Benchmade is a production manufacturing company. Consider, for example, just the task of drilling and tapping the three holes in the liner for the screws to hold the pocket clip.
For a custom maker or a small-scale manufacturer such as Chris Reeve, this is very simple. You just drill and tap the other piece.
At a larger-scale manufacturer such as Benchmade, this drilling and tapping is done by an automated CNC machine. To change from right- to left-hand style, that machine must be taken out of service, the fixture on the machine that holds the piece must be changed (and this does mean that Benchmade must have two expensive, custom-made fixtures for this machine, one for left- and one for right-hand style), the machine must be reprogrammed (and this does mean that Benchmade must develope two programs for this machine, one for left- and one for right-hand style), then everything has to be calibrated and aligned and the machine has to be checked to be sure that everything is working properly before production pieces are run.
I'll bet it takes a skilled technician four hours to do all of this work. To switch back, the process has to be repeated. So, to run a small batch of lefties means loosing eight hours of production time (a whole day) on that machine and it means paying a skilled technician for a day's work on that machine. And this is just one machine for one operation.
Changing things in a _semi-automated_ manufacturing _process_ is not easy. When a company transitions to a more formal, more controlled _manufacturing process_, they knowingly give up some versatility in order to better control the quality of their products. As manufacturing volumes increase, that tradeoff is necessary.
I would not be surprised if I own more Benchmade knives than any other retail customer on this forum. I have only once been disappointed with one (an AFCK that didn't quite stay locked) and Benchmade replaced that knife instantly when I ran it by the factory.
I've seen a few real lemons from CRKT. Remember, CRKT doesn't make anything. I drive by their offices several times per week (it's on my way to the Gym) and I can assure you that there's no manufacturing in there. They import everything. So, they have no control over thier manufacturing processes and they have absolutely no ability to set up for any special mod or variation on their product even if they want to.
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Chuck
Balisongs -- because it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!
http://www.4cs.net/~gollnick
