Anyone here own a Benchmade knife?

[max]

My favorite hiking knife, when you actually need to use one.....

[Racer X]

The true bottom line, and I am sure any engineers here will back me up, is if the manufacturer spent the time and money to properly heat treat the steel. You can use an older alloy, with a mediocre rep, and heat treat it in a masterful way, and get fantastic results.

[Paul F.]

As a sometimes knifemaker (OK, not for a while now...) I can back you up 100%.
I can make a knife out of "old fashioned" SAE 1095, with no fancy alloys, that out-cuts a whole BUNCH of "modern" steel knives that were made with ease of manufacture as the top criteria for steel choice by the maker...
I can also make a knife out of steels that no mass-market maker would touch because they are a rat bastige to grind... (S7 comes to mind.. makes a very good rough-use knife, but I'd spend $300 on grinding belts getting it shaped. )

Still tough to beat "old fashioned" O1 oil hardening, not-stainless, steel for a knife if properly heat treated. There's better steels, sure.. but O1 makes a VERY good knife if heat treated right, and cared for right.

Racer X wrote:
The true bottom line, and I am sure any engineers here will back me up, is if the manufacturer spent the time and money to properly heat treat the steel. You can use an older alloy, with a mediocre rep, and heat treat it in a masterful way, and get fantastic results.

[Racer X]

I have a custom made knife that was given to my dad back in the '60s. Blade is made out of a file. So hard and heat treated so properly, it rings when you hit the spine with a screwdriver blade.

[RAMd®d]

I tried.

Really, I *really* tried to resist. But I've been looking for a new knife. If you didn't provide a code, I might have made it.

I got a freebie from a vendor, but it was cheap and the clip was on the wrong side and wrong end.

That orange is the new black. I really like it but finally went for something more subtle. I prefer the tanto over drop or clip points, but theirs didn't do anything for me. If I'm ever in OR again, I'll get the Barrage in orange/black and maybe yellow/black. (Tax and shipping to CA).

I only have two fixed blade knives, one my old Ka-Bar, the other an M-9. Of all my folders, only one doesn't have a serrated portion- my old 110 Buck. I still have it somewhere. If you ever have to cut nylon, like a rope or seatbelt, or a line, you'll appreciate even a tiny serrated blade portion.

So, uh, thanks. I think.

[Grateful11]

Racer X wrote:
I have a custom made knife that was given to my dad back in the '60s. Blade is made out of a file. So hard and heat treated so properly, it rings when you hit the spine with a screwdriver blade.

You probably also tempered it enough that it doesn't break. A file is quite brittle, I vividly remember
slamming one down on a wooden workbench when I was about 15 years old and it shattered into about
gazillion pieces. I used to have quite a bad temper but learned to control it.

When I say tempered the steel you're actually stabilizing and softening it enough to not be so brittle. So many
times I hear people say, "don't get a hardened piece of steel too hot you'll take the temper out" when you're
actually putting temper into it. Took two quarters of Metallurgy at Tech. over 30 years ago. Have done
case-hardening, oil hardening, water hardening and air hardening in which we would seal a piece of air
hardening steel in stainless steel foil before going into the furnace so the that the carbon in a piece of A2
steel doesn't get lost in the heating process, if I remember that correctly.

http://www.buffaloprecision.com/data_she...ets_cp.htm

[john dough]

In reply to http://forums.macresource.com/read.php?1...sg-1893030

RAMd®d wrote:


I tried.

Really, I *really* tried to resist. But I've been looking for a new knife. If you didn't provide a code, I might have made it.

I got a freebie from a vendor, but it was cheap and the clip was on the wrong side and wrong end.

That orange is the new black. I really like it but finally went for something more subtle. I prefer the tanto over drop or clip points, but theirs didn't do anything for me. If I'm ever in OR again, I'll get the Barrage in orange/black and maybe yellow/black. (Tax and shipping to CA).

I only have two fixed blade knives, one my old Ka-Bar, the other an M-9. Of all my folders, only one doesn't have a serrated portion- my old 110 Buck. I still have it somewhere. If you ever have to cut nylon, like a rope or seatbelt, or a line, you'll appreciate even a tiny serrated blade portion.

So, uh, thanks. I think.

If you were going to get a knife and wanted to save some cash, I am glad that I can help you. I have liked orange for many, many years (lifetime SF Giants fan, here - rooting since 1975, so not a bandwagon fan) and I like the look of the black blade as well (just like your choice).

That knife you picked looks cool, but I would be nervous to lose it in the dirt, The added bonus of a "bright" colored knife (to me) is that it stands out against a variety of backgrounds (one friend has a fluorescent yellow knife he uses when camping).

You're welcome?