Weird wormholes in my Benchmade M4 Griptilian

Vicarious Reality · Sep 12, 2014

What in the world is this? A blade cutting error? A forge mistake? Why would this happen?

I am not very worried since they are not in a stressed part of the tang, but still, wtf?

JNewell · Sep 12, 2014

Vicarious Reality said:
What in the world is this? A blade cutting error? A forge mistake? Why would this happen?

I am not very worried since they are not in a stressed part of the tang, but still, wtf?

Steel ID during production of the blade. There are threads here on the topic.

Jastab · Sep 12, 2014

JNewell said:
Steel ID during production of the blade. There are threads here on the topic.

+1. Lots of manufacturers do this. Spyderco marks the pm2 liners with a small notch that most people think is a defect. It's 100% normal.

RevDevil · Sep 12, 2014

Jastab said:
+1. Lots of manufacturers do this. Spyderco marks the pm2 liners with a small notch that most people think is a defect. It's 100% normal.

The notches look more like the starting and stopping point for the wire EDM.

MatthewSB · Sep 12, 2014

RevDevil said:
The notches look more like the starting and stopping point for the wire EDM.

I thought the same.

Besides, if they labeled anything it would be the blade, which is actually made from different materials, as opposed to the frame liners which I'm sure are the same on a stock PM2 and a sprint run of exotic steel.

RevDevil · Sep 12, 2014

MatthewSB said:
I thought the same.

Besides, if they labeled anything it would be the blade, which is actually made from different materials, as opposed to the frame liners which I'm sure are the same on a stock PM2 and a sprint run of exotic steel.

That sound about right. When you have a pile of blades cut out in the same shape, with no laser markings at that point something would be needed for telling the difference between S30V and 154CM.

99cuts · Sep 12, 2014

maybe unintentional but those holes are useful for retaining lube. make lemonade my friend... =)

338375 · Sep 12, 2014

RevDevil said:
That sound about right. When you have a pile of blades cut out in the same shape, with no laser markings at that point something would be needed for telling the difference between S30V and 154CM.

Even Super Mods Double Tap lol...

RevDevil · Sep 12, 2014

Mike, only if it bears repeating. :foot:

Vicarious Reality · Sep 12, 2014

But... why would they drill all the way through the blade to mark them? That makes no sense whatsoever

338375 · Sep 13, 2014

revdevil said:
mike, only if it bears repeating. :foot:

lol...

Jastab · Sep 13, 2014

RevDevil said:
The notches look more like the starting and stopping point for the wire EDM.

They don't use wire EDM at spyderco, it's all lasers. To wire EDM all the pm2 liners would take weeks. Lasers are the most efficient way. Water jets way to slow also. Benchmade uses lasers as well.

pjackst · Sep 13, 2014

Vicarious Reality said:
But... why would they drill all the way through the blade to mark them? That makes no sense whatsoever

Its easier to just nail it and drill all the way than to pay attention and be careful and only drill part of the way through. Maybe?

jkarp_53 · Sep 13, 2014

I suspect it's for convenience. They don't have to flip the blade, just a quick glance at the code mark. Anything to maintain the speed of the process.

338375 · Sep 13, 2014

Why not just laser in what the steel is ? As long as it's deep enough to withstand any milling that may still need done, it just seems like it would make more sense.

JNewell · Sep 13, 2014

338375 said:
Why not just laser in what the steel is ? As long as it's deep enough to withstand any milling that may still need done, it just seems like it would make more sense.

Benchmade obviously thinks otherwise, though.

loonybin · Sep 13, 2014

Vicarious Reality said:
But... why would they drill all the way through the blade to mark them? That makes no sense whatsoever

Because they use a laser that punches the holes through the steel. Faster and easier for steel identification. Can you tell the difference between 154CM, s30v, D2 and N680 that are unmarked just by looking at them?

338375 · Sep 14, 2014

JNewell said:
Benchmade obviously thinks otherwise, though.

That's true, and they know a hell of a lot more about makin knives than I do

JNewell · Sep 14, 2014

338375 said:
That's true, and they know a hell of a lot more about makin knives than I do

Nah, what I meant is that they know a lot more about how they can turn out a good product in their factory with their tooling, employees and workflow. Another manufacturer might do it completely differently.

Krissig12 · Sep 15, 2014

loonybin said:
Because they use a laser that punches the holes through the steel. Faster and easier for steel identification. Can you tell the difference between 154CM, s30v, D2 and N680 that are unmarked just by looking at them?

Yes! Can't any true knife Knut???