There are a couple of threads featuring the Benchmade Crooked River 15080-1 (with G10 scales) but I was unable to find any featuring the 15080-2 (with Wood scales). So here are my first impressions as a new(ish) collector and a new Benchmade customer.
I respectfully caution anyone who is sensitive to comparisons being made of different styles or grades of knifes, manufactured by different companies. I am an amateur ("noob" if you must) knife enthusiast and I enjoy freely sharing my thoughts and opinions on the knives I've collected and the companies that manufacture them. I welcome opposing viewpoints and guidance from those with more experience and knowledge with this hobby. This post WILL contain many comparisons between this Benchmade model and many ZT and a few Kershaws based on my own subjective opinions, and hopefully many other's opinions in the continuing thread for as long as it remains interesting or until it's sabotaged by whomever.
Enough BS, here's some BM
First impressions. Unboxing this Benchmade was more enjoyable than any of my ZT's. I get that premium packaging costs more, but at the price range of ZT's knives, I feel a "little" bit nicer packaging is warranted. The Crooked River came in a three piece box (top, bottom and foam bed) inside a microfiber bag with Benchmade printed on it. I preferred it to tearing delicate cardboard tabs and unsticking the flap on ZT's bubble wrap. So that about sums up the first two minutes of ownership between the ZT and Benchmade products I own.
The Crooked River with wood handles is a BEAUTIFUL object. WOW, I am so impressed. I feel that pictures don't do it justice, but that's subjective. Fit on THIS knife is perfect, that's fact. Seams between materials are accurate and even, nothing feels "off". No adjustment is needed, on my knife, out of the box. I was concerned I would not like the orange accents combined with the wood scales. That worry was undue. It works, like a teak deck on yacht with a modern paintjob. These scales are not varnished like on a Buck 110. You could almost imagine getting a splinter, if they weren't so well sanded.
Under a magnifying glass, it's not all roses though. I prefer the blade finish on even my cheapest Kershaw over this. It is not quite tirade inducing, but it's definitely not on par with Kershaw/ZT in my opinion. It's almost like they chose not to skillfully do either a ground finish or a stonewash so they halfheartedly did both. In the absence of a collection of ZT's to compare to I might not have noticed or cared. It's just a nitpick at best for an overall beautiful product.
The aluminum bolsters seem to have a finish like the texture of newspaper. It's almost like there are cellulose fibers pressed into the aluminum itself. It's hard to describe, but perhaps so subjective it wasn't worth mentioning. I presume it is an attempt to hide inevitable scratches by preemptively scratching it for you. I really do feel that pointing these observations out as flaws is blatant and indefensible nitpicking.
It arrived a little stiff and gritty feeling in action, but a little gun oil and some play time and it feels as good as my best and smoothest ZT's with KVT, which just so happens to be a tie between my two large Sinkevich's, my ZT0452CF and my ZT0454-205P. I am surprised how quickly it feels "broken in".
The design is visually striking but in hand, it feels less ergonomic than any single Kershaw or ZT that I own. Every Kershaw/ZT I own feels like I squeezed a wad of clay and they fashioned it into a viable handle for that knife. I spent some time trying to understand why the Crooked River felt so generic in-hand. I believe it comes to down to how every Kershaw/ZT I own treats the users index finger as the primary interface between the users hand and the knife. On the Crooked River, my index finger might as well be my forearm. It doesn't seem to care where it fits in my hand. This may be a factor of its intended use rather than any flaw in design.
Oh. Last thing. This is extremely unreliable so, I don't even believe what I am about to say. I think the only Kershaw/ZT that was as out-of-the-box as sharp as this Crooked River, was My Diskin Hunter fixed blade. But I'm gonna call bulls*** on myself because I never had an issue with sharpness of any of my ZTs. I will say this though, it is perceptably sharper than the ZT045CF that accompanied it and my titanium ZT0450 was a scalpel out of the box. This ZT0450CF seems about as sharp as my regular ZT0450 soooooo. yeah...
End "Wall of words". Begin wall of pics
I respectfully caution anyone who is sensitive to comparisons being made of different styles or grades of knifes, manufactured by different companies. I am an amateur ("noob" if you must) knife enthusiast and I enjoy freely sharing my thoughts and opinions on the knives I've collected and the companies that manufacture them. I welcome opposing viewpoints and guidance from those with more experience and knowledge with this hobby. This post WILL contain many comparisons between this Benchmade model and many ZT and a few Kershaws based on my own subjective opinions, and hopefully many other's opinions in the continuing thread for as long as it remains interesting or until it's sabotaged by whomever.
Enough BS, here's some BM
First impressions. Unboxing this Benchmade was more enjoyable than any of my ZT's. I get that premium packaging costs more, but at the price range of ZT's knives, I feel a "little" bit nicer packaging is warranted. The Crooked River came in a three piece box (top, bottom and foam bed) inside a microfiber bag with Benchmade printed on it. I preferred it to tearing delicate cardboard tabs and unsticking the flap on ZT's bubble wrap. So that about sums up the first two minutes of ownership between the ZT and Benchmade products I own.
The Crooked River with wood handles is a BEAUTIFUL object. WOW, I am so impressed. I feel that pictures don't do it justice, but that's subjective. Fit on THIS knife is perfect, that's fact. Seams between materials are accurate and even, nothing feels "off". No adjustment is needed, on my knife, out of the box. I was concerned I would not like the orange accents combined with the wood scales. That worry was undue. It works, like a teak deck on yacht with a modern paintjob. These scales are not varnished like on a Buck 110. You could almost imagine getting a splinter, if they weren't so well sanded.
Under a magnifying glass, it's not all roses though. I prefer the blade finish on even my cheapest Kershaw over this. It is not quite tirade inducing, but it's definitely not on par with Kershaw/ZT in my opinion. It's almost like they chose not to skillfully do either a ground finish or a stonewash so they halfheartedly did both. In the absence of a collection of ZT's to compare to I might not have noticed or cared. It's just a nitpick at best for an overall beautiful product.
The aluminum bolsters seem to have a finish like the texture of newspaper. It's almost like there are cellulose fibers pressed into the aluminum itself. It's hard to describe, but perhaps so subjective it wasn't worth mentioning. I presume it is an attempt to hide inevitable scratches by preemptively scratching it for you. I really do feel that pointing these observations out as flaws is blatant and indefensible nitpicking.
It arrived a little stiff and gritty feeling in action, but a little gun oil and some play time and it feels as good as my best and smoothest ZT's with KVT, which just so happens to be a tie between my two large Sinkevich's, my ZT0452CF and my ZT0454-205P. I am surprised how quickly it feels "broken in".
The design is visually striking but in hand, it feels less ergonomic than any single Kershaw or ZT that I own. Every Kershaw/ZT I own feels like I squeezed a wad of clay and they fashioned it into a viable handle for that knife. I spent some time trying to understand why the Crooked River felt so generic in-hand. I believe it comes to down to how every Kershaw/ZT I own treats the users index finger as the primary interface between the users hand and the knife. On the Crooked River, my index finger might as well be my forearm. It doesn't seem to care where it fits in my hand. This may be a factor of its intended use rather than any flaw in design.
Oh. Last thing. This is extremely unreliable so, I don't even believe what I am about to say. I think the only Kershaw/ZT that was as out-of-the-box as sharp as this Crooked River, was My Diskin Hunter fixed blade. But I'm gonna call bulls*** on myself because I never had an issue with sharpness of any of my ZTs. I will say this though, it is perceptably sharper than the ZT045CF that accompanied it and my titanium ZT0450 was a scalpel out of the box. This ZT0450CF seems about as sharp as my regular ZT0450 soooooo. yeah...
End "Wall of words". Begin wall of pics
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