Who else wishes that Benchmade Hadn't done away with Lone Wolf.

Questions, questions, questions ... How about I move this to Benchmade's forum and perhaps they can answer some? :)
 
I owned a Lone Wolf Trailmate and it was the best small knife I have ever had. I gave it to a buddy who was being deployed thinking I would find another....still looking...
 
I've really enjoyed the 40022's. Lone Wolf had some interesting designs, materials, and functionality, before and after the buyout. That said, not every maker is ready to scale up for production that way. Shame to see them go, but excited for new makers here to conjure up the next best thing!

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I've got mixed opinions about the transition of Lone Wolf to being under Benchmade's wing.Seeing all their models being siphoned off to the HK line was a bad business move for Benchmade.The liner locks on those models felt similar to a Lone Wolf but I'm not convinced the liners were heat treated by Benchmade...Lone Wolf's made a cracking sound at lock up from those hard liner locks.It was good to see the Lone Wolf name at the time becoming an outdoorsy brand like Schrade USA after all their knife models definitely had hunting knife names.No the N680 steel isn't as good wasn't as good as CPM-S30V but it would have made a top-notch mass production steel without question.I've got the drop-point and caper combo and I really like the N680 as a game cleaning steel.Benchmade though I'd say their success has come from other people's ideas in ways or keeping others from getting a hold of other technologies to compete against them.Aside from sweeping Lone Wolf under the rug they made sure to take their double-action design for their benefit.Fifteen years ago they acquired the patent to the Rolling Lock design by REKAT and put out one knife under that design...the HK Enigma.Very cheaply made lock design from Taiwan versus the ATS-34 crafted lock and design differential of the original American models by REKAT.If they make it cheap it puts a damper on REKAT and boosts the Axis's reputation on newer knife users to the question 'if the old Rolling Lock was truly the most superior lock design'.
 
Interesting history casimirrx, shame they could not get the OTF into production. I really like the look of the contoured design. Reliable OTF's seem to be tricky to make.
 
Paul models went first due to their complexity. I own a 3" Blackfoot and 3.5" Longhorn and think very highly of these:





In many ways the LW offerings were very old school, and I just wish they were still around.
 
Yea I miss them. Way back when I bought a Harsey T3, 2 D/A Lobos and a Yellowhorse colab fixed blade. My nephew went off to Iraq with my H-T3 but I still have a Lobo NIB and the Yellowhorse colab. I know Benchmade knives are excellent but I don't understand why they're afraid to run a few of the Lone Wolf patterns off.

 
i have the original lone wolf blackfoot. bought it brand new for $85 at sportsmans warehouse. best knife i have ever purchased for the money. cpm-s30v cant be beat, and built extremely solid.
 
For shame, all that discussion of the Trask and Swale - without a single picture???

Fine, I guess it is up to me then...

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The Lone Wolf line had a few knives that I wished I had picked up while I could, and regret the missed opporunity to do so (from a retailer), but the past models - pre-Benchmade, are the ones I would really like to have.
 
As a business person I still don't understand why companies buy other brands, sell off inventory and never do anything with them again. Seems like a huge waste of resources. In the guitar world Fender seems to have done ok (not perfect) with the brands they have acquired but Gibson not so much-like most every other company. Lone Wolf was no threat to BM in the marketplace so I always scratch my head when I see activities like this, happens all the time though. I must be missing something.
 
The thing that I question is why buy a premium line just to use for low end product? I'm sure the knives aren't bad it's just Lone Wolf made all their knives in the good old USA with top of the line materials.
 
Lighning said:
For shame, all that discussion of the Trask and Swale - without a single picture???

Fine, I guess it is up to me then...

LWK_10.jpg


LWK_01.jpg


LWK_03.jpg



The Lone Wolf line had a few knives that I wished I had picked up while I could, and regret the missed opporunity to do so (from a retailer), but the past models - pre-Benchmade, are the ones I would really like to have.
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I agree, I should have posted a photo of mine. I'll try and get around to doing that. I do love this knife. for some reason the Swale just feels right to me. I'm not a huge fan of tip down knives either. this design just works for me.
 
grickie77 said:
As a business person I still don't understand why companies buy other brands, sell off inventory and never do anything with them again. Seems like a huge waste of resources. In the guitar world Fender seems to have done ok (not perfect) with the brands they have acquired but Gibson not so much-like most every other company. Lone Wolf was no threat to BM in the marketplace so I always scratch my head when I see activities like this, happens all the time though. I must be missing something.
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There could be a million different reasons for the purchase that were not publicized. My best guess thought is that Benchmade wanted to venture into more of the hunting adventure outdoors world rather than the gentlemen tactical and police/military look. It seems that a lot of the market is directing towards more organic materials and wooden handles these days (which I have always been a fan of) and Perhaps they needed to have a well established name out there to help them embark on this journey. My only problem is that they sold under the Lone Wolf name for just a few years and then it vanished and so did the nice quality of the knives in that line.

I mean, don't get me wrong, Benchmade makes some nice stuff, but there are only so many black g10 and zytel handled folders I can handle. There seems to be a serious lack of creativity in materials and blades in the market place these days. Everything seems to becoming centered around fancy locking systems and carbonfiber. Why can't some companies just make a nice, well balanced 2.95" blade with a wooden handle, liner lock, tip up low ride pocket clip. Blah blah blah.

This is why I rotate between the Swale and my Buck Vantage Avid. These knives make me happy.. JOY!! :)
 
Hope it's okay to revive an old thread, new forum member. Anybody know where to get replacement hardware for the swale? One of my scales fell off and the screws are missing. Also had to tighten the clip hardware (those are phillips head) and they're a bit stripped so wouldn't mind getting backups of those too. I love this knife but haven't used it in years because of the scale. Any tips would be appreciated.
 
Since it's revived. Part of the story that seems to be missing here is that when Benchmade bought Lone Wolf they did not vet the contracts that each designer had with Lone Wolf and whether the contracts allowed the rights of production to be transferred without permission of the designer. They then announced several new designers joining Benchmade without advising the designers first. This appears to have ended with them not being able to produce the designs they thought they had purchased.

This is based on several stories picked up at blade show from folks that were around the year it was announced.
 
Sam Lester said:
Hope it's okay to revive an old thread, new forum member. Anybody know where to get replacement hardware for the swale? One of my scales fell off and the screws are missing. Also had to tighten the clip hardware (those are phillips head) and they're a bit stripped so wouldn't mind getting backups of those too. I love this knife but haven't used it in years because of the scale. Any tips would be appreciated.
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It's been quite a while since I made custom scales for my Lone Wolf knives, but I'm nearly positive the screws are a 2-56 size. Pretty much any quality knife supply site should have them. Get the button head ones. They come in several colors also.... black, silver, gold..... all torx I believe. Get them longer than they need to be and then cut them down to size with snips and smooth the edge with a dremel. I think that's what I did.... holding them with needle nose pliers.
 
Sam Lester said:
Hope it's okay to revive an old thread, new forum member. Anybody know where to get replacement hardware for the swale? One of my scales fell off and the screws are missing. Also had to tighten the clip hardware (those are phillips head) and they're a bit stripped so wouldn't mind getting backups of those too. I love this knife but haven't used it in years because of the scale. Any tips would be appreciated.
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I would actually call Benchmade first and see if they will fix it. I'd be surprised if they told you no.
 
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