yesterday.... Please could you guys tell me a little bit about this knife?
Its the older version, with the linear lock, and ATS 34.... I like to know the possible history of the makings of the knifes, the choices of metal, and what they good for.
Please, any info would be appreciated :thumbup:
 
I have one that I bought when they first came out. It is still one of my favorite folders ever, due to its light weight for its size. I'm pretty sure it was the first production folder ever made with titanium liners, and perhaps the first production folder to use ATS-34, which in those days (pre-S30V) was considered top of the line cutlery stainless steel. It was designed by a former Seal named Chris Caracci. It was tip-down only, which I now consider a drawback.

Around the same time they came out with the AFCK, Benchmade offered the 970 model designed by Ernest Emerson, also with ti liners, G-10 handle, and ATS-34 blade. It was a watershed for production knives; before that such materials had been offered only by custom makers.
 
My Dad bought this one new and of course like 99% of the 100's of knives he's bought over the years it's still brand new.It's mine now (yeah I beg a lot) and I was gonna try to swap it for a Spyderco, but I never got offered what I'd trade it for and I'm sorta glad as it's pretty rare in NIB condition.
2heg2lj.jpg
 
wutitiz said:
perhaps the first production folder to use ATS-34
Click to expand...

Al Mar made folders with ATS-34 before BM.

Around the same time they came out with the AFCK, Benchmade offered the 970 model designed by Ernest Emerson, also with ti liners, G-10 handle, and ATS-34 blade. It was a watershed for production knives; before that such materials had been offered only by custom makers.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure the BM CQC7 was first. I've owned both since they came out and IIRC I had the CQC7 a year or two before the AFCK.
 
'34 is a great steel, wasnt that long ago it was the bomb, its about the same as 154CM which is what emerson, and others still use.

the AFCK was a great knife, advanced folding combat knife, designed by chris carraci (an ex-SEAL) for BM, if the 970 came out before the 800 it wasnt long before, of all BM's its always been one of my favorites, i bet i have had 10 or 12 of them thru the yrs, i still have 2 or 3.

imho the AFCK will do anything a knife needs to do, utility, self defense, whatever, and do it as well as really about anything.

if i had to make do with only one knife i wouldnt feel handicapped at all if it was an AFCK.
 
awesome stuff!!! thanks for your input.... I really like it! and i dont know why! I just feels and looks so cool...

I got it completely stuffed!!!!
it was the black blade, which half of it had rubbed off from being so used... the previous owner used it to open beer bottels with... the spacers at the back were screwed... one wasnt there, so you could squeeze it almost closed, and the other was almost broken.... the G-10 scales were almost flat from I dont know what? maybe serious wear or hitting things. It had like shiney blotches where the scaling was flat.... So, it was EXTREAMLY used!!! haha

So I blasted the blade, filed a new lines into the G-10, reground the blade, and just touched it up in general....

It looks brand new (not the click thou) now, feels so good in the hand, extreamly smooth, and is a solid knife... through years of RUFF use, its still has tight tolerences and locks up like a new knife!
So im really impressed with this knife... shows how quality helps in the long run!

Awesome Awesome.... my military is riding my back pocket for a while :)....

How old is this knife? anyone know?
 
You could buy them new in 1997, cause that's when Dad bought his and they'd been around awhile before that. (he paid 85.00 back then)
 
As far as I know Benchmade started working with ATS-34 after one of knifemakers who was doing a colab with Spyderco set a condition, the knife had to be "Made in the USA". Spyderco, who didn't have their own equipment at the time contracted BM to produce this run and that started ATS decade for Benchmade.
I read about it on one of the forums or one of the collector's home pages out there, so I'm not sure about credibility, but sounds very believable.
 
you could buy new AFCK's from NGK (for $69.95 IIRC) up until '02 or '03 when they were closing them out, i bought a coupke and gave one away and still have one, a lotta knife for $70 imho.

you can still buy them on ebay/etc of course.

IIRC the disco'd them ~ '00 or so, about the time the axis AFCK came out.
 
I have an M2 version of the mini AFCK and it is my faithful EDC. It slices like theres no tomorrow, and never seems to get dull. Great combination of the Benchmade design, with the added nice spydie hole.
 
Hello,

here are two pictures of my good old AFCK BM800 M2HS Plain edge.
I bought it in Paris in 2001 and I have removed the black BT2 on the blade and since it has developed a very nice patina and no pit of rust ever.
It's light and M2 cut like crazy.
Grand Dad's blade with modern technology.

3021409575_08b74a9cfe.jpg


3022241212_631042a133.jpg


Cheers
Nemo
 
I am at this moment perusing a 1996-1997 Benchmade catalog that I got when I picked up my first BM: a 975S Emerson. It cost me approximately $130 in San Diego in the summer of 1996. I paid full price because, back then, we didn;t have the internet and I fell in love with the knife.

The catalog shows the MSRP of the 800 (AFCK) at $129. The 970 Emerson series MSRP is $149. Surely, there were sjhops even then selling them for much less.

Remember, during the 90's, Japan was able to offer alot of steels at a cost below what U.S. steel industry could supply. ATS-34 (the relative equivalent of 154CM) all came from Japan. At some point in later years (I don;t know when - someone chime in), the quality of the Japanese ATS-34 began to falter, and most knifemakers then switched back to U.S. made 154CM.

In the early and mid-90's, ALL of BM's knives were made in the U.S., and they didn;t have a Gold, Blue, Black and Red class offering.
 
I have a PE 812 ATS-34 and it's still at the top of my collection and always will be despite the liner lock! They really knew how to heat treat that ATS-34 back then.
 
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From a design point, I remember the article / thread from Chris Caracci (used to post on BF) that it was influenced by the Spyderco Police model, and he also spoke with Ernest Emerson to get his "permission" to use the index finger notch. (Emerson had no issues with it.)
 
Hi,

but the Emerson opening disc was used first used or invented by Bob Terzuola !
:)

Cheers
Nemo
 
The AFCK was based or a partial design by Caracci, after he tried selling the design to Spyderco. Spyderco passed, and he went to Benchmade, where Les re-designed the initial design and released the AFCK.
 
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