Issues with my new Anthem

D

donwerner

Joined
Sep 16, 2016
Messages
26
Hey guys,

So, I just bought a brand new 781 Anthem. It's an awesome knife, love the design and it's so much fun playing with the axis lock, which is smooth like butter. However I was disappointed when I opened the box and found that my knife has a couple of annoying issues.

First off, the blade is not centered and I can't center it, no matter how I try and adjust the pivot screws. The second thing is the blade grind - it's uneven, especially at the tip of the blade. That's certainly not what I was expecting from such an expensive knife. I'm new to BM, this is my first knife from them, so I wasn't aware of the general quality control issues, which seems to haunt BM.

My problem is I live in Europe and sending the knife back for a warranty service is very expensive and complicated because of customs regulations. Furthermore I don't think I should be the one paying for their mistake.

What do you guys think, am I just being nit-picky or is it reasonable to expect a 400 dollar knife to be centered and grind evenly on both sides?

Here's a picture of the knife. The uneven grind is visible at the tip of the blade along with the non-centering.

bm-781.jpg
 
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It should be your version of perfect. You should contact the vendor you bought it from and ask for an exchange. If that’s not possible, contact Benchmade and see if a dealer can handle the shipping to and from the U.S.
 
I already spoke to customer service and they have told me, they will fix it, but I will need to pay for the shipping fees myself. It will cost me around 30-35 usd. The knife was bought at a US dealership, so I guess I am just out of luck.
 
Never owned an Anthem but for all other Benchmades that I have/had, I was able to correct the centering by myself. The off centering of OPs knife is actually not so bad (not saying its acceptable).

If the uneve grinding is mostly on the tip section, I would swallow the issue and move on, given the $$ of shipping to Benchmade for warranty work.

All I am saying is that I agree these are quality issues but at the same time given the cost of warranty work, I would just keep the knife.

BTW, OP - first Benchmade knife and you went for an Anthem. Admire you:thumbsup:
 
That’s not acceptable. I don’t think Benchmade’s are worth their asking price. I normally buy BMs used.
 
No, that is not acceptable. This is the exact reason I stopped buying Benchmade knives sight unseen. Even at a their $400 level, you have the same lack of attention to detail. And I am a 20+ year fan of Benchmade. We just had to break up though. Do whatever you can to send it back and get it done RIGHT!
 
sharp_edge said:
Never owned an Anthem but for all other Benchmades that I have/had, I was able to correct the centering by myself. The off centering of OPs knife is actually not so bad (not saying its acceptable).
Click to expand...

OP’s knife is one solid machined block of Ti. There’s next to nothing that can be done to correct the centering.
 
donwerner said:
Hey guys,

So, I just bought a brand new 781 Anthem. It's an awesome knife, love the design and it's so much fun playing with the axis lock, which is smooth like butter. However I was disappointed when I opened the box and found that my knife has a couple of annoying issues.

First off, the blade is not centered and I can't center it, no matter how I try and adjust the pivot screws. The second thing is the blade grind - it's uneven, especially at the tip of the blade. That's certainly not what I was expecting from such an expensive knife. I'm new to BM, this is my first knife from them, so I wasn't aware of the general quality control issues, which seems to haunt BM.

My problem is I live in Europe and sending the knife back for a warranty service is very expensive and complicated because of customs regulations. Furthermore I don't think I should be the one paying for their mistake.

What do you guys think, am I just being nit-picky or is it reasonable to expect a 400 dollar knife to be centered and grind evenly on both sides?

Here's a picture of the knife. The uneven grind is visible at the tip of the blade along with the non-centering.

bm-781.jpg
Click to expand...
Same issues with mine. It sucks. It's probably best to just avoid this company unless your okay with sending them all back once you buy them. Which tbo is rather annoying.
 
I guess I will have to send it back, and bite the bullet on shipping cost, even though I don't think it's fair that I should have to pay for their lack of QC.
 
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Yes unacceptable for a $400 knife. They should cover the cost of shipping since it’s their mistake. This is why unfortunately you can’t buy one sight unseen unless you have someone inspect it first if you don’t want to go through this.
 
I have two benchmades that are great knives with some QC Problems. Both came with a messed up tip - one secondary and one Main bevel and both were offcenter, one fixable. BM definetly lost some business because of those two knives.
 
SV-97 said:
I have two benchmades that are great knives with some QC Problems. Both came with a messed up tip - one secondary and one Main bevel and both were offcenter, one fixable. BM definetly lost some business because of those two knives.
Click to expand...

Well, I'm a collector of knifes and they're definitely going to loose me as a customer as well, and I was just getting in to BM. I mean, the knife is awesome and I would have liked to try out other Bm models, but that's not gonna happen now. Had they offered to pay for the shipping they would have had a happy returning customer. On top of that they got this thread now, on the biggest knife forum on the net. It seems like a very bad business decision on their part, but what do I know...
 
You could send the knife the your country’s importer and ask them to return it for you.
It sucks to have issues like this, can I ask what country your from?
 
Honestly, I say return it and be done with that knife. More than likely, the blade centering is an issue because the blade itself was unevenly ground. Which would mean the only way to fix centering on that one could be an entire new reblade. How frustrating would it be, once returned back to you, if the same blade centering issues we still there?

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/benchmade-qc-issues.1604251/

You pics could be very helpful in this thread as well.
 
bluemetalchurch said:
No, you're not being nit picky. That knife should be perfect for what it cost.
Click to expand...
No doubt.
However, I would return it to the vendor who sold it to me and request that they pay for shipping.
Though in the end, it may be BM at fault here.
It is not BM that provided service to you.
It is said distributor.
Anything and everything that happens to BM’s knives after they leave the factory is totally out of Bm’s control. You don’t think anyone has ever bought a BM knife, stolen a part(s) and then returned it?
Happens all the time , given BM doesn’t normally send parts. Though, I personally have seen many overseas exceptions to that rule.
Point is, it is the distributors job that is at fault here.
He sold you defective product.
As far as QC goes, or the lack there of, it sucks for the distributors. But it is there job exchange that item for money and therefore they are the ones responsible to make it right with you.
Even with all that being said, my bet is if you PMed one of the BM moderators on this or better yet BM’s own forum they would do what they could to make it right.
Again, bad product certainly could be all BM’s fault.
Selling it to you is totally your vendors fault.
 
Keyman said:
No doubt.
However, I would return it to the vendor who sold it to me and request that they pay for shipping.
Though in the end, it may be BM at fault here.
It is not BM that provided service to you.
It is said distributor.
Anything and everything that happens to BM’s knives after they leave the factory is totally out of Bm’s control. You don’t think anyone has ever bought a BM knife, stolen a part(s) and then returned it?
Happens all the time , given BM doesn’t normally send parts. Though, I personally have seen many overseas exceptions to that rule.
Point is, it is the distributors job that is at fault here.
He sold you defective product.
As far as QC goes, or the lack there of, it sucks for the distributors. But it is there job exchange that item for money and therefore they are the ones responsible to make it right with you.
Even with all that being said, my bet is if you PMed one of the BM moderators on this or better yet BM’s own forum they would do what they could to make it right.
Again, bad product certainly could be all BM’s fault.
Selling it to you is totally your vendors fault.
Click to expand...
Most vendors don't inspect the knives before they leave. It's a benchmade qc issue. They are known for these issues among all of the models along with other known qc defects specific to the axis lock and the way they manufacture said knives.

Tbo for the 150-250$ the vendors make on each anthem, these should be inspected beforehand.
 
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