Being something of a knife snob I have looked down my nose at the new Benchmade "Red Line" of imported knives. Between their own ad copy claiming them to be a new option for the casual knife buyer and the unfortunate timing of their introduction with Cold Steel trying to sell us on 420 as an "uber steel" in order to pad the profit margins I was already convinced that another great knife company was on the decline to mediocrity. This opinion was reinforced when I first handled a Pica, which was in my opinion an inferior version of the old BM Ascent (incidently the Ascent was the first "real" knife I bought, so I may have an exagerated memory of its quality).
However, I kept hearing good things about the quality of the Monochrome, and every time I walked past the display case I couldn't help but look at it and wonder. How bad could it be? Finally, I gave in and gave the clerk two pictures of Andrew Jackson and he gave me the monochrome. I figured that even if it sucked I could either use it as a utility blade at work to save the edge on my nicer knives, or give it to one of my trainess as even the worst Benchmade would be a great improvement over the POS knockoffs they seem attracted to out of the academy. I was in for a suprise.
Upon extracting the knife from its packaging of Doom (more on that in a bit), I was first struck by the heft of the thing. I'm used to FRN Spydercos and G10 handled BMs. This little sucker is heavy. Next time I confiscate a digital scale from a dealer I'll weigh it, but for now its just heavy. Not unpleasently so, and in fact I've decided that I kind of like the weight. It fits with the visual aspect of the knife which is solid and pleasing in a tank like Tuetonic way. The first time I opened the blade I noticed a definate lack of smoothness and was suprised by the amount of effort required. Again I am used to the buttery smoothness of the TSEK that I tend to carry at work. Oddly, this smoothed out withen 5-10 openings and without any lubrication. A drop of FP10 to the pivot made it very smooth indeed, but due to the nature of the lock it still requires a definate shove with the thumb to get it past the point of initial resistance. This is not necesarrily a bad thing, as I once managed to stab myself in the thigh with a Benchmade Stryker that had managed to work itself open in my pocket without me knowing and then get caught up in the fabric as I sat down. As an aside the point on the Stryker was VERY good at penetrating both thin clothing and human tissue. Back on topic, I observed zero blade play in any direction and was impressed by the very solid lockup of the knife. I am confident that this frame lock will stay locked unitil either I unlock it, or the frame itself tears apart. Build quality is suprisingly good for this price point, definately on par with the "blue" benchmades and better than the lower end of Spyderco models.
The blade itself is right at three inches and came to me with the most impressive edge I've seen out of the box in a long time. It would easily shave hair and after a couple of days of light use cutting wrapping paper, tape, ribbon and general household stuff will still shave with only very slight drag. I have heard that NS60 is close to VG10 and thus far will believe that. I havn't chopped down trees or gutted wild game with this knife, but that isn't what its for really. The blade design and materials are more than adequate for general use. My only gripe with using the knife is that when I choke up on the handle for fine cutting there is nowhere for my trigger finger to go. The handle flairs out at the top comes to something of a point. This results in either my finger is crammed further down on the handle than I would like, or actually above the handle on the blade and very close to the cutting edge. Again, I am spoiled by knives like the TSEK and Native that have definate choils for your finger when in saber grip or doing fine work.
Pros:
Solid construction with good fit and finish
Visually pleasing
excellent sharpness from the factory and good retention
Bang for the buck
Cons:
ergonomics could be better
Why the hell is a razor sharp knife stored OPEN in a blister pack that takes team of mules and a chainsaw to get open? Either you reach in to pry the open knife out or the package self destructs and sends the thing straight at your tender feet. GRRRRrrrrrrr
Overall I am both suprised and pleased by the Monchrome and will be using this one as my work knife for awhile to see how it holds up. Certainly I will recomend it to the new officers coming out of the academy as an inexpensive but quality peice of gear that they might want to pick up. I'll also be buying a couple as gifts for the groomsmen in my pending enslavement ceremony...er...wedding.
Best regards
However, I kept hearing good things about the quality of the Monochrome, and every time I walked past the display case I couldn't help but look at it and wonder. How bad could it be? Finally, I gave in and gave the clerk two pictures of Andrew Jackson and he gave me the monochrome. I figured that even if it sucked I could either use it as a utility blade at work to save the edge on my nicer knives, or give it to one of my trainess as even the worst Benchmade would be a great improvement over the POS knockoffs they seem attracted to out of the academy. I was in for a suprise.
Upon extracting the knife from its packaging of Doom (more on that in a bit), I was first struck by the heft of the thing. I'm used to FRN Spydercos and G10 handled BMs. This little sucker is heavy. Next time I confiscate a digital scale from a dealer I'll weigh it, but for now its just heavy. Not unpleasently so, and in fact I've decided that I kind of like the weight. It fits with the visual aspect of the knife which is solid and pleasing in a tank like Tuetonic way. The first time I opened the blade I noticed a definate lack of smoothness and was suprised by the amount of effort required. Again I am used to the buttery smoothness of the TSEK that I tend to carry at work. Oddly, this smoothed out withen 5-10 openings and without any lubrication. A drop of FP10 to the pivot made it very smooth indeed, but due to the nature of the lock it still requires a definate shove with the thumb to get it past the point of initial resistance. This is not necesarrily a bad thing, as I once managed to stab myself in the thigh with a Benchmade Stryker that had managed to work itself open in my pocket without me knowing and then get caught up in the fabric as I sat down. As an aside the point on the Stryker was VERY good at penetrating both thin clothing and human tissue. Back on topic, I observed zero blade play in any direction and was impressed by the very solid lockup of the knife. I am confident that this frame lock will stay locked unitil either I unlock it, or the frame itself tears apart. Build quality is suprisingly good for this price point, definately on par with the "blue" benchmades and better than the lower end of Spyderco models.
The blade itself is right at three inches and came to me with the most impressive edge I've seen out of the box in a long time. It would easily shave hair and after a couple of days of light use cutting wrapping paper, tape, ribbon and general household stuff will still shave with only very slight drag. I have heard that NS60 is close to VG10 and thus far will believe that. I havn't chopped down trees or gutted wild game with this knife, but that isn't what its for really. The blade design and materials are more than adequate for general use. My only gripe with using the knife is that when I choke up on the handle for fine cutting there is nowhere for my trigger finger to go. The handle flairs out at the top comes to something of a point. This results in either my finger is crammed further down on the handle than I would like, or actually above the handle on the blade and very close to the cutting edge. Again, I am spoiled by knives like the TSEK and Native that have definate choils for your finger when in saber grip or doing fine work.
Pros:
Solid construction with good fit and finish
Visually pleasing
excellent sharpness from the factory and good retention
Bang for the buck
Cons:
ergonomics could be better
Why the hell is a razor sharp knife stored OPEN in a blister pack that takes team of mules and a chainsaw to get open? Either you reach in to pry the open knife out or the package self destructs and sends the thing straight at your tender feet. GRRRRrrrrrrr
Overall I am both suprised and pleased by the Monchrome and will be using this one as my work knife for awhile to see how it holds up. Certainly I will recomend it to the new officers coming out of the academy as an inexpensive but quality peice of gear that they might want to pick up. I'll also be buying a couple as gifts for the groomsmen in my pending enslavement ceremony...er...wedding.
Best regards
