BM 940 alternatives?

H

Henry Noble

Joined
Jan 28, 2018
Messages
14
Hey guys I have a 940bk (anodized aluminum scales) that I love except the manufacturing tolerances. I even went through the trouble of going to a physical Benchmade dealer to sort through and find one without blade play but a week or so later it developed a metric shit tone of up and down blade play, I sent it in to BM and they sent it back with the same problem (its a tolerance issue of either the diameter of the lock bar not being enough, to much space in the liner allowing lock bar up and down travel, or the locking ramp portion of the blade blank)(push down on open blade clicking noise comes from the axis lock and a bunch of play) any who is there any alternative in a similar price range that keeps my fingers out of the way of a closing blade, has a similar weight, doesnt look overly tacticool, and comes with generally good tolerances?
 
I have the 940-1702. It has blade play issues too, I have to decide between a smooth action with substantial play, or a stiff as hell action that locks up securely. While the Manix 2 is a larger knife in general I find it to be superior in pretty much every aspect. Cheaper too.
 
I have a manix 2 and i agree that it is a better utility knife in most ways but it really isn't all that convenient in my millennial clothing so I end up just leaving it in my backpack which i keep a leatherman wave in anyways also the blade height isnt campus friendly
 
Agreed, I've tightened it up to the point where there is no blade play but it is hard to open one handed. Been carrying a PM2 everyday lately, although larger I have zero complaints.
 
The Mantra 3 is coming out pretty soon, I think that might be a good alternative, it's definitely smaller than the PM2 and the Manix 2.
 
Henry Noble said:
and find one without blade play but a week or so later it developed a metric shit tone of up and down blade play,
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That sucks, but I find it hard to believe it's common. I have three 940 series knives currently, and have owned at least two others previously, and have never had one with up and down blade play. As far as side to side play goes, it's the usual Benchmade axis lock knife conundrum of trying to get it tight enough so the side to side is barely noticeable, without going a hair tighter and getting the knife to the point it's too hard to operate.

I just pulled out and tried all three of mine and none of them have an iota of up and down play, and I can't imagine how they could unless you loosened the pivot until the blade was free swinging or something. Are your pivot screws reasonably tight?
 
i have no blade play side to side at all even with the blade loose enough to swing back and forth from its own weight when i relase the axis lock when the blade spine is facing the ground in the closed position.
 
even with the pivot screw tightened as far as it can go it still has up and down blade play. Kind of hoping that its the blade blank so that when i eventually wear down the blade or break it and replace the blade all together it will go away but who knows
 
My carbon fiber 940 with S90V steel is perfect. Exchange yours for that one at the Benchmade brick and morter (Spyderco allowed me the privilege of a similar swap / upgrade over the phone and for much, much, much less of a problem).

For what it is worth I went from a Manix LW . . . has the ball lock . . . to the Endura 4 ZDP-189 that has the fingers in the way mid back lock . . . zero problems with fingers getting damaged and no other problems. I love that knife . . . period.
 
Henry Noble said:
how does that swap work? the knife is in an obviously used condition since I carry it every day
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Maybe I don't understand the situation; to recap :

You bought a new knife; you are the original owner.
The knife wasn't made right from day one (slop in the lock up and down).
You took it back to be remedied.
They chose to repair it rather than replace it.
They failed to remedy the problem.
You want a knife without the lock slop

Sounds like they still have some customer satisfaction warranty work due to you.

As far as my case with Spyderco I carried the knife at work for a few months and sharpened it like seven times. The problem was even questionable but I got taken care of.
 
yes, I suppose I could just continuously request warranty work until the problem is solved and it probably will. turn around time kind of sucks though does actually take all of 5-6 weeks. so try a compression lock knife in the meantime while its out for service could be a neat solution
 
I love the look and feel of the 940 and would love to see BM compete more closely with Spyderco but atm they are about even for pricing and the QC of Spyderco beats out BM and CS is seemingly better at this point with Spyderco after all these BM horror stories of items sent in a returned as it left.
 
my only problem with Spyderco is they're so damn good in the hand but so damn annoying in the pocket where it spends most of its time. like i get that the Spyderco opening hole is an amazing opening system, but damn change it up a bit. I just need it to not suck to carry it around, hell most of my uses for a pocket knife day to day don't even involve the edge portion
 
Avoid Benchmade if you want good quality control. Blade play either up and down or side to side is fairly common. I think they say it's acceptable for them lol. Mine all have blade play, even blade edges, and other qc defects.

As for something else to get, I dunno, I like spyderco knives. Generally the qc on them is pretty good from my experience. Zt also has great qc too.
 
they're like the Samsung note 8 so useful with quality features and good build quality but so bad to keep in a back pocket
 
Maybe I’m just an odd ball but I carry a pm2 in my front pocket often and it never feels too big, I usually don’t even notice it. The manix 2 for whatever reason DOES feel big in the pocket, I think it’s how the clip angles the knife maybe.

As an alternate, and I know this isn’t the same level of quality that a Benchmade or Spyderco have, is a bestec lion. I just bought one and I’m using it as my truck knife but it’s form factor is really great, small and straight like the 940 and the quality is actually pretty good. It’s liner lock though so that fails one of your requests.

Have you looked at the para 3? A little wider in pocket but not overly so. The last thing I’ll suggest that’s a little outside the box is an older model Benchmade, either a 745 or 746. They are both Bob Lum designs and both feel and look pretty good imo.
 
Bummer. I've always been able to find the "sweet spot" on my 940s - free swingers w/ minimal to zero blade play - after using blue thread locker on the pivot. Additionally, none of mine have ever had or developed vertical blade play.

I carry and use all of my 940s as EDCs in my regular carry rotation.
 
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