Benchmade Apparition???

Z

zpaulg

Joined
May 22, 2006
Messages
585
Love the look of the Apparition, they cost about £60 over here if you can find one at all! Value for money? Any good? What do you think? Also quite like the Emerson Commander and CQB7's.......suggestions greatly appreciated................
 
I just bought an Apparition a couple of weeks ago. I had heard lots of criticizms of it before buying it, like some folks don't like the plastic scales or the a-bit-too-pointy thumb stud, but I really liked the feel of it when I held it in my hand.

I did have a couple of problems with mine though. Luckily, the dealer I bought it from is taking care of it by replacing mine with a new one, but the blade had some marks on it that I can only describe as hammer marks. Not like someone took an actual hammer and beat on it, but maybe like the piece of steel was set in the sheer cock-eyed when they were cutting out the blanks and took a slight hit before the full-force of the machine got to it. That's just a guess, but in any event, the marks are there and annoyingly visible at the correct angle to a light source.

The other problem is one that I find to be common with medium - large folders; the blade fouls against the locking side of the liner on opening and closing. There are no scratches on this one now because I saw it before any scratches developed, but I have several folders with blades fairly heavily scratched due to the same problem.

I took pics of both problems per the request of the eBay dealer I bought it from. I had written to him asking him to tell me the procedure for dealing directly with Benchmade's Customer Service Dept. He offered, without being asked, to swap mine out for a new one, and take the hassle of dealing with BM on his own shoulders. That's pretty damn cool if'n you ask me, not to mention that I shopped around eBay a lot and he had the best price by about $8 or $10 bucks to begin with.

At this point I am just attributing the problems to bad luck of the draw, as I still think the Apparition is a great knife. If I find similar problems with the new one, I'll change my mind, but I've held several and none of the others I've seen have the same problems, so I'm expecting to be very happy once again within a few days.
 
Cheers Blues, who did you deal with on e-bay, I'm in the UK and tend to find that prices on e-bay are double that in the US, ho hum such is life I guess...
 
zpaulg said:
Cheers Blues, who did you deal with on e-bay, I'm in the UK and tend to find that prices on e-bay are double that in the US, ho hum such is life I guess...
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I almost gave the guy a plug in my first post here zpaulg, but wasn't sure if I would be breaking some rule that I haven't run across or something. Still haven't run across one though, so here goes....

He runs a small eBay Store called "Brumbelow Trading." He carries mostly Benchmade and Kershaw. His name is Steve Brumbelow and his price on the Apparition is $89.95 plus a very reasonable $5.50 for shipping, State-side only only for that price of course. Not sure if he ships internationally or not, but it sounds like it might be worth a look-see for you. His storefront can be found here. Hope that helps. Take care.

Tom S.
 
I like the look of the Apparition in pictures, but not in person. The liner lock reminds me of flea market knives. Not because it isn't a solid lock, but it just looks flimsy (not just the size, but the finish on it as well). I also think the scales look and feel cheap. There is just something about the knife that seems off.

But of course, that is just me. The point is that you should try to see one in person before buying because in my experience, it is one of the knives that looks a lot different in pics than it does in real life and feels a lot different than you might guess it would from pics.
 
zpaulg said:
Cheers Blues, who did you deal with on e-bay, I'm in the UK and tend to find that prices on e-bay are double that in the US, ho hum such is life I guess...
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I have an Apparition and thought it was a fine heavy duty built folder and with the "optimizer rod" feature it opened as fast as my Kershaw leek! It was too "pretty" for me to carry In fact I'm trying to unload it for $75.00 its LNIB just want something different right now!:thumbup:
 
I liked the Apparition in pictures, then I saw one in person. I do not like the handle scales, they feel cheap. I was all set and pre-ordered one, ages ago, until I saw it and handled it. I know a lot of people like it, and that is great. I am just not one of them.
 
TheKnifeCollector said:
I liked the Apparition in pictures, then I saw one in person. I do not like the handle scales, they feel cheap. I was all set and pre-ordered one, ages ago, until I saw it and handled it. I know a lot of people like it, and that is great. I am just not one of them.
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Yup to each his own I guess real horn from a Buffalo or whatever those are supposed to simulate would be outrageously expensive! I just seen on ebay a Apparition with Wooly Mammoth tusk scales starting out at $400.00 now thats getting to be a bit on the far side!!!:jerkit:
 
I owned one, it was my favorite knife for some time, until AO fell out of favor with me, and I removed the optimiser bar. The blade can literally fall out of the handle, if you tighten it too much, you can't move it with one hand. I would like to see a model offered without AO, and with thicker liners, but then that would kind of negate the removable optimiser option.
 
Thanks Blues, a great help. I've ordered a cheap knife from the States as a test as to duty charges/customs etc. If it arrives successfully, without any major hassles I may try my hand!!! Knife laws over here (UK) are getting ludicrous, next they'll be outlawing toothpicks in restaurants..........
 
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