Need expert opinions on Benchmade

L

learnme

Joined
Oct 30, 2009
Messages
116
Hi all,
I am thinking of getting either the 141 or 140. Intended for generally hard use I was just wondering about the quality, reliability, etc etc of benchmade. I never actually held a benchmade knife until today just to show how much I know about them, info regarding the company and the knives in question would be great, comments and suggestions too.

Thanx
 
I own 2 Nimravii, neither of which is a tanto. The only tanto blade I own is an older 975S, and I won;t own another. Once you have a tanto and find yourself in a situation where you need a blade with a tip on it, you'll understand. However, I have never found myself with a drop-point or other conventional blade, and needed a tanto. Ever.

In my opinion, while I admit they might serve some small purpose in this large world, for the most part tantos are for Hollywood.......maybe.
 
I re-read your post and realized you asked other questions too.

Benchmade has been making knives since at least the early 90's, if not earlier. They run 4 lines: Gold, Black, Blue, and Red. They are a premier knifemaker based in Oregon.

The Gold class is usually a small number of their Black or Blue class knives that they've hyped up with super-nice steels and design improvements. U.S. made, high-dollar.

The Blue and Black class are their bread and butter. Their high-quality folders, fixed blades, and rescue gear with the latest steels and scale material. The Black class, generally speaking, is their law enforcement and "ninja" type line, for lack of a better term, though I'd hesitate to put any Benchmade knife into the "mall ninja" category. The Nimravus (BM140) is a Black Class knife. Black and Blue Class are U.S. made.

Their Red Class knives are made overseas - Taiwan, China, and elsewhere - and are priced to compete with the other sell-outs who've gone overseas. The designs aren;t bad, the steels used are not terrible, and the scale material of the ones I've handled compares with other name-brand manufacturers. I refuse to buy Red Class for other reasons, mainly because I think BM should keep their entire line here. If they want to compete with the swap meet knife manufacturers, then just give up on quality and do their entire line overseas. Then I can buy from some other knifemaker and not worry about greed and integrity issues.

Benchmade, generally speaking, doesn;t come out each year with the boldest and most daring designs, (to their fault according to some Forum members). I, for one, care not for the newest and flashiest "low-rider" knife, I'm more reserved and want quality over flash. That said, BM has made several or more knives that other manufacturers have probably based their flashy designs on.

Overall, BM is, in my book, one of the most respected of the premier assembly-line makers out there. I have several and they are indeed of the highest quality. Their Customer Service, while sometimes slow, is second to none (or at least to very few).
 
Hey stretch, thanx for filling me in on benchmade. That was quite informative and well on point. Great post. As for the knives in question, i was looking at the 140BK model which does not have a tanto tip. Based on what you said though about the company, i was wondering what you though about how their top knives hold up to the knives of other major players like Fallkniven, busse, or spyderco? again, thanx for the info
 
You cant go wrong with a benchmade, i think its where all collectors start. You should pick up a griptillian plain edge, its a perfect edc.
 
+1 to both of Stretch's posts.
I would add that the alloys and designs and quality in the Red Class knives are quite good for the price. I have several Benchmades and enjoy all of them. I've never bought a Benchmade that I did not think was worth the price.
 
Benchmade Knives: My favorite company.
Slightly overpriced.
Excellent customer servive over the phone.
Weak customer servive via e-mail.
Excellent designs/axis locks and automatics.
Springs that break in the small automatics.
I'd give Benchmade an "A" on their report card.
:)
 
Benchmade is a great company to deal with and the three Benchmade knives I've owned over the years were rock solid. I can whole-heartedly recommend the black class. I've got a plain edge stryker in D2 that I pretty much beat the crap out of and abused while I was on active duty and to this day, you can tell it's a user, but it has no real damage. I even priced out a total blade replacement one time just out of curiousity (before I did something really crazy with it one time), $25 no questions asked. +1 on whoever said griptillian, it's a great way to get into a benchmade without spending too much.
 
I own the csk II and believe any of their fixed blades are strong enough for anything i do with a knife.
 
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