Remove pommel on my Bailout

[Bruce Li]

Hi All,
So I took off the pommel just to see how the Bailout feels in the palm w/o it and I must say, it make the knife fit my hand so much better. Turns out it's not the glass breaker giving me the hot spot, it's the sharp edges of the pommel that my palm doesn't like.
Seeing how stiff the aluminum scales are, I thought the knife would still work fine on light duty cutting w/o the pommel. So I'm carrying it this way until I can find a replacement barrel standoff or a backspacer, or to cut out and reuse the existing spacer from the pommel.
BTW where can I buy black Benchmade barrel standoffs? I believe it is the same size as Bugout standoffs. BTW I see one will need to grind down the standoff a little to make it fit.

 

[scottc3]

Pictures Bruce, pictures. Please-

 

[Bruce Li]

Pictures Bruce, pictures. Please-

With the stiff scales and the butt end of the knife not taking nearly as much torque as the pivot end, I'm guessing I can use the knife for light duty daily carry w/o a spacer until I can find a barrel spacer at reasonable cost. I'd rather not spend a lot of money on an aftermarket Ti backspacer to add more weight to the knife.

I'm having a hardtime uploading pictures, hope the below link works
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dsdC0x1ZKCV8_TzBGBJQ5_jH25V8hUcG/view?usp=sharing

 

[scottc3]

With reported exceptions, Benchmade has not been sending out internal parts as policy. Lots of barrel spacers though. Search BF first, or Duckduckgo "Knifemaker parts"; "benchmade bailout barrel spacers".... knifekits, midwest knifemaker supply, usaknifemaker, texasknife, Bladeswelove, ebay, etsy, etc.
Your post put the aluminum bailout on my radar. Interesting tool, black class Freek always had my interest with M4. And I just saw a carbon fiber s90v Freek that splits the middle weight wise.

 

[Bruce Li]

I'm disappointed by the performance of the Bailout's M4 blade! I used it to cut down some overgrown vine that was preventing my storage sheds' doors to open and close freely, and after about 30 cuts, the blade got quite dull and I had to go to the whet stones after just 15 minutes of use. I hope BM is not having a similar heat treat issue as the 3V steel on the original version of Bailout as this M4 blade was so easy to sharpen.
However I really like the feel of the aluminum scales, knife feels more substantial than my CF-Elite Bugout but wish the milling was deeper and provide the same amount of slip resistance as the Bugout. Blade centering is dead-on though.

 

[scottc3]

Your report does not match any other Benchmade M4 reports I have heard or read. Benchmade's page for your bailout blade specs:
Black Finish: Finish Gray Blade Steel: CPM-M4(62-64HRC).
62 is freaking hard.
What stones did you use?
How did it go with the vines after sharpening? Those vines don't resemble carpet or composition shingles or the like do they?
Do you have other BM M4 to compare ease of sharpening?
Definitely exercise your warranty or return policy, if that blade does not hold an edge and is "easy to sharpen". Try and give comparison with known blade to more closely define "easy to sharpen"...

 

[Bruce Li]

Your report does not match any other Benchmade M4 reports I have heard or read. Benchmade's page for your bailout blade specs:
Black Finish: Finish Gray Blade Steel: CPM-M4(62-64HRC).
62 is freaking hard.
What stones did you use?
How did it go with the vines after sharpening? Those vines don't resemble carpet or composition shingles or the like do they?
Do you have other BM M4 to compare ease of sharpening?
Definitely exercise your warranty or return policy, if that blade does not hold an edge and is "easy to sharpen". Try and give comparison with known blade to more closely define "easy to sharpen"...

I'm not that serious of a aficionado and don't have another M4 blade to compare but knowing it's supposed to be 62 HRC, I wasn't expecting to need to sharpen so soon and was surprised how easy my Amazon bought generic 1000/6000 grit stones did the work so quickly. It didn't any longer than sharpening say a Civivi Damascus blade that I just worked on. BTW since I already opened the knife to take out the pommel and cleaned up all the pins and the pivot, I don't think BM will warranty it anymore. I'm just relating my personal experience and didn't intend to bad mouth BM as I'm still quite satisfied w/ my purchase as the knife is now paper cutting sharp again (no more vine cutting for it though).

 

[scottc3]

Your allowed to disassemble your Benchmade without voiding warranty. I do not own anyone's M4, but have only heard n read strongly positive reviews of their M4. Your M4 comparison with Civivi Damascus is troubling too me. Benchmade M4 is not vg10/ / 9CR? Damascus. It is a machining steel, meant to be used! Where did you buy the Bailout?

 

[Bruce Li]

Got mine from BladeHQ so it should be a genuine piece.
Most of us know how hard M4 is suppose to be, I just don't find it so but I can still use the knife so I'll leave it to others to do hardness tests on it. Not going to keep fussing about a knife, life has to move on.

 

[scottc3]

Not going to keep fussing about a knife, life has to move on.

Your call.
I'd reach out to BladeHQ, could be a bugus return. That is more likley then a failed BM heat treat problem. But I'm a gearhead so I'd buy M4 for its strengths. BladeHQ generally calls out M4's toughness, though ease of sharpening is not on M4's calling card, thus the red flag.

 

[scottc3]

BTW, I learned alot about knife production heat treating, toughness n 3V during the first gen Bailout issue. I steel watch n track lovethemknives batch HT and composition testing, over 500 knives tested and recorded so far... fascinating study. although I still have not sent him some bones as a way of saying thank you for his service to the ENTIRE COMMUNITY.
I was also reminded how much thought and work it is to remain rational reading those 3V discussions. Practice practice practice.
Also I wonder if the addition of a tiny Rockwell testing dimple on a legacy company knife for sale has value in the market? I would gladly pay extra for that dimple and Rockwell value. Composition is a given in our legacy companies aroun the world, not so much for others.
I see Bigbrownbear, Shawn, has a tester and is reporting Rockwell's, but I do not know if he offers that as a standalone service.
For example, for flashlights, I am certainly glad that Vinh54, Wayne at skylumen, offers luminosity tests on all his lights as an optional purchase. The information increases understanding, instills confidence, and clearly helps resale.

 

[Bruce Li]

My Minitherium w/ S35VN steel did even worse on the same vines. Made maybe 10 cuts and here's I got.
Now I don't feel so bad about the Bailout's M4 blade.

Can someone give me a quick lesson on how to upload pictures to this site?

 

[scottc3]

You need a paid subscription to get a 20 Megabyte media gallery and other privileges, and checking just know, I noticed no more 10.00 dollars/year subscriptions. It is now the gold account, 30.00/year.
As an alternative, you can use a free site like Flicker or Imgur, etc. You upload pics at free site, copy html of path to picture, usually already created on the page somewhere, maybe a button or text field. saying something like copy HTML for pic. Copy that html, then come back here, open thread you want to post pic in, paste html directly in your post, and refresh your webpage.

 

[Reswob]

Any luck replacing the pommel/glass breaker with a barrel spacer? If they sold it that way I'd have a bought one already, but I'm not interested in paying even more money for a titanium backspacer just to fix Benchmade's mistake!

 

[scottc3]

I would not be suprised if the BM535 or mini grip's spacers work. knife parts places have tons though.

 

[fishface5]

I just cut down the pommel on mine with a dremel anf then sanded it. I was going to heat it and hit it with aluma-black but I seem to have run out, so it looks like crap but feels a lot better in hand.

 

[DMG]

I'm disappointed by the performance of the Bailout's M4 blade! I used it to cut down some overgrown vine that was preventing my storage sheds' doors to open and close freely, and after about 30 cuts, the blade got quite dull and I had to go to the whet stones after just 15 minutes of use. I hope BM is not having a similar heat treat issue as the 3V steel on the original version of Bailout as this M4 blade was so easy to sharpen.
However I really like the feel of the aluminum scales, knife feels more substantial than my CF-Elite Bugout but wish the milling was deeper and provide the same amount of slip resistance as the Bugout. Blade centering is dead-on though.

I have dulled knives pretty fast cutting down vines and other vegetation that had dirt or sand on them. M4 is easier to sharpen than stainless super steels, imho.

 

[Bohab]

Most of us know how hard M4 is suppose to be, I just don't find it so but I can still use the knife...

Here is the thing about CPM-M4 steel. It isn't subjective, it is a extremely hard tool steel capable of cutting through literally miles of paper or most other wood products before getting dull. The one you have is a fake or a severe manufacturing defect. I wouldn't keep it.

By the way, I am Bohab and I am new to the forum. Just bought my first Benchmade from BladHQ a Bailout 537GY-1.
I saw this post and had to comment about the hardness and whether or not he should return it.

 

[Texaspoff]

The M4 on my bailout has been outstanding. I have no need for a glass breaker, so a couple of Bugout BK-2 spacers solved the problem, and they match the blade perfectly. Since the delete, this has become my most carried EDC blade.

TXPO

 

[Reswob]

TXPO, that's perfect. Where did you get the spacers? Or do you now have a Bugout that's missing 2...