Benchmade's QC Problems.

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Well, from my VERY limited exposure and experience, here is my "opening day" report.

I just got a 550shg in the mail. Opened the box and found.........perfectly centered, sharp as a razor, fluid as a well tuned Harley and PERFECT knife. Its tight, yet when held horizontal you can pull the axis slid and the blade falls freely all the way around to the carriage. It opens quick, smooth and yet without play. Once opened and locked, there is absolutely NO free play of blade, its as if it were a straight blade. Coming from carrying a Spyderco for the past 25 years, this brand is a new experience, and so far, I am as pleased with it as I was my Harpy. And that says a LOT.

GOOD JOB Benchmade on showing up and commenting. A company a guy can respect.
 
I've only owned 7 BMs, but must be lucky as all have been close to perfect. My latest 940 is a perfect example of what BM can do. I don't have any experience with the $200+ knives and likely never will as the 940 (to me) is their best knife.
 
I really wanted to love BM and have acquired several, but I finally gave up on them almost totally because of the poor QC (and somewhat because I find their corporate attitude and pricing a bit annoying ;)).

Granted, I have gotten some that were perfectly fine, but I've gotten way too many with OBVIOUS QC problems that could not have made it out of the shop if ANYONE had bothered to care.
I even tried a GOLD class in hopes of receiving "the new standard of knife manufacturing" and had to return it for exchange.

Unfortunately living in a town with no real knife stores, most of my purchases have to be made without being able to inspect the knife before purchase. Returning a new knife for repair/replacement is a hassle and, more importantly, really kills the enjoyment of the purchase.
I can't recall ever reading a negative comment about BM's customer assistance, which is apparently excellent, but IMHO not the best substitute for decent QC.

I heard a year or so ago at Blade that BM was totally redoing their QC department and was hopeful, but apparently that is not the case.
 
I'm very impressed with Benchmade's earlier models (~2011 and earlier), but not so much with their newer models. Their newer models look tacky, they lack quality, and they are more expensive than they need to be. I miss when Benchmade used to use titanium for their scales; now it's all terribly milled G10.
 
Ok....as an act of full disclosure, I wanted to update my Benchmade 550 experience. After carrying it for a couple of weeks, while it is a fantastic knife, its not for me. Its nothing "wrong" with it, just not fitting my hand/needs the best. I felt awkward, clumsy and got frustrated with it. Now, it warrants saying, I was also attempting to switch from tip down to tip up. SO, I put it on ebay to recap some of my outlay, and am going to a Buck USA knife. Again, its not the knife, its me. Lesson learned.
 
Well, at least it's ergonomics and not fit and finish. Good luck posting it (your 550) on eBay, if you have the original box it's worth more generally. And a good Buck knife isn't a bad thing to go back to. My first real knife was a 110 and I carried it for years. I still think of that one knife my dad gave me when I was a Scout, and so many years later they're still being made. On Benchmades, I agree with the gentleman above...I much prefer my old-school models like the 910, 722 and naturally the 710. They still see regular carry too.
 
Well, my 810-1401 arrived in the mail today, and I am quite pleased. The blade was barely off center (1/64" at most), and 15 seconds with a T6 driver fixed it. This is not something I consider to be a big issue. Had the blade been touching the liner or almost touching, then I'd say it matters. When I have to take time to guess if the blade is off center or if I'm holding it at an angle, then I'm not going to worry about it. The bevels appear to be even. Shining a laser on it is pretty inconclusive since I can't tell if I'm holding the laser exactly perpendicular to the bade or not. I'll be throwing it on my Edge Pro to put a 30º inclusive angle on it, and that will tell me how even the bevels really are. I'll be holding on to this one until someone comes out with a M390 Rift!
 
It's always a good sign when you need lasers to tell if something has a qc "problem". :D
 
I've only handled two Benchmade knives. My fiance has a BM 530 that she got as a gift from a friend. Also, I have a CPM-M4 Mini Griptilian I picked up from another website last year. Both are very good examples of blades. I wouldn't have anything to say about QC from my end, but my view is limited.

The price increases are quite interesting, though.
 
I received my custom Griptilian with excessive horizontal play. This is my second Benchmade, my first being an Ally which has the blade so far off to the side that it ground up against the frame.

Now, for a cheap knife like the Ally, I get it...but for a $140 custom Griptilian? Unacceptable. I sent it to Benchmade for repair, we'll see how they handle it. I've heard wonderful things about Benchmade's customer service, and I expect them to live up to that. I'll report backwi th results.

Even if they do a great job, though, I'm not sure how many more Benchmades I want to buy, what with my experience and these price increases .
 
I own plenty of BMs and I have never had a problem with their QC. Love em all!
Their new prices...not so much.
 
Kwon Kwang said:
I received my custom Griptilian with excessive horizontal play.
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I don't understand how an AXIS lock Benchmade can have vertical blade play. The AXIS lockbar should self adjust to negate any up and down play. Unless the lockbar is all the way forward in the liner cutout I am not sure how this happens. I have been buying Benchmades since the AXIS lock came out and this is not a problem I have encountered.

I will also say that I have had excellent luck in that I have not received a knife that I felt should be sent back due to a QC issue. I have received ones that have had slight blade off-centering but as loonybin said nothing that was rubbing and nothing that couldn't be fixed with a T6 and a few seconds of my time.
 
I have three Benchmades now - a 556 Mini Grip, 707 Sequel and 340 Aphid. The 556 was perfectly centered when it arrived in the mail. The 707 favored the presentation side, but after reading another member's method of loosening all screws (including the pivot), readjusting the liners and scales, then tightening everything down again from back to front, I was able to get the blade centered. I bought the 340 with an uncentered blade, but sent it back to Benchmade and they sent it back to me with the blade perfectly centered. They never asked me for any type of proof of purchase.

I can live with an uncentered blade as long as it doesn't impair function, but I am very likely to try everything I can to rectify it. If I can't, and it still bothers me enough, I'll just send it back to the factory.

My BM experience has been very good. Sorry to hear that others are less than satisfied.
 
boobar said:
...I will also say that I have had excellent luck in that I have not received a knife that I felt should be sent back due to a QC issue. I have received ones that have had slight blade off-centering but as loonybin said nothing that was rubbing and nothing that couldn't be fixed with a T6 and a few seconds of my time.
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What a lot of us do not like about Benchmade's recent inconsistent quality control is that when a buyer pays a premium price for a NEW product (any product) they should not expect an above average chance of having to go through the hassle of exchanging or sending the knife back to Benchmade for repair. Based on my experience and the reports here at BF the percentage of receiving a returnable knife is not acceptable. When did we as a buying public begin to believe that a deficiency, no matter how small was acceptable on a brand new product? This issue is especially irritating for those who need to order on-line because local dealers either don't sell Benchade or the model desired.

If I go to a large dealer who sell Buck knives that cost MUCH less ($20.00-$50.00 range) and look at a large number of examples there is NOT the quality control problems Benchmade is having, i.e. more than slightly off-centered blades, uneven edge grinds, not as sharp as should be, inconsistent darkness of laser engraving between blades, and even the occasional slightly blunted tip. Yes, these are deficiencies I have had on too many of the twenty-nine Benchmade knives I own - all bought NEW. In closing I will say; any Benchmade without the issues discussed above really is an excellent knife that any owner can be proud to own.

Sorry for the lengthy post, but Benchmades quality control issues rub me the wrong way. Unfortunately, more and more manufactures are having the same lack of quality control in their products because of cost saving measures. Sadly, this is probably the NEW normal for consumers.

Edited to: Remove statistic that is not statistically verifiable. :) ;)
 
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harris2 said:
What a lot of us do not like about Benchmade's recent inconsistent quality control is that when a buyer pays a premium price for a NEW product (any product) they should not expect an above average chance of having to go through the hassle of exchanging or sending the knife back to Benchmade for repair. Based on my experience and the reports here at BF the percentage of receiving a returnable knife is close to 50% or higher which is not acceptable. When did we as a buying public begin to believe that a deficiency, no matter how small was acceptable on a brand new product? This issue is especially irritating for those who need to order on-line because local dealers either don't sell Benchade or the model desired.

If I go to a large dealer who sell Buck knives that cost MUCH less ($20.00-$50.00 range) and look at a large number of examples there is NOT the quality control problems Benchmade is having, i.e. more than slightly off-centered blades, uneven edge grinds, not as sharp as should be, inconsistent darkness of laser engraving between blades, and even the occasional slightly blunted tip. Yes, these are deficiencies I have had on too many of my NEW Benchmade knives. A Benchmade without any of the issues discussed above really is an excellent knife that any owner can be proud to own.

Sorry for the lengthy post, but Benchmades quality control issues rub me the wrong way. Unfortunately, more and more manufactures are having the same lack of quality control in their products because of cost saving measures. Sadly, this is probably the NEW normal for consumers.
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... and because of this increasing acceptance, companies no longer have any reason or motivation to get any better.
 
harris2 said:
Based on my experience and the reports here at BF the percentage of receiving a returnable knife is close to 50% or higher which is not acceptable.
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That is not a statistically sound basis from which to form such a conclusion.
I'm with you about holding companies to account (and, as a side note, do not appreciate BM's traditional "wall of secrecy"), but it can't be based entirely on anecdotal evidence.
 
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Jesse B. said:
That is not a statistically sound basis from which to form such a conclusion.
I'm with you about holding companies to account (and, as a side note, do not appreciate BM's traditional "wall of secrecy"), but it can't be based entirely on anecdotal evidence.
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Yes for every complaint that's posted on a forum,I'm sure the other thousand pieces produced with no issues will go unnoticed.I had planned on purchasing a dozen or more mini grips,so I have no problem personally with their quality.Those plans have changed not because of quality concerns,but rather imho at their current retail price there are far better options from other knife manufacturers.
 
skyhorse said:
Yes for every complaint that's posted on a forum,I'm sure the other thousand pieces produced with no issues will go unnoticed...
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True, but the reverse can also be said... What about the thousand pieces with issues that never get reported here or returned to Benchmade? Some owners don't care, or aren't aware of the deficiencies. The true statistical number will never be known, and is still unacceptable just based on the number of complaints from this forum. ;)
 
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