Benchmade=Dull, Why?!

While I'd like to believe that they send out not quite sharpened knives on purpose so that the user can sharpen however they want, the facts point to it just being sloppy QC. Seems to me about half of the Benchmades that I have encountered came with shaving sharp edges from the factory and the other half were dull. It's a lot more likely that they try for super sharp and wind up with dull than that they try for dull and wind up with super sharp :p
 
My experience with BM's sharpness has always been very good. Better than my Spydercos. Especially the 3 that I have with M390. Maybe it's because I am getting the higher end, limited edition blades and they are spending more time to get them right, but I have been very pleased with BM's sharpness. My 746-1201 is one of the sharpest knives I have ever used straight out of the box.
 
come to think of it, sharpening a knife from the factory is one of the more difficult and expensive things to do. i remember some hunting arrow makers that shipped their arrows dull. but, a new knife that needs to be sharpened first before it can be useful is a rather funny product. spyderco may assure scary-sharp edges out of the box but obviously, that's what you pay for.
 
bikingshaun said:
My experience with BM's sharpness has always been very good. Better than my Spydercos. Especially the 3 that I have with M390. Maybe it's because I am getting the higher end, limited edition blades and they are spending more time to get them right, but I have been very pleased with BM's sharpness. My 746-1201 is one of the sharpest knives I have ever used straight out of the box.
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Same here. I've bought over 15 benchmades and all of them came razor sharp.
To be fair, most of these are limited edition or gold class knives, so they rightly spend more time on the QC than lower-end knives.
I'm just not convinced that benchmade knowingly sends out dull knives.
They produce a lot of factory-made knives and (just like every other company) are bound to ship out a few defects.
The reason it seems like there are so many is that there is a very vocal minority of people complaining about it on the internet. (people who haven't learned how to sharpen their knives yet)
You just don't get people saying anything about all of the hundreds of thousands of benchmade's that arrived razor sharp out of the box as they should.
 
michaelm466 said:
of the 6 benchmades I have, I've only had to touch up one, at least three of them came hair popping sharp, although part of that could be that of those 6, 5 of them are LE's so maybe they spend more time on them?
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Damn you, I want the Tsek 805 so badly!

I just got the AFCK 806 and its one of my favorite Benchmades, if not folding knives ever!
 
When you have a Chinese knife like the sanrenmue 763 come out shaveing sharp for a 12 dollar knife and you decide to buy a Benchmade mini grip and I get a butter knife you get p*** and never buy a Benchmade again I love to get the grip large but won't do it I buy spydercos and kershaw because I know they are going to be sharp.
 
That theme is just keeps popping up. I am really puzzled. I do not think there is anything cool about it.
 
frenchmade said:
They produce a lot of factory-made knives and (just like every other company) are bound to ship out a few defects.
The reason it seems like there are so many is that there is a very vocal minority of people complaining about it on the internet. (people who haven't learned how to sharpen their knives yet)
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I doubt that. I'm one of those that has received at least half of my Benchmades in barely "working edge" condition, and I can sharpen knives just fine. In fact, it would make more sense that those who find the edges to be dull are people who know how to sharpen, as they're more likely to notice; folks that wouldn't know a sharpening stone from a chocolate eclair are very likely going to be less critical of a slightly dull blade since they've never experienced the satisfaction of taking a knife to a much sharper state than its factory edge.

Further to that end, considering most of Benchmade's line sits above the casual or impulse purchaser's price point, we're probably going to find most of their customers are enthusiasts who are willing to spend more money on higher quality knives; those folks are going to be more critical of a knife's edge at a given price point than your Average Joe.

While it's very likely true that people with negative experiences are more likely to post their concerns online, that's true of any manufacturer's products. Thus, when Benchmade's name comes up more often than other companies with complaints of dull edges, it's a pretty reasonable inference that this a more common occurrence than just coincidence or a random fluke. Also, this being a knife enthusiast's forum, we actually get a decently balanced influx of both positive and negative points: for every post bemoaning a dull edge, there's usually someone jumping at the opportunity to offer an equally passionate, but completely opposite opinion. For an issue to push beyond that factor is fairly telling.
 
Benchmade does not care I sent them an email about my knife being so dull out of the box never got back to me I send an email to kershaw about a issue with a shallot they got back to me next day. Now I'm buying more expensive knive 150 to 300 and there are some Benchmade that I like but don't want to get a 300 dollar butter knife
 
allyourblood, I am crying. Tear:thumbup: This thread can now come to a close. Doubt anyone could have said it better. I have a Sharpmaker+UF rods. When I can barely run my finger over my Spyderco's, run my Benchmade blades back and forth across my thumb, plus the back of my hand without injury there is something to be said. When I open the 940 and the backspacer is dented...when I open the 915 Triage and there is massive blade play plus the rescue hook is loose. I question things. Ironic though, my Triage is shaving sharp. Crazy!
 
Benchmade says they have addressed this. The last 2 really recent one's are the sharpest I think I have ever received from them. The edge angles are noticeably lower than before. So they are doing something different.
 
I had my minigrip professionally sharpened this morning and but i wish i had taken pictures of the edge it had out of the box. not only was it extremely thick but it was a very uneven grind. you could tell the sharpener was right handed. This to me was unacceptable in a knife that expensive. i would have to disagree with those that say benchmade has gotten better in the last few years. i've handled dozens in stores and out of those only 1 or 2 were what i would actually consider sharp. if cheap kershaws and carbon steel mora's can come razor sharp why can't my benchmade? Benchmade has significantly expanded in the last few years and my guess is that with all the new employees they just dont have the experience anymore.
 
Benchmade was getting quite a reputation for sending out dull blades the last couple of years. It was brought up on their forum and they responded and promised to address the issue. In my experience the last few I've bought have been pretty sharp. They look to be using a jig of some sort as the last couple I've bought ( 275 Adams in D2, and the Contego in CPM M4) have been even on both sides all the way to the tip, and able to shave arm hairs without scraping. This is plenty good for production, heavy use EDC type knives. A couple of years ago, starting with my Rukus I got a few that seemed to not have the final edge put on it at all.

The TSEK, M390 581 Barrage, and on have been pretty good so the change for me came around that time. Before that in my experience was hit and miss ( 530 Pardue, LFT in CPM M4 fairly poor finish overall, 710 limited ed., Osborne M4 Limited Ed. were all at least dull to very dull) Good to recent excellent all around were the D2 mini grip, TSEK ( both of them), and a few more I don't recall.

I don't have any problems buying them and consider the latest 2 ( Adams in D2, and Contego in CPM M4) excellent to near perfect. It seems to me their promise to send out sharper knives is being kept, in the case of my few examples anyways.

Joe
 
you should learn to sharpen your knifes. that way, when you actually use your knife and it get's dull, you can just resharpen it. no matter how sharp a knife comes, it aint gonna stay that way. learn to sharpen!
 
In my experience their 154CM consistently has a dull edge out of the box. M4 was okay, S30V always seems to be good. Haven't tried others that I can remember. I saw uneven grinds around the blade most of the time. Overall they're great knives though.

I also recommend everyone to learn how to sharpen, you'll see that almost all factory edges are pretty terrible.
 
My first BM was a new 0551 Grip in 440C. Nice enough, mechanically, great AXIS lock. But - it needed an external source of heat to cut butter. It would be most of five years before I'd try my second BM - a 201 Activator+ fb in D2 - also dull. A few months passed - I finally bought a Spydie Sharpmaker. My drawer-o-butter knives was soon emptied - and I bought BM's - lots of BM's. The ones I wanted from '04 BM catalogs on - many still available as NOS at one of two local stores - were purchased - at discounts - as money permitted (... and guns were sold!). Two dozen plus more BM's - and only one, my only used purchase (A second 630 Skirmish.), required time with the Sharpmaker before it would raise armhairs. There are two morals here:
1. Buy enough BM's and you'll eventually find sharp ones!
2. Learn how to sharpen your knives and it won't matter if they are razors right out of the box!

Stainz
 
If I see another thread about dull Benchmades I'm going to slit my wrists... not with a Benchmade of course, since that would take forever. ;)

More to the point: As The Mastiff mentioned, the company in not unaware of this issue. The one and only sticky in the first section of their forum is titled "Addressing NIB Benchmade Sharpness Issues" and dates from June of 2011. Too bad we have no way of really knowing (yet) if their newer knives (as in new out of the factory vs. new old stock) have measurably improved in the sharpness department. I can't think of a worse or more easily ridiculed reputation for a knife company to have than as one that cannot consistently manufacture sharp knives. Throw in the premium price and let the complaints fly.
 
There are a lot of forum posts floating around like this.

The first Benchmade folder I bought was the large Bone Collector. Being my first Benchmade, it was a little discouraging when I opened it and it was so dull it wouldnt even start a clean cut with paper. The bigger problem I had with it though, was finding it was missing a washer and the blade was noticeably bent at the pivot. I called customer service and they took care of it for me though.

After that I have gotten (not counting Grips because they were bought used) a 710, a Rift, and just last week a Contego. All were in very good shape out of the box and the Contego is probably (as far as I can remember) the sharpest knife out of the box I have ever bought.
 
I just got a 275BK Adamas and it came out of the box shaving sharp, but the grind is so lopsided it's embarrassing. I can live with it, but I expected more.
 
allyourblood said:
It's just kinda always been a thing. I got used to it with my last few Benchmade purchases. Sometimes you luck out and get a sharp one, other times you gotta have your sharpening stone ready right outta the box. Not much we can do about it. At least you get some sharpening practice in!
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BS. What you can do is not buy their products. Vote with your cash.
 
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