Why Benchmade...

G

Gideons

Gold Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2015
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1,517
Hello BF,

I was emailing W&W asking about the benchmade anthem - and they informed me benchmade decided they aren't releasing the anthem to Canadian retailers. Does this seem a little odd?

-Gideons
 
Funny I thought I saw one at my local retailer in Toronto, maybe I'm mistaken.

Will no american dealer ship it to you? If they do make sure they crank the pivot down until the blade can hardly open before they ship it.
 
Lapedog said:
Funny I thought I saw one at my local retailer in Toronto, maybe I'm mistaken.

Will no american dealer ship it to you? If they do make sure they crank the pivot down until the blade can hardly open before they ship it.
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Yes I could. However - it is a lot more expensive to buy from a US dealer because of duty fees etc.
 
If you do end up doing that please make sure about the tightening the pivot until the knife can barely open issue. Axis lock knives in particular are easy to inrtia shake open which will result in customs agents taking them away.
 
Lapedog said:
Funny I thought I saw one at my local retailer in Toronto, maybe I'm mistaken.

Will no american dealer ship it to you? If they do make sure they crank the pivot down until the blade can hardly open before they ship it.
Click to expand...

Lapedog said:
If you do end up doing that please make sure about the tightening the pivot until the knife can barely open issue. Axis lock knives in particular are easy to inrtia shake open which will result in customs agents taking them away.
Click to expand...

REALLY BAD IDEA! This has been discussed on various threads and Benchmade has confirmed that overtightening the pivot (especially to the point that the blade will hardly open) will cause the stainless steel bearings in the pivot to dig into the frame thus deforming the titanium frame since there are no bearing races. This explains why Benchmade isn't selling this knife to Canada. In order to get it through customs they would have to cause irreparable damage to the knife. Canadians better just change their laws if they want this knife.
 
luke86 said:
REALLY BAD IDEA! This has been discussed on various threads and Benchmade has confirmed that overtightening the pivot (especially to the point that the blade will hardly open) will cause the stainless steel bearings in the pivot to dig into the frame thus deforming the titanium frame since there are no bearing races. Canadians better just change their laws if they want this knife. This explains why Benchmade isn't selling this knife to Canada. In order to get it through customs they would have to cause irreparable damage to the knife.
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Interesting.
 
what about buying one on the secondary market and having the blade removed before shipping as if it was a parts knife ?
 
That's a good idea, but what if someone in Canada needed warranty work done???
The knife is expensive, if you do get a shitty one what do you do?
I'm a huge BM fan and have not needed warranty work on the 30 or so new ones I have bought, but I fee confident buying them because of that warranty.
Without the warranty........not so much.
Joe

goldie said:
what about buying one on the secondary market and having the blade removed before shipping as if it was a parts knife ?
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luke86 said:
REALLY BAD IDEA! This has been discussed on various threads and Benchmade has confirmed that overtightening the pivot (especially to the point that the blade will hardly open) will cause the stainless steel bearings in the pivot to dig into the frame thus deforming the titanium frame since there are no bearing races. This explains why Benchmade isn't selling this knife to Canada. In order to get it through customs they would have to cause irreparable damage to the knife. Canadians better just change their laws if they want this knife.
Click to expand...

Yes there is the issue of several knife companies were having with bearing knives deforming either the titanium they sat on or the washers they rolled on due to over tightening.

I am not an expert but I believe that as long as you don't open and close the knife before loosening it again it will probably be ok. I know that my local knife store requests their knives are shipped to them like that and I have had several models that have had problems for other people due to overtightening.

The ones I got thusly were fully tightened, shipped, recieved, and loosened again before opening or closing the knife. All the models seemed fine at their store. The Domino I got which was a model known to suffer from the crushed and dished washers is completely fine.

In a thread that came up about this in regards to the Spyderco Advocate, a Spyderco representative (Michael Janich) said that it was opening and closing the knife while overtightened that caused the supporting washers to dish. That said he definitely wasn't encouraging overtightening at all.

Here's a link to that thread: http://www.bladeforums.com/threads/the-advocate-an-official-statement-from-spyderco.1484817/

There was some debate at first how much overtightening was effecting knives with thicker support washers, but it seems overtightening any knife with bearings that ride on a washer or softer surface has potential for damage. I have seen pictures of everything from dished washers to bearing races wore into Ti scales. So be careful.

All that said having my knives cranked down before shipping, then loosened upon recieving didn't damage the knives. Tightening the pivot down the whole way to the point he knife can barely open isn't going to be enough to damage the knife in all likelyhood. It is the actual opening and closing that caises the bearings to wear those patterns of damage.

Edit: Sorry point kinda got lost in the wall of text. Point was OP your knife will likely be fine from tightening enough that it cannot be gravity shaken open at the border. Just remember to loosen the pivot when you recieve it. Still though I would ask Benchie Customer Service before doing it.
 
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I darn sure wouldn't take a gamble on a $400 plus dollar knife hoping that overtightening wouldn't cause damage to the titanium especially since it has no washers for the bearings at all. And especially since Benchmade has warned against overtightening the pivot saying that the blade should free fall.
 
Just as an intellectual exercise: what about about getting a US-based friend here on BF to proxy buy it for you and then ship it north as say a "collectible?"
 
SpySmasher said:
Just as an intellectual exercise: what about about getting a US-based friend here on BF to proxy buy it for you and then ship it north as say a "collectible?"
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It still will run into the same problems if they decide for whatever reason to insoect the package, see it is a knife and then gravity shake it open.

I will say that as far as I know every bearing knife I own has been tightened, shipped, and loosened before using. All my bearing knives are completely fine. Thus I'm saying it shouldn't he a problem. I doubt whoever is cranking down the pivot is even able to do it hard enough to indent the washer or Ti scale just from tightening alone. However I obviously can't guarentee anything.

Remember though, you don't even necessarily have to overtighten it. Just enough it can't be inertia shaken.
 
Lapedog said:
Yes there is the issue of several knife companies were having with bearing knives deforming either the titanium they sat on or the washers they rolled on due to over tightening.

I am not an expert but I believe that as long as you don't open and close the knife before loosening it again it will probably be ok. I know that my local knife store requests their knives are shipped to them like that and I have had several models that have had problems for other people due to overtightening.

The ones I got thusly were fully tightened, shipped, recieved, and loosened again before opening or closing the knife. All the models seemed fine at their store. The Domino I got which was a model known to suffer from the crushed and dished washers is completely fine.

In a thread that came up about this in regards to the Spyderco Advocate, a Spyderco representative (Michael Janich) said that it was opening and closing the knife while overtightened that caused the supporting washers to dish. That said he definitely wasn't encouraging overtightening at all.

Here's a link to that thread: http://www.bladeforums.com/threads/the-advocate-an-official-statement-from-spyderco.1484817/

There was some debate at first how much overtightening was effecting knives with thicker support washers, but it seems overtightening any knife with bearings that ride on a washer or softer surface has potential for damage. I have seen pictures of everything from dished washers to bearing races wore into Ti scales. So be careful.

All that said having my knives cranked down before shipping, then loosened upon recieving didn't damage the knives. Tightening the pivot down the whole way to the point he knife can barely open isn't going to be enough to damage the knife in all likelyhood. It is the actual opening and closing that caises the bearings to wear those patterns of damage.

Edit: Sorry point kinda got lost in the wall of text. Point was OP your knife will likely be fine from tightening enough that it cannot be gravity shaken open at the border. Just remember to loosen the pivot when you recieve it. Still though I would ask Benchie Customer Service before doing it.
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By the time that knife got to Canada and duties paid it'd be getting close to 600 USD which is over 700 CAD..If I'm spending that much the will never be a "shouldn't hurt it"
 
Lol I definitely hear that. Everyone is entitled to do what they want with their knives. Just a suggestion for the customs issue.
 
stabman said:
Benchmade is just looking out for my wellbeing...
This way, I cannot spend money I don't have on a knife I can't say why I need it, preventing me from being murdered by my wife with the axe I gave her.
Thank you Benchmade!!! :D
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So you're thanking Benchmade for having a dinosaur in your orgy?
 
Bearings really shouldn't go directly on Ti. They also need races that are thick and sturdy. This isn't new information.

I honestly wonder why a mechanism as smooth and perfected as the BM Axis done by BM even needs bearings, at all. There really isn't any way to be smoother or faster than a well tuned Axis, anyway.

I have always defended bearings, but now that it's been proven that washers are fully capable of the same smoothness and flippability with the proper blade detent and polish, they seem more like a cut corner than a premium feature.
 
J85909266 said:
Bearings really shouldn't go directly on Ti. They also need races that are thick and sturdy. This isn't new information.

I honestly wonder why a mechanism as smooth and perfected as the BM Axis done by BM even needs bearings, at all. There really isn't any way to be smoother or faster than a well tuned Axis, anyway.

I have always defended bearings, but now that it's been proven that washers are fully capable of the same smoothness and flippability with the proper blade detent and polish, they seem more like a cut corner than a premium feature.
Click to expand...

I kinda suspect the bearings allow for more variance in the tolerances. That could very well explain why they used them instead.
 
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