Being from Benchmade country here in Oregon City and a collector, I have owned hundreds of BM knives including lots of the unusual. This is the first time I have come across a TRUE unfinished (rough) prototype of an AFO 9050. The handle is rough machined aluminum but has not had the matte finish or black coating applied. All the tooling marks are clearly visible. The blade is MINT unused and simply marked PROTOTYPE. No clip or even holes drilled for a clip. Would love to know if anyone else has seen a similar rough prototype before. Let me know.

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

Hot! I'll take it. =P
Lover the machining marks, makes it look all industrial.

While I'm not a big fan of "billboard blades" (with line after printed line,) like protos, 1st production, limited editio0n, etc., this kind of thing is truly cool, as long as it's legit. But I wouldn't know either way.

There will be those here who know, I think, but this knife would be a prize even if they didn't.

Welcome to the Forum.

Welcome to the forum!
This is not a 9000 AFO, 9000 model didn't have the safety.
Usually true factory prototypes have R&D etched on the blade rather then PROTYPE, this could be an early R&D version of 9050, but not 9000.

It's very legit... I have a manufacturer's background and am familiar with rough prototypes, machining marks etc. I just have never found a true rough prototype of a knife before. We're all familiar with the prototypes that are really just sales samples, and I like those but this seems very rare to me.

Oops, i stand corrected on model number. Very true about the safety. thanks: 9050

I've had lots of regular, fully finished prototypes that are even numbered but nothing like this. It was in a large collection of early prototypes (all finished) and there was even a pink spike that was pretty cool. I guess If I knew there was an outlet, I could purchase the entire lot. (all under orig. retail). The last scarcer BM I came across was years ago and it was a limited ed. with no edge applied to the blade. Pretty cool. Glad to be a part of this forum! Will enjoy learning

Pink spike sounds cool!
Would love to see pics of your other BMs! Seems like you have a lot of interesting pieces

its pretty cool, even if its kinda beat up. I can't say I have seen another unfinished one. What are you tring to do with it, Pawn it or sell it