Anyone have any thoughts about this one? The knife looks pretty good, the sheath rather cheap and nasty.
Any thoughts and/or feed back would be gratefully received!
Any thoughts and/or feed back would be gratefully received!
Benchmade Bushcrafter
- Thread starter Tiley
- Start date
Oof! That's a curt dismissal! Is it because it is too derivative of the 'bushcraft' knife shape or is it because it's a poor quality tool - more club than knife? Would you say the same about the Spyderco equivalent?
I'm not trying to stir things up; I am merely trying to discover whether it's a decent blade that will do 'what it says on the tin'.
I dismissed the Spyderco out of hand because they insisted on drilling a whacking hole in the blade - introducing a weakness just for branding purposes. In their folders the hole has a purpose, you use it to open the blade one-handed (my pest control work knife is the Spyderco 'Military' and it opens faster than a flick-knife), in a fixed-blade knife it's nonsense.
I had a Benchmade (they're not 'bench made', they're turned out in the zillions in an industrial process in the Far East) folder for a while and thought it was a very poor tool. Usually they sell to either the sub-Rambo market or the 'self-imagined tough guy' market, someone in their marketing dept has now identified a potential new market.
I had a Benchmade (they're not 'bench made', they're turned out in the zillions in an industrial process in the Far East) folder for a while and thought it was a very poor tool. Usually they sell to either the sub-Rambo market or the 'self-imagined tough guy' market, someone in their marketing dept has now identified a potential new market.
I can understand the criticism you have for the Spyderco hole in a fixed blade - that is pretty daft. I am still uncertain about your hostility to the Benchmade Bushcrafter. It seems based on a poor experience with one of their folders rather than any actual experience of the knife itself. Is that fair? Or have you actually had hands on experience of this particular blade? If the latter is true, then I'd really appreciate a more detailed breakdown of your criticism, maybe touching on poor manufacture, badly thought-out blade shape and geometry, duff choice of materials or whatever. I am sorry to hear that you were unimpressed with their folders and note and respect your comments with interest: they have obviously come from your experience.
It is a rare thing to find a maker/manufacturer who produces tools that receive universal acclaim or opprobrium; maybe - just maybe - Benchmade have produced something worthwhile in their Bushcrafter. If there's anyone who has experience of it, I'd love to hear what they have to say as well.
No I haven't, but put it like this, if you'd owned an Austin Allegro, would you be more or less likely to buy an Austin Maxi?
The main problem with a folder for bushcraft purposes would be the weakness of the locking mechanism, but the axis lock system on the benchmade folders is supposed to be the strongest you can buy.
[video=youtube;AvHDuAVN540]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvHDuAVN540[/video]
Here they test the axis lock to destruction with a computerized hydraulic press. Note that the Axis lock never fails, the .130″ CM154 tang snaps first under more than 615 inch-pounds of torque.
[video=youtube;verXb0gZoM8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded& v=verXb0gZoM8#t=23[/video]
[video=youtube;verXb0gZoM8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded& v=verXb0gZoM8#t=23[/video]
It was for a work knife, cutting string, removing the tails of shot foxes and occasionally dispatching a car-hit deer or sheep (obviously you can't use firearms on the public highway). I thought it was shoddy, ill-made and poorly assembled. On the other hand I'm on my second Spyderco Military and it's a superb bit of kit for what I use it for.
Point taken! Love the comparison
! My mum had an Austin Maxi in 'Harvest Gold'. It was truly dreadful and I dreaded journeys in it, swimming around in a sea of slightly adhesive beige nylon upholstery... Even the memory makes me car sick!Hi,
I'm sorry to hear you had a bad experience with a Benchmade however the above statement is not accurate. Whilst some of their cheaper Red Series knives were made overseas for a while, the overwhelming majority (90% quoted) have and are being made in the US. Oregon to be precise. A bit of time spent on research will reveal they actually have a very good reputation for quality. Whist they have many models that do not appeal to me, some do and are indeed excellent proven users. I have a Ritter Grip in M2 steel that knocks the socks off any other folder I have owned (which includes a few Spydercos).
The Spyderco Military has an excellent reputation and I am not in anyway knocking it. The internet has more than enough reading material for anyone when it come to Military v BM710!! Both brands have their ardent supporters. Personally I find there are just too many good offerings out there to stick religiously to one brand or another
Just for balance, many years ago I sent a BM705 back for having a little bit of blade play which was disappointing but then did receive a brand new replacement by return of post.
All brands can produce a lemon occasionally. Which Benchmade model let you down?
All that being said, and with the caveat that I have not seen one in the flesh, I would not consider their bushcrafter. I don't think the grind offers any real benefit over any other tactical sabre ground blade. The steel would not be my choice for ease of field sharpening. Not that it's bad, just I think there are better options. I think the blade is a little too broad for my liking so carving concave curves might be difficult but I know this might not bother some and some like the broader profile. I think for the money, there are very many knives available more suitable to what we would consider 'bushcraft' but that does not mean the brand should be dismissed as rubbish or maligned incorrectly.
Cheers.
I was given to understand that the 'made in Oregon' tag is rather like the 'Made in Britain' tag for many products sold here, ie all the parts made abroad and then the last parts of the assembly job carried out as a 'screwdriver job' by people on minimum wage in the country where they are 'made'.
Your experience with them has obviously been better than mine - I'm not much of a knife spotter but I think the one I had was called a 'reptilian' - some similarly embarrassing name but I bought it secondhand and it looked OK at first sight. In the end I chucked it away.
EDIT: To my mind, the product below illustrates everything wrong with this company, the thing has almost no use at all, it's clearly designed to look as though it's for killing people but wouldn't be much use even for that, with a thin bit of metal as a grip - maybe if you wound it around and around with black nasty it would be of some use. Any soldier who took a monstrosity like this into the field would be laughed to scorn by his oppos. It's plainly a fantastical thing dreamed up to be sold to the 'Walter Mitty' market, and I wish them joy of their blisters and cuts. There are others in its range which also have grips plainly designed to look 'warry' rather than facilitate use as a tool.
I'm sorry, but if a company is going to sell useless tat to fantasists, they can't expect to be taken very seriously as a manufacturer of tools.
Your experience with them has obviously been better than mine - I'm not much of a knife spotter but I think the one I had was called a 'reptilian' - some similarly embarrassing name but I bought it secondhand and it looked OK at first sight. In the end I chucked it away.
EDIT: To my mind, the product below illustrates everything wrong with this company, the thing has almost no use at all, it's clearly designed to look as though it's for killing people but wouldn't be much use even for that, with a thin bit of metal as a grip - maybe if you wound it around and around with black nasty it would be of some use. Any soldier who took a monstrosity like this into the field would be laughed to scorn by his oppos. It's plainly a fantastical thing dreamed up to be sold to the 'Walter Mitty' market, and I wish them joy of their blisters and cuts. There are others in its range which also have grips plainly designed to look 'warry' rather than facilitate use as a tool.
I'm sorry, but if a company is going to sell useless tat to fantasists, they can't expect to be taken very seriously as a manufacturer of tools.
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Whilst 'made in' can have dubious meanings, this is not the case here. Benchmade use Crucible Steel from the US.
Ironically, given the context of this discussion, Spyderco do make lots of knives in the Far East. But debating this opens up a can of worms and leads to a much deeper discussion about relative production values in various countries both real and perceived.
Each of us has our favourites and our views are affected by narrow personal experiences. I just wanted to correct the bits I knew to be incorrect.
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Each of us has our favourites and our views are affected by narrow personal experiences. I just wanted to correct the bits I new to be incorrect.
Duly noted. I didn't realise you were online or I would have added a new post rather than editing my previous one.
Thank you for that. My only reason for an interest was the familiarity of the blade shape. On closer inspection, I don't think it would tick many - if any - boxes for me.
Their folders, however, remain a source of interest for me. I prefer the look of them to the Spyderco equivalents but am baffled by the massive selection available. Which do you think is worth a punt?
I doubt many ancient historians have met Julius Caesar, but I don't think that omission should disqualify them from discussing him.
But if one of them had, to whom would you give most credence
The one who agreed with me, natch.
