- Joined
- Nov 13, 2012
- Messages
- 2,400
Hello everyone. I just recently returned from a trip to Oregon and Washington this past week and was fortunate enough to swing by the BM factory store. Well actually I went twice, but I'll get to that. I know these threads have been done before, but I have a fun story to tell, and some photos to share. I also wanted to convey my delight at the service I received at the factory store.
My wife and I wanted to go on a small 4 day vacation and were looking into the east coast initially. There were 4 factors that made us choose to head to the west coast instead.
1. We like outdoors, and Oregon and Washington have some very pretty forests for hiking.
2. My wife has a relative in Oregon just south of Portland
3. We both enjoy the TV show Grim, filmed in Portland. Not a huge factor, but it basically put in on the map for us.
4. BM and KAI factories reside in Portland. This was more of a perk for me, but it didn't hurt.
Day one we got a hotel in Tigard which is about 5 miles from KAI factory, so the next morning we decided to get my trip out of the way early so we could continue the vacation from there. KAI was the first stop and was quite disappointing. I saw on another thread that they don't sell product there, which is true, but all they had were some displays in the lobby and I couldn't even touch anything. Major let down. I did leave with a couple catalogues and some stickers. I have a few photos from KAI, but this is the BM forum, so I'll omit unless requested.
Next stop was BM factory store.
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Upon walking in it looked like a standard knife store. All the product was in cases, and there was a gift shop section for shirts and stuff, but there were a couple cool displays around to look at.
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Two of the cases caught my eye, one was a Griptilian display with all the colors they offer for the custom grip service. The other was a display of a couple beat up Autos that were sent in from overseas for service. I was told the owners received brand new knives. Very cool to see what these knives have to stand up to overseas.
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We were also taken on a short tour above the factory in the new "Goldfish" area, which is a overlook of the whole factory. It was most informative and a cool look into the BM factory process. On my first trip I didn't have a BM knife with me because I left them all at home. I flew from TX and didn't want to risk any of my nice knives getting stolen out of checked bags. So I left the store with a BM Mug and a bottle of blue lube. I didn't buy a knife because they sell at MSRP, which is way too much for me when I usually shop here on the secondary market or trade. The comment was they "Can't undercut their dealers", so I just got some gift shop items. I did get to handle all the knives I've been looking at, so that was a nice treat.
After that I decided there had to be some pawn shops in the area that might have a BM that I could buy for a souvenir. That same day we were in Vancouver, I think, for dinner and there happened to be a small pawn shop near by. I had to check it out and to my great surprise there happened to be 2 BM's in the case. One combo edge griptilian in 440c, which was a little overpriced, and THIS...
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Needless to say, I walked away with a sweet discontinued BM 760 LfTi. It had a very rough edge and no pocket clip, I paid quite a bit less than the asking price of $150. Color me excited to find a high quality discontinued BM in the fist pawnshop I found. And plain edge to boot. The next morning while on the way to Mt. Hood for some hiking, we stopped by the BM store again, this time with a mission. The cashier Crystal (I think) seemed happy to see us again, and she showed me to the LifeSharp station and I left with a fresh edge and a new pocket clip. So I had a nice knife to carry for the remainder of the trip and a great souvenir from my trip to the BM factory store. I also snagged a couple more satin contego clips as well, just for fun.
Some pics of the knife after we went hiking for the day after it's tune up.
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Thanks for reading, sorry if it was a little long.
Please feel free to leave comments, or similar stories, or anything really.
My wife and I wanted to go on a small 4 day vacation and were looking into the east coast initially. There were 4 factors that made us choose to head to the west coast instead.
1. We like outdoors, and Oregon and Washington have some very pretty forests for hiking.
2. My wife has a relative in Oregon just south of Portland
3. We both enjoy the TV show Grim, filmed in Portland. Not a huge factor, but it basically put in on the map for us.
4. BM and KAI factories reside in Portland. This was more of a perk for me, but it didn't hurt.
Day one we got a hotel in Tigard which is about 5 miles from KAI factory, so the next morning we decided to get my trip out of the way early so we could continue the vacation from there. KAI was the first stop and was quite disappointing. I saw on another thread that they don't sell product there, which is true, but all they had were some displays in the lobby and I couldn't even touch anything. Major let down. I did leave with a couple catalogues and some stickers. I have a few photos from KAI, but this is the BM forum, so I'll omit unless requested.
Next stop was BM factory store.
Upon walking in it looked like a standard knife store. All the product was in cases, and there was a gift shop section for shirts and stuff, but there were a couple cool displays around to look at.
Two of the cases caught my eye, one was a Griptilian display with all the colors they offer for the custom grip service. The other was a display of a couple beat up Autos that were sent in from overseas for service. I was told the owners received brand new knives. Very cool to see what these knives have to stand up to overseas.
We were also taken on a short tour above the factory in the new "Goldfish" area, which is a overlook of the whole factory. It was most informative and a cool look into the BM factory process. On my first trip I didn't have a BM knife with me because I left them all at home. I flew from TX and didn't want to risk any of my nice knives getting stolen out of checked bags. So I left the store with a BM Mug and a bottle of blue lube. I didn't buy a knife because they sell at MSRP, which is way too much for me when I usually shop here on the secondary market or trade. The comment was they "Can't undercut their dealers", so I just got some gift shop items. I did get to handle all the knives I've been looking at, so that was a nice treat.
After that I decided there had to be some pawn shops in the area that might have a BM that I could buy for a souvenir. That same day we were in Vancouver, I think, for dinner and there happened to be a small pawn shop near by. I had to check it out and to my great surprise there happened to be 2 BM's in the case. One combo edge griptilian in 440c, which was a little overpriced, and THIS...
Needless to say, I walked away with a sweet discontinued BM 760 LfTi. It had a very rough edge and no pocket clip, I paid quite a bit less than the asking price of $150. Color me excited to find a high quality discontinued BM in the fist pawnshop I found. And plain edge to boot. The next morning while on the way to Mt. Hood for some hiking, we stopped by the BM store again, this time with a mission. The cashier Crystal (I think) seemed happy to see us again, and she showed me to the LifeSharp station and I left with a fresh edge and a new pocket clip. So I had a nice knife to carry for the remainder of the trip and a great souvenir from my trip to the BM factory store. I also snagged a couple more satin contego clips as well, just for fun.
Some pics of the knife after we went hiking for the day after it's tune up.
Thanks for reading, sorry if it was a little long.
Please feel free to leave comments, or similar stories, or anything really.
), and found the place and people to be a place of passion. It's not just a manufacturing facility, but a place where a great many people are proud of not only the products they produce, but of the role they play.
