Obscure old Benchmade?

J

JD Spydo

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Nov 20, 2004
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I have an older Benchmade knife that I aquired in a trade a while back. It is the model 650 which is not all that rare but is getting somewhat hard to find. What sets this knife apart from any other Benchmade 650 is the color. The color that Benchmade calls this knife is "clear".

I think their designation of "clear" actually means that it is the natural color of the metal itself on the handle. I have collected quite a few Benchmades over the years but I have never run into a "Clear" color Benchmade.

2 Questions: Just how rare or common is this "clear" color for Benchmade knives? Second; was there a lot of Benchmade knives that were done with "clear" handles? I even posted this question on the Benchmade.com Forum with no results. But I got a feeling you guys know more anyway :)
 
Death's Head said:
Got a pic or a link?
Click to expand...

NO I don't. I'm still kind of new to the digital camera game. But I found a couple of 650 models a while back on a Google search. I have never seen one of these on eBay in this color or any of the other knife Forums. I found it terribly strange that the Benchmade.com Forum would give me no feedback about it :confused:
 
This could be an answer. I have seen "clear" handled Benchmade knives as displays. (shows the inner workings of the Axis) It could be someone was able to obtain one of these and replace the blade or sharpen the blade that was in the display knife. (display knives that sit on a counter mounted to an avertisement P.O.P. usually have dulled blades)
 
wwells20 said:
This could be an answer. I have seen "clear" handled Benchmade knives as displays. (shows the inner workings of the Axis) It could be someone was able to obtain one of these and replace the blade or sharpen the blade that was in the display knife. (display knives that sit on a counter mounted to an avertisement P.O.P. usually have dulled blades)
Click to expand...

Go back up and read that one post of mine where I explained what "CLEAR" meant. It is not a clear, see through, transparent handle>> no that's not what it is. What they mean by CLEAR is that the handle is the actually true color of the metal they used for the handle. IN this case it is T6061 aircraft aluminum. So it basically is just the color of the Auminum.

I personally think that was a really screwy way of designating a color name. They should have just put "Plain metal" on the color slot. I'll try to figure out how to put up a picture of it if this thread is still active 24 hours from now. But with all the Benchmade experts I've run into here on the Forum and I am really surprised that I have stumped everyone up till now. Even on the Benchmade.com Forum I've had this question up there for 36 hours with absolutely no reply. This knife goes back to 96 to 98 somewhere in that era so it may be a bit too old for this current group of knife people we have on here now. Back to the drawing board :o
 
orthogonal1 said:
The "clear" probably comes from "clear anodized."
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BINGO!!!!! Yep that is it. Now I have also done an internet search on these "Clear" Benchmades and a lot them refer to these knives as SILVER in color. But you are absolutely right!! They are anodized, aircraft aluminum.
 
Now the question is whether or not they are rare.

That is probably model specific.

But since it is aluminum, black and clear seem to be the most popular options. I'm betting black sold more.
 
orthogonal1 said:
Now the question is whether or not they are rare.

That is probably model specific.

But since it is aluminum, black and clear seem to be the most popular options. I'm betting black sold more.
Click to expand...

These are from the 1993-1995 time period. The Benchmade model 650 is, I believe the large Boguszewski Spike. The clear and black were both available, and we sold probably about 3 black for every clear, clear was not shown as an option in the 1994 catalog, so I wonder if they were just done in 1993? Same with serrations, about 3 plain edge to every serrated model. Rare at the time? Not very, but as with all discontinued knives, rarity is always a subjective question. If you have a clean one with no scratches or obvious sharpening, in the box, to the right person it might be very desireable.

Hope this helps.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Kohai999 said:
These are from the 1993-1995 time period. The Benchmade model 650 is, I believe the large Boguszewski Spike. The clear and black were both available, and we sold probably about 3 black for every clear, clear was not shown as an option in the 1994 catalog, so I wonder if they were just done in 1993? Same with serrations, about 3 plain edge to every serrated model. Rare at the time? Not very, but as with all discontinued knives, rarity is always a subjective question. If you have a clean one with no scratches or obvious sharpening, in the box, to the right person it might be very desired
STeven Garsson
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Steven I think you got it figured out. Because when I became a fan of the Boguszewski Spike is shortly after I became an avid knife collector. In other words I got to doing it full time instead of occasionally. Now when I got my first model 640 which is the little brother to this 650 model was in the early part of 1997. There are several reasons I remember that date. Because I also picked up 3 auto versions ( model 1000) of that knife that year also.

The Spike was really popular during that time period. But most of the guys I know who had one ( big or small model) used them>> thus probably making any safe queens in that model a rather rare item indeed. But in 1997 I went to a lot of gun & knife shows and I don't ever remember ever seeing this model in this color ( Silver~~Clear) The only 650 models I've seen on Ebay in the last year have all been the black models. About half of them have been used.
 
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