disappointed in Benchmade

[Spoutz]

to OP: I completely agree with you that a knife, especially a high end blade, should come very sharp. However, I would not avoid a company for their edges. Factory edges need to be reprofiled anyway and factory edges wear down too. I would not get worked up about a less than shaving knife and wouldn't even think twice about it.

 

[Poez]

It's like buying a brand new car and having to replace the spark plugs when you get home

Yeah! It is just like buying a brand new car and then selling it because the ashtray got full... What about emptying it instead, or calling customer service?
Dull edge it is not quality issue - that is certain state each knives goes through cyclically. Of course if it gets used time to time.
I personally have my fair share of BM knives and am still to see the one which is dull. So I am not sure what all that people talk about - how much of it is the fact and how much comes from their personal perception. Like they talk about "expensive" - I have real difficulty relating it to my reality. Are we talking about the same BM, or about some custom maker who happened to have the same initials?
But anyway, what upsets me in this is that issue of dullness gets discussed here time after time - like twice a week. It is like you talk to people assuming that they know something about knives, use them, know how to sharpen... And than it turns out that they indeed keep their knives in boxes and if they get dull - can only send them to the manufacturer for resharpening or sell and buy a new one - sharp..

 

[singularity35]

im certainly not mad. i've been laughing actually at how badly everyone missed the point. im over it though. i used to repair televisions a few years back so now whenever i buy one, i don't care if it actually works because i can fix it (and that's my last cheesy comparison). it's absurd that some people would actually want to buy a sharp knife. ludicrous! the nerve of this guy...

You seem to have missed the point. The knife is not broken. It works, it can cut. It just needs an edge adjustment. Your TV analogy fails because you're saying the TV doesn't work.

 

[neuron]

You seem to have missed the point. The knife is not broken. It works, it can cut. It just needs an edge adjustment. Your TV analogy fails because you're saying the TV doesn't work.

No kidding, it's like complaining because the TV didn't come set to the channel one wants to watch...

 

[neuron]

When I first started buying and shooting guns, one of the most important things I learned is that you need to be able to take care of your guns. Basic maintenance including stripping and replacing minor parts is a necessary skill if you want to shoot guns on a regular basis. The ability to do a little tweaking and fine tuning is also essential to get your gun to how you you want it.

IMHO, buying and using knives is similar. There are a few things that you need to be able to do to keep your knives in good working condition, sharpening is one of them. As has been mentioned, if the OP has the necessary skills, the edge that he got, he could easily have got to where he wanted it to be and would no longer be a problem.

Again, a parallel situation. Buy a new gun and it's not up to your standards? Tweak it yourself or go to a gunsmith and have it done for you. Buy a new knife and the edge is not how you want it? Sharpen it yourself or have someone else do it. Both times it pays to know how to do it yourself.

BTW, don't go off mad because others don't agree with you.

Yeah! It is just like buying a brand new car and then selling it because the ashtray got full... What about emptying it instead, or calling customer service?
Dull edge it is not quality issue - that is certain state each knives goes through cyclically. Of course if it gets used time to time.
I personally have my fair share of BM knives and am still to see the one which is dull. So I am not sure what all that people talk about - how much of it is the fact and how much comes from their personal perception. Like they talk about "expensive" - I have real difficulty relating it to my reality. Are we talking about the same BM, or about some custom maker who happened to have the same initials?
But anyway, what upsets me in this is that issue of dullness gets discussed here time after time - like twice a week. It is like you talk to people assuming that they know something about knives, use them, know how to sharpen... And than it turns out that they indeed keep their knives in boxes and if they get dull - can only send them to the manufacturer for resharpening or sell and buy a new one - sharp..

Well said, gentlemen. :thumbup:

 

[charlOOsi]

Oh great... this topic again. I still never understood what the norm for "sharp" is. Every knife that I have gotten, it was definitely sharp whether it was from Benchmade, Spyderco, etc. Now of course, I could easily get it sharper with my EdgePro, but that doesn't mean that the knife wasn't initially sharp.

 

[dstewart]

this is exactly why I read more post than reply to them. I guess most of the people on here are metallugist . Oh wait let me start another thread on my favorite steel, or how do I tighten the screws on my pocket clip. And yes Im perfectly capable of sharpening my my knives....My thought was when I started this was some of you people are right about there lack luster qc.But since some of you guys feel the need to pass me off as some idiot, so now you can go back to the important stuff like do I need a gentlemans folder or be mall ninja and buy a strider.

 

[ono724]

Haha, yeah. What do you do when you're 50 dollar Kershaw gets dull?

Why, you bash Kershaw instead of Benchmade, and next week, it'll be Spyderco..

 

[ono724]

the dude has a point though. when you buy a knife...a knife of all things (especially from a reputable company) it should at the very least be sharp lol.
some knife guys on the forums can be ignorant and cocky but the gods honest truth is that you shouldn't have to sharpen a brand new knife. it's comparable to buying a cosmetically pleasing car but the engine is shot. i can sharpen a knife all day long but that was not the ops point.
i get a kick out of it because i've experienced the same thing when i posted about the F&F of my new para 2. I was merely asking some opinions and some guys were coming off as know it all, rude A holes. you shouldn't treat people like they are idiotic. i guess revdevil only buys dull blades from high end companies just so he can sit around and touch them up (that's of course when he's not treating people like morons on bladeforums) lol..

i should also mention that i never purchased a spyderco that was anything short of razor sharp.

In my opinion, that's a ridiculous statement. There's no comparison between a blown engine and a perceived "unsharp" knife. But using a car analogy...Owning a knife, you should be able to sharpen it. Owning a car, you should be able to drive it.

 

[neuron]

In my opinion, that's a ridiculous statement. There's no comparison between a blown engine and a perceived "unsharp" knife. But using a car analogy...Owning a knife, you should be able to sharpen it. Owning a car, you should be able to drive it.

Your signature is very appropriate for this thread.

 

[four_shore]

ehh a new knife should be sharp...period.

when it dulls then you re-sharpen it. it's as simple as that and no offense to ankerson but it seems after viewing some of your youtube videos that you're desperate to create reasons to use your knives as opposed to just using them for everyday applications (ya know, off camera). do you really just sit around and record yourself cutting random stuff?

i use my knives to death and as a matter of fact i'm strongly opposed to having any safe queens. i also don't have to sit around pointlessly shaving wood to justify my owning a knife. my analogies were certainly exaggerated but my point was and still is that a knife is made to cut so IMO if you purchase a new one and it fails to do so then i can understand someones concern. to each their own i suppose. good debate though and i suppose it really ends on the note that everybody is different. to defend my car analogy i can safely say that when you purchase a new vehicle it should drive. after a few months it may need an oil change or a tune up but upon purchase it should do what it's intended for...no?

 

[ono724]

god forbid he ran into a situation where he bought a knife (foolishly assuming it would be sharp) and it failed to do it's task at hand. im not bashing BM and i dont think he was either. the guy was expressing some disappointment... big, huge deal.

Granted it's his prerogative to shop other brands, but doing so based on a couple of not sharp (someone has yet to define what sharp should be out of the box) knives could be considered bashing...

 

[Noctis3880]

Question:
Is the knife "dull" as in you can't slice paper with it, or is it "not sharp enough" as in you can't pop the hairs off your arm?

While I believe Benchmade knives don't come "as sharp" as Spyderco or Kershaw, I believe I already explained this in that Benchmade knives come at a more obtuse angle. Probably because their pull-through sharpener uses a more obtuse angle, their customer base is likely LEO and military(many of whom are "non-knife people" and thus will use that pull-through sharpener), and because they would receive less complaints with a more durable edge.

 

[TUF]

this is exactly why I read more post than reply to them. I guess most of the people on here are metallugist . Oh wait let me start another thread on my favorite steel, or how do I tighten the screws on my pocket clip. And yes Im perfectly capable of sharpening my my knives....My thought was when I started this was some of you people are right about there lack luster qc.But since some of you guys feel the need to pass me off as some idiot, so now you can go back to the important stuff like do I need a gentlemans folder or be mall ninja and buy a strider.

Don't sweat it dude. The leader of the pack on this issue works at a grocery store. Let that soak in a for a minute. Then roll around on the floor laughing the rest of the night. I know I will.

I got a new Spyderco Bushcraft in the mail today. It is the first Spyderco I have ever seen out of the box that was not shaving sharp. It's not a big deal but I think it is one of Spyderco's goals. I guess we could ask Sal if he thinks most people want a knife to be sharp when they get it.

 

[theknifebearer]

Alright, this is how I see it. You buy from great companies like benchmade and spyderco because of the designs, materials and quality of construction. These are things that you yourself, unless you are a knife maker, can not change or make yourself. The edge of the knife is the one thing that every knife owner understands will fail and will have to be reprofiled. So the factory edge of the knife doesn't matter as much as the quality of the steel and construction since you will have to inevtably sharpen your knife anyway. Despite this I completely understand his disappointment, but in the end your not shelling out the extra bucks for a sharp factory edge but instead a well made knife. In my mind, the razor sharp factory edge is a really nice bonus and nothing more because I buy knives for the long haul.
Just my opinion- KB

 

[ono724]

Question:
Is the knife "dull" as in you can't slice paper with it, or is it "not sharp enough" as in you can't pop the hairs off your arm?

While I believe Benchmade knives don't come "as sharp" as Spyderco or Kershaw, I believe I already explained this in that Benchmade knives come at a more obtuse angle. Probably because their pull-through sharpener uses a more obtuse angle, their customer base is likely LEO and military(many of whom are "non-knife people" and thus will use that pull-through sharpener), and because they would receive less complaints with a more durable edge.

To me that is the bottom-line question...we all have different idea's of "sharp" There are some on the forums that can split hairs with their knives. I can't do that, nor do I want to do that. I can get my knives arm hair shaving sharp, and sometimes sharp enough to push cut writing paper. That's more than sufficient for what I want with my knives, anything else would be a waste of time.

I think you hit the nail on the head Noctis

 

[TUF]

Question:
Is the knife "dull" as in you can't slice paper with it, or is it "not sharp enough" as in you can't pop the hairs off your arm?

While I believe Benchmade knives don't come "as sharp" as Spyderco or Kershaw, I believe I already explained this in that Benchmade knives come at a more obtuse angle. Probably because their pull-through sharpener uses a more obtuse angle, their customer base is likely LEO and military(many of whom are "non-knife people" and thus will use that pull-through sharpener), and because they would receive less complaints with a more durable edge.

That is pure conjecture. I am retired military and I guarantee of all the Benchmade knives made the vast majority are in civilian hands.

Out of curiosity how many pull through sharpeners do they sell a year compared to the number of knives they sell a year? Don't tell me you don't know since you stated "and thus will use that pull-through sharpener".

I'm not going to argue this point anymore but I will tell you the guy you think is a newb is smarter than all of you rolled together. That's fact.

 

[edgeobserver]

Both sharpness and durability need to be considered. Manufacturers and users have to balance both the capability of the blade steel to hold an edge (angle + hardness) and the intended use of the knife (material to be cut and conditions of use).....

Personally I prefer a steeper angle and more durable edge on a harder steel than a shallow, sharper but more brittle grind.

 

[ono724]

That is pure conjecture. I am retired military and I guarantee of all the Benchmade knives made the vast majority are in civilian hands.

Out of curiosity how many pull through sharpeners do they sell a year compared to the number of knives they sell a year? Don't tell me you don't know since you stated "and thus will use that pull-through sharpener".

I'm not going to argue this point anymore but I will tell you the guy you think is a newb is smarter than all of you rolled together. That's fact.

That's pure conjecture, not to mention ridiculous...Maybe we should all agree to disagree and be done with it?

 

[Rotte]

ehh a new knife should be sharp...period.

That fairly well sums up my thoughts, regardless of manufacturer or maker. There is no excuse to sell a dull knife.