Pros: Blade Material
Cons: None
CF Mini Bugout, you don't always get what you pay for.
I previously bought and returned this knife at another retailer. Hoping that I got a "lemon," I later purchased it again here at Knife Center which I consider to be a good quality source. Unfortunately, it's more or less the same product both times. What stands out first is how rough and toothy Benchmade finishes the cutting edges on these. S90V may prefer a toothier edge, but these are really really roughly done and definitely could be done to a finer factory spec. For a steel that requires more effort to sharpen, I would expect the manufacturer to put in a better effort for the eventual buyer. Honestly, what really first stood out to me is the smell. I don't know if it's the packaging or the carbon fiber itself. But these come out of the box smelling of that weird recycled cardboard odor. Basically a faint garbage smell. Whether it's their packaging, or the CF itself (hopefully not), Benchmade just needs to not use any materials that smell like this. It degrades their product and puts the quality of material in question. Again, I bought this knife twice from two separate retailers and each came from separately dated batches on the box (the first was from an August 2022 batch, this one was from June 2022). The first one did smell worse than this one. A couple weeks airing out and the odor has dissipated, but is still faintly present. Pivot action out of the box is rough. It can be improved by loosening the pivot, but not without introducing side to side wiggle of the blade. The lockup also tends to have some tight up/down play... it is on a minute level, but is there. My hope is that these things will break in over time. Maybe the lock interface will smooth out, and the washers will grind/polish and with cleaning/oiling come to function smoothly without blade play. Hopefully. I really wanted to love this knife, obviously, to pay this type of price for such a little knife. I like the size, the form, blade steel, and handle material (provided that it didn't give off any hint of being made of recycled garbage). And, I still think it could be a knife I could eventually come to really enjoy and appreciate - with an edge refinishing, thorough breaking in, disassembly cleaning/oiling, and airing out. But it is too much a work in progress out of the box; quite disappointing. I was a huge fan of Benchmade back about 12 years ago. It does really seem, as I've heard others say, that their quality control or just quality of products in general has really dropped off. That, while their prices are now higher and still going up.
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