Most companies, today, in the knife business and any other business, do not sell current products at a discount price to the public out of their factory. This would put them in the position of undercutting their dealers and dealers get very upset if they find themselves competing with their own supplier.
You can't just walk in the door and expect a factory tour at any smaller-size company. Who will take you on that tour? A small or medium-size company such as Benchmade does not have a staff of tour guides (as many larger companies do). You can't expect them to take some employee away from the work that was planned for them and reassign that person to hosting you.
Furthermore, there are safety issues to be considered. Benchmade's facility is small and they don't have the protected walks and observation areas that large factories often incorporate to accomdate tours.
Finally, Benchmade's production techniques are proprietary and you can't expect them to show them to every Tom, Dick, or Harry that walks through the door. Even if common production techniques are not exactly trade secrets, before taking the general public through, they need to insure that no unannounced new designs are out, for example.
I have been toured through Benchmade's facilities. It is impressive. I was especially impressed with the laser cutting machines. I didn't know that lasers could make such clean cuts through such hard, thick metal so quickly. My tour was pre-arranged weeks in advance and I was there picking up a custom made knife which can be seen at
http://www.4cs.net/~gollnick/vault.html
BTW, the Bali-Song trademark was not owned by Pacific Cutlery nor is it owned by Benchmade today. It is the personal property of the De Asis' which is why it has been used at all of their companies.
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Chuck
Balisongs -- because it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!
http://www.4cs.net/~gollnick
