New Benchmade Proper

Guitarist7.62 said:
Looks like a modernized version of a sod buster to me. And to tell you the truth, a sod buster Jr. would probably do the same Eveyday utility tasks as this knife is being marketed to do. And the sod busters are more appealing visually, at least to me.
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This but at 4 times the money and I really can't justify that much for S30V and Micarta. Just my opinion which really don't count for much.
 
LastRodeo said:
Knifeswapper aka Dreamstomper :D
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I am glad that Benchmade is playing on our playground. And, to be fair, you never know until you put out the first pictures what the response might be. By that time there is a lot of money invested. But it does seem a little more target audience input could have been useful here. Just because a modern maker produces at traditional style - does not mean the market is required to love it.
 
knifeswapper said:
I am glad that Benchmade is playing on our playground. And, to be fair, you never know until you put out the first pictures what the response might be. By that time there is a lot of money invested. But it does seem a little more target audience input could have been useful here. Just because a modern maker produces at traditional style - does not mean the market is required to love it.
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I think really knowing your market means a lot also. I'm going to use you guys Lionsteel SFO as an example of this. It is my opinion that a Barlow is one of the most loved traditional knives from the fact that a lot of folks collect them (including myself) and GEC sells out any new offerings of them very quickly including the one made on the 25 frame if that's not enough then just take a look at the threads about them here like Charlie's thread "What Makes a Good, Traditional Barlow?" 827 pages and still going strong. You guys evidently took that kind of info produced the Roundhead and absolutely knocked it out of the park by using M390 blade steel . Not only is Collector Knives a great dealer but you are no doubt really in touch with your customers. Even though Benchmade makes a great knife they are really only known for modern folders and Balisongs and IMO just didn't have a good handle on what traditional collectors were looking for.
 
Then again, their market is probably not traditional knives purists. I'm sure a company of their size did market research and such.

Mike has to really on his knowledge, instinct and gut. That seems to be working for him rather well.
 
It leans more to the modern crowd looking for something different, than the traditional crowd.

There's a couple features that knock it off my list. The blade is a nice and thin at .090. So why did they put a saber grind on it. For my uses that just increases the primary grind angle and reduces it slicing ability.
The other is S30V, I didn't like it on my BenchMade Shori so I won't take a chance on it again. It's edge doesn't seem to be as stable (micro chips) as ATS34/CM154, CPM 154, D2 or M390. It's the only steel I've had that chips like that.

I looked on youtube for a size comparison and for me it would be a small sheath knife, not what I want in my pocket.

Not the best looking Clip blade I've ever seen.
 
knifeswapper said:
I am glad that Benchmade is playing on our playground. And, to be fair, you never know until you put out the first pictures what the response might be. By that time there is a lot of money invested. But it does seem a little more target audience input could have been useful here. Just because a modern maker produces at traditional style - does not mean the market is required to love it.
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Part of it is that you beat them to the punch. Right now the clip point Proper looks almost like a last-ditch, half-hearted effort to capitalize on the popularity of what you tapped into with the Euro Barlow and the Shuffler. But Benchmade didn't do enough to differentiate themselves.

If they had been able to come in at say $75-85, they could have had their own niche and wouldn't be in direct competition, but with what they brought to the table at $100-110, I can't imagine they're going to compete well in our target demographic. Outside the highly knowledgeable and involved community on the forum, maybe they'll do better.

But there's just zero reasons to pick a Proper over a Euro Barlow or Shuffler, except perhaps an inability to wait for LionSteel to finish them, since the secondary market prices are inflated a bit to the point that the price difference is actually notable between a NIB Proper and a secondhand NIB Euro Barlow.
 
LastRodeo said:
Then again, their market is probably not traditional knives purists. I'm sure a company of their size did market research and such.

Mike has to really on his knowledge, instinct and gut. That seems to be working for him rather well.
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That's what I tried to say with this "Even though Benchmade makes a great knife they are really only known for modern folders and Balisongs"
Must have not been clear enough sorry. Also I'm not saying they didn't do market research just didn't have a good handle on it. I own some Benchmade Knives and they are good knives not trying to saying anything bad about them.
 
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r redden said:
That's what I tried to say with this "Even though Benchmade makes a great knife they are really only known for modern folders and Balisongs"
Must have not been clear enough sorry. Also I'm not saying they didn't do market research just didn't have a good handle on it. I own some Benchmade Knives and they are good knives not trying to saying anything bad about them.
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I’m not sure if we are saying the same thing different ways, but my point was they are not marketing the knife to the traditional knives crowd. My assumption is they are marketing it to the market that wants a modern knife but can’t legally carry a knife with a lock or blade over 3 inches.
 
I think the problem with the Proper is that it doesn't really look like anything. It has modern construction, traditional mechanics, but no traditional styling whatsoever. It has a nail nick, but it doesn't look like a traditional nail nick. Both blades look weird, especially with the rather obtuse saber grind.

It if was styled more like a classic traditional knife, I'd be far more interested. For example, we have those knives that push the accepted (in this forum anyway) description of "traditional". The Moki Fish Owl, for example. Or these wonderful shadow pattern customs with modern handle materials. Traditional style, traditional construction (pins, not screws, etc), but modern materials. My Jim Dunlap gentleman's trapper might look all futuristic with its lightning strike carbon fiber, but it's still a slipjoint with pinned construction and a classic blade shape. And then we have customs with more modern construction (screws, not pins, etc), but classic styling. Or production ones like the Lion Steel barlow. Sure it's got screws, you can take it apart and adjust it, but it's still very obviously a barlow.

The Proper however, doesn't look like that. It looks like a modern knife with an antiquated (in relation to its styling) opening mechanism. It looks like it should have a Michal Walker linerlock, thumbstuds, and a pocket clip. Might as well get a modern knife with a modern lock and open and close it 2 handed if you want to fool someone that you're not carrying something "tactical".

It just don't fit.
 
Planterz said:
I think the problem with the Proper is that it doesn't really look like anything. It has modern construction, traditional mechanics, but no traditional styling whatsoever. It has a nail nick, but it doesn't look like a traditional nail nick. Both blades look weird, especially with the rather obtuse saber grind.

It if was styled more like a classic traditional knife, I'd be far more interested. For example, we have those knives that push the accepted (in this forum anyway) description of "traditional". The Moki Fish Owl, for example. Or these wonderful shadow pattern customs with modern handle materials. Traditional style, traditional construction (pins, not screws, etc), but modern materials. My Jim Dunlap gentleman's trapper might look all futuristic with its lightning strike carbon fiber, but it's still a slipjoint with pinned construction and a classic blade shape. And then we have customs with more modern construction (screws, not pins, etc), but classic styling. Or production ones like the Lion Steel barlow. Sure it's got screws, you can take it apart and adjust it, but it's still very obviously a barlow.

The Proper however, doesn't look like that. It looks like a modern knife with an antiquated (in relation to its styling) opening mechanism. It looks like it should have a Michal Walker linerlock, thumbstuds, and a pocket clip. Might as well get a modern knife with a modern lock and open and close it 2 handed if you want to fool someone that you're not carrying something "tactical".

It just don't fit.
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I like the idea that BM came out with something different myself. There are plenty of companies that make Barlows, Trappers. Gunstocks etc, etc. I put it to their credit for trying something different.
It's not the best looking, on that I'd agree. It appears pretty useful though, I'd get the original with the modified Wharnecliffe myself.
Even if you don't like the style of this knife, give Benchmade some credit. They're offering an alternative to the usual styles. One more company offering slipjoints can't be a bad thing. I myself consider it a modern traditional. It's carried, opened and closed, and handled just like any other trad.
 
Planterz said:
I think the problem with the Proper is that it doesn't really look like anything. It has modern construction, traditional mechanics, but no traditional styling whatsoever. It has a nail nick, but it doesn't look like a traditional nail nick. Both blades look weird, especially with the rather obtuse saber grind.
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I agree the blade shapes kind of look weird on both models. As far as the overall shape, it kind of looks like a barehead Canoe to me.

Nevertheless, I think these represent a worthy first try and I applaud their effort to give us a premium steel in a semi-traditional production knife.
 
Hmm.
The Proper was BM’s first slipjoint, and is already one of their best sellers. And it’s in the top 10 sellers worldwide for 2017.
Like the looks or not, those facts from the link are quite significant.

This just may be the first slipjoint for a lot of knife users.

How soon til we see a BM easy opener jack dressed in stag?
 
This is an interesting knife no doubt. I don't know who Benchmade was targeting in particular but I know in most of my groups outside this particular forum it has A LOT of fans and those groups include people who like traditional knives and modern ones. Sure it's weird and I wish the spring was better but reading these comments you'd think they weren't selling any of these.

Given the time it takes to develop these knives I'm also not really it's fair to say they must be trying to compete with the Roundhead/Shuffler. I guess it's possible they knew it was coming out and then quickly slapped this knife together but that seems unlikely (in fact the Proper came out first). I think both knives are cool and I'm glad they are available. More options are better.
 
mnblade said:
Agreed. Looks to me like an apprentice knifemaker's first attempt.

-- Mark
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That is EXACTLY what I thought. Even down to the nail nick that looks like it was cut with a dremel and cutoff wheel.

And I'm not trying to disrespect new/underequiped makers, but a higher end production company should have done bette on a $100+ knife.
 
Amir Fleschwund said:
Hmm.
The Proper was BM’s first slipjoint, and is already one of their best sellers. And it’s in the top 10 sellers worldwide for 2017....
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I wonder what the parameters were for that list. The Lil' Nilakka was #10 on that list but it's only a flash batch. IIRC the run was limited to 1200 knives (spread out across all dealers). That's far less knives than some companies make in one single day. Doesn't seem right.
 
supratentorial said:
I wonder what the parameters were for that list. The Lil' Nilakka was #10 on that list but it's only a flash batch. IIRC the run was limited to 1200 knives (spread out across all dealers). That's far less knives than some companies make in one single day. Doesn't seem right.
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If 1200pcs was #10, GEC should have 4-5 of the top spots if it is not slab specific. Where is this list?
 
Like the looks or not, the micarta clip version I handled was well fitted with a nice action, perfectly centered, and very sharp. The milled nail nick was easy to grasp.

There are a lot of potential buyers outside the US that have to deal very strict knife laws.
 
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