Benchmade Quality Control

M

Mattman888

Joined
Mar 5, 2008
Messages
311
I have to say, I am a Benchmade fan, at least I thought I was... As of today I have 7 benchmades in need of repairs. These models and the problems are;

Mini Griptilian - 2 Broken Omega Springs

Mini Nitrous Stryker - Rattling noise, Pocket Clip moves side to side.

Barrage - Assisted Opening no longer works

40TR - gap between handle and blade is too wide causing abnormal amount of handle play.

AFCK - Screws no longer want to go into the handle??? :confused:

Mini Ambush - Detent dosn't keep the blade in the handle in the closed position.

Monochrome - Major up and down bladeplay

I am left to asume that all this was just bad luck on my part as I haven't abused these knives in anyway. I don't mean to rant, I really like benchmades designs but in contrast to my spyderco and kershaw knives, none of them have ever broke. I did e-mail them and they told me to send them in. Has anyone else had a problem like this? :confused:
 
I bought the Rukus model after it was voted the knife of the year. I also bought a set of carbon fibre scales to replace the green factory ones. I removed the factory scales and when I went to screw in the others the threads on the liners were stripped. I have been around guns and knives my whole knife and and fully conscious that one must be careful so as to not strip out threads but in this instance I strongly suspect that the threads were damaged on assembly. Benchmade finally made it right but I had to grovel and I must admit that upon looking at the minimal threads that were there Benchmade is taking a real risk selling aftermarket scales to people to replace the factory installed ones on the rukus model.
 
How long did it take to accumulate all these?

I've never had broken knives very long - I fix 'em, send them off to be fixed, or destroy them.

Are you taking these knives apart? If so, why?
 
I've had a lot of Bms in my time, nary a problem.
I've had some Kershaws in my time, all had badly
assymetric blades. Most are gone now. Still have two.
I've had a few Cold Steels in my time, no problemo!
I've had a few Spydercos in my time, no problem.
I've had a few Microtechs in my time, no problem.
There are others as well.

What I do not have anymore are CRKT, SOG and Gerber.:thumbdn:
 
CRKT aus 6 dulls if you cut a marshmellow :)

I"ve had good luck with Benchmades, but I have not had one in the past three years or so, maybe things have changed.

I actually found that Spyderco QC was slipping, slightly. Little things, like vertical play, not sharp out of the box, pocket clips that too easily slipped off your pants pockets.

Been quite happy with Kershaws, just ordered another one. I also think the Harley Davidson Axis line is a collective sleeper... some very nice offerings.
 
BM has been going really rapidly downhill for a good two years now. I know guys that have had dull edges out of the box. I'm talking like a butter knife that you cannot even cut yourself with. Sad. They used to be one of the greats.

They started getting too "trendy", started copying other companies. They started using the Spyderco Round Hole (Karma is now getting Benchmade back 3 fold). They started ignoring their regular customers. They started cutting corners to make a quick buck. It shows.

They are the next Gerber.
 
Last edited:
otis williams said:
mostly sounds like cleaning, maintenence, and cross-thread issues to me.
Click to expand...

I have to agree with you, and having bought a few BMs in the last couple years each has come razor sharp, I haven't had a crossed thread and my oldest BM is 10 years old and still "strong like ox"

take care of your knives, though the omega spring failure sounds like a bad heat treat batch. never had an omega spring fail in 10 years of use, and I admit gross abuse as well.

the SPCO issue is a dead horse, beat it some more! Too "trendy" what does that mean? You're spewing nonsense.
 
I have owned 3 and have never had a real problem. Once a spring broke in an auto, and they fixed it right up.

I am wondering why all of your knives are broken, do you take good care of them?
 
thlawren said:
I bought the Rukus model after it was voted the knife of the year. I also bought a set of carbon fibre scales to replace the green factory ones. I removed the factory scales and when I went to screw in the others the threads on the liners were stripped. I have been around guns and knives my whole knife and and fully conscious that one must be careful so as to not strip out threads but in this instance I strongly suspect that the threads were damaged on assembly. Benchmade finally made it right but I had to grovel and I must admit that upon looking at the minimal threads that were there Benchmade is taking a real risk selling aftermarket scales to people to replace the factory installed ones on the rukus model.
Click to expand...
Same thing happened with my mini rukus, cept one of the screws was already stripped of threads when I got it new. I finally got some new screws after a long wait from their customer service. The problem is fixed for now, but the screws they use won't hold up very well to regular cleaning (i.e. taking handle slabs off to clean). I saw somewhere that BM gets their screws from a Chinese manufacturer, at first I thought this to be false and yet another rumor but from my experience it seems true. BM also needs to work on their primary blade grinds. For the love of god if they aren't going to make FFG blades they can at least make the other misc. grinds even!
 
I have 9 Benchmade folders. My last was the limited edition Osborne Gauchoq bought last Christmas.Never had a real problem with any of them too.
 
Lately I have seen a 527 Mini Presidio Ultra that would not open right out of the box and a 556 Mini Griptilian that was dull and had almost no secondary bevel. Also my 2550 Mini Reflex spring broke. All of these problems have been remedied but 3 bad knives in just one year is too much.
I've seen plenty of Kershaw problems. Up and down blade play on my first Kershaw. Several Skylines that would not flick open all the way. Another Skyline that the liner would not engage.
Spyderco problems were also there. A Native that would not safely lock. ATS-55 steel serrations breaking off at the tip.
Good warranties have backed up all of these problems.
 
I haven't abused these knives in anyway nor taken them apart, infact most of them still have the factory edge, I am a person that likes to fondle the knives and open and close them and that was about all I did with them, except for the mini grip witch was my EDC for about a month. The reason I have so many broken ones is because I wanted to buy most of the knives I had on my list before I send them in so I can save on shipping since I live in Canada. I am glad to hear that most people haven't been having the problems I have because I really like most of the knives! I just wish I had better luck with them.
 
I've found lately the Pika 2's I bought were finished better than the expensive CPM M4 knives I've bought. They came a lot sharper too

The materials and engineering seem excellent as usual, but shipping knives with uneven near 60 degree inclusive edges even in a quality super steel like CPM M4 seems strange.Alignment and uneven grinds are there on a couple of them too. I'm in no way ready to throw them out but I wish their QC was better recently.

Nothing like my older ones beginning with the Skirmish and working backward in time with the 910, 710 etc. Those are out of the box near perfection. Just not the new knives.

Maybe they just got into too much of a hurry making those knives for us. Even with the QC issues, I'm thankful they did make them. Materials and engineering are second to none.
 
Out of almost 400 BMs I currently own not one has or had any real problem. Not a lock-up problem, not a broken spring, and all of them were fairly sharp out of the box. Not Spyderco sharp, but sharp enough to shave.
 
Regarding the AFCK screws, if it's an older 800 series, early ones had the screws threaded directly into the G-10 and would easily strip out, or in some cases, just fall out with normal use and not go back in. They have changed this design and will retro-fit with the new setup.
 
Not to hijack the thread, but I've successfully made, installed, and used my own omega springs out of .025" music wire.

Anyone with torx drivers and needle nose pliers should be able to do the same.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top