Does anyone own a Benchmade 690?

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akira

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I've been looking at this knife very carefully. I want it bad. I would use it as a formal blade. Seems very sheeple friendly by design. Almost a showpiece. Just curious if anyone has personal experience with it.
 
It's the best looking Benchmade folder to date. Originally designed by Allen Elishewitz, but current models do not have the Elishewitz logo since he's no longer involved with Benchmade's custom design team. It's still one of the classiest looking gent folders on the market IMO.
 
I have 4 of these... two are numbered and one is pre-production. They all have the Elishewitz mark on the blade. (I don't mean me personally, I mean in our store.)
 
I owned a pre-production model and it was a real nice knife, although I had the trading bug bite me and traded it, but I was still extremely impressed with it. If you get one try and get the pre-production as it had a better blade coating.
 
It's one of my favorite BM's. Nice to look at, butter smooth operation, feels good in the hand and very light. I really prefer a frame lock or AXIS but this is one liner lock that I would trust. :)
 
have owned a couple,like the plain edge best.can't go wrong with this knife
 
Great handle design, very smooth opener and I the bug-wing clip is one of my favorite designs.

I am not very fond of the blade shape however.
 
We just got one in at our shop, and I fell in love with it. It is one of the nicest looking gents folder I have ever seen!
It is super sharp, one of the nicest factory edges I have ever seen. It is silky smooth, the smoothest of all Benchmades by far.
The rosewood and carbon fiber are so well put together that you cant tell where the joint is by running your finger over the handle.

A great folder!:)
 
Great knives. I have two, one is a 690CF with a stamascus blade, the other has the wood part of the handle dyed blue instead of rosewood. They are my work knives. Really stout, solid knives too. The size is just perfect for EDC, with a little extra blade strength thrown in.
 
IMHO, BM did a great job with the 690. Fit and finish are exellent. I recently also picked up a limited production one with ivory micarta/CF scales and a beautiful Damasteel blade.
 
I've got one in my pocket right now.

Rosewood & carbon fiber and blade is bc coated.

Though, I think, it has one fatal problem: Almost too pretty to be used... ;) :)
 
I think my new Limited edition Osborne 941 (#123 of 500) with the red handle and the Boron Carbide coated blade is the best looking Benchmade to date.

But I like the 690 second best. I liked the original carbon/ rosewood almost enough to buy one, but then I just saw a new version with all carbon scales. That looked pretty cool too, but.... then I saw a limited edition 960 with carbon bolsters, but instead of Rosewood or more carbon, it had a white or Ivory linen micarta scales and a BC coated blade.

Now that was a sharp looking 960! I'm trying to hold out as I've been a bit over indulgent lately, but boy is it tempting.

jmx
 
I would love to have it. Have one beef with it though. Only for right handers. Though I am right handed, I want a knife that is ambi.
 
i would get one if it was ambi, not only is the clip right sided only the thumbstud is right side only, and i think all variations of the 690 are wonderful, the rosewood is very nice even though i don't like wood handles much, the carbon fiber one is nice and the ivory scales one is to die for, however one thing you have to look out for, the carbon fiber may look nice in the pictures but in person not every single one has the weave all nice and perfect a lot them has the weave all out of order and pretty ugly looking anyways heres a ivory version on sale on ebay right now

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...&showTutorial=0&ed=1028676842&indexURL=0&rd=1
 
Get one! They are really light for the size, and very solidly built. I had and carried one for a few months, but had to trade it in for a custom knife. I miss it now... Extremely smooth and comfortable, but mine wasn't super sharp NIB. I would go for the BC1 coating, and if you can afford it, get one with ivory Micarta, or the blue wood, but you still can't go wrong with the regular production model.

DD
 
Really nice knife and would serve as a gents knife in my book. In fact, I got the 690 by mistake. I had ordered the little Park Avenue as a gents knife and got the 690 instead. I liked it so well that I kept it. It has to be one of the prettiest knives that I own and it is butter smooth opening. It has a substantial enough blade to be able to take some abuse, not that you would want to but you never know what you will run into.
 
I set out to get one of the made in USA William Henry's but couldn't part with the money. So I finally got a 690. Beautiful knife! I hope it gets a little smoother after I lube the pivot.
 
Any day with a new knife is a good day.

After viewing the pic Manji posted a link to, I remember just how cool the 690 is and also why I didn't buy it. It's that damn ugly clip. If they could fix the ugly clip I might even buy one.

Hey John Watson, did you end up paying more for the 690?

jmx

PS: I really like the one Benchmade I own. It's a limited edition 941 with a red handle/ blue back spacer and a BC coated blade. It's very cool, but when compared to a William Henry, especially with consideration to fit and finish, the William Henry seems to me to be clearly better. The Benchmade shows very small grind marks where the WH shows none. Just my opinions.
 
As big of a fan as I am of the 940 series of BM knives there is absolutely no comparison with WH knives. But there's also a price difference. For the money and what they were designed for both the 690 and 940 series are top notch knives.
 
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