Good first Benchmade?

Balrog99 said:
Well, this is gonna get some hate but I actually ordered a Ganzo Griptilian clone... Gonna get the Crooked River or Grizzly Creek from Scheels next paycheck, but I couldn’t control the urge to get a new knife. One thing I’ve heard though from researching Benchmade is the best way is to get one from a store and look through their stock. I gotta ask though, is the quality control really that iffy, or is it just enough people have had bad experiences that it’s a noticeable issue? Or if I ordered one from amazon would it be more than likely I’d get one that’s just fine?
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Buying, praising, discussing, supporting, advertising and bequeathing clone knives is a surefire way to get sideways around here. It’s not “hate”, simply support for our shared hobby/passion.

Hopefully your next knife purchase is more carefully considered.

Either way, good luck with your first Benchmade. They make a great, original knife. I’ve handled the Ganzo clone and it’s not bringing you a Benchmade experience.
 
The QC problems that are mentioned here are a selection bias. The result of a lot of knives, and very picky fans. Is every knife perfect? No, not possible. Is their QC better than many, yes, and is it good enough for most users? Yes.
Amazon isn't the safest place to buy a knife from, and to be honest, there are many sellers who will get you almost the same deal with less stress and worry. Support your local dealers, and the knife makers you actually want.
 
I hate wasting money with crap knives. I think you should have gotten precisely what you originally wanted even if you had to save up a bit to afford it. I would also avoid the big river site for knives and buy from one of a regular dealers.
 
Cscotttsss said:
I'm going to have to disagree. I own a Grizzly Ridge too and will more than likely grab a mini freek at some point and while the Versaflex scale material is great it does go in and out of the pocket much different and with more resistance than a standard G10/FRN/Ti scale......
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Maybe you live in a warmer clime where the versaflex is tackier, but in the Pacific Northwet, the Mini Freek goes into and out of jeans and shirt pockets with no increased effort worth mentioning. Besides, it's not a tactical knife, so even if it takes two hands to extract it from silk pajama pockets I don't see that as a fatal flaw.

The only knife I have that can be a pain to extract from a pocket is my Cutjack Mini due to the aggressive texture (relative to cotton, not to hand flesh) of its FRN scale.
 
Didn’t get the Ganzo to pretend I had a Benchmade or anything. Had the itch to buy something new on this paycheck and figured if I liked the overall shape of the Ganzo then maybe I’d get the grip since they’re roughly the same size. 20$ to try out a shape I’m iffy on vs 100+. But yeah, next time I’ll definitely just wait.
 
Balrog99 said:
Didn’t get the Ganzo to pretend I had a Benchmade or anything. Had the itch to buy something new on this paycheck and figured if I liked the overall shape of the Ganzo then maybe I’d get the grip since they’re roughly the same size. 20$ to try out a shape I’m iffy on vs 100+. But yeah, next time I’ll definitely just wait.
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Yeah I get it. I actually bought a random Ganzo cleaver to see if i liked the shape, which I did. Got a few proper pocketcleavers now.

Edit: To be fair, I really didn't know anything about Ganzo until after I had received it.
 
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Balrog99 said:
Didn’t get the Ganzo to pretend I had a Benchmade or anything. Had the itch to buy something new on this paycheck and figured if I liked the overall shape of the Ganzo then maybe I’d get the grip since they’re roughly the same size. 20$ to try out a shape I’m iffy on vs 100+. But yeah, next time I’ll definitely just wait.
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So what? You bought it. You funded people who rip off Benchmade and all the good folks who are financially associated with them. That's what it boils down to.
 
marcinek said:
So what? You bought it. You funded people who rip off Benchmade and all the good folks who are financially associated with them. That's what it boils down to.
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Q: How many torches and pitchforks do you bring to a Ganzo purchase?
A: As many as possible.

It's in the past. The man can't go back in time and undo his purchase. Why treat him like a dog over it? As someone stated, you don't get Benchmade quality with a Ganzo purchase. Why not focus on that?
 
I won't pile on about the ganzo purchase, since I share the same opinions as everyone else on this forum.

As for Benchmade's QC, there has been some fair criticism in the past, and I think they have been getting better when it comes to that. I think their QC is no better or worse than Spyderco or ZT's, and they have a great warranty (just like the other two brands). One benefit of buying from a dealer that supports BladeForums (instead of the big river site you mentioned) is that almost all of them will inspect a knife before shipping it, if you ask them to.
 
sabre cat said:
Q: How many torches and pitchforks do you bring to a Ganzo purchase?
A: As many as possible.

It's in the past. The man can't go back in time and undo his purchase. Why treat him like a dog over it? As someone stated, you don't get Benchmade quality with a Ganzo purchase. Why not focus on that?
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Sure. I can focus on that. It's another excuse.

"Don't buy a clone because they have lower quality."

No, don't buy a clone because they are clones.

As for it being in the past, that is true. Say it was a mistake and be done with it. We all make mistakes. No point in coming up with excuses for them.

In my opinion. YMMV.

I bought some sucky knives. I was stupid. Now I know better.
 
A year or so ago I would have said griptilian but I have had a full size and the mini and both were sold/traded pretty soon after i got them.

Classic case of just getting caught up in the hype.

So I say just get the crooked river.
 
marcinek said:
Sure. I can focus on that. It's another excuse.

"Don't buy a clone because they have lower quality."

No, don't buy a clone because they are clones.

As for it being in the past, that is true. Say it was a mistake and be done with it. We all make mistakes. No point in coming up with excuses for them.

In my opinion. YMMV.

I bought some sucky knives. I was stupid. Now I know better.
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Don’t see how it’s an excuse but, like you said, its your opinion.

I’ve own some Ganzo products.
Was not that impressed. Sure, you got a lot for your money but, there are better knives for about the same money.

Mine went to a friend. He loves it.
 
Balrog99 said:
Well, this is gonna get some hate but I actually ordered a Ganzo Griptilian clone... Gonna get the Crooked River or Grizzly Creek from Scheels next paycheck, but I couldn’t control the urge to get a new knife. One thing I’ve heard though from researching Benchmade is the best way is to get one from a store and look through their stock. I gotta ask though, is the quality control really that iffy, or is it just enough people have had bad experiences that it’s a noticeable issue? Or if I ordered one from amazon would it be more than likely I’d get one that’s just fine?
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:facepalm:
 
sabre cat said:
Don’t see how it’s an excuse but, like you said, its your opinion.
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Maybe I misread the way you were presenting it.

I have just seen "Don't buy clones because the quality is low." used as a reason to not buy clones.

If someone made a Ganzobenza using the same materials and tolerances at half the price...I would not buy it.

I know our attitudes towards clones change as we get deeper into knives. I believe I was in the "A Ganzobenza is OK because the Ganzobenza buyer wasn't going to spend the money on a real Sebenza anyway...so no loss." crowd myself back when.

But I started to feel that all the rationalizations were nonsense as my passion for knives grew.

You don't buy a clone because....it's a clone.

As for anybody who bough a clone...there was a time for all of us when we didn't know or think better about knives. It's not a big deal, just live with a mistake and grow. You can't lose respect for anybody who does that.

Just don't try to make excuses like "Didn’t get the Ganzo to pretend I had a Benchmade or anything."
 
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