Home Forums Gear Knives and Blades Benchmade destroys guns

The city police may have screwed Benchmade over a helpful neighbor favor, but...

Will people remember in 2 years and buy the knives anyways.

Are people still buying Nike shoes?

I won't and I'll be a reminder at every chance.

This looks like Cooper arms all over again.

The owner of Benchmade is giving money to most every democrat in the country.

Those were guns seized without due process.


I do not buy Levi jeans, as part of the profit goes to anti gun organizations.

Benchmade is looking just as bad.

I finally stopped at a benchmade retailer and looked at the stuff and got the sales pitch, but didn't buy any.

They seem way over priced in the first place much less this deal.

I just bought 6 today... Great knives!!!

Moneybags.

Wow.

And im hesitant to buy one at $191.

For yourself or gifts?

Models you bought?

Over priced compared to what?

Spyderco.
Buck
????

the reality is its a pocket knife that has a high probability of getting lost or broken.
The designs seemed nice with good steels, but its not worth the 2-3X premium to me.

If you're going to cut alot on the job... you're going to use a razor blade knife anyways and not waste YOUR time at home sharpening your knife.

Depends upon the model. The three Spyderco's I just bought all cost more than the two Benchmarks I purchased.

True on spyderco's getting spendy.

I bought two 25 years ago (delica and provenator) and replaced the delica 2 times because of losing them. The last delica has been with me for 18 years so I am getting better at not losing it.

Working in manufacturing (machining, fab, plastic).. I look at the cost of the materials and find it over priced for the performance of a simple tool.

You would spend $1,500,000 for a pickup if benchmade built them.

But I am making these comments in a formum of knife enthusiasts that may not see my side.

I'll admit I liked the benchmade Foray 698 when I handled it.

Well Buck is junk. But Spydeco is quality. Have you compared apples to apples? Because Spyderco and Benchmade run pretty even price wise. I get the feeling you are comparing apples to oranges. I use a knife everyday at work, From scraping ProSeal, to stripping wires, to whittling wood formers. I sharpen my knife on the job when needed, Not a big deal. Your comments are not realistic. You go from talking about knives to a $1,500,000 pickup. Focus here and bring it back to reality. If you want to use a utility knife or razor blade so be it. But you make a comment that Benchmade is over priced with zero backing evidence. I question you compared to what and you list two brands. One that is worth comparing and the other not. Yet the one you choose to compare it to that is worth comparing is in the same price points. Seems to me you just want to be a squeaky wheel.

I took a spin through the spyderco website and there are very expensive knives, but several are under $100. I didn't see a single benchmade under $100 and most over $200+ which is why I think they are overpriced.

A little bit of plastic or g10 handles is trivial and powder metal parts are cheap which is what most benchmade knives have.

If you compared the cost of a small transmission or gear case with higher grade steels, milling, hobbing, broaching, grinding, and heat treating and then look at a bench made pocket knife.... You would understand the cost comparisons.

The analogy of Buck is its a USA company in the neighboring state as Benchmade. I'm sure the labor standards are similar in the region. Maybe Buck is union, but I doubt if benchmade is because they let cops in to cut guns.

But wrapping back to the original post...

People can be pissed at Benchmade for cutting up guns and may stop buying products for a while and hurt their profits for one or two quarters, but people will forget.

A similar situation.... I'm sure Nike shoes has rebounded quite well.

And they are selling overpriced $3 Chinese made shoes.

You are not paying X amount of dollars for the sum of the parts of the knife. You are buying a knife that is backed by a warranty and LifeSharp, need or want it or not it's all part of the deal. That cost something, and there is a value to a lot of their customers. Like all businesses they have machines to buy and maintain, lights to keep on, employees to pay, and marketing and other expenses. In my opinion BenchMade puts out a good quality knife with great backing at a reasonable price.

You bring valid points in there and I will speak to the manufacturing since you requested a break down earlier.

The knife materials are called "direct materials" in the cost equation.
"Indirect materials" are stuff like oil and shop supplies related to the product, but not technically part of it.
"Fixed over head" is the is the cost of the machines and buildings. They don't fluctuate and get standard set once a year.
"Variable overhead" is items related to making the parts like energy cost, SG&A (engineers, salesman, marketing, etc., etc.
You can have direct and indirect labor in there too.
The warranty money is a portion set aside out of profit margin
Life sharp is buried in projected warranty costs too.

The customer pays for all the costs the retailer & distributors (plus shipping sometimes) tack onto it.

Now for cost comparison, I'll go back to Buck because its a Pacific northwest manufacturer based in the USA that sells USA made products in the mix.
You can buy a brass & 420HC steel Buck 110 for $40 or less and it has a warranty & sharpening program attached to it. They make millions of them so they have the costs in line.
You will pay about $100 for a buck 110 with S30v steel and different materials so you are paying for premium materials and low production volumes. You are still paying a premium for the product and not really the materials . Go to bucks custom 110 website app and you can price what each material upgrade is for yourself.

S30V steel and heat treating will vary from shop to shop, but its still done to industry standards. Buck can probably do it cheaper because they can pay for their PM tooling and heat treating and may have proprietary processes.

So looking at similar labor standards in a region for one knife company to sell the buck 110 with premium materials for $100 and comparing to a benchmade smaller lighter (less material and steel weight) product for $200+ is why I feel they are overpriced.

We won't agree on it so my opinion is Benchmade puts out a good product with similar warranty backing & sharpening services at a PREMIUM price compared to other USA brands.

Will Benchmade cutting up guns from a "gun buy back" or "crime confiscated" guns hurt them... probably not.
If those guns were from "red flag" laws... that could piss off people depending on how their law is administrated. That's a problem for the people of Oregon.

I'm sure Benchmades customer base of non-shooters is quite large and people will forget about the police department facebook screw up soon enough. Benchmade will still make a pile of money on their products no matter what us shooters do.

Ok you are just retarded. Nothing anyone here can do to help you.

Nope. I'm more educated and experienced about about manufacturing and product design than you.

We can apply the tire changing analogy to this.

You probably think you can change a car tire pretty fast, but then you watch NASCAR and realize you are really slow and not properly equipped.

You're in the cinder block class.

For example, if I walked out into my shop and saw you using a pocket knife to strip wire, I would give you the right tool which is a wire stripper.
I wouldn't tolerate you working on my equipment using the wrong tool, giving poor results at a slow pace while risking you cutting yourself making false workman's comp claims.

But you are proud our using your $200 pocket knife to strip wire.

While I promote the guys that do a better work faster.

I can strip wires plenty fast and safe in the middle of a wire bundle that you ain't getting your wire strippers in. I don't have the luxury of a big wide-open shop, I work usually in tight confined spaces.

Your cheap little NASCAR wouldn't even cover the expense of my rotor head. But I like how you try to talk about everything but the knife!

My knife ain't $200, try less than $100. I know it takes skill to use it, sorry you and your guys have none. By the way never in my 29 years working have I ever filed any claims.

Funny you know my education and experience! Please tell.

I own every tool I need to do my job, something you won't see in my industry. From Cold Working Kit, Huck and Cherry Guns and heads to stretcher/shrinker, and English Wheel.

Though the position I am in now I am just a TI so don't need many tools at the moment. But thanks for your concern.

Anyways it is your story tell it how you want to hear it. Can we get back to the knives now?

Interesting rebuttal MCH.

Im sure you are quite skilled at jamming your knife into a wire bundle and stripping wire for what ever reason you do that. It tends to make make stray insulation piercings that cause arching issues or wire corrosion issues later causing machine breakdowns. I'm sure you're a rocket surgeon in your ability though.

You missed the NASACR analogy completely. Reading comprehension didn't come through. I'm sure your rotors are quite pretty and over priced compared to the NASCAR Car I never said I owned...

Back to knife discussion? You have yet to come up with anything technical why a benchmade knife can justify the 2-3X cost over other brands. Similar steels and body materials don't justify it, but you have a great warranty and sharpening service. Benchmade makes sooo damn much money on the product that they just send you a new one or deny the warranty claim for misuse and abuse. Other manufacturers have similar policies because generally a properly used knife doesn't break, most people sharpen their own knives, and the maker gambles you will never make a claim. Benchmade just got their money out of you when you paid the price versus the cashier asking you if you want to pay for the extended warranty.

In the end, you haven't provided me anything convincing me why benchmade knives bring the premium price over a spyderco or other makes. Everyone justifies their purchases in their minds and I maintain my position they are over priced for the value they provide.

I also think you're a LW type guy and I'll leave it there.