I thought it might be interesting if we take a look at each of the major knife brands (Benchmade, Buck, Boker, Cold Steel, CRKT, Gerber, KAI, Leatherman, SOG, Spyderco, and Victorinox) and see where they are, what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong, brand-wise. I am a strongly brand agnostic person, avoiding cheerleading and outward signs of brand loyalty (no, I don't want a patch with my knife, just get me the knife please). This is a mix of fact and opinion. The company history and the product line history are fact (or as close as I can get without financial data). The company's direction is opinion, as are which products are favorites.

Background

Benchmade is a relatively small company, still properly considered a specialty manufacturer in the knife industry. It is probably one of the largest of the small companies, but it is not close to the size of KAI or Gerber (Fiskar).

Benchmade Knife Company, Inc. began life as Bali-Song, making balisongs in California in the late 1970s. In the 1980s they changed their name to the Pacific Cutlery Company. Eventually they moved to Oregon and became known as Benchmade Knife Company. Benchmade is an entirely privately held company and thus there is no official documentation of their revenue or number of employees. Most business investor evaluation sites have Benchmade's annual revenue pinned at between $20-$50 million a year and their staff as being something between 75-150 people.

Benchmade has been run since the beginning by Les De Asis and his wife Roberta. Over time Les has been involved in the day to day operations of the company or had a person with business school training do the day to day stuff while he managed big picture things. Currrently, Les is doing day to day work. Inside the industry Les is known as a very affable person with a good knowledge of knives and someone that is particularly keen on learning more about business and management at the highest level.

Benchmade's US manufacturing is in Oregon. In 2011 they expanded their production facility to 55,000 total square feet and the entire facility is LEED Gold Certified (LEED is an architectural environmental certification that stands for Leadership in Energy and Enivronmental Design; it is very prestigious and Gold, while below the pinnacle of Platinum certification, is an accomplishment).

Benchmade's Line Up

Benchmade makes folding knives, a few balisongs, a few autos, some fixed blades and one set of kitchen knives. They sell pens as well. These are of the tactical/Fisher refill variety. They have a few safety cutters in their line up too. Of course they sell a bunch of branded hats, t-shirts, and sweatshirts.

Benchmade makes or has made knives under a few different labels. First, they have the main brand, Benchmade. All of those knives (in their three product classes--Blue, Black, and Gold) are made in the US by Benchmade, not, to my knowledge, by an OEM. They also produce H&K branded knives. These knives are produced overseas by an OEM, and though it is not clear where, the steels used, 8CR, 9CR, and D2, indicate Chinese origins. They used to have the Harley Davidson brand, but that license was not continued and now HD knives are produced by Case.

Benchmade's product line has been a jumbled mess for years now. Entire lines are phased out, new "brands" invented, pushed, and then dropped. And they have acquired brands only to kill them. Following what is a Benchmade product and what is an OEM product sold by Benchmade has become VERY difficult.

A few years ago the main line had four product cases--Red, Blue, Black, and Gold. Red Class knives were overseas produced and were entry level knives. Red line knives have been discontinued with a few models being integrated into the Blue line or the H&K line. Blue Class knives were USA Made and were higher end, general use cutlery. Black Class knives were also USA Made and were designed for "tactical" use. Gold Class knives are highly embellished versions of other Benchmade knives, except for the kitchen knife set, which is exclusive to the Gold Class.

In addition to the three classes and the licensed brand, in recent years Benchmade has launched not one but two hunting focused lines and it purchased an outdoor centered brand, Lone Wolf. The initial hunting launch was a collaboration with the Bone Collector brand, which is better known for its hunting gear. After a few years the collaboration ended. The following year Benchmade launched its own sub-brand, Benchmade Hunt. That brand has a selection of fixed blades and folders many with traditional looking materials (Dymondwood handles) and some nail knick openers.

Benchmade has also had collaborations with other higher end product brands. They produced a knife case with Gerstner (it was hideous--they decided to stain Gerstner's traditional honey oak a bright blue). They are currently producing a co-branded version of the Valet with Shinola.

Benchmade's main designers are in-house or at least brand exclusive folks like Warren Osborne and Joe Pardue. Their external collaborations have been top notch. They have knives designed by Shane Seibert, Allen Elishewitz, and Ken Stiegerwalt among others.

Benchmade also offers a service that allows customers to choose a wide variety of parts and features on some of Benchmade's best selling knives such as either Griptillian or the Barrage. In addition to choosing colors the customer can even choose the steel used. The service, in my experience, was very good and only a small premium over a stock version of the knife.

Best Designs

Benchmade's best seller is either of the two Griptillian designs, either the full sized Griptillian or the MiniGriptillian.

We don't have sales data for any company so this is a guess. Both are available in a wide variety of configurations. These are very solid designs and among the best knives in their price range or for the size. The only drawback, or at least the most common complaint, is that the handles feel plasticky or hollow. I like both, but the Mini Grip is the sweet spot for me. The Barrage and the Mini Barrage are also very good knives, though I prefer the thumb hole opener on the Mini Grip. I like the Valet as well and it is probably the best EDC knife in the entire Benchmade line up. Lots of folks that like bigger EDC knives rejoice for the 940 and my 940-1 is one of my all time favorite blades.

The 940-1 might be the best Benchmade folder ever made.

Folks have high praise for the Benchmade balisongs and some of the out of production versions go for massive premiums on the secondary market. Similarly both Infidel models, their OTF switchblades, are well regarded. Having handled some of the balisongs and both the regular and min Infidel I can say with confidence that their good reputations are well deserved.

There are two out of production blades worth highlighting--the AFCK and the Aphid. Both are truly awesome. Some folks like the Blackwood collabs--the Ruckus and the Skirmish--but having handled both I can tell you both are underwhelming and not worth chasing down. The AFCK on the other hand is worth chasing down, but collectors and users know how awesome it is and they rarely come up on the secondary market.

Brand Strengths

Benchmade's machining is some of the best in the business. They can do just about anything. Their grinds are good, their handles are uniformly excellent. They don't have the bleeding edge capacity of Lionsteel or the top flight fit and finish of Chris Reeve or Al Mar, but they can do just about anything with a CNC machine.

The Axis lock, a Benchmade exclusive (at least in theory, there are three or four variants that function identically and of course there are rip offs), is very good. I don't think it is as strong as the Tri Ad lock, but it is plenty strong for anything you'd do with a folder.

Benchmade, by in large, has a conservative approach to knife design, which is good when it comes to blade shapes. All of their blade shapes are very solid, simple designs. The worst you get is a silly swedge here or a missing ricasso there.

Benchmade also does a very good job of choosing custom collaborators. Their stuff with Shane Seibert, except for the Pocket Rocket, has been amazing. Similarly their Elishewitz designs have been very good (love me the tan Ares) and the Steigerwalt stuff is just classic (the Torrent). They need to reach out more often, but the people they pick are usually very talented.

Benchmade has a very strong brand, especially outside of the knife world. For many folks, LEO/Mil/EMT types, Benchmade is synonmyous with "best knife". The LEOs I have encountered at work all talk to me about Benchmades once my secret identity as the writer of this blog is revealed.

Brand Weaknesses

Their conservative approach to knife design results is a huge number of knives that look and feel the same. Aside from some small variation in size or blade shape there are about twenty knives in the Benchmade line up that are essentially interchangeable. The fanatic devotion to the Axis lock and the love of thumbstuds means there are just too many knives that are too similar. The one flipper in the line up, the 300SN, is just awful.

The product line's shifting image is also a strong detriment to the overall brand. The more brands Benchmade starts, stops, and buries, the harder it is for consumers to figure out what Benchmade itself stands for. The use of OEMs and production of sub-brand knives, like H&K, has been handled very poorly and this confusion means that promises like "Made in the USA," which means a lot to some consumers, including me, are diluted. This is the easiest problem for Benchmade to fix. BE CLEAR. BE CONSISTENT.

Benchmade's prices, until the last year or so, have also been much higher than equivalent knives from other companies. The so-called Benchmade Tax is real--there are more than a few knives that cost over $100 that run 154CM. Three knives seem to be reversing that trend though, and let's hope it continues. The Valet and the two 1095 choppers were both among the cheapest knives in their class, given the materials. Neither were cheap, they were just very competitive.

Finally, Benchmade doesn't seem to follow trends or customer wants very well. The lack of a framelock flipper is conspicuous when compared to KAI, Spyderco, or CRKT's offerings. They are not really paying attention. Their Axis lock variant excited no one and the choppers while good designs and priced well, are definitely me too products. Benchmade needs to start paying attention to what people want.

Trending: Mostly Down

Benchmade's Valet is one of my favorite new knives this year, but it has been a very long time since that has been true. And the Valet is not exactly breaking new ground. It is just a solid design. Among knife enthusiasts, few if any knives in the Benchmade line up are exciting. Many are very good, but none capture the communities attention the way some of the ZT offerings have in the last few years. Their absence from the podium at Blade Show indicates that others in the industry feel the same way. This is a good brand, with world class capacity, but no direction and little indication that they are paying attention to the market. Only the Valet and the choppers give me hope that they are trying to be relevant. They have been the clearest loser in the Golden Age of Gear arms race--as KAI, Spyderco, and CRKT took off, Benchmade is still plugging away with its 40 or so Axis knives that are all basically the same.