I've been struck with the itch again...

[Chariotz4]

Lately I've been feeling the urge...the urge to splurge on, you guessed it, a knife! I've been wanting to pick up a benchmade for a while now, but at the moment, I can't really justify the purchase price. However, I have seen some talk about their H&K product line and that talk seems to be mostly/almost exclusively positive. The prices for these knives are much more reasonable to me right now. My only question is, since not everything is created equal, are the "cheap" Benchmade H&K's using Chinese 8Cr13 steel (and presumably) made in China of decent to good quality or should I just stick to looking at the HK stuff made with the better materials (D2/154CM blade steel)? I know that the obviously, with the better materials, those knives are going to be in some ways, inherently better objectively, so I guess what I am really asking is how is the fit and finish and build quality on the foreign Benchmade HK knives? How much more value do the higher priced models provide?

P.S. I am only looking at/referring to the manuals and AO's; sadly us Canucks can't own autos (maybe one day...).

 

[Hackenslash]

I have a Pika, Ally and P30, all Chinese manufactured HK's and I find them a little underwhelming. They tend to be a little over-priced for the level of quality they bring. I equate them to a SOG or CRKT, but not quite as good as most Chinese Kershaws.

I have a USA made HK Snody 14210 (now discontinued and sought after) and a current USA made HK Mini-Axis 14716 and they are both great knives. The Axis and Mini Axis series go on sale fairly regularly on the web, so you can get them at a little discount to the typical asking price.

My advice is, if you can at all afford it, skip the cheap HK's and pick up the Axis design of your choice. They're a great knife at the price...kind of 90% of Benchmade quality at 50% of Benchmade price...

 

[sabre cat]

If your set on owning a HK knife, do yourself a favor. Skip the foreign HK's and buy US made. The 14715 and the smaller 14716 are both great knives for the money.

 

[Chariotz4]

My advice is, if you can at all afford it, skip the cheap HK's and pick up the Axis design of your choice. They're a great knife at the price...kind of 90% of Benchmade quality at 50% of Benchmade price...

If your set on owning a HK knife, do yourself a favor. Skip the foreign HK's and buy US made. The 14715 and the smaller 14716 are both great knives for the money.

Kind of what I was thinking, but I just wanted to double check with this community because the expanse of knowledge here is incredible. I guess I'll be focusing on the HK Axis (full size) and the Nitrous Blitz models then...