Decided I wanted a nice knife. I have owned some Swiss Army knives and carry a Leatherman Micro, but I wanted a real knife, and a nice one at that. Did some research and kept coming back to Benchmade. I picked up the:

Heckler & Koch model 14250

I don't really have that much experience with knives of this caliber, but I really love it.

A few questions:

Is the proprietary Blue Lube a good buy? I own firearms so I have oils similar to the Millitec that the manual recommends.

Recommended sharpening tools for a newbie? I need to pay particular attention to the angle on the tanto blade.

Cameron

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on getting the 14250. As far as oiling the knife goes, you should be okay with the Mil-tec that you have. I believe Mil-tec is what Benchmade used to promote before they started pushing their own Blue Lube. As far as sharpening goes, the reverse tanto is trickier to sharpen than the standard edge, but there are methods to go about doing it. If you search the forum you should be able to find some methods. Hopefully someone with a little more experience sharpening the reverse tanto can speak up here and help you out.

Nice work on your selection the 14250 is one of the MUST HAVE HK knives.. I am picking mine up next week.. Welcome to the forum..

Welcome! Congrats on your 14250.

On which product to use: I use a little drop of Tuf-Glide after every cleaning, and sparingly. Blue Lube is good, so is Militec. Find what works for you and stick with it.

I'm a beginner on sharpening American tanto blades but can touch them up. Treat the small leading edge like it's a separate blade from the larger main edge, and take care with the connecting point so it doesn't get rounded.

Unlike some of the tougher steels, the 154cm blade on the '250 is pretty easy to touch up with no recurve and that straight edge.

Stick around and have fun, lots to learn here.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: joe_karp,

Welcome!

They sure are great knives!

Touch ups are one thing but when a good sharpening is needed I recommend the free Lifesharp service from Benchmade they do a very good job.

That's fine, as long as it's not an auto(unless you live in Oregon). If you live out of state and send them an auto knife, you'll never see it again unless you go there in person and pick it up. They won't ship autos across state lines(unless you can find a Benchmade dealer to send it in).

Welcome, and that's a good point.

If you're a civvie like me, bring autos to your local dealer IF they're willing to send it in for you. (One of my local dealers won't.) It's you lucky Oregonians that can carry and bring 'em in as needed.

'Cross the border down here it's a different story, and I don't own any Ottos in favor of the assisteds as a result.

Just my two cents on oils/lubes. Firearms lubrications like Hoppies, Outters, any CLP, Break Free work very good. Like your firearms remember that they attract dust. Less important on a knife than a firearm used for social purposes. Some like the dry lubes to avoid this situation. Just don't mix them, they will jell. I use Break Free on my knives. It's light. I use Hoppies #9 oil on most of my firearms. I'm comfortable using Hoppies on my knives to. They just don't need the level of lubrication the action/bolt/slide of firearms need. Good old fashion 3 in 1 works well to.

Welcome