sterile benchmade question

KC Slim

Fat Bastid
Joined
Apr 22, 2001
Messages
1,220
I have a question for you regarding sterile benchmades. In the early nineties I was in Eugene Oregon, at a knife/gun shop and I purchased a auto that I believe to be a sterile benchmade spike. This knife has no markings whatsoever and is made very well blade opens with a very hard snap. Is there any way to tell if this is a benchmade or not? Thanks for any help you might be able to render:)
 
KC, I know BM produced sterile AFO's. Still have a few. As I bought these direct from BM 'I' know from where they come, but being able to 'prove' these are BM production might be difficult. I can not speak directly on the spike, but if one pattern was produce in a sterile run, we might suspect other patterns were also. Not much help, but may give some illumination. Regards, Mike
 
KC:

Yes I have seen sterile Benchmade spikes. Need to be careful though. A good con-artist would try to sell you one of the unsafe cheap knockoffs as a sterile authentic Benchmade spike. The ones I saw were on bladeauction from a reputable dealer about a year ago, so I know there are atleast three out there. He offered two with standard black anodized aluminum, and one with gray aluminum handles.
 
Thanks for the insight guys. Were they knocking these knives off in the early nineties? 92-93. Also could the truth be found in a photo?
How the heck do I find out if this is the real deal? more help needed please.
 
Some of the Charming China Cheapie knock-off spikes I've seen look really good.

If your Spike in question isn't an obvious fake, then you'll probably have to disassemble it (warning: this will violate your BM warranty and, depending on your circumstances, you will probably not be able to even buy factory service) and compare the internal construction with a known authentic Spike.

Even this way, it could be difficult to make the call. If the mechanism is obviously different, well then you know. But if our friends on the other side of the puddle copied the internal construction (which wouldn't surprise me at all), then you might not be able to tell this way.

Now we turn to tell-tale signs like machining marks. You see, manufacturers usually don't bother putting a cosmetic finish on the inside areas that won't show on the assembled knife. So, you'll see marks left by the machining process. Since CNC machines follow the same path every time and since the Chinese CNCs will be different that American CNCs, there'll be two different "fingerprints", one from BM's and one from their counterpart abroad's machine. The problem here is that I don't know if BM used a CNC on the Spike. They may have been done by hand. In that case, there may be considerable variation among authentic BMs.
 
Are there any resident benchmade experts I could send this knife to for further inspection?
 
If you would like to send the knife to me, I would be happy to look at it for you. I think there are more than enough members that will vouch for me being trust worthy, you won't lose your knife :)

 
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