This knife caught my attention due mainly to the red anodised finish it comes in. I already own the smaller 773 Osborne with a 154CM blade. This knife was a natural companion for it. Slightly larger and with the different blade steel. It is certainly a great looking folder.

Another collaboration knife designed by Warren Osborne and built by Benchmade.

Knife Blade

The blade of this knife is 3.12" (79.25mm) long and is made from D2 tool steel. This is a so called semi-stainless steel as the Chromium content is only 12% and not the required 13% for true stainless. Best to be careful how you care for it after cutting anything potentially harmful then.

D2 is renowned for excellent edge holding properties and is often used for machine blades on industrial cutting machines. Good choice for a knife blade. Great for any hard use blade.

Blade Hardness is Quoted at 58-60 HRC pretty much the average for this type of knife blade.

D2 is usually provided from Benchmade with a protective finish or coating. On this model however it is a plain polished blade. Very pleasing to the eye. I have to keep reminding myself to wipe the finger marks off the blade when I've been using it. I've mainly been using the Sentry Solutions Tuff Cloth for this.

The Blade shape is a modified drop point. It has a false non sharpened top edge which lightens the whole blade and gives it a distinctive shape. The top edge is also shaped and curved with only the rear part maintaining the full thickness.

The rear part also contains the ambidextrous thumb studs.

The edge as supplied is shaving sharp. With this thinish blade design I think this blade will be excellent for slicing and letter opening. :-) Overall a very nice blade design. It should be reasonably easy to sharpen as well due to the D2 which is not as difficult as some of the uber blades steels such as S90V.

Lock

The lock on this knife is the benchmade AXIS lock designed by Bill McHenry and Jason Williams. This is one of my favourite mechanism for locking the blade of a folder. It is so positive and rock solid. The US patent number is marked on the side of the blade and is 5,737,841.

I won't go into the full details as the linked articles above say it so much better. But I do like the way the stainless steel lock liners are set a long way into the scales and extend a long way back. This will give excellent resistance to the rotational force applied to the lock by closing forces. I have absolute confidence in the lock which cannot be said of all the other mechanisms I have seen to stop you inadvertently folding the blade.

Handle

The handle material is aluminium alloy. I am not sure of the exact alloy used but I am sure it won't be pure aluminium as that would be too soft.

It has sections that have been milled out and replaced with G10. This works really well and transforms what could have been a boring design into one that looks quite elegant. The thin ends of the insert have a Torx set screw and two different sized ball bearings. The torx screws hold the AXIS lock mechanism plates in position. I think the ball bearings are just for effect, but they do add to the feel on the knife in your hand.

The design has a flat spine section sloping down to a more rounded tail on the heel on the handle. The gap between the two scales is filled with a dark coloured alloy spacer. This has a stepped pattern and is inset from the edges of the handle.

I love the red anodised finish on the scales. I do worry that it will show every single little scratch. But I tend to baby everything I own. So I am not too worried of it damaged. letter and box opening is hardly super hard use! You can buy other versions with different finishes. These may well suit your needs better.

Clip

The pocket clip is designed for right or left handed use. With the blade set up for tip up carry. The clip is attached via three torx screws. It can be swapped to the opposite side which has three tapped holes ready and waiting. This obviously requires the use of a T6 torx tool. I have a cheap folding set of these tools but really should invest in a better made set. Benchmade have their own Blue Box torx-like kit but I don't know what the quality is like?

Operation

This knife is very smooth to open. The thumb studs make one handed opening easy and predictable. This knife is brand new and still a little tight. I think it needs a little bedding in time and possibly a little tweek to the blade pivot screw. I am not going to do this until it has had at lease several hundred more open close cycles. It won't snap open with a flick of the wrist. Possibly not a great idea anyway for preserving the pivot lifespan. But fun anyway! ;-) I'll try again after a few more cycles

Another great Benchmade folder. I am pretty much sold on the quality of these knives. I look forward to future designs with interest. A nice affordable ZDP189 steel version with the AXIS lock would be a good seller I think?

Manufacturer:- www.benchmade.com

Dealer:- www.newgraham.com

UK Sales :- www.heinnie.com

More info this and other knives here

www.britishblades.com