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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGDBR2L5kzI

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Originally posted by gfhoward:

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Originally posted by Mark G.:
Benchmade's "class" system was developed for only one reason (and those of us around when it was created, remember what it is...)

It was made to give a place for the newly imported knives in the line up (Red Class).

We all remember the hue and cry when this happened. Benchmade was an AMERCIAN knife company. The class system was made to give a place for these knives, yet to feel they were somehow seperate. Sort of like Spyderco's Bryd line.

I don't know that I agree with that, Mark. BM was marketing autos separately from the other stuff long before 2004. In 1995, they started putting out a separate military/LEO catalog each year. The regular catalog was the equivalent of blue line, the military/leo catalog product was black class. Later on, in addition to autos, the military/LEO catalog would feature knives that were built to tougher standards for hard use, over the consumer product. For example, the axis lock made its debut in the military/LEO cat exclusively, while the consumer side was still using framelocks.

While there has been more overlap over the years between blue and black, with some knives showing up in both catalogs, what I notice is that the black line has typically had more overbuilt products for hard use relative to the blue class products.

I'll agree with you on the specific development of red, blue and black classes as very distinct marketing distinctions when the red class came out, but I think the blue vs black had been around for a while.

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Originally posted by canadianknifenut:
Thanks for those AI links...been ages since I have seen those. I laugh every time!