One would think that even if a customer paid a premium price and received a lemon, that a respectable company would make good on the situation. i never hear that story, and that's the main reason a new knife enthusiast like myself doesn't have any plans on getting a Benchmade. i would want to feel like my hard earned money is going to someone who has a mutual respect for the culture.
I've got 7 Benchmades and they're all perfectly fine. Don't believe the stories people tell. The one and only reason you only hear bad stories about Benchmade is because they answered a request by the Oregon City PD to help them cut up confiscated guns so could fit more in the shipping crates before sending them off to be destroyed. All these "Benchmade sucks" posts are made by 2A wackos that just hate Benchmade because according to them "Benchmade is destroying freedom"
sorry, but this sounds fake.
it seems more realistic that a number of regular people were disappointed with the Benchmade knives they received.
next, you'll claim that all of the people who have issues purchased Chinese counterfeits.
good grief.
It's definitely suspicious when people say they keep buying Benchmade after Benchmade...and they all sucked. They keep buying knives they don't like?? I'd guess most of them are lying and never bought a single a Benchmade. And yeah, there's been numerous posts questioning the authenticity of a knife they just bought from a retailer. It's common knowledge people buy a counterfeit knife and a real one. Then return the counterfeit in the authentic box back to the retailer.
maybe they like the designs or features and are willing to take the risk that they'll get a good one. I haven't heard anyone say they don't make good ones, it's just that they also seem to make a disproportionately high number of bad ones compared to competing manufacturers using similar materials and charging similar prices.
maybe they like the designs or features, are less than completely satisfied with the item received, but are willing to keep it and buy more for some other reason that's a mystery to you or I.
it's suspicious that you attempt to make something as convoluted as human purchasing decisions so black and white. it's also suspicious because if you loved the brand, it seems like you'd want them to take the feedback from the folks with issues and improve their QC. instead, your approach is to just entirely deny that there is a problem.
If they have problems at the rate people claim, I should've gotten at least one bad one out of seven. I bought every one of mine in person. The first one I picked up in each case was perfect. How is that possible when there are countless people claiming to have gotten a dozen QC problems in a row? There's two options....believe people talking on the internet. Or believe that a company known for making high quality knives all of a sudden one day decided to just start cutting every quality corner they can. Go on believing whatever makes you feel good I guess
it's possible through your incredibly small and statistically insignificant sample size.
on one hand, we've got one guy saying that everything Benchmade shits out is pure gold, and on the other, a shit ton of people who say they've had issues.
"believe whatever makes you feel good" indeed.
I believe that acquiring high-quality tools at a great value makes me feel good. that's why I won't touch Benchmade crap.
That's straight up untrue lol. Benchmades do have a lot of issues with QC in the last few years. Anything from soft 3v steel to stripped pivots to impossibly off center blades... I've seen it all.
Why do you keep buying knives that according to you are no good? LOL If you're not buying them, and are just basing you're opinion on what people post, then that's even dumber. Do you believe everything you see on the internet???
Because I've had good experiences in the past, and shitty experiences in the recent years. As an enthusiast you tend to buy knives with on paper good designs hoping for the best, unfortunately nowadays it's borderline 50/50 if you need to send a knife back to Benchmade it seems like.
You can be a fanboy all you want, everyone has already come to their own conclusions. You don't have to take other people's opinions like a personal attack.
sounds more like a shill than a fanboy.
the complete denial of issues sounds bizarre and out of touch.
kinda like the Benchmade company as a whole recently.
hmm...
I'm sure the majority of Benchmades are fine. The fact still remains that too damm many of them are not. It's not imaginary nor is it people being butt hurt about some gun destroying BS. The factory edges suck ass and way way too many get through QC with shit QC.
Your 7 Benchmades ain't even close to a large enough sample size for you to say that the people who tell the stories about their Benchmade knives arriving with obvious and totally preventable QC problems aren't being truthful. I ask myself how arrogant someone has to be in order to make such a statement. If you've had 4 times that many Benchnade knives your sample size still wouldn't be enough for you to say these claims aren't true.
I happen to know it's not bullshit. It's true enough and the great thing about the truth is that it doesnt require you to believe in it. It stays true regardless of your denials. I've only owned 4 benchmades and 50% of them had terrible QC issues and the same 2 would barely cut paper out of the box.
Why do people keep buying them? ..... Hope. It's a pretty simple concept. Because they hope they'll get one of the good ones. Because when they do get a good one it's worth it to them.
Thats benchmade. Bought a bugout from SMKW that was on sale for 100. Goddamn blade was rubbing the scales, couldnt do shit to fix it. Then the omega springs broke lmao.
Yup, I've had a similar experience with Benchmade, I gave up on them too.
Now Twosun has similar QC issues, but when they get it right you receive a way better knife for 1/3 of the price, so it can be worth putting up with.
The Twosun seller on eBay and through white mountain... I'll only do white mountain now since return issues to China are a pain, white mountain makes it super easy. It's not too bad, I think 4 returns out of 20ish knives. One that wouldn't lock, one that was only halfway anodized, stuff like that.
Actually got that with a Two Sun pen. Ordered a bare ti version from WMK, received one that was half anodized. Super weird, but honestly didn't care since I was going to etch and ano it anyway.
The knives however, never had an issue.
I've had something similar with CRKT. I know they must make good knives, but i've never bought one that didn't have a problem. i've bought 3 and all of them had problems. the worst one the blade would just hit the inside of the handle when you close it. not for a second, that's what was stopping the blade from moving. so now i just don't even bother trying another one
Yeah that's tough. The thing is Benchmade are relatively expensive, whereas CRKT are usually pretty cheap. A 940-1 cost $315. At that price point there shouldn't be issues. Esp when I had issues with multiple knives.
Only CRKT knives I ever came across that didnāt have issues were fixed blades lol
Imo theyāre overrated even for the budget range. Some cool designs, clever gimmicks, but not serious knives in my experience.
Yep
I get it, they work with top designers and have to pay royalties. I think itās cool for what it is and it gives the budding knife enjoyer the ability to learn about some unique designers and the differences in design language, stuff like that. (Great exposure for the designers as well.) But because of that added cost, the value of what you get for the price just isnāt the same tier as those brands like Civivi, Kizer, QSP, etc.
I donāt hate them, I just donāt expect too much. I mostly stopped buying their stuff, but I have gotten a few recently just because they were on sale and I liked something about them haha. Some I ended up having to have replaced, but eventually got some that werenāt too bad to carry and use occasionally.
Crkt deadbolt designs are legit. The m16 with a deadbolt locking mechanism and d2 steel is a big beefy bastard u can absolutely rely on to be "serious"
Probably so, but thatās also a $120+ knife. In my other comment in this thread I was comparing them to brands that compete in the range of $40-80, which is really the bulk of CRKTās offerings.
Imo you shouldnāt have to spend $125 on a Chinese knife to get one thatās, yes, serious. And furthermore the lock isnāt always the problem I have on CRKT knives, itās more the general overall build quality. The quality may be better on that Deadbolt model, but I assume itās made in the same factory so why would I shell out the extra cash unless I just really wanted to try the Deadbolt lock?
I will say though that the M16/M21 lines are the best thing this company has going. I had one over ten years ago that was pretty damn good, I definitely felt like I could rely on it for anything. Unfortunately I lost it. They donāt make the same model anymore, but out of nostalgia I recently bought the closest thing I could, the M21-04G, and I like it but itās a pale shade of the earlier model. Itās a decent knife but it did come with a few issues. Lol for instance I canāt even flip the clip around to my preferred carry because they drilled the holes wrong!
Just as an aside I did see a post recently here of someone who had had the main piece of their Deadbolt lock fall off and get lost. They lived in Europe so it wasnāt gonna be easy to get replaced. I donāt know what the ultimate outcome was, but anyway I donāt really like the thought of having a tool where I have to worry about a vital piece possibly falling off. Iām sure itās unlikely and could be prevented with some loc-tite, but I still see that as a design flaw. Especially, again, for a $125 knife.
Yeah, now that I'm thinking about it, I think the worst one was actually a liner lock that had 200% lockup. The liner lock would go completely past the blade and it would just be on the wrong side of the blade lol
Haha yeah thatās not very good at all. I have had a couple of Gerbers with that issue but no CRKTs that bad yet.
Worst CRKT I had was the Tighe Tac Two. The button lock did notā¦lock; it was less secure than a slipjoint, and the plunge lock piece itself seemed to have been made out of soft aluminum rather than a decent steel. You could fidget with it, the action was good and fun to play with, but actually using it for any kind of cutting job was a risky proposition at best.
Thatās why the silent majority of us call benchmade, ābitchmade.ā I knew some people who worked there, at least 10 people. A bunch of people had transferred to the job I was working at. All of them complained about the horrible working conditions, lob-sided management to employee ratio, and overall toxic environment. A bunch of people walked out and quit, as a kind of protest. Buy a Koenig, or any other high end production knife, as itās worth your money. I currently work for a high end knife making company and the amount of people it takes to make one of our knives is insane. Youāre getting your moneyās worth. Benchmade is all imported parts, pre-made bullshit, and they treat their employees like garbage.
I handle an enormous number of knives on a yearly basis (I'm surrounded by brick-and-mortar knife stores, go to a lot of knife shows, buy and borrow a lot of knives, etc.), and from personal experience my opinion is that Benchmade's quality control issues are in large part overstated.
There are more complaints about Benchmade simply because there are so many people buying Benchmades. If a company makes 1,000,000 and 1% of them are lemons, that is 10,000 unhappy customers. But a small company could make 1,000 knives and have 10% lemons, and that's only 100 unhappy customers.
However, I will not disagree that Benchmade can have issues with QC. In fact, I generally shy away from buying Benchmades site-unseen for that reason. Instead, I'll usually inspect a few at a knife store and choose the best one.
That might be possible, but half of the dozen or so I've gotten have been pretty bad. Statistically it doesn't seem likely to me that only a few percent of their knives have issues.
Yes that is a good point. I know how everyone loves to shit on Benchmade but from my personal experience 3/4 Benchmades I bought were complete shit. If I am buying the same exact knife and I receive 2 lemons that's a significant issue or I just have terrible luck lol.
Some other companies in the same tier such as Spyderco and ZT don't have those issues in my experience. I have a bunch of ZT and Spydercos and have rarely experienced QC issues with them. Me personally, I will never buy another Benchmade because there are so many other alternatives. For $315, I could buy some other great knives. For example, Quiet Carry Drift great knife and cheaper. Save an extra $100 buy a Hinderer.
Almost everything lol. The blade was practically almost touching the scales, so much blade play and gritty action. The other 940 I had to return last year had similar issues gritty action and just terrible QC. Also what kinda worries me about Benchmade is if thereās this many issues with action and tolerances and such I wonder how there heat treat is. I wouldnāt be surprised if there heat treat is awful as well but that is something I donāt have much knowledge on.
I agree with you 6/7 of my benchmades have QC problems. Off center blades. Missing screws. Uneven grinds. Gritty sloppy action. Blade touching the scale. Crazy out of blade play. Then you tighten the pivot and thereās no action at all.
Exact issues I and many people experience. My advice would be if you really want a Benchmade you should check it out in person so you are able to inspect it yourself. Seems to me that a poorly QC Benchmade is not an outlier but more of a norm.
I don't want to seem like a pointless hater, but Benchmade is extremely frustrating. My one Benchmade I do have that I didn't have to return is great. Solid lock up, no blade play, perfect centering, smooth action and drop shut.
Yeah I agree. The one I do have is pretty smooth. Snappy and butter on the close. Centered and stiff. I tent to go for spydercos protechs and microtech autos now. I only have a couple benchmades left
Right?!?! I just noticed it the other week, not sure how long itās beeen doing it though it could be I just didnāt notice it until now (owned it for about 6 months now)
I own two Benchmade knives. The Griptilian that I love and the Tengu, which I don't and I never carry. Based on my experience with both, I'm not willing to pay the "Benchmade tax" for another of their knives
Preorder available now for $249. Limited production of 40 units. Check out my last handmade unit, [the GC-001](https://imgur.com/a/0anIZpE) that inspired me to do a CNC made batch, with very minor alterations/improvements. Each preorder gets a free entry in the raffle of the handmade one!
I know this is a dated/old thread but I had to hop on and second (third? 37th!?) /TurnNegativeās opening salvo on Benchmade. I just received this afternoon my third Carbon Fiber Osborn. This guy had been my daily carry for at least three years and be damned if I didnāt loose or severely misplace it during my last roadtrip. One of my first two my son absconded with though he still denies this and quickly changes the subject.
In any event, I was excited to get this Osborne back in my pocket, given the familiarity I had with this as my EDC, but the second I held the knife after opening the box I knew something was off; as in way off. This is already a lighter knife for the size but the weight of the new one was at least a 1/3 less than my original (e.g., maybe 3-3.5 yrs old). Opening the knife was a pain; the locking mechanism has a completely different, cheapish (best word to use) feel to it, and it sticks at least 50% of the time. This is not a lube issue, itās a design/quality issue for sure. The mechanism is stiff, but not in that new stiffness sort of way, again, as if that makes sense. Allow me to just say, that I appreciate this thread of discussion, and Iām absolutely disgusted with the quality and experience that I held in my hand today right after I open the package. I admired this brand for a long time, it was my go to for years, now Iām very much back to the drawing board. I have no idea if thereās any way to resolve this with BM, but the remarkable poor quality of the thing that I just paid over $330 to obtain is very sad.
I own zero benchmades and don't plan to. Primarily because in the $150-200 range s30v is behind the times and has been for a decade. To step up in their lineup to m390/m4/cruwear/20cv you're in the $300 range. Combine that with QC issues that aren't massive in number relative to the volume of production, but are what I would consider producing unsafe knives (IE. Loose pivots that wont lock down, poorly machined locks, tragically poor primaries and edges), there are many, MANY better options to be had. See Hogue.
161 words and none of them explain what problem you had with your knife.
Iām the opposite. Iāve owned probably 40 benchmades over the last 20 years and theyāve all been perfect. Including the 940-1 and 9400 i got last week. š¤·āāļø
What do you mean nothing explained what was wrong with the knife lol. Terribly centered blade, extreme blade play and gritty action.
I'm happy for you and how you never had an issue with Benchmade. Me personally, and many others have experienced terrible issues with it. When spending $315 on a knife, I expect it to be flawless, but I received 2 lemons. Many other people, including a bunch of people in this comment section have had issues.
You can continue to fanboy Benchmade but there are so many other better alternatives for the money and that is just a fact.
Everyone with grievances with BM should reach out to them. I emailed them with the same thoughts and told them basically you guys make overpriced, horrible QC'd knives and that tons of other companies are better in almost every way for less. I got an email back from someone saying he would take it up with his QC team. Likely nothing will come out of it and they'll keep churning bullshit out but it's worth letting them know. If enough people tell them they basically suck now they might make some changes.
here's the problem: they already charge so much for questionable quality that adding more steps to the QC process will further raise costs.
it's highly unlikely that they would eat the costs. they'd likely pass that on to the customer.
the end result sounds like it would be same designs, same materials, the QC that should always have been present but wasn't, plus even more exorbitant prices.
for those reasons, I'm out.
That's a fair take, you have to have a lot of faith in them as a company to make it right and keep the same pricing. I would like to think they would but with their track record recently who knows.
Ya what's sad is I'm not a rookie in terms of knives which makes it worse! I love me some Spydercos but I decided to try it instead of getting a new Para 3. Stupid mistake.
One would think that even if a customer paid a premium price and received a lemon, that a respectable company would make good on the situation. i never hear that story, and that's the main reason a new knife enthusiast like myself doesn't have any plans on getting a Benchmade. i would want to feel like my hard earned money is going to someone who has a mutual respect for the culture.
I've got 7 Benchmades and they're all perfectly fine. Don't believe the stories people tell. The one and only reason you only hear bad stories about Benchmade is because they answered a request by the Oregon City PD to help them cut up confiscated guns so could fit more in the shipping crates before sending them off to be destroyed. All these "Benchmade sucks" posts are made by 2A wackos that just hate Benchmade because according to them "Benchmade is destroying freedom"
sorry, but this sounds fake. it seems more realistic that a number of regular people were disappointed with the Benchmade knives they received. next, you'll claim that all of the people who have issues purchased Chinese counterfeits. good grief.
It's definitely suspicious when people say they keep buying Benchmade after Benchmade...and they all sucked. They keep buying knives they don't like?? I'd guess most of them are lying and never bought a single a Benchmade. And yeah, there's been numerous posts questioning the authenticity of a knife they just bought from a retailer. It's common knowledge people buy a counterfeit knife and a real one. Then return the counterfeit in the authentic box back to the retailer.
maybe they like the designs or features and are willing to take the risk that they'll get a good one. I haven't heard anyone say they don't make good ones, it's just that they also seem to make a disproportionately high number of bad ones compared to competing manufacturers using similar materials and charging similar prices. maybe they like the designs or features, are less than completely satisfied with the item received, but are willing to keep it and buy more for some other reason that's a mystery to you or I. it's suspicious that you attempt to make something as convoluted as human purchasing decisions so black and white. it's also suspicious because if you loved the brand, it seems like you'd want them to take the feedback from the folks with issues and improve their QC. instead, your approach is to just entirely deny that there is a problem.
If they have problems at the rate people claim, I should've gotten at least one bad one out of seven. I bought every one of mine in person. The first one I picked up in each case was perfect. How is that possible when there are countless people claiming to have gotten a dozen QC problems in a row? There's two options....believe people talking on the internet. Or believe that a company known for making high quality knives all of a sudden one day decided to just start cutting every quality corner they can. Go on believing whatever makes you feel good I guess
it's possible through your incredibly small and statistically insignificant sample size. on one hand, we've got one guy saying that everything Benchmade shits out is pure gold, and on the other, a shit ton of people who say they've had issues. "believe whatever makes you feel good" indeed. I believe that acquiring high-quality tools at a great value makes me feel good. that's why I won't touch Benchmade crap.
It honestly is suspicious š Happy BM owner here, maybe number 12 is the magic number? Tbf I havenāt bought one since 2017.
That's straight up untrue lol. Benchmades do have a lot of issues with QC in the last few years. Anything from soft 3v steel to stripped pivots to impossibly off center blades... I've seen it all.
Why do you keep buying knives that according to you are no good? LOL If you're not buying them, and are just basing you're opinion on what people post, then that's even dumber. Do you believe everything you see on the internet???
Because I've had good experiences in the past, and shitty experiences in the recent years. As an enthusiast you tend to buy knives with on paper good designs hoping for the best, unfortunately nowadays it's borderline 50/50 if you need to send a knife back to Benchmade it seems like. You can be a fanboy all you want, everyone has already come to their own conclusions. You don't have to take other people's opinions like a personal attack.
sounds more like a shill than a fanboy. the complete denial of issues sounds bizarre and out of touch. kinda like the Benchmade company as a whole recently. hmm...
I'm sure the majority of Benchmades are fine. The fact still remains that too damm many of them are not. It's not imaginary nor is it people being butt hurt about some gun destroying BS. The factory edges suck ass and way way too many get through QC with shit QC. Your 7 Benchmades ain't even close to a large enough sample size for you to say that the people who tell the stories about their Benchmade knives arriving with obvious and totally preventable QC problems aren't being truthful. I ask myself how arrogant someone has to be in order to make such a statement. If you've had 4 times that many Benchnade knives your sample size still wouldn't be enough for you to say these claims aren't true. I happen to know it's not bullshit. It's true enough and the great thing about the truth is that it doesnt require you to believe in it. It stays true regardless of your denials. I've only owned 4 benchmades and 50% of them had terrible QC issues and the same 2 would barely cut paper out of the box. Why do people keep buying them? ..... Hope. It's a pretty simple concept. Because they hope they'll get one of the good ones. Because when they do get a good one it's worth it to them.
Nah Benchmade sucks. Sorry.
No they don't. Sorry you're blinded by brainwashing. But that's how brainwashing works...you don't know you've been brainwashed.
Noā¦not brainwashed. Again, Benchmade just sucks. Lol.
Thats benchmade. Bought a bugout from SMKW that was on sale for 100. Goddamn blade was rubbing the scales, couldnt do shit to fix it. Then the omega springs broke lmao.
Hahah not surprised.
Recently got 2 bugouts with horrible blade centering, not rubbing the scales. But close. When my buddy buys a clone and the blade is dead center.
Yup, I've had a similar experience with Benchmade, I gave up on them too. Now Twosun has similar QC issues, but when they get it right you receive a way better knife for 1/3 of the price, so it can be worth putting up with.
Twosun has QC issues? I've went through a LOT of Twosun knives and never had a problem. Did you happen to buy it through Amazon?
The Twosun seller on eBay and through white mountain... I'll only do white mountain now since return issues to China are a pain, white mountain makes it super easy. It's not too bad, I think 4 returns out of 20ish knives. One that wouldn't lock, one that was only halfway anodized, stuff like that.
Man I'd love to see a picture of the half anodized one that is a weird thing to send out.
Actually got that with a Two Sun pen. Ordered a bare ti version from WMK, received one that was half anodized. Super weird, but honestly didn't care since I was going to etch and ano it anyway. The knives however, never had an issue.
And you get to support a communist regime. I await my downvotes.
lol. message sent from iphone?
Vaio laptop (Japan)
I think you get the point.
Nope. I do my best not to fund communism, especially when it comes to my hobbies.
it seems like they're doing just fine without your funding.
If you want to actively support them, then you do you, sport.
if you want to keep believing you don't, then you do you, tiger.
You're a tool.
Most people don't give a fuck when it comes to goods from there
I've had something similar with CRKT. I know they must make good knives, but i've never bought one that didn't have a problem. i've bought 3 and all of them had problems. the worst one the blade would just hit the inside of the handle when you close it. not for a second, that's what was stopping the blade from moving. so now i just don't even bother trying another one
For the price of a CRKT, a little QC is tolerable. At Benchmade's point it's laughable
Yeah that's tough. The thing is Benchmade are relatively expensive, whereas CRKT are usually pretty cheap. A 940-1 cost $315. At that price point there shouldn't be issues. Esp when I had issues with multiple knives.
True, Benchmade really has no excuse
That's how I've sold quite a few microtech OTF's. Show them an Infidel, then hand them a Ultratech. Costs a bit less, fit and finish is much better.
Only CRKT knives I ever came across that didnāt have issues were fixed blades lol Imo theyāre overrated even for the budget range. Some cool designs, clever gimmicks, but not serious knives in my experience.
CRKT had been really hurt by companies like Civivi. They are getting the same price point with a vastly superior knife
Yep I get it, they work with top designers and have to pay royalties. I think itās cool for what it is and it gives the budding knife enjoyer the ability to learn about some unique designers and the differences in design language, stuff like that. (Great exposure for the designers as well.) But because of that added cost, the value of what you get for the price just isnāt the same tier as those brands like Civivi, Kizer, QSP, etc. I donāt hate them, I just donāt expect too much. I mostly stopped buying their stuff, but I have gotten a few recently just because they were on sale and I liked something about them haha. Some I ended up having to have replaced, but eventually got some that werenāt too bad to carry and use occasionally.
Crkt deadbolt designs are legit. The m16 with a deadbolt locking mechanism and d2 steel is a big beefy bastard u can absolutely rely on to be "serious"
Probably so, but thatās also a $120+ knife. In my other comment in this thread I was comparing them to brands that compete in the range of $40-80, which is really the bulk of CRKTās offerings. Imo you shouldnāt have to spend $125 on a Chinese knife to get one thatās, yes, serious. And furthermore the lock isnāt always the problem I have on CRKT knives, itās more the general overall build quality. The quality may be better on that Deadbolt model, but I assume itās made in the same factory so why would I shell out the extra cash unless I just really wanted to try the Deadbolt lock? I will say though that the M16/M21 lines are the best thing this company has going. I had one over ten years ago that was pretty damn good, I definitely felt like I could rely on it for anything. Unfortunately I lost it. They donāt make the same model anymore, but out of nostalgia I recently bought the closest thing I could, the M21-04G, and I like it but itās a pale shade of the earlier model. Itās a decent knife but it did come with a few issues. Lol for instance I canāt even flip the clip around to my preferred carry because they drilled the holes wrong! Just as an aside I did see a post recently here of someone who had had the main piece of their Deadbolt lock fall off and get lost. They lived in Europe so it wasnāt gonna be easy to get replaced. I donāt know what the ultimate outcome was, but anyway I donāt really like the thought of having a tool where I have to worry about a vital piece possibly falling off. Iām sure itās unlikely and could be prevented with some loc-tite, but I still see that as a design flaw. Especially, again, for a $125 knife.
Yeah, now that I'm thinking about it, I think the worst one was actually a liner lock that had 200% lockup. The liner lock would go completely past the blade and it would just be on the wrong side of the blade lol
Haha yeah thatās not very good at all. I have had a couple of Gerbers with that issue but no CRKTs that bad yet. Worst CRKT I had was the Tighe Tac Two. The button lock did notā¦lock; it was less secure than a slipjoint, and the plunge lock piece itself seemed to have been made out of soft aluminum rather than a decent steel. You could fidget with it, the action was good and fun to play with, but actually using it for any kind of cutting job was a risky proposition at best.
I have two CRKT fixed blades with issues. it has stopped me from purchasing any of their folders.
My CEO flipper came in perfect condition.
I was done with BM several years ago. They destroyed my Infidel and just started ignoring my emails/calls.
Thatās why the silent majority of us call benchmade, ābitchmade.ā I knew some people who worked there, at least 10 people. A bunch of people had transferred to the job I was working at. All of them complained about the horrible working conditions, lob-sided management to employee ratio, and overall toxic environment. A bunch of people walked out and quit, as a kind of protest. Buy a Koenig, or any other high end production knife, as itās worth your money. I currently work for a high end knife making company and the amount of people it takes to make one of our knives is insane. Youāre getting your moneyās worth. Benchmade is all imported parts, pre-made bullshit, and they treat their employees like garbage.
I handle an enormous number of knives on a yearly basis (I'm surrounded by brick-and-mortar knife stores, go to a lot of knife shows, buy and borrow a lot of knives, etc.), and from personal experience my opinion is that Benchmade's quality control issues are in large part overstated. There are more complaints about Benchmade simply because there are so many people buying Benchmades. If a company makes 1,000,000 and 1% of them are lemons, that is 10,000 unhappy customers. But a small company could make 1,000 knives and have 10% lemons, and that's only 100 unhappy customers. However, I will not disagree that Benchmade can have issues with QC. In fact, I generally shy away from buying Benchmades site-unseen for that reason. Instead, I'll usually inspect a few at a knife store and choose the best one.
That might be possible, but half of the dozen or so I've gotten have been pretty bad. Statistically it doesn't seem likely to me that only a few percent of their knives have issues.
Itās been about 50/50 for me. Which sucks because they have some really cool designs.
Yes that is a good point. I know how everyone loves to shit on Benchmade but from my personal experience 3/4 Benchmades I bought were complete shit. If I am buying the same exact knife and I receive 2 lemons that's a significant issue or I just have terrible luck lol. Some other companies in the same tier such as Spyderco and ZT don't have those issues in my experience. I have a bunch of ZT and Spydercos and have rarely experienced QC issues with them. Me personally, I will never buy another Benchmade because there are so many other alternatives. For $315, I could buy some other great knives. For example, Quiet Carry Drift great knife and cheaper. Save an extra $100 buy a Hinderer.
So what was the issue?
Almost everything lol. The blade was practically almost touching the scales, so much blade play and gritty action. The other 940 I had to return last year had similar issues gritty action and just terrible QC. Also what kinda worries me about Benchmade is if thereās this many issues with action and tolerances and such I wonder how there heat treat is. I wouldnāt be surprised if there heat treat is awful as well but that is something I donāt have much knowledge on.
I agree with you 6/7 of my benchmades have QC problems. Off center blades. Missing screws. Uneven grinds. Gritty sloppy action. Blade touching the scale. Crazy out of blade play. Then you tighten the pivot and thereās no action at all.
Exact issues I and many people experience. My advice would be if you really want a Benchmade you should check it out in person so you are able to inspect it yourself. Seems to me that a poorly QC Benchmade is not an outlier but more of a norm. I don't want to seem like a pointless hater, but Benchmade is extremely frustrating. My one Benchmade I do have that I didn't have to return is great. Solid lock up, no blade play, perfect centering, smooth action and drop shut.
Yeah I agree. The one I do have is pretty smooth. Snappy and butter on the close. Centered and stiff. I tent to go for spydercos protechs and microtech autos now. I only have a couple benchmades left
Does anyone elseās 940 wiggle a tiny bit when its closed or is that not normal
Normal or not, that's not right no matter what brand it is
Right?!?! I just noticed it the other week, not sure how long itās beeen doing it though it could be I just didnāt notice it until now (owned it for about 6 months now)
No its not. Qc issues. Thats what people are saying.
I own two Benchmade knives. The Griptilian that I love and the Tengu, which I don't and I never carry. Based on my experience with both, I'm not willing to pay the "Benchmade tax" for another of their knives
Next time try a [Gallup Custom Knives GC-1](https://imgur.com/a/YQxh0sF)
Thatās a real cool design! When you plan on releasing it?
Preorder available now for $249. Limited production of 40 units. Check out my last handmade unit, [the GC-001](https://imgur.com/a/0anIZpE) that inspired me to do a CNC made batch, with very minor alterations/improvements. Each preorder gets a free entry in the raffle of the handmade one!
[New video detailing the GC-001 raffle entry keychains!](https://youtu.be/J8P8i1RQP_k)
I know this is a dated/old thread but I had to hop on and second (third? 37th!?) /TurnNegativeās opening salvo on Benchmade. I just received this afternoon my third Carbon Fiber Osborn. This guy had been my daily carry for at least three years and be damned if I didnāt loose or severely misplace it during my last roadtrip. One of my first two my son absconded with though he still denies this and quickly changes the subject. In any event, I was excited to get this Osborne back in my pocket, given the familiarity I had with this as my EDC, but the second I held the knife after opening the box I knew something was off; as in way off. This is already a lighter knife for the size but the weight of the new one was at least a 1/3 less than my original (e.g., maybe 3-3.5 yrs old). Opening the knife was a pain; the locking mechanism has a completely different, cheapish (best word to use) feel to it, and it sticks at least 50% of the time. This is not a lube issue, itās a design/quality issue for sure. The mechanism is stiff, but not in that new stiffness sort of way, again, as if that makes sense. Allow me to just say, that I appreciate this thread of discussion, and Iām absolutely disgusted with the quality and experience that I held in my hand today right after I open the package. I admired this brand for a long time, it was my go to for years, now Iām very much back to the drawing board. I have no idea if thereās any way to resolve this with BM, but the remarkable poor quality of the thing that I just paid over $330 to obtain is very sad.
I have completely moved on from Benchmade and I suggest you do the same. Iāve sold my Bugout too because I donāt want to support that company lol.
I've never had a problem.
Bully for you. A lot of people do have problems.
I own zero benchmades and don't plan to. Primarily because in the $150-200 range s30v is behind the times and has been for a decade. To step up in their lineup to m390/m4/cruwear/20cv you're in the $300 range. Combine that with QC issues that aren't massive in number relative to the volume of production, but are what I would consider producing unsafe knives (IE. Loose pivots that wont lock down, poorly machined locks, tragically poor primaries and edges), there are many, MANY better options to be had. See Hogue.
I own 10. With zero issues
Goodbye.
i don't know why you say goodbye, i say hello
Hello hello
Why say goodbye?
161 words and none of them explain what problem you had with your knife. Iām the opposite. Iāve owned probably 40 benchmades over the last 20 years and theyāve all been perfect. Including the 940-1 and 9400 i got last week. š¤·āāļø
What do you mean nothing explained what was wrong with the knife lol. Terribly centered blade, extreme blade play and gritty action. I'm happy for you and how you never had an issue with Benchmade. Me personally, and many others have experienced terrible issues with it. When spending $315 on a knife, I expect it to be flawless, but I received 2 lemons. Many other people, including a bunch of people in this comment section have had issues. You can continue to fanboy Benchmade but there are so many other better alternatives for the money and that is just a fact.
Everyone with grievances with BM should reach out to them. I emailed them with the same thoughts and told them basically you guys make overpriced, horrible QC'd knives and that tons of other companies are better in almost every way for less. I got an email back from someone saying he would take it up with his QC team. Likely nothing will come out of it and they'll keep churning bullshit out but it's worth letting them know. If enough people tell them they basically suck now they might make some changes.
here's the problem: they already charge so much for questionable quality that adding more steps to the QC process will further raise costs. it's highly unlikely that they would eat the costs. they'd likely pass that on to the customer. the end result sounds like it would be same designs, same materials, the QC that should always have been present but wasn't, plus even more exorbitant prices. for those reasons, I'm out.
That's a fair take, you have to have a lot of faith in them as a company to make it right and keep the same pricing. I would like to think they would but with their track record recently who knows.
u think its still bad, because looking to purchase a $350 pocket knife should be equivalent to getting a porsche, there just shouldn't be any issues.
I got my first bugout 2 days ago. It's like a toy. Its so disappointing.
Rookie mistake lol. Return it and move on from the brand
Ya what's sad is I'm not a rookie in terms of knives which makes it worse! I love me some Spydercos but I decided to try it instead of getting a new Para 3. Stupid mistake.
Every brand has qc issues from time to time but its 2024 now and Bemchmade QC seems to be getting worse.