Just got myself a Benchmade Vex (lots of pics)

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psycho78

Joined
Jun 17, 2006
Messages
1,108
My Vex came in the mail today!

My first impression of this knife was "damn this thing is hefty". This is a very solidly built knife, and the fit and finish is great. The G-10 handles are super nice. I think this is the best liner lock knife for under 40 bucks. It feels great in the hand, opens quickly, and the pearl finish looks really nice.

Here are some pics.


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The blade is perfectly centered in the handle.
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Tip down carry, but i dont mind. This is a nice knife. The clip is curved to fit your hand
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Pretty nice sized knife.
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Strong liners and lock. Great fit and finish.
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Feels good in the hand.
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THE only thing I dont like about this knife. What an eyesore. How can i get rid of this?
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What is a common steel that is comarable to Vex blade? I like VG-10 a lot, is this steel similar in edge retention/ease of sharpening?

That's a neat looking knife, very Spyderco-ish (And I love Spydies, prob why I like this one). This might give my Delica 4 a run for the money as my user if the blade steel is something I like.

You can beadblast the blade to get rid of the China etching, anything else probably won't turn out very well. A local machine shop would probably blast it for $10 or so, then you'll just have to touch up the edge.
 
but I love that BM butterfly...

The steel is labeled 8Cr14MoV.

Which I'm assuming it has some Chromium and Molybdenum and some other stuff...lol. It's a very sharp knife right out of the box, and the edge is very fine.

Besides the "china" etch (why cant they just have the little gold sticker you can peel off) I'm loving this knife.
 
Spydermade.......Benchco........ I'm so confused:D

Looks like a nice peice, might have to put that in the maybe column.
 
The blade kinda reminds me of the old Walker Spyderco. I think it's the thumb ramp and hole placement. I loved that knife and love Benchmades....however I dont exactly love their prices.

This knife fits the bill.
 
i looked at one at a store,it has traits typical of knives made in tawain,like rounded edges in the blade lock up area,some grind lines visable on the blade,but its definitely the best knife ive ever seen with the word china on it.
 
I wouldn't worry about the China Marking on the blade. It is made in China, erasing it from the blade doesn't change that. Seems to be a good value for the money.
 
Rat Finkenstein said:
I wouldn't worry about the China Marking on the blade. It is made in China, erasing it from the blade doesn't change that. Seems to be a good value for the money.
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I wouldn't like it either Psycho78.

Rat, would you like to go show off a new girlfriend at some friends house, if she had a stamp across her forehead that said "China" ???

:D :D
 
TFin04 said:
What is a common steel that is comarable to Vex blade? I like VG-10 a lot, is this steel similar in edge retention/ease of sharpening?
.
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8Cr14MoV
The carbon and chromium levels are a fair match to those of AUS-8. (A little less carbon than VG-10 and a bit less chromium, too.) Hard to tell more than that from the data BM has released, aside from the fact that apparently both steels contain moly and vandium. No telling how much of each this steel has. BM got some very good reviews on the forum for the performance of its AUS-8 blades. Looking forward to hearing about this one.

On a more esthetic note, it doesn't look like a spyderco to me, except for the hole. The rest of the blade shape seems very Benchmade. Sounds like the execution of the design would do either company proud.
 
LRJ35A said:
I wouldn't like it either Psycho78.

Rat, would you like to go show off a new girlfriend at some friends house, if she had a stamp across her forehead that said "China" ???

:D :D
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I don't think I would sandblast her face. :eek: :D

If it said "made in USA" the same size, would you still want to sandblast it?

My point is: the objection to the marking is not the size or placement, but the Country of manufacture. If you are ashamed of where the knife is made, why would you even buy it? It isn't like you are going to forget where it was made if you remove a small etching.
 
I like it ,my spyderco byrd is 8Cr13MoV and seems pretty good and is easier to sharpen than VG 10.
 
I don't think it looks spyderco-ish at all. Most spyderco folders have a pronounced angle betweeen the blade and handle; have a much more contoured handle; I don't recall a spyderco with ramps in the scale for easy access to the hole; blade wise, spyederco rarely incorporates the hole so completely in the blade, usually going for a hump or a strongly clipped blade.

Phil
 
it definitely has the lines of a walker spyderco.

if a Benchmade and a Walker Spyderco had a baby I think you'd get the Vex.


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psycho78, thanks for the in-hand pics. Looks like a a real nice piece! How big are your hands, for reference purposes? Also, could you snap a picture showing how thick the knife is compared to maybe 1 or 2 common folders?

Artfully Martial said:
Benchmade got so close. Would have bought at least one had it not been made in China.
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I see some folks on the Benchmade forum say that they'd buy it in a heartbeat if it was a blue class knife, and made with different steel. Then again the price would go up significantly.
 
nice knife, does look a lot like a spydie walker, honest to goodness first thing i thought when i saw the pocket clip and the round hole was spydie, i had to look twice to make sure it was a BM, no fooling. the way the pocket clip is shaped is very similar to spydie,
 
Yeah, I know the price would go up, but I'd be willing to pay 20 dollars more. I'm fine with the steel, provided that came from a country with some kind of labor rights.
 
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