Pacific Cutlery/Benchmade-What's the difference?

[Orion]

Anyone know the history behind this affair? I know the name changed but what about a change in ownership? What about differences in quality? Any info appreeciated.

Thanks-
Orion

 

[Gollnick]

Pacific Cutlery went bankrupt. After a period of unemployment, Les DeAsis joined Benchmade Corporation, which was already a successful going concern. Eventually, he ended up buying Benchmade.



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Chuck
Balisongs -- because it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!
http://www.balisongcollector.com

 

[Orion]

I was under the impression that PC and BM were the same company, only went through a name change...
From your post I am assuming that Les owned PC, went bankrupt, closed shop, then went to work for BM (entirely different company at the time) and later bought BM...?
So how is the quality of PC stuff? any good? How is it compared to BM products? I know PC made some balisongs (Les must be a balisong fan...) and later were produced by BM. How does the quality of these compare?

Thanks-
Orion

 

[Gollnick]

I am assuming that Les owned PC, went bankrupt, closed shop, then went to work for BM (entirely different company at the time) and later bought BM...?

Exactly. Quite a comeback, eh? From bankrupt to buying your new employeer. Behind that casual, shy smile, he's quite a self-made man.

Mr. DeAsis is also a big balisong fan. His first company was, in fact, Bali-Song Cutlery started primarily to make balisongs. Bali-Song became Pacific Cutlery. But, Benchmade started as a separate company and Mr. DeAsis brought the balisongs to it.

Pacific Cutlery's own products are, overall, very good quality. However, they imported a lot of stuff and marked it with their name. Some of that stuff isn't as good.

Benchmade has done a bit of importing, but not much. Today, they are a very controlling company to the point that they make many of the screws used in their products themselves. They want everything in-house under their direct control, a lesson learned from bad experiences with imports.

The good balisongs have always been excellent from Bali-Song to Pacific to Benchmade. This is largely the result of Jody Samson's controlling influence.


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Chuck
Balisongs -- because it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!
http://www.balisongcollector.com

[This message has been edited by Gollnick (edited 10-24-2000).]

 

[Orion]

Do you happen to know anything about the PC Bushmaster? I just managed to snag one off of ebay (haven't gotten it yet). What is the quality of this piece? Was it an imported piece? I got it for $76... was that too much?

Thanks again-
Orion

 

[BalisongMan]

I heard that Mr. Samson isn't doing anything anymore?

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Cameron

"It takes a killer...to stop a killer"

A few of my balisongs
My Photopoint album

 

[David2584]

Originally posted by BalisongMan:
I heard that Mr. Samson isn't doing anything anymore?

Thats correct. He's done completely with anything balisong related, so it wouldn't be in your best interest to bug him about it. He still makes knives, but more specifically swords if I remember right.



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Dave

My collection

 

[Gollnick]

He is doing knives and swords, mostly swords. Very high-dollar stuff. If you're interested, I can supply contact info.

I've never seen a Bushmaster myself. I see them for sale frequently, though. They seem to be pretty common.


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Chuck
Balisongs -- because it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!
http://www.balisongcollector.com

 

[Sal Glesser]

Lester deAsis started Pacific Cutlery Corp (a name change from bali-song). PCC went bankrupt.

Les deAsis bought back his old equipment, set up in the Los Angeles area. Moved to Portland area. Benchmade was the name of the new company that Lester started.

Jodi & Eric went to Portland with Lester. Mark later joined Les, then left.

sal