Benchmade not very sharp out of the box

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ben317

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May 10, 2011
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I'm confused. I watch knife reviews on youtube where the reviewer always talks about how razor sharp their Benchmade knife came out of the box. I've bought two Benchmades now, an Osborn 940 and a Mini-griptilian. Both knives did very poorly in a simple paper cut straight out of the box. In contrast a couple of cheap knifes like a Spyderco Tenacious and a Sog Flash I cut through paper like butter out of the box. Is it just that these knives are not supposed to be great slicers or is it just that they weren't sharpened well?
 
The bevel angle is something like 30 degrees per side (60 total). I've never had one out of the box that wasn't that obtuse. Spyderco is around 15-20 degrees per side (30-40 respectively).
 
None of my Benchmades had very sharp edges from the factory. Spyderco/Kershaw really puts them to shame in that department.
 
Like the others have said, Benchmade's factory edges tend not to be very sharp compared to those of other major companies (Spyderco, Kershaw, Cold Steel, etc.). Just give your 940 and Mini Grip a good sharpening (and, ideally, a rebeveling to 40° inclusive or less) and I'm sure they'll slice just fine.
 
It's hit and miss for me. Some knives come looking like someone took two swipes across a 50 grit belt sander, others are more what you would expect for the price.

Sometimes I wish all knife companies would just ship knives without an edge bevel, regardless of how sharp it is they almost never grind the edge evenly on both sides.
 
That would be excellent for edge pro users. I'd love to be able to grind my own edges on new knives. It would save a lot of steel. I always end up evening out the grinds; sometimes removing a LOT of metal in the process.



Joshua J. said:
It's hit and miss for me. Some knives come looking like someone took two swipes across a 50 grit belt sander, others are more what you would expect for the price.

Sometimes I wish all knife companies would just ship knives without an edge bevel, regardless of how sharp it is they almost never grind the edge evenly on both sides.
Click to expand...
 
"Hit or miss" says it for me, too. So invest in the tools and knowledge to be able to easily reprofile the blade of a new knife to a perfect edge -- either with diamond stones or power equipment. A lopsided edge bevel bothers me as much as a dull edge, but both are easily fixed.

I don't usually put a mirrored edge on my blades, but the people here who do really bring out the beauty and function of their knives.
 
Both my benchmades 555hg and 551 were very sharp out of the box. Shaving sharp and made quick work of paper. QC for sharpening must be lacking.
 
BM is a bit variable in the sharpness of their factory edges. If asked to quantify, my experience suggests that around 30% need a proper sharpening.
 
Joshua J. said:
It's hit and miss for me. Some knives come looking like someone took two swipes across a 50 grit belt sander, others are more what you would expect for the price.

Sometimes I wish all knife companies would just ship knives without an edge bevel, regardless of how sharp it is they almost never grind the edge evenly on both sides.
Click to expand...

This just screams "Buck knives" in my head. Couple of my Buck knives came with worst (uneven) edge grinds I ever seen (but sharp). They sure can be taken care of with sharpening, but I really wished Buck never sharpened those knives at all.
 
I have yet to buy a Benchmade that was sharp out of the box. I don't care too much since I tend to sharpen my knives...but it is disappointing for a company that puts out an otherwise great product (IMO anyways).

Disappointing too is their uneven grinds...but that's another topic I guess.
 
I did get one knife that was pretty sharp out of the box, my 890-111 Torrent Gold Class. But being completely psychotic, I went ahead and put a mirror polish on the edge anyways:thumbup:. Honestly, it would be more fun if some makers would send me a blade without a sharpened edge.
 
Poor edges, especially the serrations, has kept me from buying a Benchmade every time I felt like grabbing one. USMC marked Grips and the Barrages were priced great at the military exchanges but you could see right through the clam pack that the edge was all jacked up and the ones I actually handled were very poor.

Not even close to out of the box folders from Cold Steel, Spyderco, Victorinox, etc. Strange for a high-end company where most models are over $100, when every $15-$25 Victorinox is perfect.
 
The reported lack of consistency in sharpness of Benchmades (or perhaps consistent unsharpness) does warrant the question: Why? If it's deliberate, then what's the philosophy? To what extent is it a quality control issue?
 
I have a couple of 805 TSEK in M390. At first I didn't think those knives were very sharp, I then stacked 4 sections of cardboard (the flaps from a large box). I proceeded to push one blade clean through all 4 pieces with hardly any effort. I was impressed to say the least.
 
CrimsonTideShooter said:
That would be excellent for edge pro users. I'd love to be able to grind my own edges on new knives. It would save a lot of steel. I always end up evening out the grinds; sometimes removing a LOT of metal in the process.
Click to expand...

Trust me when I say this, you aren't going to want to grind an entire edge bevel on a knife from scratch with an edge pro.
 
Glad I'm not the only one experiencing this. I tried to sharpen it up with the spyderco sharpmaker. I got it so that it could handle the paper slightly better than it did at first. But I couldn't match the factory edge that came on my spydercos. I'm not sure if it's because I suck at sharpening or because I used the 40 degree angle instead of the 30 degree angle on the sharpmaker. Nothing more frustrating to me right now then sharpening my new knife, testing it on the paper ... getting mediocre results then repeating and repeating...
 
Yes, it's frustrating when a new knife isn't sharp. But if you have basic sharpening skills, it will be a minor frustration -- or no frustration because you'll want to establish a perfect edge bevel as soon as you get your new knife. From your post above, I'd guess your sharpening skills are a little weak. Several blade characteristics affect cutting ability. The acuteness of the edge bevel is one. Benchmade typically comes with 50-degree edge bevels inclusive (25 degrees per side), more or less. Spydercos are usually closer to 30 or 40 degrees. Spydercos also tend to be thinner blades, so that helps cutting power, too.

If your Benchmade came with a 50-degree edge bevel -- say 25 degrees per side or 20 degrees on one side and 30 on the other -- you'll have a hard time sharpening on a Sharpmaker. Lets say it's 25 degrees per side and your Sharpmaker is set up for 15 degrees per side (30 degrees inclusive) or 20 degrees per side (40 degrees inclusive). In this case, no matter what stone angle you choose, the stone is going to wear down the shoulder of the edge bevel, but not sharpen the edge.

Let's say your Benchmade has 20 degrees on one side and 30 degrees on the other. In this case, if you use the 30 degree stone angle on the Sharpmaker, you'll just round off the shoulders. If you use the 40-degree stone angle, you'll sharpen one side, creating a wire edge, but only round off the shoulder on the other side. You'll end up with a kind of sharp knife with a wire edge that will quickly get dull.

So what to do:

Paint the edge of your Benchmade with a Sharpie. Then make a dry pass with the 30-degree stone. With a loupe, look to see where your stone is making contact -- the part where the Sharpie paint is scraped away.

Chances are, you'll find the stone is working only the shoulder. You want the stone to be parallel with both sides of the edge bevel, scraping the paint off cleanly the entire width of the edge bevel.

Next, you can repeat the process with the 40-degree stone, which I'm guessing will be too steep as well, at least on one side of the edge if not both.

What all this means is that you have to reprofile the edge to make the edge bevel match the angle of your stone.

On the Sharpmaker, this reprofiling will take a long, long time because the stones are relatively fine and not meant to remove a lot of metal. You can buy diamond stones to speed the process. Or purchase an angled sharpening system that will cut a new edge bevel angle relatively easily. Or have a professional sharpener set the 30-degree edge bevel for you, after which your Benchmade will respond perfectly to your Sharpmaker.
 
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