Fit and finish?

I bought two BMs recently at my local store and fortunately had the luxury of picking the knife with the best F&F out of their stock.

940-2 we found a good one on our first box

Contego there were only two in stock. Both weren't centered and had edge imperfections. Still bought one anyway as I trust BM service, however if these knives were from another brand I would have passed.
 
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ourgon said:
I must admit that for example my 908 out of the box wasn't great - offcentered with side to side bp. But after some adjusting with torx it's cool. No side to side bp, I can flick it open, blade is centered.

I think if you are pedant and want smooth and perfect action in BM, you must personally pick one in local store or be confident to adjust it at home by yourself.
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I agree with your statement, if someone wants a tight blade with no play they need to hand pick their own knife. It concerns me because this is the reputation Benchmade is getting from consistently allowing knives with qc issues to leave the factory. Considering it is a production knife, it is understandable that a few will slip through their fingers, but for it to happen so often that you end up with a reputation for doing so is not a good thing.
 
I bought an Impel yesterday and it was flawless in fit, finish, operation and design.

I also know what is good or bad fit/finish. It's more than mildly insulting to state or infer that if your BMs are great, you don't know what "good" is.

Every one I've bought but one has been fine to excellent. The only exception is I bought a Spike with an obvious flaw that I pointed out to the dealer and he gave me great discount. It went immediately to BM where they replaced the blade for free. The last three have benn perfect.

I am not a fanboy, I've only owned 6 in 20 years. They have some great specialty knives, Spike, Stryker, 31,42, 530, Impel and Park Avenue...Hey that's 7 :)
 
I have been all over this forum looking for a specific kind of knife made in America these last few weeks and it seems almost everything I am interested in has some kind of wait or just can't get a answer about the knife. Anyways Benchmade 781 Anthem AXIS Lock Folding Knife Bronze Titanium (3.5" Satin) is big on my list for a potential buy. But these threads have me not feeling confident to fork out $425.00 for this one.
 
TRUE LIBERTY said:
I have been all over this forum looking for a specific kind of knife made in America these last few weeks and it seems almost everything I am interested in has some kind of wait or just can't get a answer about the knife. Anyways Benchmade 781 Anthem AXIS Lock Folding Knife Bronze Titanium (3.5" Satin) is big on my list for a potential buy. But these threads have me not feeling confident to fork out $425.00 for this one.[

I have owned many Benchmade knives over the years, and I have had first hand experience with their customer service department. I have been posting complaints because their quality control has been sloppy lately. However, I have tried other top name brands and each company has had noticeable qc issues as well. I am still a fan of Benchmade products, they stand firm behind their products and take care of their customers. I plan on adding more Benchmades to my small collection in the future. As i mentioned earlier, I have owned several other brands but Benchmade seems to satisfy me more than the others. If you do run into qc issues, they will take care of you. Actually, you don't even have to run into qc issues, just buy one of their knives and they will reset the tolerances, replace worn parts, clean, lubricate, and sharpen it each time you send it to the factory.
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I just got my replacement knife from Knives Ship Free. This one looks great. Their customer service was excellent and will keep me coming back. Shout-out to Josh who handled my return. Great guy to deal with.
 
I like Nick Shabazz's reviews a lot, on many brands including ZT, BM, Spyderco, and CRK (the good, the bad, and the ugly are often spot on). IMHO, his reviews are much better than those by knutfancy, apostleP etc.
 
sharp_edge said:
I like Nick Shabazz's reviews a lot, on many brands including ZT, BM, Spyderco, and CRK (the good, the bad, and the ugly are often spot on). IMHO, his reviews are much better than those by knutfancy, apostleP etc.
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I have found Nick to be very entertaining and enjoyed his videos. When I saw his video on Hinderer I got turned off though. Seemed ugly to me. He painted with a very broad brush and seemed a little like todays far left people who are getting hard to watch.
 
As a professional knife sharpener, my biggest QC gripe with Benchmade is their inability to grind a symmetrical blade. Their primary grinds are usually way off, and they sharpen their blades at different angles per side, to make the bevels look even. About 1 out of 10 new knives that I get have acceptable edges imo. Many of my customers are long time benchmade collectors, and many of them are now spending their money on other brands. It's not a hard issue to fix.....just a lack of attention.
 
gglotz83 said:
As a professional knife sharpener, my biggest QC gripe with Benchmade is their inability to grind a symmetrical blade. Their primary grinds are usually way off, and they sharpen their blades at different angles per side, to make the bevels look even. About 1 out of 10 new knives that I get have acceptable edges imo. Many of my customers are long time benchmade collectors, and many of them are now spending their money on other brands. It's not a hard issue to fix.....just a lack of attention.
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My experience with BM is limited to four folders only though I agree to whats said here. The bevel on my first 940-1501 was so poorly ground that I had to send in for an exchange. Aside from that, all four BM folders that I have owned are free of other issues.
 
I've been a Benchmade fan for years and still buy them, though mostly out-of production models at this point. The new knives that I've acquired over the past couple of years have been hit or miss. My Crooked River and Proxy were perfect but I've seen bad blade centering and very bad/uneven edge grinds. However, their customer service is still the best. I just got a 940-1 and Bradley Alias 1 back today. They replaced the handles on both free of charge. The 940-1 had lost one of the female threaded pieces for a clip screw and the Alias 1 had atrocious lock and blade play. I was shocked that they had Alias handles to replace but the knife is solid now.

They actually messed up on both of these and sent them back to me from warranty service with these issues. When I called back they were very apologetic and sent me a prepaid shipping label for the second trip back. Despite the initial mess up the experience was excellent and I will continue to sing the praises of their customer service, whom I've dealt with many times. If you have an issue with a Benchmade, contact them. They will make it right.
 
sharp_edge said:
I like Nick Shabazz's reviews a lot, on many brands including ZT, BM, Spyderco, and CRK (the good, the bad, and the ugly are often spot on). IMHO, his reviews are much better than those by knutfancy, apostleP etc.
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Strongly disagree. Nick might be entertaining if you can stomach that accent, but he posts massive amounts of mis-information, mostly the info is strictly his opinion and not fact at all. Seriously, some of the knife take-down videos are so hard to watch (CRK one specifically). ApostleP might be slow talking and the vids are long winded, but at least when it comes to factual information he is accurate, has decent knowledge on structural integrity and admits when something is just his opinion and not his cup of tea.
 
Mick_1KRR said:
Strongly disagree. Nick might be entertaining if you can stomach that accent, but he posts massive amounts of mis-information, mostly the info is strictly his opinion and not fact at all. Seriously, some of the knife take-down videos are so hard to watch (CRK one specifically). ApostleP might be slow talking and the vids are long winded, but at least when it comes to factual information he is accurate, has decent knowledge on structural integrity and admits when something is just his opinion and not his cup of tea.
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so you cant take it for what its worth? i too have a problem with his lube of choice and how he lathers it on, but the rest of the show is great. he's saved me much money in not buying crappy knives or knives i have the same opinion as him on. its also great for knife makers to take note, so they dont make knives with the same downfalls in the future, if they care to listen that is.
 
Mick_1KRR said:
Strongly disagree. Nick might be entertaining if you can stomach that accent, but he posts massive amounts of mis-information, mostly the info is strictly his opinion and not fact at all. Seriously, some of the knife take-down videos are so hard to watch (CRK one specifically). ApostleP might be slow talking and the vids are long winded, but at least when it comes to factual information he is accurate, has decent knowledge on structural integrity and admits when something is just his opinion and not his cup of tea.
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When I watch knife review vids, I mostly look for and expect the reviewer's opinions, not facts like the blade steel, handle material, weight, length etc. which I can easily get from dealers/manufacturers sites. Also, I would never look down upon someone because of their accents.
 
[video=youtube;LvrnSOyPypE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvrnSOyPypE[/video]
 
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