Apparently, the "LFK" is an acronym for "Long Frickin' Knife!" Okay, the "F" probably stands for "Folding," but I prefer the more colorful term The blade is 5.20" in length, and the overall length is 10.25" Closed, the length is 6.70" Thickness is 0.118" and it's made of 440C stainless. It's also ambidextrous with thumb buttons. The rest is aircraft-grade aluminum with Santropene overmold so, it's very corrosion-resistant.

So, how can the blade be 5.2", the handle 6.7" (totaling 11.9") and the overall length 6.7"?? The design is really cool. There's a sort of "tail fin" at the back of the handle that opens and closes with the blade. The mechanism is a sort of "cam and plate" that runs along the inside of the liner. You have to see it. Maybe I can make a short video of it. The idea is a folder with a long blade that is as compact as possible when folded. When I first saw the photos, I thought the tail fin would be somewhat fragile, but it's really strong!

The clip can go on either side, but is restricted to tip-down carry. I don't like the liner lock, but I never do. But with the "tail fin" mechanism, I have no idea how they could have made it lock any other way. The "cam" is where the pivot screw is, and the plate that runs from there to the fin would have to be skeletonized somehow to make another lock mechanism work, and I wouldn't want to compromise the strength of the plate. The liner lock is an easy, sensible fix. BUT, I don't trust them, especially with a blade this size.

Anyway, here are some pics I took:

Clip side (shipped)




Partially open - check out the tail fin:




To show scale - the LFK, 42 Bali-song, 710 and 5000 Presidio:


I ordered this knife because it's missing two screws and was cheap. That's the only reason. No daydreaming about how cool it is, or that it's the knife of my dreams, etc. But now that I have it, I love it! I think it'll make a great camping/hiking folder. And since I'm not exactly a small guy (6'2" and somewhere around 230lbs,) I can pocket-carry it in camp or on a hike. It'll stow well for long motorcycle rides, too.

I think the street price on these is $100. For the $40 I paid, I feel like I'm ahead.

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

Does your LFK have any bias to closing?

Mine doesn't, it opens easily, too easily, find that pouch carry sans pocket clip to be the only safe carry method.

I'll be adding a youtube video shortly to demonstrate.

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

quote:

Originally posted by Skimo:
Does your LFK have any bias to closing?

Mine doesn't, it opens easily, too easily, find that pouch carry sans pocket clip to be the only safe carry method.

I'll be adding a youtube video shortly to demonstrate.

Nope, it stays closed. I've never had a liner-lock blade close at the wrong time but, with the "heavy dutiness" of this one, the temptation to use it for heavy tasks makes me wary enough to NOT overtask it. But that's probably my imagination working overtime.

here's the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mk4nlJJ5B3c

Also, it's not quite as great a deal as I thought since it also didn't come with the carry pouch. The bad news is that they're discontinued, made in Taiwan and Benchmade doesn't have any. The good news is that they are sending me the replacement screws, no charge. Still a great buy at $40. I can find a suitable pouch at the next gun show for next to nothing. Or maybe I'll make one.

Just called BM, it's gonna be warranty work for my LFK, should have a bias towards closing.

I bought mine for $50 on sale btw, you got a great price, and yours won't need to be sent off.

It seems to have a bit of a bias, but its hard to tell since mine doesn't open as easily as yours does. The place I got it from said it was tight to open and close. I'm going to open it up and see what, if anything, I can find. I'll let you know...

Yeah, I even put a bit more pressure on the pivot.

Adjusting the pivot, once the clip was off, helped a lot. There is also a kind of "secondary pivot" at the tail fin. And yes, it does have a closing bias. Definitely not the strongest one, especially for the blade size, but it's there.

I just noticed, the screws holding the fin pivot rotate with the fin... I don't think that's normal either.

Lao Tzu must not have had very steady hands, he can't hold a bowl or knife steady!