First post, and a question...

J

John Colligan

Joined
May 8, 2000
Messages
2
Ok, this is my first post here. Been lurking for a while...I was hooked on butterfly knives for a long, long time, then had to sell off almost all of them. Big regrets. Slowly building back up... Should get a Tachyon in a few days, plan on it becoming my new EDC 'till these new 3" Benchmades with a clip show up... maybe some nice file work added...I'm hooked again!

Anyway, here's my question. Back in the mid 80's, I bought a Benchmade (Or was it Pacific Cutlery then?) 4" butterfly knife. It was a "limited run" of 250 Jody Sampson ground bowie blades, with sand-blasted finish, stainless handles. A knifemaker buddy polished out the whole knife for me a few years later, and I put a lot of miles on it. I still have it, but the blade is completely trashed. I'd like to find a maker who'd put a new blade in it for me. An "always wanted" was this knife with a sheepsfoot blade. I see a few posts about makers who will re-handle an existing blade, but I need it the other way around. Yes, I figure it might cost a lot, but that's ok...

Any suggestions? Thanks!
 
While I have no specific suggestions, you are doing the right thing; asking around. Eventually there will be someone who would be willing to point you to someone.

You have two things going in your favor with the old BM Customs:

1) They have 3/16" blades. This is a more common thickness than the current 1/8" of the Model 49's. And is easier to pull off a Sheepsfoot or the Wharncliff's

2) They are also straight pinned in place. So removing them and installing new pins are fairly straight forward procedures for most knifemakers.

In the mean time, just start looking at knifemakers who makes the blade styles you like. Start collecting pictures for reference in case you do find someone. To assist that blademaker, keep the tang area as undamaged as you can, because when he unpins those handles, he can use the blade as a template to aid in re-installation (hole size and alignment are extreme critical).

You might run into a problem with the tang pin installation, as a new pin may not match the old one, and may not mate perfectly with existing tang pin cups already in the handle. Which will impact the way the handles lock open.

Which leads me to the alternative solution. Instead of re-using the handles, get the blade made and send it to Eric to re-handle. As badly as you've trashed the bali, it is still a BM custom, and to some people in this forum, destroying something that is already rare enough is tantamount to sacrilege. If you're already commited to spending some level of bucks to get a using bali again, spend it on a new one without the necessary destruction of something wonderful, regardless of it's condition.

My $0.02.
 
Welcome to the Forums John.., and I do agree with Tony.., although I think you're gonna have a tough time finding anyone to take on that particular project.

It's "doable" for many of the "real guys".., but they'd have to charge you quite a bit. When you said you understood it may be expensive but you didn't care :rolleyes: .., you may care when you hear the price!

However.., so much "stuff" is going on now in Bali-Ville..., heck.., ya never know, but I'd be surpised if you can find someone that's actually making Balisong knives that would do it for anything less than a Harley Softail...lol. The problem is..., that ~~> "they" (the makers).., have to weigh how much they would be cutting into their own models.., against doing a make-over for you???

Obviously my Harley comment was a joke, but you probably realize that you will have to pay as much for a job like that as new knife. The analogy is something like a finish carpenter hanging a new door in an out-of-square door-jam. They have to deal with all the pre-existing dynamics and flaws due to the "thrash-job"! The time and effort required is far more than simply reframing the opening and working "fresh".

Refurbs.., especially since you said the knife is thrashed.., are pretty tough going!! And even with a new blade.., all the dynamics Tony mentioned have to be considered for the maker to satisfy you with the result.

I've found that "begging" is the best route (or being really good friends with a talented knifemaker).., and being prepared to "WAIT"...good luck with it..., and let us know what you do.

Come on back and visit.., lots of nice people here!



"Hunters seek what they [WANT].., Seekers hunt what they [NEED]"
 
Welcome aboard John! Lots of fun around here, just don't get Tony started on tang pins, it will never end! ;) Gonna have to agree with the others on your project though. Hard to work the refit and why destroy such and old abli, even if it is beat up... But it's your knife and life is to short not to carry waht you want! Good luck!

Edited for foolishness....
 
Forgot to mention that several of the forumites here have already started on this journey and have found some makers willing to work with them.

I've got Bob Lum committed to making 3 blades to fit the handles from the BM 4x Ti series. They were to be ready by Christmas, but he had some unexpected family issues that came up. He should get the first to me by Mid-January.

Mark (Balilover) approached Larry Davidson for one of his Avenger blades to have Eric rehandle, but instead has Larry committed to making the whole package.

Eric (Mer) himself has expressed interest in making blades in the near future. Which with his handles should make for a really sturdy bali very similar to the old BM Customs.

And if you search the past postings for "Custom Bali makers" you'll see several that are already making custom bali's, and it'll just be a matter of ordering one with your blade preference.

May not be exactly what your were looking for, but I just want to present some more options to save that old bali...
 
Don't forget that Rob Simonich made the only Hawkbill balisong I've ever seen and what is known to be the worlds first, and right now only Talonite balisong for me from a BM42.

However, our new friend Mr. Colligan is talking about one of the old customs with the double press-fit pins. That's a lot different than a BM42/3/7. Three times I have had well-known and respected custom makers begin with a BM44 or BM45 with those press-fit pins and do something special for me. In all three cases, the makers have reported extreme difficulty getting the knife apart. In all three cases, the knife came back to me in pieces and had to go back to Oregon city for reassembly. The last time I did this, I was asked not to do it again as the tooling to reassemble these knives is shot.
 
Now that Tom Mayo has let the word out that he will be doing bali's, we should be seeing more Talonite balis on the market (fingers crossed). And Tom also makes a nasty Hawkbill.

And Chuck has bought up another good point. You can always send your balis back to BM for a refit. They may not have the machinery for the old production models, they are still committed to refurbishing the old custom bali's. Unless the blade is totally trashed, Vance should be able to reprofile that bowie into a shorter version of the same blade. Bad news is that the turnaround time is about a year.

Last thing about the refitting. Back in '86 or '87 a friend of mine and I had the audacity to make our own repairs on two of our custom bali's with broken pins (yes even they break if you don't learn to do and make the handle alignment adjustments) with some titanium pins I was able to obtain through my Aerospace engineering friends (this was before the Russians began opening their titanium market to the world). The process of drilling out the old pin wasn't so bad. Hand hammering the titanium pins in place was a little harder than we thought. However, since we were re-using the same blade with the holes already drilled, and the handles already fitted, it wasn't a major issue. You be amazed at how minute the holes needs to be off to screw up the whole handle setup.
 
Thanks to everyone for all the help! I can agree with the idea of not destroying a collectible piece. My reasoning was that it's pretty much not very usefull as-is, and maybe I could salvage the handles and get an "always wanted" made up. More of a "custom restoration". Now I'm thinking I'll just leave it alone, and start looking for someone to make up what I want... I'm Ok with a long process, that's half the fun.

I'm behind the learning curve on the whole model #'s designations, but sounds like having a blade made up to fit one of the new production Benchmades would be the way to go. Not the same "feel" as the old customs I had, but sounds like it would be easier / better.

Heck, as this project progresses, I'll post some updates and a final pic. My other plan is to try and re-aquire some of my old (small)collection. Sounds like they all went to the same collector in Phoenix. One in particular was a Benchmade Custom they made for me right about the time they posted that they were discontinued. It was a 4" Simitar, standard handles. I bought it for a friend, and we traded it back and forth till I sold it when I needed the $$ and he didn't have the cash. He's gone now, and I'd really like to have the knife back. Whoops, didn't mean to get all serious!

Again, thanks for all the help! Look forward to posting more!
 
Just how "trashed" is this blade?

I would say have a maker take it off, and clean it up. Unless it has 3mm of rust on it, I bet a good maker could shine it right back up.

Just my opinion though...
 
I have a three inch BM custom with a badly oversharpened blade. I was going to replace the blade myself but wondered if I shouldn't leave it alone for the reasons stated here--still undecided. You might be better off starting from scratch; it depends on whether or not your blade needs replacing or refurbishing--pictures? One problem with blade replacement is that you won't have a BM logo on the blade. Benchmade no longer does this extensive (blade replacement) type of refurbishing, at least not on the invisible pin models.
 
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