How good is BM Nagara?

[Slowstarter]

I´m thinking of getting the Benchmade Nagara. It´s a beautiful red-class knife made in China and it sure looks good. But is it any good or is it beautiful crap? Can someone who´s got it (or handled it) tell me about it? It looks like a poor mans Sebenza and I can´t afford the real thing.

Cheers!

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

If it weren't for the fact that it's stamped as such there'd be no way to tell it was Chinese in origin. The only reason why I don't own one is because I back-pocket carry and the shape of the thumb stud sometimes snags on withdrawal and "waves" the blade when I don't expect it to! Beautiful knife.

 

[J_Curd]

I think I might buy one...I don't know much about that steel though. Ti makes it worth it at that price, and it looks well made.

 

[100eyes]

I sold it pretty soon after owning it. It's pretty nice overall, but there were few problems.

The thumbstud is one of the worst I've ever tried. It's got a sharp edge that digs into your thumb and tries to tear the flesh off. The blade retention is quite strong(which I like), but couple that with the sharp thumbstud, deploying the blade isn't enjoyable at all. It also didn't help that you really can't deploy the knife by pushing 'up' on the blade(again, kills the thumb), you have to push the blade 'out' from the handle. The blade does literally fly out, I was really impressed with the pivot smoothness. However, combining that with the strong retention, slow deployment is pretty much impossible.

The Nak-Lok or w/e they call the lock felt sloppy. The button to disengage the lock protruded out of the handle crooked and I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be that way. It's basically a reversed compression lock. There was small side-to-side movement on the blade no matter how much it was adjusted.

After I bought it, it did occur to me that buying a gentleman's knife with value in mind is a bit counterintuitive. Anyone who doesn't know a lot about knives, regardless of how nice the knife looks might dismiss the knife as crap when they see the China stamp. The knife also attracts fingerprints and smudges like crazy with pretty much everything except the handle scales being mirror finished.

It'd be a good knife at about $50-60.

 

[scout72]

I bought one a month ago and ended up giving it to my son. It does LOOK very nice, and it is a pretty sturdy knife (and heavy for the size) and it is a great size, but I really didn't like the assisted action- nothing terribly wrong with it, but it is just a little slow for me. The thumb stud is uncomfortable to me and the lock mechanism button is also uncomfortable and seems a little under-built to me, as is the locking mechanism. These are not too big of deal things, just little things that added up for me.

This knife in a manual linerless straight ti monolock frame would be great though!

 

[RxEnergy]

I bought one a month ago and ended up giving it to my son. It does LOOK very nice, and it is a pretty sturdy knife (and heavy for the size) and it is a great size, but I really didn't like the assisted action- nothing terribly wrong with it, but it is just a little slow for me. The thumb stud is uncomfortable to me and the lock mechanism button is also uncomfortable and seems a little under-built to me, as is the locking mechanism. These are not too big of deal things, just little things that added up for me.

This knife in a manual linerless straight ti monolock frame would be great though!

This IS a manual knife. Not AO. You must be talking some other knife here.

 

[raythebigfoot]

I carry the kulgera...would recommend that one over the Nagara, don't like the thumbstud at all on the Nagara. You may also like the Torrent which is also a pretty sweet knife. Only about a 30-40 dollar price difference but it's worth it if you ask me. Check ebay out. You can sometimes find the torrent for less than $100.

 

[mdarby]

I just bought the Nagara for $62 online and am quite happy.

I like the slim profile and titanium scales. It was amazingly sharp out of the box. While I agree the thumb studs are somewhat sharp, they in no way present a problem to me.

It is quite easy to open the knife using the thumb studs in a slow, deliberate fashion. For flicking the blade open, I use either the back of my thumb nail and press "up and out" a bit, along the curve of the handle. It's also easy to flick open with the index finger. Both of these moves require no wrist movement. Finally, pressing in the release button using my thumb I can flick the blade open with pure wristmotion. (Pressing the button reduces tension holding the blade in the handle enough to allow easy flicking.)

As far as the release button sticking out when deployed, I can't see how it would interfere with any typical grip. One handed closing is easy by pressing the release button on the Nak Lok and flicking the blade closed with wrist motion.

I am not a lock strength expert, but the Nak Lok strikes me as secure, or more secure, than liner locks which seem to engage the bar 50-100% against the blade. A lock failure could be caused by the liner slipping off the blade. With the Nak Lock, the equivalent of the liner lock is completely on the blade with room to spare. So unless you snap this piece of metal, lock failure would seem to require much more backward movement of the locking bar. Sorry if this is unclear.

Anyway, I love this knife. I think it looks great and very classy, is easy to open and close, and the lock is cool. The "China" stamped on the blade is very discrete and only visible to somebody looking for it up close.

Best,
Michael

 

[FortyTwoBlades]

This IS a manual knife. Not AO. You must be talking some other knife here.

Chances are he confused it for an AO. I've had a lot of customers at the shop I work at think it was one, and they were opening it themselves. The pivot is just that smooth.

 

[scout72]

Too funny- well- sorry, didn't mean to spread mis-information- I really did think it was an assisted opener- it was an impulse purchase and i really didn't spend too much time with it- but that is funny, and really does speak to the smoothness of the opening then! No wonder it wasn't fast!

But anyway, really, my main gripes were the same as others have mentioned, mainly the thumb stud and lock button, but I do have big stumpy hands, so maybe that is a factor.