This is open to anyone who has any opinion or insight.

I used to have almost 100 Benchmade knives a few years ago. I had to sell most of them due to developing a chronic pain condition to pay for doctor bills and narcotics. They were all top end quality with a custom level fit and finish and it was painful having to sell them. I recovered health wise to the point in which I had some discretionary income so began to purchase back the knives I missed. I have to ask, WHAT HAPPENED?!?!?!

1) Availability: why is it that dealers don't have virtually any stock compared to what they used to have and most places show the majority of their Benchmades as 'Sold Out'? For years these people would always have these knives in stock.

2) Pricing: why is it that prices have gone up so much? I thought the concept of Benchmade was a high end a tool that your average consumer can afford.

3) Most of all, QUALITY: Practically every damned knife I purchased is off center and many are plain dull. This NEVER used to be like this. I purchased two Gold Class knives and I have had sharper butter knives from them. Even they are off center!!! The 154CM 710 were RAZOR sharp; why is it the M4 710-801s are no where as near as sharp and some are just plain dull? That's another blade which tends to be off centered On some of the top of the line 960 M4 models, the Axis lock becomes STUCK when the blade is flicked open w/ the thumb-stud and requires considerable force to close it. There are even occasional machining defects.

I understand the knives have a lifetime warranty, but this is not the point as this many knives should not have QC problems given this is Benchmade. Benchmade has always made a top shelf product at a price your average consumer can afford to carry and collect. Now, quality has seemed to decline, but price has seemed to increase. This has me baffled.

In this recession, people have less income to play with, including myself. I did not have enough money to purchase the other knife brands I once owned many of, such as Spyderco, CRK, Kershaw, ZT, or Ken Onion and I gave Benchmade ALL of my knife business. I only had money for one manufacturer and I chose Benchmade; now I am starting to wonder if I made a bad decision? Any thoughts?

Availability: Benchmade has had a lot of demand from the military over he last few years and only recently has started to catch up. Believe it or not, availability is better now than it was a year ago.

Benchmade eliminated distributors of their product. The online retailers who did not also have a brick & mortar retail presence were not able to become a direct benchmade dealer. This may explain some of the online retailers that don't have any benchmade stock.

Pricing: I can't think of but a couple of models which have increased in price, but newly introduced models do seem to climb a little each year. Gold Class prices have gone through the roof.

Sharpness: They are hand sharpened and there is variation from one knife to the next but I have never seen what you describe.

Blade Centering: There have been some issue with that and it bugs me too. That's one of the reasons I prefer to handle a knife before I buy it. Of course that's not an option if you don't have a good retailer in your area.

If you used to buy on eBay or from other high profile online dealers... You will notice higher prices (eBay) and no stock (folks like New Graham). This reflects Benchmade's new MAP policy. There is a fixed price at which you can advertise, however you can sell for what you want. PM me if you want some dealers who will treat you well and give you a fair price.

In reality the prices have not gone up. You just have to change how you shop.

Also, as noted, some folks who got knives from a distributer and were not dealers themselves can no longer sell.

As for QC...

Any knife company can have issues. Benchmade was and still is the most trouble free brand
I have encountered.

I don't give a rats behind about blade centering unless the thing is hitting a liner. If you can't figure out how to fix that at home, they get out of knife collecting. These are not custom knives (excluding Gold Class). I have had no issues with a Benchmade in years. All have been sharp. If you don't think they are sharp, then buy some old stock from 2001... The era when Benchmade was the finest maker of butter knives!!!

As for price... Be a Spyderco collector and deal with the Dollar to the Yen. The Rock Lobster is selling (at a street price) over $200!!! Endura/Delica's are pushing almost $80.

Benchmade is still a great knife and a great value IMHO.

Very well said Mark.

quote:

Originally posted by Mark G.:

I don't give a rats behind about blade centering unless the thing is hitting a liner. If you can't figure out how to fix that at home, they get out of knife collecting. These are not custom knives (excluding Gold Class).

Why the f*&% should anyone have to screw around straightening the centering on a brand new knife?? I don't think it's a lot to ask to have a centered blade. There's absolutely no reason for it. My 585 came so dull I couldn't believe it, no reason for that either. Btw, not everyone who buys Benchmades is a "collector" who wants to "fix" their brand new knives.

quote:

Originally posted by streetmaster:

quote:

Originally posted by Mark G.:

I don't give a rats behind about blade centering unless the thing is hitting a liner. If you can't figure out how to fix that at home, they get out of knife collecting. These are not custom knives (excluding Gold Class).

Why the f*&% should anyone have to screw around straightening the centering on a brand new knife?? I don't think it's a lot to ask to have a centered blade. There's absolutely no reason for it. My 585 came so dull I couldn't believe it, no reason for that either. Btw, not everyone who buys Benchmades is a "collector" who wants to "fix" their brand new knives.

I agree with this... If you screw up the centering after using the knife heavily, then maybe you should fix it yourself... But theres no excuse for brand new knives to come with the blade off-center, not sharpened properly, and with cosmetic defects in the blade (as was the case with my 960)... I mean, what is QA for after all?

I agree with the QC part. I've one or two that are off-centered but not by much. It's having them arrive right out of box either dull, scratched, or with dings somewhere that bugs me. Production or not someone needs to check these things better.

It would save everyone time lost and money spent if we didn't have to send so many back - and still I'm grateful for the excellent service we usually receive.

I agree ...... you shouldnt have to fix a 100.00 or 200.00 dollar knife , if you bought it from a store , its your own fault but if you bought it online , you have no contol over what you get.
Production is just that ......they get-em out as fast as they can , meanning things slip bettween the lines. Just ship it back to BM and get it fixed and be done with it.
Quit whineing .....Sh** happens
Ive bought tools an such that didnt work when I got them home , I just take it back and get one that works , problem solved ......it is a pain though .......dj

With all due respect, Mark, you're wrong on this one. I've had both uncentered and unsharp knives from BM, and there really isn't an excuse. I almost didn't buy a LE CFHS because it was obviously dull. The dealer sharpened it for me and I was happpy. I was new to collector knives then, or I wouldn't have let him risk damaging the black coating and ruining the value later on. This one never should have made it out of QC as dull as it was. And it wasn't cheap either!

best regards.
GPMike

quote:

Originally posted by streetmaster:

quote:

Originally posted by Mark G.:

I don't give a rats behind about blade centering unless the thing is hitting a liner. If you can't figure out how to fix that at home, they get out of knife collecting. These are not custom knives (excluding Gold Class).

Why the f*&% should anyone have to screw around straightening the centering on a brand new knife?? I don't think it's a lot to ask to have a centered blade. There's absolutely no reason for it. My 585 came so dull I couldn't believe it, no reason for that either. Btw, not everyone who buys Benchmades is a "collector" who wants to "fix" their brand new knives.

I agree with this, having bought over a half dozen BM's in the past month and a half brand new from the dealer- one of them was ground VERY uneven, and the other mildly uneven... My 585 was also VERY VERY dull.