Benchmade quality

Insipid Moniker · Jan 31, 2013

Luis G. said:
Statements like this I find to be the most ridiculous, and ignorant statements found in bladeforums.
You may think you sound like an open minded individual but in reality it's pretty closed minded thinking.
Taiwan is cheap to manufacture in because of wages, regulations, easy tax. If you can understand what this results in for the employees, then I doubt you'd be making that statement.

Don't get me wrong, I have bought and will keep buying foreign just as I will keep buying American, even if the Taiwan, Chinese, or even some American companies have practices I do not agree with.

You may be thinking more of China than Taiwan. Labor in Taiwan isn't that much cheaper than it is in the states and living/working conditions are much, much better than mainland China.

Okay, I'm gonna shut up now because I'm waaay off topic now.

Luis G. · Jan 31, 2013

Insipid Moniker said:
You may be thinking more of China than Taiwan. Labor in Taiwan isn't that much cheaper than it is in the states and living/working conditions are much, much better than mainland China.

Okay, I'm gonna shut up now because I'm waaay off topic now.

I have a few Taiwanese friends.
Taiwanese make 5 to 7 times less than an American wage. Plus or minus. But definitely no where close to USA wages.

My friend worked in manufacturing of PCB for motherboard usage. He was part of their QC team.
He was getting paid the equivalent of $9,000 USD a year~.

Sometimes they are better sometimes they are not. China has come a long way.

Ken44 · Jan 31, 2013

No company can make them all perfect, especially in this price range.

Send it back if it bothers you. IMO its best to let a company try and fix the issue before starting a thread.
Good luck.

Jastab · Jan 31, 2013

i have a subrosa that rattles when the blade is open. this is from the assist mechanism tho. weird problem your having

Torm · Jan 31, 2013

Duds occasionally slip through, even with a generally reliable company like Benchmade. That said, I haven't had any problems at all with my Rift.

eschwebach · Jan 31, 2013

Ken44 said:
No company can make them all perfect, especially in this price range.

Send it back if it bothers you. IMO its best to let a company try and fix the issue before starting a thread.
Good luck.

+1, these are PRODUCTION knives, mostly made by machines in mass quantities. I have no where near as many knives as many on this forum but I have quite a few and every company has had a few duds for me including Spyderco, Benchmade, and Kershaw... It's the nature of the beast when buying a production knife. IMO

Czechmate · Jan 31, 2013

eschwebach said:
+1, these are PRODUCTION knives, mostly made by machines in mass quantities. I have no where near as many knives as many on this forum but I have quite a few and every company has had a few duds for me including Spyderco, Benchmade, and Kershaw... It's the nature of the beast when buying a production knife. IMO

^^^ I think this sums it up quite nicely and would agree that there's not a knife company out there that hasn't made a mistake in terms of Q.C/Fit & Finish/Function at some level. Even custom makers are not without fault.

Chounch McGavin · Feb 3, 2013

Update. I sent my BM710BKD2 back to Benchmade after Whitney from BM Custmer Service e-mailed me the Warranty Form. I'm out $8 for shipping, tracking, and insurance. As frustrated as I was with its mechanical defect, I hope Benchmade has a quick turnaround rate. That knife is beautiful and I miss it already.

exitinyourhead · Feb 3, 2013

one of the reasons i like the "higher end" blades is the fact that they come with screws instead of pins to hold them together. I like to take the knife apart (whatever the mfg company or country of origin) and strip the factory grease (if any) and replace it with what i have (frog lube or something comparable.) I will re-loctite, or loctite in the first place,all the screws and set the pivot tension to what I desire. I won't even put them into the rotation without doing so. I will also take them apart and re-do these things about every 4th or 5th time I sharpen them.

Like some of the other folks here have said. Sending it back is an option, but this could maybe have been a quick fix at home. With a little bit of grease and loctite it would have been "better than new." Even if benchmade sends it back all fixed, I would recommend doing these things. At the very least, loctite that pocket clip.

I'm not saying that it shouldn't have been perfect when you opened the box, i'm just saying I really don't care the knife I get is. I can unscrew and screw in screws and sharpen a beveled edge myself (A convex edge is another story altogether!)