I'll admit it, I'm more of a Spyderco guy, I just love their designs, but I've always admired Benchmades (and owned a few) as well. I have always liked the Spyderco ATR, and when I saw the Rift released it reminded me a lot of
my ATR's blade, except with a higher hollow grind and thicker reinforcement at the top of the reverse tanto. That adds a stronger yet still sharp tip and potentially better cutting ability depending on edge thickness(I'll get to that a tad later). I really like the looks of the two toned G-10 and the texturing on the handles. The Axis lock speaks for itself, just plain excellent. Very strong and smooth, and easy to manipulate with either hand.

I put this one on my "to get" list, but in the meanwhile I had bought a couple Spydies, a 760 I had reground by Tom Krein, and a used Rukus. I ended up displeased with the badly off center blade on my 760, though after a lot of tinkering I got it straight enough to sell with a clear conscience. The Rukus was just great, but a buddy of mine that loves Rukuses got almost killed in a home invasion, getting his 710 stolen in the process. I gave him my Rukus with it's perfect fit and finish, super thin .017"-.019" thick edge and great cutting ability after polishing the bevel out to .05 microns for him. He really loves the knife, but it left me without a Benchmade or an Axis lock. Seeing as the Rift was on my to get list I ordered it last week.

The knife arrived today, and I must say I am very pleased with it. After the problems with fit and finish I'm glad to report my satin finished PE 950 has impeccable fit and finish. It has a perfectly centered blade, flush liners with the handles, and the bevels are nice and amazingly thin at .014". That is what I call an edge made for high performance cutting, unlike the fatty on my 760. The edge shaves, but I don't consider a knife my own until I rebevel it and get it beyond hair whittling sharp, so I care more about how thin the edge is rather than how sharp it is from the factory. I put a couple drops of Blue Lube on it (free with the purchase, very good stuff so far) and proceeded to start doing a lot open/close cycles to start breaking it in. The thumbstuds are very good, though I still prefer an opening hole. The blade is smooth but not free swinging with the lock pulled back, which is OK by me. If it loosens up to free swinging over time fine, but I won't touch the pivot to mess with the perfect lock up. The handle feels very good in hand but isn't quite as good as a couple of my favorite Spydercos, but very good and definately a great blade to handle ratio. Another thought is I will have to remove the thumbstuds when I sharpen the knife to avoid bouncing them off the stones, that is no big deal. The knife also carries very well due to the excellent blade to handle ratio. After some cutting and sharpening I'll have to report back with my thoughts on it. So far, very good though, and that thin edge is just a pleasure to find on a factory knife. I usually have to send knives for regrinds to get them that thin, so this knife should be a great slicer.

Mike

Great post, Gunmike1.

Nice score! I too love the Rift. While I sort of trash talked it at first, once I held one, I was hooked.

Enjoy it in good health!

I love the Rift. It's a knife I can see being one of BMs more popular knives several years from now.

Thanks Gunmike, good review. 950 is one of my favorites, didn't like it at first but those were the old days. With so many variants out and more to come I'm not surprised it's so popular a knife.

Can somebody answer a question for me?

Why do I still not have a Rift?

Nice review, gunmike. I like the ATR too, so I know what you mean about the resemblance. The Rift carries lighter than the ATR, and the Axis lock is better too (IMHO).

Like a lot of other guys, I thought it looked weird at first. That is, until I finally held one. It's great.

It's one tough knife too. I can't remember what magazine it is, but somebody did a test and wrote an article about the testing. Anyway, the Rift passed something like a 175 lb. spine whack test with no problems.

Nice review Mike. I, as others have stated, love the Rift as well. I'm sure that it will become a BM classic.

Well, I got to dismantle a couple boxes into tiny little strips to dull the knife. The cutting ability is excellent as expected by the thin and acute 13 degree per side edge. The knife glides right through full depth cuts, but really excels at shallow slicing for such a HD piece. I had physical therapy, then lifted more weights to help my back get better from surgery 4 months ago, so I decided to microbevel on the Sharpmaker at 15 per side rather than the full sharpening I will do soon. Within 10 minutes I had a .05 micron edge (I put lapping films on the Sharpmaker sticks after going through UF) that whittles hair like a champ. I am very happy with the edge taking, and the edge retention on cardboard was about exact what you would expect from VG-10 or even S30V for that matter. I really don't see much difference in the mid grade (154CM or VG-10) and S30V, I really have to jump to ZDP 189 or M4 to note a big step up in edge retention from 154CM or VG-10 truthfully. The knife was comfortable when cutting, and I like the tilt to the Axis lock. I think it adds just a tad of reliability compared to a straight back pull to disengage it while still being easy to release. Overall I'm very pleased with the knife, and I think it will give me years of excellent service.

Mike

Good, Glad there's another Rift lover out there, I really like 154CM, it's a bit soft kinda like ATS-34, takes a wicked edge but won't chip out.