- Joined
- Sep 22, 2002
- Messages
- 400
Just got this yesterday, and I wanted to tell someone how much I liked it. Since most of my friends would look at me cross-eyed if I started talking knives, I turn to you folks.
This is a really impressive little knife. I ordered the smaller version as soon as I had this one in hand. The blade is listed as 3.4 inches, and the handle is (from my crude measurements) about 4 and 3/16 inches. Basically the bare minimum of handle. Machined Micarta handles, which are really grippy wet or dry. Plus, they look damn good.
First of all, sorry for the lack of cutting content. I am a city creature, and the worst thing I have to cut (on a bad day!) is a blister pack.
As soon as I got home, I took off the clip. It's too pretty for a clip, and since it's about the size of a SAK, it doesn't feel clunky in your pocket. I had to file one of the clip screws down, since it doubles as a spacer screw, and is longer to compensate for the thickness of the clip material. Something to chew on if you get one of these.
I really, really like the lock on this knife. It's one of those simple variations of an old concept that just makes you smile. It's a lockback, but the locking bar is 1.5 inches long, and uses the dual liners to provide tension. Each liner is cut like a liner lock, with a long rectangular section that's free on three sides. In this case, however, the spring action works parallel to the plane of the liner, rather than perpendicularly. The lockbar is attached (peened, I guess) to the liners, and is held against the tang by the spring tension provided by the cutouts.This allows the lockbar to be 1.5 inches long, creating a lockback that's lighter and has a partially open spine. The butt of the handle is supported by an aluminum backspacer. The handle screws, by the way, are standard BM clip screws (just FYI).
The blade is cool, too. A slim, pointy drop point blade in 440C, which is a steel I personally adore. The grinds were as clean as could be expected - at the top of the blade, there's a flat about one millimeter high. The other side, on mine, had a flat about 2/3 of a millimeter high. That's about it. The rest is all bevel.
The handle is great. I have medium-sized hands, and the slim, contoured scales are great. Doubly so, now that I've removed the clip. Held centered, the handles extend about half an inch beyond my palm in both directions. The carved triple-groove is nice under the fingers, and is also an indexing aid.
Cutting is a dream - the blade is slightly thinner than 1/8" thick, and with the almost full flat grind, it's a razor. Benchmade really turned their thick edges and tip philosophy 180 degrees. It blows through tape, hairs, and cardboard. To test beyond that is outside my meager abilities. It could be sharper, but I'd say this knife is just about on par with Endura/Delica out-of-box sharpness. I'm looking forward to putting it to the stones.
Two cons about the knife: 1. The pivot is peened. I don't mind this so much, because mine is just tight enough to eliminate play, and make blade operation smooth but not too easy (I live in NYC). But others may take a harder view. 2. The thumbstud sucks. Plain and simple. It looks like a bullet that's been flattened on two sides and the head. I thought about just taking it off and opening it with two fingers. There's just enough blade available when closed to make this feasible for me. But it does its job well enough.
(First semi-review - please don't bite!)
This is a really impressive little knife. I ordered the smaller version as soon as I had this one in hand. The blade is listed as 3.4 inches, and the handle is (from my crude measurements) about 4 and 3/16 inches. Basically the bare minimum of handle. Machined Micarta handles, which are really grippy wet or dry. Plus, they look damn good.
First of all, sorry for the lack of cutting content. I am a city creature, and the worst thing I have to cut (on a bad day!) is a blister pack.
As soon as I got home, I took off the clip. It's too pretty for a clip, and since it's about the size of a SAK, it doesn't feel clunky in your pocket. I had to file one of the clip screws down, since it doubles as a spacer screw, and is longer to compensate for the thickness of the clip material. Something to chew on if you get one of these.
I really, really like the lock on this knife. It's one of those simple variations of an old concept that just makes you smile. It's a lockback, but the locking bar is 1.5 inches long, and uses the dual liners to provide tension. Each liner is cut like a liner lock, with a long rectangular section that's free on three sides. In this case, however, the spring action works parallel to the plane of the liner, rather than perpendicularly. The lockbar is attached (peened, I guess) to the liners, and is held against the tang by the spring tension provided by the cutouts.This allows the lockbar to be 1.5 inches long, creating a lockback that's lighter and has a partially open spine. The butt of the handle is supported by an aluminum backspacer. The handle screws, by the way, are standard BM clip screws (just FYI).
The blade is cool, too. A slim, pointy drop point blade in 440C, which is a steel I personally adore. The grinds were as clean as could be expected - at the top of the blade, there's a flat about one millimeter high. The other side, on mine, had a flat about 2/3 of a millimeter high. That's about it. The rest is all bevel.
The handle is great. I have medium-sized hands, and the slim, contoured scales are great. Doubly so, now that I've removed the clip. Held centered, the handles extend about half an inch beyond my palm in both directions. The carved triple-groove is nice under the fingers, and is also an indexing aid.
Cutting is a dream - the blade is slightly thinner than 1/8" thick, and with the almost full flat grind, it's a razor. Benchmade really turned their thick edges and tip philosophy 180 degrees. It blows through tape, hairs, and cardboard. To test beyond that is outside my meager abilities. It could be sharper, but I'd say this knife is just about on par with Endura/Delica out-of-box sharpness. I'm looking forward to putting it to the stones.
Two cons about the knife: 1. The pivot is peened. I don't mind this so much, because mine is just tight enough to eliminate play, and make blade operation smooth but not too easy (I live in NYC). But others may take a harder view. 2. The thumbstud sucks. Plain and simple. It looks like a bullet that's been flattened on two sides and the head. I thought about just taking it off and opening it with two fingers. There's just enough blade available when closed to make this feasible for me. But it does its job well enough.
(First semi-review - please don't bite!)
