Please explain the Benchmade Gold/Blue/Black/Red hierarchy

peacefuljeffrey

peacefuljeffrey

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Feb 24, 2001
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I know this has been dealt with before but good luck finding it...

Could someone please explain the hierarchy of Benchmade's Gold, Blue, Black and Red product lines?

What's the order of quality? Which are the top top of the line, which are the real good ones, which are the new imports from Taiwan or wherever? (I want to stay away from the cheap imports. I am NOT a fan of them having stuff made overseas. Seems like a cheap, money-grab move, sacrificing quality and dignity for higher margins.)

Thanks for the help.

-Jeffrey
 
Gold Line: Factory customs. Expensive, very low production numbers, lots of extra accents. Lots of Ti, S30V, Damascus, ect. Top of the line.

Black: The tough military/LEO knives. Automatics and the real hard use knives. Lots of black/grey coloring used in the knives.

Blue: The typical Benchmade. The average every day carry knives. Good all around. Designed to look good and function better.

Red: Only Benchmades made oversees. Designed for the casuel knife buyer/user. Designed to be a quality knife that would be sold in more places then Benchmades were previously. Very good quality for the price. Great gifts. Better then most expect. CRKT or Spyderco quality/equels IMHO.
 
I read, here somewhere I guess; the red class BMs, materials and stuffs are made here, the shipped to China (?) to be assembled and shipped back. Although these are the cheaper ones, they are still of fairly high quality.
 
Yea, I was told the same. The parts are made here, just assembled over there. Then when they get back they do an inspection on the quality. They are very good knives for the price.
 
i thought the red models were just made in taiwan? i've played with most of the red class and only saw "taiwan" stamped on the blade.
 
Redline is all made in Taiwan I belive and from what i've seen its still better than most knives manufactured in the same price range. Best buy for the money IMO.
 
My FIL saw the Rant Bowie in a gun mag. We got it for his BD. Big suprise, it was made in 440C! He really likes it . And it halds a good edge, too.
 
Benchmade's heat treat of 440C is absolutely amazing. It performs much better than some other knives in the same 440c (Smith and Wesson).

No surprise though.
 
shpshooter said:
Gold Line: Factory customs. Expensive, very low production numbers, lots of extra accents. Lots of Ti, S30V, Damascus, ect. Top of the line.

Black: The tough military/LEO knives. Automatics and the real hard use knives. Lots of black/grey coloring used in the knives.

Blue: The typical Benchmade. The average every day carry knives. Good all around. Designed to look good and function better.

Red: Only Benchmades made oversees. Designed for the casuel knife buyer/user. Designed to be a quality knife that would be sold in more places then Benchmades were previously. Very good quality for the price. Great gifts. Better then most expect. CRKT or Spyderco quality/equels IMHO.
Click to expand...

Thank you! That is exactly what I was looking for.

Blue skies,
-Jeffrey
 
The BM Monochrome is a red box line but it is a framelock with excellent design, from very good European steel, that wreaks of quality. If this is anything to judge by, then even "low end" BM knives are exceptional.
 
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