Thanks for all of the tips, John. That will save me some frustration if I do decide to do a swap, which I probably will after the blade is re heat treated, it should save me lots of time.

Have you cut anything with yours yet or sharpened it yet. Just curious what your impressions are so far. Also, I'm not sure if you have calipers, but if you do can you measure the width of the bevel right at the top of it where it meets the hollow grind? It takes some practice to get accurate readings, but I find it to be a very good measurement to figure out how good a knife will cut along with the angle of the bevel. I've found from the factory angles a bit under 15 degrees and thicknesses above the bevel at .020" or less makes for a good cutter. My .014" Rift with 13 degree bevels per side on it's fairly high hollow grind makes a great slicer, and I've never had a blade the length of the Rift with edge geometry that good. My Spyderco Stretches in ZDP have 3.5" blades and were .018"-.020" with 13 degree per side edges on a full flat grind. That just shows what a great job Benchmade did with the edge geometry on the Rift, as it is a very HD knife yet it out slices almost all factory knives out there. My 760 was axe thick, but the Rift sure makes up for that. M4 is great on thin edged knives, and the Rift seems a perfect platform for it to shine.

Mike

I'm doubtful that you need any tips from me, Mike!

I have touched up the edge a bit on a Sharpmaker @ 30 degrees, fine rods. Probably not hair-whittling sharp, but very, very sharp regardless. Haven't cut anything yet, not even myself!

I will see if I can get a true reading just above where the HG starts. I'll report later tonight, or try.

Here's the missing pics of the knives.

BTW, I am still a little surprised that Sal & Co. skeletonized the liners on the sprint but not the productiton Manix 2. It is very noticeable in the hand. I would have thought, though, that they'd make a decision and just let the sprint follow production on a point like that.

With the caution that measuring that is a little tricky, I am getting .020" plus or minus maybe a thousandth. Some of that may be the coating, though - although I'm not sure how thick that is.

quote:

Gunmike1 wrote...If it a blade change that shouldn't be a big deal either, though I hear it can be a PITA to get the pivot washers lined up on reassembly. I guess you just get a mini screw driver to stick in the pivot hole to catch the washers and blade hole so you can get them lined up so the pivot screw can be put back in there.

Protip...before trying to insert the blade and washers, pull back the Axis buttons and block them there with a toothpick. The spring loaded Axis bar is the cause for most of the PITA problems of re-installing a blade. If not blocked back, the spring-loaded Axis bar will sometimes keep pushing the blade and washers out of aligning with the pivot hole.

quote:

Originally posted by fastjan:
Protip...before trying to insert the blade and washers, pull back the Axis buttons and block them there with a toothpick. The spring loaded Axis bar is the cause for most of the PITA problems of re-installing a blade. If not blocked back, the spring-loaded Axis bar will sometimes keep pushing the blade and washers out of aligning with the pivot hole.

+100
I just pull back the axis bar manually, but for somebody who's doing it for the first time blocking the bar is the way to go.

quote:

Originally posted by RxEnergy:

quote:

Originally posted by fastjan:
Protip...before trying to insert the blade and washers, pull back the Axis buttons and block them there with a toothpick. The spring loaded Axis bar is the cause for most of the PITA problems of re-installing a blade. If not blocked back, the spring-loaded Axis bar will sometimes keep pushing the blade and washers out of aligning with the pivot hole.

+100
I just pull back the axis bar manually, but for somebody who's doing it for the first time blocking the bar is the way to go.

Thank you ]

That does it Johnno...your emoticon privledges have been revoked.

I will definately block the bar back when I put the blade back in, thanks for the tip. Also, .020" is pretty good for the edge thickness especially considering the coating may be making it a tad fatter than a non coated blade might be. Of couse i hope mine comes in around .014" like my current Rift, but I may get it reground to .010" when it gets it's hardened to 65 RC anyway. Benchmade is definately doing a good job with it's edge geometry on the Rift. Same with the Rukus I had that I gifted my buddy that got robbed and had his 710 ripped off when he got beaten within an inch of his life on a home invasion. That massive Rukus had a nice and thin .017" edge. I remember years ago hearing that Benchmade had nothing but fat edges on their knives, but they certainly have cured that on most models I've seen except the axe like 760.

Mike

Took a quick look at the -801 blade and it does come out right at .014", so I am guessing the additional six thou on the 1001 blade may be the coating.

John, those are some good measurements. My 950-1001 came in at .016"-.017", but it has significant vertical blade play. I tried adjusting the pivot which was already tight and it still moves a decent bit when locked all the way to where it is tight enough it won't even move the blade when you flick it with the bar pulled back. Not nice! My 760 had the blade so off center that it touched the opposite scale, I guess Benchmade's M4 doesn't like me. I even asked Roger's company to inspect my knife for QC issues like blade play and it is loose anyway. I'm sure they were so swamped the missed the note and figured Benchmade's QC wouldn't let a bad one by, but no matter how tight QC is a production company will always have a few slip through, even a great company Like Benchmade. Oh well, maybe I'll get an uncoated CPM M4 blade out of it (I can dream, right?).

Mike