New Benchmade 581 EDC

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glocknife1113

Joined
Feb 28, 2013
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59
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Putting in work!
 
Those are great looking knives. I haven't held one in hand, and had wondered how they felt.
 
I like mine. It is a solid feeling knife, but compared to other contemporary folders it has a fairly thick grip. The blade is not overly thick compared other folders and you'll notice that the thick handle will make the blade look thin. The other thing I notice is that the assist is much more positive than my other assisted knives. I notice that knives like the stryker and blur have spring assist for the first part of the blade travel and then the blade free-flies the rest of the way out. Anything that gets in its way can stop it from opening. The Barrage has spring assist all the way out. This also means that it takes a little bit different technique to close it one-handed.

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581Is a great edc knife both tactical and practical never feel out knifed when in pocket and this is coming from a guy whos all about over built knives
 
I was thinking about getting this knife as my next purchase. My main gripe with this knife is the assist though, and I know it is possible to take out but that voids the warrantee and I've heard that it's quite a bit harder to put back the spring because you have to recoil it.
 
This has been my go to for about a month now. It's near perfection from I've had and experienced. I took out the assist and safety and none of my knives compare in smoothness except for my Spyderco Military. But I love everything about this knife. The handle feels good. I love the look of the bolsters. The M390 steel has been nothing short of amazing to me (some wood cutting/carving and day to day cutting tasks). Yeah I can't say enough good things about this knife. Fun to fondle too. Axis flicking fun.
 
Great knife! I carried mine for about 2 months at work. It did every job asked of it with zero complaints. I carry knives for a few months then switch em out, I'm onto my gayle bradley now. But I've been getting the kick to put er back in my pocket.
 
I like the assisted opening in this knife if I wanted a manual I would of picked something else up. I love my manuals don't get me wrong but the reason I got this knife is benchmade did it right. And feels bad ass when I open it...so much power
 
Sweet knife. I have a mini barrage and I love it. Just wish it wasn't assisted. I can deal with it though. I plan on picking up a 581 sometime soon.
 
Just curious, why do alot of you guys dislike the assist on this knife? Is it because closing it takes more effort? I'm just wondering because I absolutely love all the assisted folders that I have and really enjoy opening them. Some can be "hard" to close, but I just use the spine of the blade against the leg technique and never had a problem.

OP, how do you like the M390 steel so far? I have no experience with it. Nice photo too by the way. I always like seeing photos of knives at work instead of just the "model" shots.
 
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In my opinion, I really don't see the point of assist. I think if a knife is well made and the pivot is done right (as in proper tightness and lubrication) it just isn't necessary. I also lean toward the simplistic mindset. It's just another thing that could fail. Furthermore, I'm impressed by a really smooth pivot and an assist spring just really takes away from that. Another point is the fact you have to work against the spring force to close the knife. I really dislike this. I like a folder to be very one handed. One of the things I really love about the Benchmade Axis system. So when having a spring wanting to keep the blade open, and then working against that to close it one handed, it just makes me nervous that a finger might slip and get cut or something. So just to recap, I mostly just don't see a need for it. Simplicity always wins for me.
 
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Agreed--for the reasons listed, and in my area it just comes too close to legal trouble; if it was w/o assist, I would have bought one when it first came out.
 
jonnyt16 said:
Just curious, why do alot of you guys dislike the assist on this knife? Is it because closing it takes more effort? I'm just wondering because I absolutely love all the assisted folders that I have and really enjoy opening them. Some can be "hard" to close, but I just use the spine of the blade against the leg technique and never had a problem.

OP, how do you like the M390 steel so far? I have no experience with it. Nice photo too by the way. I always like seeing photos of knives at work instead of just the "model" shots.
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I've both the mini and large Barrage and they are both great knives and I also like to snap them open. The problem is that doing that too much can loosen the blade at the pivot and add premature wear to the whole lockup mechanism. The blades really fly open with this series. Once blade wobble develops, you have to send the knife in to Benchmade to have it fixed, or try to do it yourself. I had to send both of mine in, the large because it came with a loose blade, and the mini because I snapped it open too much. Now, I try to minimize the gratuitous opening and save it for times I'm actually going to use the knife. I think the same holds true for all assisted knives. I've broken springs on both a Kershaw Blur and ZT 0350 simply by opening them too much.

The Barrages are great knives, though.
 
These are good reasons for not having assisted opening knives. The Axis knives in particular are so dang smooth that they're addictive in and of themselves.
 
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