M4 Grip blade warranty question (holes/pitting?)

C

Caustik

Joined
May 5, 2013
Messages
24
So my new M4 grip I picked up was a tad on the gritty side after carrying it a couple days. I figured it may have caught some pocket lint or who knows what in the pivot. I pulled the pivot pin and decided to re-oil the washers and pivot and see if that would help things. That's when I noticed that surrounding the pivot hole (on the blade) there happens to be holes into the metal surface. This had to have happened pre dlc coating as the metal throughout is also black. Now, I have effectively voided my warranty for taking down my knife, however, I wouldn't have noticed this unless I did. I own plenty of Benchmade knives (this is m 3rd Grip) and i've never once seen anything like this. I'll of course be contacting Benchmade about this, but am I effectively hooped with a voided warranty?

I've included some pics...

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There was a previous thread about similar holes in a CPM-M4 blade, but I don't recall seeing that anyone posted an answer. I'm guessing it's somehow part of a machine setup somewhere in their process and that they will not consider it a defect. If you manage to find out anything when you call them, I'm sure others here would like to know.
 
Yeah I have seen the holes before though I'm not sure it was an M4 blade. They were also perfect holes and one of yours looks buggered up.

If you didn't break anything taking the knife apart, your knife warranty is fine. That said, I don't think they will do anything because they must put the holes there on purpose.
 
i was sharpening a benchmade (cant remember which model) that had a tiny hole just below the shoulder but closer to the edge. as i was convexing the edge, the hole kept getting bigger so i stopped. i could put a sweing needle down inside the hole quite a ways. if the blade would be sharpened over time, the edge would reach the hole and there would be section of the edge missing. i told the owner to contact benchmade and let them know about the problem. i'm not sure if he sent the blade in or if they ever replaced the blade
 
Those hole's were definitely put there by a machine, no pitting issue that I can see. Not sure how or why but I have seen this before. Don't think you have to worry about warranty covering it as I don't think there's anything wrong?

When in doubt call customer service, they will know and can tell you for sure.

All the best!
 
I could be completely wrong, but I thought someone on a previous thread said that BM uses those holes to identify the steel type before the blades are marked. So three holes is M4. Again, I could be recalling this incorrectly.
 
I'm not too worried about the blade failing. When I first saw the marks i figured that something went wrong in production, but the marking does make sense. BM makes many various steels for their grips, when all satin it may be hard to know what they have before processing. I'll still contact bm regardless when I get a chance, I appreciate the feedback and will update when I get a response! Thanks!
 
RevDevil said:
Steel ID while sterile makes a lot of sense.
Click to expand...

That's always been my assumption. I've seen these holes both on my m4 ritter mini and my m390 ares, both of which are limited editions in non standard steels. There was a thread a little while back with reports of holes of varying numbers in models with several blade steel variants. It makes perfect sense to me. Before finishing and laser marking but after heat treating, most of the blades will be discolored quite significantly, determining blade steel at this point would likely be difficult, hence the need for an identification system such as holes drilled in the tang of a knife you're technically not supposed to be taking apart anyway... ;) The holes aren't nicely finished because benchmade never intended for you to see them.
 
I've been told directly that the holes identify the steel for that particular blade style.
 
You guys did a great job of making me feel better too. Thanks!

Now I'll have to wait for the next limited edition Grip to come out!
 
eschwebach said:
I could be completely wrong, but I thought someone on a previous thread said that BM uses those holes to identify the steel type before the blades are marked. So three holes is M4. Again, I could be recalling this incorrectly.
Click to expand...

I remember this one too, totally a blade steel ID while the knife is being manufactured.
 
I have that on both of my gpknives M4 mini grips. I assumed it was to "hold" oil or lubricant...
 
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