- Joined
- Feb 24, 2011
- Messages
- 1,340
My experiences are based on a later production run, not the "first 1000" - my detent was well tuned and the knife never came out of the blade...seems like Benchmade fixed that issue very quickly.
I had a 761 for a brief period of time, and overall I thought it's a great knife and actually pretty good value for the money. It has one of the smoothest actions I've ever seen on a knife, while still locking up very nice and solid. I know some people have expressed reservations about the thin lock, but I have two things to say to this:
1) there is an optical illusion created by the contouring of the titanium and from what I could tell the lock-bar gets thicker about 40% down as the contours of the handle get wider.
2) if the lock-bar is in any way weak, I imagine you'd critically damage that beautiful, and THINLY ground blade of M390 long before doing any critical damage to the lock-bar.
The 761 from what I could tell is a cutting tool. And with the M390, the thin grind, and and silky smooth satin finish, it is a great cutter...but it is not a "hard-use" folder that you would take liberties with the same way you would your average ZT, Hinderer, Strider, etc.
I did not plan to buy the 761 the day I bought it, but I was so impressed by its feel, quality, and all the little details BM put into this knife: the stand-offs, the texture on the titanium, the contouring, the jimping, the little polished rings around the lanyard hole, rock solid lock-up and complete absence of play in any direction, the sculpted pocket clip, and the fastest bearings I've seen on a production knife all came together to have me thinking that at around $300 this is actually a pretty fair price. Maybe even a great deal considering how high the price can get vs. what you get on many other Benchmades (just my opinion).
The only reason I don't have it anymore is that one of my good friends saw it and instantly fell in love to the point that he HAD to have it - considering that I had just scored myself a NIB TAD SnG that same week and recently before that a Dervish Navajo midtech, I realized I probably wouldn't carry the 761 as much as my friend and the idea of recovering some cash did sound nice.
In regards to this:
This might be the one possible weakness, but I haven't had enough experience with my 761 to ever find out. I will give a warning to tinkerers - adjust it carefully, or better yet, leave it alone! The knife locked up so perfect out of the box, I had NO reason to adjust it...but I had to (like a fool). I didn't know what I was doing and I stripped the threads on the stop pin, causing it to spin freely, which required a trip back to Benchmade (GREAT warranty service BTW, I had it back in a week!). If way down the line, the 761 ends up needing adjustment, I would do so very carefully or send it to Benchmade and let them do it for free.
In hindsight, I wouldn't let the stop pin prevent me from getting another one.
And I will say this of the 761: even with all the great knives out there, I'd love to get my hands on another one at some point. I think those titanium scales would go to a whole other level with some anodizing and tasteful acts of pimpery.
So I guess what I'm saying OP is that if you handled it and liked it (and at that price!), I'd say absolutely JUMP on it! You're getting a great deal on a sweet little knife that should serve you well for a long time to come
I know there's one youtuber who really blasted it, but I would disregard those silly remarks - from what I can tell it's a nice blade.
I had a 761 for a brief period of time, and overall I thought it's a great knife and actually pretty good value for the money. It has one of the smoothest actions I've ever seen on a knife, while still locking up very nice and solid. I know some people have expressed reservations about the thin lock, but I have two things to say to this:
1) there is an optical illusion created by the contouring of the titanium and from what I could tell the lock-bar gets thicker about 40% down as the contours of the handle get wider.
2) if the lock-bar is in any way weak, I imagine you'd critically damage that beautiful, and THINLY ground blade of M390 long before doing any critical damage to the lock-bar.
The 761 from what I could tell is a cutting tool. And with the M390, the thin grind, and and silky smooth satin finish, it is a great cutter...but it is not a "hard-use" folder that you would take liberties with the same way you would your average ZT, Hinderer, Strider, etc.
I did not plan to buy the 761 the day I bought it, but I was so impressed by its feel, quality, and all the little details BM put into this knife: the stand-offs, the texture on the titanium, the contouring, the jimping, the little polished rings around the lanyard hole, rock solid lock-up and complete absence of play in any direction, the sculpted pocket clip, and the fastest bearings I've seen on a production knife all came together to have me thinking that at around $300 this is actually a pretty fair price. Maybe even a great deal considering how high the price can get vs. what you get on many other Benchmades (just my opinion).
The only reason I don't have it anymore is that one of my good friends saw it and instantly fell in love to the point that he HAD to have it - considering that I had just scored myself a NIB TAD SnG that same week and recently before that a Dervish Navajo midtech, I realized I probably wouldn't carry the 761 as much as my friend and the idea of recovering some cash did sound nice.
In regards to this:
This might be the one possible weakness, but I haven't had enough experience with my 761 to ever find out. I will give a warning to tinkerers - adjust it carefully, or better yet, leave it alone! The knife locked up so perfect out of the box, I had NO reason to adjust it...but I had to (like a fool). I didn't know what I was doing and I stripped the threads on the stop pin, causing it to spin freely, which required a trip back to Benchmade (GREAT warranty service BTW, I had it back in a week!). If way down the line, the 761 ends up needing adjustment, I would do so very carefully or send it to Benchmade and let them do it for free.
In hindsight, I wouldn't let the stop pin prevent me from getting another one.
And I will say this of the 761: even with all the great knives out there, I'd love to get my hands on another one at some point. I think those titanium scales would go to a whole other level with some anodizing and tasteful acts of pimpery.
So I guess what I'm saying OP is that if you handled it and liked it (and at that price!), I'd say absolutely JUMP on it! You're getting a great deal on a sweet little knife that should serve you well for a long time to come
I know there's one youtuber who really blasted it, but I would disregard those silly remarks - from what I can tell it's a nice blade.
