Is Benchmade losing their edge?

Wunderbar said:
Benchmade Rules little man. :grumpy:
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Tanto5 said:
Its always funny that in threads like this the main people that do all the smack talking are the spyderco lovers.

I wonder why that is?

Same old crap at bladeforums i see:jerkit: :yawn:
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Tanto5 said:
Because spyderco could make a knife out of a dog turd and people here would still claim its the best knife ever.
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Benchmade rules.

Little man.

Smack talk. (insert jerkit here)

and finally apparently Spydie fans don't know a dog turd from a knife...

Tanto, does your definition of smack talk differ from the world around you? Or are Rose colored glasses clouding judgement? Who is using the oft found offensive jerkit? Is it you? Yes.
Who jumps the tactic of deriding someone who points out their "facts" are not factual? Was it a Benchmade guy? Yes.

Enjoy your stay.
 
StretchNM said:
BUT, I do agree with your last statement.... they seem to let certain knives drop off that, to me, were winners. Evidently they weren;t winners with very many though, or they'd have continued them. Where's my Nim Cub??
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I don't know when Benchmade got their start, the last time I paid any attention to them, they were making lots of Balis and little else (my impression) back in the early 90's.

You are likely spot on with why model "whatever" was discontinued. No company stays in business long if they hang onto dogs that don't sell.
 
Wunderbar said:
Spyderco is a fine company but 90% of their knives are plastic handle lockbacks. Boring.:yawn:
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Hmm... I think you're forgetting some key aspects of any knife. Namely the blade shape, size and steel.

Wunderbar said:
Lets see here. Number of Spyderco models that are plastic handle lockbacks:34
Number of Benchmade models that are plastic handle lockbacks:3

Plastic handle folders are the biggest sellers. So no, I wouldn't say that I'm exagerating.

Benchmade Rules little man. :grumpy:
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And that comparison mean... what? Compare the plastics, Spyderco's FRN holds up very well, having more fibreglass (i.e. more strength) than normal FRN/Zytel.
 
Is Benchmade losing their edge?
Benchmade makes some of the best folders around, use very appealing designs, and their level of fit and finish is almost second to none from a production company. In that aspect no; they are as sharp as they’ve ever been.
However, if you’re talking about the way Benchmade as a company has been conducting themselves for the past few years I would have to say yes; Benchmade is most definitely going dull.
 
I find myself wondering if Benchmade is having trouble trying to decide which market share to work on trying to capture. If you would have asked me a few years ago, I would have said that I thought Benchmade was trying to give companies like William Henry or Microtech a run for the money. After the "red class" debut, I thought that maybe they had their sights set on competeing with CRKT for the lower end, while staying competitive with the upper end companies with their "gold & blue class" products.

After seeing this years' catalog, and their re-use of Spyder-holes, I have no choice but to believe they have their sights set on a portion of Spyderco's market, and are mainly trying to beef up their own low end products. They seem to have struck a deal with a Chinese manufacturer. This, I think, was probably done to try to stay competitive with Spyderco's lower end and Byrd line, though I do not think they will provide much competition.

As far as the American made Benchmades go, I think the CSK fixed blade, by looking at the specs, was designed to compete with and will probably fill the void left by the absence of Cold Steel's American made SRK. To be honest, I was expecting to see more Titanium frame-locks introduced by Benchmade this year, and was very surprised not to see any. I was really surprised to see the Lum, especially their use of advertisement for it, in a knife rag, stating something to the effect of, "Life and death decisions are often made at the cash register." That definitely seemed to me like a 'Cold Steel' thing to say.

So, to me, Benchmade seems like they might be having trouble finding and holding their place in the market, and may have started to spread themselves out too thin by trying to capture all segments of the market too fast, at the same time as doing more OEM work for other companies, and at the same time as trying to control their network of dealers and pricing.

My 2 pennies,
3G
 
One thing on the SpyerHole on the Lum folder.
The BM Lums were modeled after the 'All Rounder' which uses
a round hole. So Bob Lum uses the SpyderHole (I see no one
complaining about him) and it makes sense for BM to use it
in this instance.
 
zenheretic said:
Then you turn around again and say the FRN Spydies are their best sellers (I doubt you know for sure, but I won't dispute that as it is likely correct.) This point has nothing to do with your 90% of spydercos are plastic comment, but oh well. I wonder what the top sellers are for Benchmade? Is it one of their $300 models or is it something in the $60 range? (do they even charge that little for their knives?)

Finally we get to your referring to me as "little man", and that "Benchmade Rules" which only points to the fact that I'm arguing with a person of likely mature social, physical, and emotional stability.
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The Griptilians run around $60. It would seem that they are some of the best sellers considering that there are so many versions of the Griptilian. I'd prefer an axis lock Griptilian over any plastic handle lockback, even though I'm not an axis lock fan. Benchmade Rules. :D
 
zenheretic said:
I don't know when Benchmade got their start, the last time I paid any attention to them, they were making lots of Balis and little else (my impression) back in the early 90's.
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Call up Benchmade and order one of their catalogs or go to www.Benchmade.com . Things have changed since the last time you've paid attention to Benchmade.:thumbup:
 
Th232 said:
Hmm... I think you're forgetting some key aspects of any knife. Namely the blade shape, size and steel.



And that comparison mean... what? Compare the plastics, Spyderco's FRN holds up very well, having more fibreglass (i.e. more strength) than normal FRN/Zytel.
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I don't mind certain blade shapes, size and steel. It's just the plastic handle lockback part that bores me.:rolleyes:

I didn't compare plastics. I like 6061-T6 and G-10. I prefer them over anyones plastic handles.:thumbup:
 
I think Benchmade should be more interactive with its consumers. Spyderco has a forum here and Sal frequently poses questions to get our input on things. Personally, I think Benchmade has to do the same otherwise they will lose their edge.
 
I just want to mention one thing about Spydercos and their 'plastic handles'. I think that the Endura outshines the Griptilians big time. Just my opinion. Granted, I love the Axis lock, but the lockback is a tried and true lock that has stood the test of time, and Spyderco does some of the best lockbacks in the industry. Other than the locks, the two knives have a lot in common; similar blade lengths, 'plastic' handles with steel liners...well, you get the point. Why do I prefer the Endura? I like the blade shape better, and VG10 is my favorite stainless steel. I think the whole plastic handle thing is not worth arguing about, especially when they have steel liners. It just becomes another handle material, then. Hell, doesn't Lone Wolf Knives use nylon for some of their big folders?
 
Sorry for hijacking this thread but someone said something about ( i can't read this whole thread) a new afck being offered by somebody. I am so sick of my brother bragging about his afck ...I want one too!! Who does benchmade have "the inside deal with?"
TC
 
msiley said:
One thing on the SpyerHole on the Lum folder.
The BM Lums were modeled after the 'All Rounder' which uses
a round hole. So Bob Lum uses the SpyderHole (I see no one
complaining about him) and it makes sense for BM to use it
in this instance.
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In all honesty, I think we should steer away from the topic of the holes, it can take any conversation way off topic. But a quick reply, Lum uses the Spyderhole because Spyderco licenses it to him for his customs, which is why there's no complaining -- the transaction was above-board and honorable from A to Z. The furor over BM's use of the hole is because things weren't so straightforward. But now it's over, there is a license agreement between the two, so that's that.
 
I agree with Joe. Who cares about the damn hole???? I think the whole arguing over this is just lame. I know people think it's dishonorable when it comes to things like this, but I honestly don't see the big deal when it comes to things like this. If they used a disk, stud, or whatever else, big deal. Unless a company puts out a knife that is a blatant rip off, I don't care. If we are going to argue about things like this, you could point out many companies that 'ripped off' the idea of the Onion assisted opener from Kershaw, especially considering that the idea was passed up by many companies until assisted openers became hot. And don't try to say that "this company does it different", because the idea is still the same. It would be like a company using an oval opening hole instead of the Spyderhole...oops, never mind. Someone did do that. (sorry, couldn't resist)
 
Regardless of whether you think BM is losing their edge or not, it's interesting -- and perhaps alarming -- to see how things have changed. 6 years ago, someone starting this thread would have been ridiculed, and it would have been Spyderco that was much more likely to have been brought up in this context. The fact that things have reversed so resoundingly, and that even on the BM forum you see similar disappointment, should ring alarm bells at BM.
 
I think it has to do with the designers. I think they need some more Blackwood designs out there, as he seems to be the one with the draw closest to what Elishewitz brought to BM (Ares, Stryker, 690, etc) Pardue designs are mostly utilitarian, which are excellent but not as impactful in advertising. Snody I think does pretty well in this regard, but the Snody BMs have also gotten a little more criticism-but the 14205 seems to be a swing in the right direction. Osbourne puts aluminum handles on everything, which is a big turnoff for many. Other designers' work is on red class stuff, which really isn't the price level where BM sets itself apart. Axis locks are expected on BMs, and the slew of new liner locks is also disappointing for many.

BM never did bother much with user input, and they didn't have to. They've brought back older designs a few times, especially with the balis, but I don't see what that has to do with innovation at all.
 
Thanks a bunch hardheart!! Wow three and a quarter thats pretty steep! I love the knife but that is dipping into my DDR money.
TC
 
clearytja said:
Sorry for hijacking this thread but someone said something about ( i can't read this whole thread) a new afck being offered by somebody. I am so sick of my brother bragging about his afck ...I want one too!! Who does benchmade have "the inside deal with?"
TC
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eBay auction number 110106377676

Ah, someone beat me to it..
 
Interesting thread, to add hopefully in a constructive way,...

It seems as Spyderco gets dragged into these threads due to the fact that both make extremely well made folders that appeal to folks that are willing to spend a little extra for a well made folding knife. Ignoring both companies "cheap line" for they hold absolutely no appeal for me, Benchmade and Spyderco are not similar manufacturers and it would be good for some posters to remember their differences. Benchmade produces their knives in America versus the majority of Spydercos that are off-shored, this is not meant as a disparaging fact, but merely a fact. There are differences and it is good to acknowledge and respect that fact as well as they both have diverse product lines. Just as Spyders are built in a formula that overwhelmingly favours lockbacks, Benchmade overwhelmingly favours their Axis lock. So what?

One can phrase their points in a way that favours their chosen maker while yet another forumite can phrase it differently that shows a completely different bias, am I more correct or is the other guy with a different view? Kershaw makes knives that appeal to many, not I, but what makes a Kershaw fan any less legitimate? Or a person that enjoys their Bucks? CRK or Emersons, Striders, etc.....? Benchmade makes many models in 154CM that doesn't impress me or Spyderco makes many models in VG-10 that doesn't impress me, blah, blah.

If I had $1000 to spend on knives it is likely there would be a similar amount of Benchmades and Spyders come home with me, or maybe something else. Someone(s) else may spend it all on one or the other or something else entirely.

Back to the original topic, has Benchmade lost their edge? There is still designs that I want from Benchmade or other manufacturers. No, I don't think they have lost their edge, while many moan the loss of the AFCK or the 73x series, how many pine for the re-release of their favorite disco'ed "other folder"?

Onward and upward folks. :)
 
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