The knife in question is pictured as "A". - in mint condition
Knives "B" and "C" are ones I own and believe to be genuine, used for comparison.

The overall look and feel, fit and finish seems genuine. What is questionable are some of the screws used and how it locks compared to the ones I own. Perhaps it was a change in your manufacturing process? (although my understanding of production knives is that they have very little variance). Is the blade genuine and the handle not?

Pic 1: picture of all 3 knives


Pic 2: Top section of knife "A" and "B" - notice how knife "A" is missing what appears to be a torx screw pictured in knife "B"


Pic 3: Bottom section of knife "A" and "B" - notice how knife "A" is missing what appears back plates that the screws are attached to. These back plates are counter sunk into the handle, thus feels flush against the handle. Therefore I don't believe you can just attach them to knife "A", without making the holes wider to fit the back plates; thus not a case of "knife A is just missing some parts"


Pic 4 & 5: Top and bottom pics of knife "B" and "C" - these 2 I believe are genuine. The screws and back plates look the same.



Pic 6: Notice how on knife "A", the locking mechanism is not centered. I tried to push the lock further right, but it won't budge since it hits the blade as it's starting to bevel downwards, thus preventing it from moving further right.


Pic 7: Close-up of knife "A" locking mechanism


Pic 8: Close-up of knife "B" locking mechanism - for comparison


Pic 9: Close-up of knife "C" locking mechanism - for comparison


Pic 10 & 11: Pics of the blade



Thoughts??

My initial gut is going to be, authentic, but this model is not my forte. The liner lock being left of center is a WIN (but not if you are a person See Political Chit-Chat ). The "foot" of the liner lock wears with time and travels right (just like a person should [rim shot] I'll be here all week! Tip your wait staff!)

If I were a betting man, I'd say that this was an early model, were they tapped the liners & G10 but later decided to put in steal "grommets" and tap them for better screw retention strength. Again, just a guess.

T

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

The only other observation that I have is that it does appear that it might have been resharpened. Notice how shallow the serrations are closest to the tip-side. Either that or it was just shallow serrations but I'd expect to have seen the tip-side of the plain edge in line with that tiny piece after the serrations at the choil-end.

Which makes logistic sense, since it was originally a "plain edge" before serrations where added (at the factory of course).

Anyways, just noticed that. No biggie, just an observation

No expert on these here either but I do have a couple of early and pre-production models in ATS34 that have tapped liners and the later models have the steel "grommets" as T said above. Look just like the one you have. My 2 cents. Real. Bead blasted blade also old model.

A pe version just came up on "dabay", exactly the same.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: old angler,

Not to mention, how could anyone EVER reproduce the complex, intricate Emerson logo????


It's always given me a chuckle

They all look legit to me.

My guess would be that A is NIB, hence the pristine lockup.

Knives B and C have the screw grommets, hence my guess is they were sent in to Benchmade for Lifesharp with stripped screw holes and were repaired, hence the worn lock position.

...that's my guess.

Without threaded inserts it's the sure sign it's original. Many of the 970 models were upgraded to the threaded versions. I think it's either current or old policy to upgrade the knife if it's sent up there for servicing.

These knives are all legit and real. If the lock's traveled across the tang, that's a repair job and worth sending the knife up.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and feedback.
Below, an email from Benchmade (I *** out their information for privacy, but I'm sure some of you know who he is ;-). BTW - he's been a great help to me.

Paul,

I forwarded your email to one of the fellow that has worked here for quite some time, who is my go-to for all thing Benchmade, and his response was;

They’re all legit. They’re just different generations.

The knife with the bead-blasted blade and no inserts in the G10 is the older version.

Believe it or not we used to drill and tap G10.

Hope that helps.

Thank you,

A***** W*****
Customer Service Representative
Benchmade Knife Company
Phone: 1-800-800-7427 ext ***
Fax: 1-503-496-1896
******@benchmade.com

Nice knife - Especially to be that early of a model with that good of a lock-up.