BM = WHY NOT ????go LARGE or go home

B

bomber258

Joined
Mar 31, 2009
Messages
293
I own more than a few LARGE folders,and I see that the companys that sell them = sell LOTS of them.

So I ask myself why Benchmade does not make LARGE folders,and yes to assisted openers.

The 710 and or the Barrage with a 5" [ or more ] blade would be a knife I would own at least 2 of.

Am I the only one that feels this way.

If so,PLEASE explain why ColdSteel and Darryl Ralph sell so many knives with blades over 6" ?.

Some are much pricier than any BM that I own.
 
A larger blade isn't legal in as many areas as smaller knives are, there may be a smaller demographic of available customers.
 
It would take an impressive knife to make me want to carry any knife with a 5-6+ inch long blade, don't like huge knives at all
 
You need a bigger folder than the BM Adamas? Any hint for what? Just curious and maybe I'll also need one :-)
 
Benchmade typically appeals to a different segment with some of their offerings. This will ruffle feathers, but CS attract the Mall Ninja crowd, and for some weird reason they think the bigger the knife is, the better. That is not the case with all of their knives though. They make some great products that are reasonably priced. Of course I will make a wild guess that most of those huge knives never get used, or even leave the basement of their parents home...

When you get to that size of a folder, there really is no benefit to carrying a folder. You might as well carry a fixed knife knife that will be stronger and easier to deploy.
We all have different tastes in knives, as well as particular sizes we like. That said, when I see people carrying huge folders, and using a 14 inch long fixed blade knife for hunting, I can't help but think perhaps some education on how to properly use a knife would be more beneficial than a huge knife that is cumbersome to use and carry.

YMMV

Tooling is very expensive, and it would take quite a demand for a company to warrant the initial expense.
 
338375 said:
Benchmade typically appeals to a different segment with some of their offerings. This will ruffle feathers, but CS attract the Mall Ninja crowd, and for some weird reason they think the bigger the knife is, the better. That is not the case with all of their knives though. They make some great products that are reasonably priced. Of course I will make a wild guess that most of those huge knives never get used, or even leave the basement of their parents home...

When you get to that size of a folder, there really is no benefit to carrying a folder. You might as well carry a fixed knife knife that will be stronger and easier to deploy.
We all have different tastes in knives, as well as particular sizes we like. That said, when I see people carrying huge folders, and using a 14 inch long fixed blade knife for hunting, I can't help but think perhaps some education on how to properly use a knife would be more beneficial than a huge knife that is cumbersome to use and carry.

YMMV

Tooling is very expensive, and it would take quite a demand for a company to warrant the initial expense.
Click to expand...

I thought I explained myself ,guess not.

I am not young [ 67 y/o ] and have carried a blade for 60 years.

I was born in NYC and carried a 'larger' blade as a "social knife" --- if you get my drift.

I have done so ALL MY LIFE,and never been sorry nor had a problem concealing it.

I am 5'4" and stocky,and wear my 'social' blade in R.R.pocket as I have all my life.

I also carry 2 [ at least ] other blades,one is a SAK and the other a smaller slipjoint that is not ever noticed when in public and a blade is needed [ string,paper etc ].

I will not advertise for other makers,but there are more than a few that make a high end knife and MOST are sold as safe queens.

Many are either auto's or some are pieces of jewelry.

I use my knives,and yes I carry and conceal a few that are LARGE,but when called upon to do a job they do not let me down.

Even a CS Rajah has a use,and yes even in a hiking mode can be used and will not close.

So,I still see a real market for a larger folder,and after all, ALL companys and businesses are in business to make money .

I would fully expect BM to sell out any and all of a large blade made,many for safe queens by those that would not expect to see many made.

And by men like me who use a large blade and would buy more than one to assure having it [ in case of a breakage or loss ].

Either way, I would just like to see it made before I no longer have a use for any blade
 
338375 said:
Benchmade typically appeals to a different segment with some of their offerings. This will ruffle feathers, but CS attract the Mall Ninja crowd, and for some weird reason they think the bigger the knife is, the better. That is not the case with all of their knives though. They make some great products that are reasonably priced. Of course I will make a wild guess that most of those huge knives never get used, or even leave the basement of their parents home...

When you get to that size of a folder, there really is no benefit to carrying a folder. You might as well carry a fixed knife knife that will be stronger and easier to deploy.
We all have different tastes in knives, as well as particular sizes we like. That said, when I see people carrying huge folders, and using a 14 inch long fixed blade knife for hunting, I can't help but think perhaps some education on how to properly use a knife would be more beneficial than a huge knife that is cumbersome to use and carry.

YMMV

Tooling is very expensive, and it would take quite a demand for a company to warrant the initial expense.
Click to expand...

I thought I explained myself ,guess not.

I am not young [ 67 y/o ] and have carried a blade for 60 years.

I was born in NYC and carried a 'larger' blade as a "social knife" --- if you get my drift.

I have done so ALL MY LIFE,and never been sorry nor had a problem concealing it.

I am 5'4" and stocky,and wear my 'social' blade in R.R.pocket as I have all my life.

I also carry 2 [ at least ] other blades,one is a SAK and the other a smaller slipjoint that is not ever noticed when in public and a blade is needed [ string,paper etc ].

I will not advertise for other makers,but there are more than a few that make a high end knife and MOST are sold as safe queens.

Many are either auto's or some are pieces of jewelry.

I use my knives,and yes I carry and conceal a few that are LARGE,but when called upon to do a job they do not let me down.

Even a CS Rajah has a use,and yes even in a hiking mode can be used and will not close.

So,I still see a real market for a larger folder,and after all, ALL companys and businesses are in business to make money .

I would fully expect BM to sell out any and all of a large blade made,many for safe queens by those that would not expect to see many made.

And by men like me who use a large blade and would buy more than one to assure having it [ in case of a breakage or loss ].

Either way, I would just like to see it made before I no longer have a use for any blade
 
You could be right. Maybe a very large folder would be popular. BM knows far more about this than I do...
I would be curious to see a breakdown of what the initial cost would be for tooling to build a knife like you are talking about, and how many pieces would have to be sold, before a profit was realized.

I'm to lazy to search right now, but IIRC this subject was covered some time back. I don't recall if there was any input from BM on the subject, or if there was, what the thoughts were.
 
I like what I would call a large knife (4.5" handle) and have no need or desire for an extra large knife. I carry what fits my hand. And for 90% of my uses a smaller blade work work fine. There are few uses where a huge folding blade is needed. There is the Adamas and Contego for them.

I get the feeling you carry for self defense. Look up what a buck fifty is in NYC and that is usually done with an exacto blade. If you need something for self defense get something with a large caliber. And if you still think a knife is a good idea get a marker and have your spry grandson come at you and try to take it away. When done look at where there is marker. I bet you have more on you than you would like. Unless you are trained in knife fighting, knives make bad weapons to actually stop someone. IMO. YMMV.
 
There's not a folding knife made that's more capable than the Benchmade 710 at cutting tasks. Even then, it feels rather large for simple cutting tasks like cutting tape on boxes. I agree with FlaMtnBkr. If you need a defensive tool, a firearm is going to generally be far and away the best tool to utilize.
 
Benchmade made 2 of best large folders ever, the 630 skirmish and the 615 Rukus, they also had the LFK which was kinda silly. I got my skirmish for $150 and it still blows my mind how incredible it is. I researched knives for a year before I finally settled on the Skirmish, the biggest selling point was the fact that it had the thickest blade stock of any folder on the market at the time.
 
I have had quite a few of the larger Cold Steel folders and I have to say they were pretty cool. With that being said, they never got carried (not legal reasons, just too big), and I no longer own any of them. Even knowing that, I still continue to buy them occasionally. I would love to see Benchmade release some larger models (this coming from the owner of a Contego and 710), but I don't know that they need a brand new model, I would just love for them to bring back the AFCK.
 
It seems BKC does release 4+ folder knifes, but only Adamas and Contego are still in production. That is saying what the money makes are. I love Skirmish, AFCK, Onslaught for 4+ knives. Even they are too big for me to carry in day in day out bases.

Interesting to see, but not quite sure it is worth for BKC. Adamas 275 is big enough and thick enough for use IMO. Unless closed blade can protrude from the hit, if you have 6" blade, handle always exceed that length. It become rather unwieldy to me.
 
FlaMtnBkr said:
I like what I would call a large knife (4.5" handle) and have no need or desire for an extra large knife. I carry what fits my hand. And for 90% of my uses a smaller blade work work fine. There are few uses where a huge folding blade is needed. There is the Adamas and Contego for them.

I get the feeling you carry for self defense. Look up what a buck fifty is in NYC and that is usually done with an exacto blade. If you need something for self defense get something with a large caliber. And if you still think a knife is a good idea get a marker and have your spry grandson come at you and try to take it away. When done look at where there is marker. I bet you have more on you than you would like. Unless you are trained in knife fighting, knives make bad weapons to actually stop someone. IMO. YMMV.
Click to expand...

REALLY, thank you for all your very knowledge on that subject !!.

I am a retired LEO with a background in edged weapons LONG before I EDC'ed a handgun [ and I carry 2 at all times ].

I have found an edged 'tool' to be very handy and again I am glad you know more than I,but I will stick to what has gotten me this far [ and this old ].

I have a few storys about blades that I am sure you have already been & done = but leave an old codger to his stubborn ways .

btw = I don't have any grandchildren [ were you wrong again ? ] nor any children.I was too busy at the dojo to bother.

Taught edged weapons at the academy for 22 years,so guess I like my blades the way I like my blades !! = ya think ?.

I would love to know what BM actually thought,if they did have any thoughts on the subject.

And I am not a betting man,but would bet that BM would sell at least as many large folders as CS [ BM's are a MUCH better product ].

And look up Darryl Ralph,they sell HIGH end folders with blades as large as 7" and they sell out !.
 
HotSwat said:
Benchmade made 2 of best large folders ever, the 630 skirmish and the 615 Rukus, they also had the LFK which was kinda silly. I got my skirmish for $150 and it still blows my mind how incredible it is. I researched knives for a year before I finally settled on the Skirmish, the biggest selling point was the fact that it had the thickest blade stock of any folder on the market at the time.
Click to expand...

I have both the large and smaller Skirmish.

Very well built [ over built for CCW imnsho ].

And even that knife could have used a bigger brother !.
 
When I was young, I decided to go to medical school.
On the entrance exam we were asked to rearrange these letters:

PNEIS

the instructions were to form the name of an important body part which is most useful when erect.

Those who answered "SPINE" are now doctors, the rest of us became cops...

Now you know the rest of my story !!!
 
My absolutely favorite BM knives are the Rukus and AFCK. I still have my original AFCK I got some 17 years ago.

I for one would love to see more options from BM for knives with 4" blades and perhaps slightly larger. I've always preferred and used what some might consider a larger sized blade. Something 3.70" and up. For both work and personal use. To me a 4" blade isn't "large" at all, rather what I consider normal.

I realize the difficulties though for a company making knives because due to laws and other various restrictions once they go over 3.5" they just excluded maybe as much as half their customer base. Plus the vast majority of knife users probably wouldn't benefit from a larger blade for their purposes or just prefer something smaller. I understand that.

However, I still think there is enough of a market for knives in the 4" to 4" plus range for it to be profitable. Maybe just not as much.
hRLMiqm.jpg

KdoJTcr.jpg

2rqD2l0.jpg

okFjHzh.jpg
 
Last edited:
bomber258 said:
When I was young, I decided to go to medical school.
On the entrance exam we were asked to rearrange these letters:

PNEIS

the instructions were to form the name of an important body part which is most useful when erect.

Those who answered "SPINE" are now doctors, the rest of us became cops...

Now you know the rest of my story !!!
Click to expand...
Lol. Reminds me of the two German cops who found a body in front of the Gymnasium. Since they didn't know how to spell Gymnasium for their report they dragged the body to the Post Office.
 
I forgot,I have a Rukus too = too heavy for what it is ,a folder meant to be POCKET worn

And still almost large enough = barely .
 
Darrel's MAXX series includes blades of 5.5, 7, and 9". I would post some pictures, but since I upgraded to IOS 8.2, nothing works.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top