Gold Class Benchmade 940 vs Damascus Mnandi

[worshipNtribute]

I've got a sprint para 2 for harder use in a folder, I've got a ritter mini grip in m4 with custom scales for a smaller edc, and now I need an elegant office/suit knife for light edc that is also beautiful to look at. These two have caught my attention, so which one would you choose and why?


edit:
im referring to the damascus 940:

 

[nopyo]

Personally, I'd go with the Mnandi. Reason? Clean lines, thus potentially less intimidating to others.

 

[kreole]

I wouldn't call the gold class 940 elegant, assuming you're talking about the carbon fiber/titanium one with the CPM-M4 blade. The green handles and dark coated blade keep it from obtaining that quality. Even if you stripped the blade and polished the handles silver, it's a little too modern to be elegant, IMO of course.

Those two knives quite different in size. The Mnandi has a much thinner blade. I'd call the Mnandi a gentleman's knife and the gold class 940 an expensive work knife. I have both and would only carry the Mnandi with a suit or in a white collar setting.

And for what it's worth, I don't think the gold class 940 is worth its price by quite a bit. It's a nice knife, but the quality isn't quite up to the $300 price tag. For me, it was only worth it because I love the 940 design and CPM-M4 is my favorite steel.

 

[worshipNtribute]

And for what it's worth, I don't think the gold class 940 is worth its price by quite a bit. It's a nice knife, but the quality isn't quite up to the $300 price tag. For me, it was only worth it because I love the 940 design and CPM-M4 is my favorite steel.

thank you for the reply, I completely forgot that there was more than one gold class 940 out there. I edited the OP, but I'm referring to the one with the damascus blade and the silver handles. You caught my attention with the $300 price tag, the one I want runs a little more than twice that.

 

[thaeffman]

I would go for the 940. The 940-81 (the model you are looking at) is an elegant knife albeit a bit unconventional. It has a nice utilitarian blade shape and at 3.4 inches in length I would feel comfortable handling any cutting task. My one gripe is benchmades insistence on stamping their logo on the blade it detracts a little bit from the overall elegance of the knife. The Mnandi is a much smaller knife but it is very light at only 1.5 ounces and the wood inlays would pair up well with a Damascus blade.
(Full disclosure I am a big fan of the 940 series, I have 940 D2CF and I wouldn't hesitate to use it in a formal situation.)