I have two gold class knives that have the bronze coated hardware, a Rift and a mini-Presidio.

The rift has sat in my knife chest since I got it and handled less than a dozen times, never carried. I've been carrying the Presidio for a week or so and have only cut open a couple of boxes.

From being removed from my knife chest a few times, a lot of the bronze has rubbed off of the clip of the Rift. On the Presidio, the thumbstuds, pivot screws, axis studs and clip (everything that sticks out) have just about all worn to solid silver just from riding in a denim pocket for a few days.

My first complaint is that in all of the advertisements, they say "bronze hardware" not bronze coated. I asked about this and they said that solid bronze isn't strong enough... (for thumbstuds?)

Second, that the coating can't stand up to anything other than staying perfectly still inside a box.

C'mon Benchmade...

I certainly would agree with BM,that the bronze is not hard enough for knife parts,but hey if your gonna bronze parts they are gonna do it for all the parts,,not just a thumb stud.I am sure it does save lots of time,and money..On the other side i would agree,that their could have been a little heavier coating,or a better process..???

Wow, that's crazy, what a fail. Don't they test the knives themselves? You'd think someone would be carrying a Gold Class in house and would have noticed the problem. Be sure to send the production manager an email, or better yet, leave him a voicemail at the factory, to make sure they are aware of the problem. I would think the issue is covered under warranty, so maybe you can send it in to have those parts replaced. But it's definitely a manufacturing defect if you can't even take a Gold Class knife in and out of a drawer without the "coating" rubbing off! Epic fail!

I was thinking about it and I think I get it. I have a handmade knife that has bronze colored screws. I asked the maker and he told me that someone taught him how to heat treat the steel screws to turn them that color.

The product info for the mini Presidio says, "...hand polished and heat colored bronze hardware..." I took it to mean they heat treated bronze (which, now that I think about it, didn't make much sense the first time I read it, why would you want to turn bronze another color?). But now, I think, its steel heat treated to appear bronze.

Regardless of what it is, it doesn't hold up well.

I wish I could pay them to upgrade mine to DLC coated hardware...

This message has been edited. Last edited by: droc217,

Ouch! Thanks for the info, Droc- I was kinda looking for a gc 525, but the $$ went elsewhere- this will be good to know, however unfortunate, in the future. I agree- while the wording was no doubt not meant to be misleading, I would have interpreted it the same way you did- but even had I known the difference/purchased, I wouldn't have expected it to wear like a cheap suit--- Rick

Oh yeah, save time and money.. That's exactly what I want in a production knife that costs as much as a hand made custom knife.

Benchamde told me they could refinish the bronze color or swap out the hardware with the regular hardware from the 525. Again, totally what I want, to pay 5 times more for something that's the same...

Taken from the Benchamde site: "Erasing the lines between custom and manufactured, it is a matter of satisfying the ultimate desire. Whether it is embellishing existing designs to loftier heights, creating entirely new ones, or even crafting a one of a kind experience from a collector’s wish list, the Gold class clearly sets the new standard of knife manufacturing."

A "new standard in knife manufacturing"? Yeah... they don't even know if they do the acid etching for the Damasteel in-house or not. And they told me it was a bronze coating, not heat treat...

The "customer service" there needs to bone up on the products they sell and the manufacturing process's. I'm tired of getting incorrect information from them.

I love BM, but I have to agree that problems like this or any other type have no place on a $1000 knife. For a $200 knife, sure, go with ease of production and economies, but if you are going to tell everybody you are the best, you really HAVE to be the best, and that means people should be able to carry your product around and expect at least an acceptable level of wear. If your standard product can stand up to casual pocket wear, your premium line better.

Yeah,the dilettantes and incompetence are at this days almost everywhere.

heat treating (bronzing) hardware is commmon on handmade knives. it dosent matter is its done by the BM factory or Kirby Lambert (my custom PBG had bronzed hardware) or anyon else, its a purely aestetic finish and it dosent hold up well. there is nothing you can do to change it, its the nature of the finish. i dont see what the complaint is.
"It is what it is" and it wears off easily. if someone dosent lik it, dont buy it or dont use it. and if BM says they will replace it i really dont understand. its not my favorite finish but i can appreciate them tring different things. i like DLC, hell i have had some BMs custom DLC coated but i dont want all my knives to look the same.

I think I am w/ 910stryker on this one.