Your description of the mechanics of an axis style lock was excellent. I never quite understood how the detent worked on these sort of locks like the axis, caged ball bearing and scorpion lock but now I do! Thanks!
Agreed! I'm assuming they removed it due to supply chain issues (it took way longer than originally quoted because they were themselves waiting on the scales to be finished), so hopefully it'll be back once things catch back up.
I opted for Flytanium scales for mine. I ordered them before I bought the bugout because I knew the plastic scales were not going to cut it for me. One of the nice things about the bugout being a bit ubiquitous is that there is a strong aftermarket for every piece of it. At this point I've replaced everything but the blade pivot and standoffs on mine and I'm looking for a quality made anodized pivot at this point.
Yeah, it's wild just how much you can Ship-of-Theseus the bugout. With folks like @transparentknives offering full reblades, the only part I _haven't_ see available aftermarket is the steel liners themselves. And hell, *somebody* has to offer that, right? My personal favorite aftermarket bugout scales are the Rockscale "Critter" scales -- I just love that milling pattern! But the newer "Crossfade" ones Flytanium does are next-level for sure. But regardless of which ones you go for, I definitely think swapping the scales is a requirement on the Bugout for a lot of people, and definitely for me if I were to ever get one!
@@KnifeNerdery I have not seen any aftermarket liners either. I suppose someone could make some titanium ones or go crazy and go with some Vanex ones. I am not sure you would notice much outside concerns over rusting your liners in very wet conditions.
Excellent review on those particular titanium scales used by Benchmade. I was debating on buying one myself. PS: love thin blade stocks, because they cut great.
Yeah, that's a good tip for folks -- many knives don't have additional body screws at the front, but a lot of AXIS-lock knives do, and those definitely impact the overall tension at the front of the knife. Casper ended up opting for the "let it break in slowly at full tension" approach. I don't have the patience for that and definitely tune all of my knives immediately! 😝
Try a stubby screwdriver. You'll get more torque. My M390 aluminum one was very tight too. Got it drop shutty after some work. I polished the washers which seemed to help. The scale screws seem to have alot to do with the action not just the pivot. Primarily the one closest to the pivot.
Yeah -- after the video I was indeed able to turn it with a stubby screwdriver, but I synced with Casper on what he wanted, and he asked me to not mess with it any more than that. He said he wanted to break it in the slow way. For my own knives, I do what you said: tune the pivot tension and body screw tension and polish the washers!
I love the titanium. I wonder how much it set your friend back to order in that particular fabrication with the 20cv. It's nice enough that I wonder why Benchmade doesn't have this configuration as a prefixed offering. Coincidentally, I recently purchased my first Bugout (a particular retailer is having a nice sale). It's nice. Better out of the box than my Mini Osborne. It has the plastic scales and what I always thought was an unartful designed molded texture for grip. With the coated blade and black scales it's not a bad look. I don't know if there are actual advances in the composition of plastic but they went from just calling it nylon, to grivory (sounds too much like gravy to me), to CF Elite (which isn't carbon fiber). There's a nice rigidity, and a texture on the black scales that has just a hint of play with the light, that does seem to be an improvement from the bendable plasticiness that I saw in older videos.
I checked, and this config came in at $340, so not cheap. But I absolutely agree with you -- it's so clean and nice with the Ti/20CV that it seems like it would be a very popular build! I think the main reason holding them back is supply chain issues. They apparently outsource the scales from a 3rd party factory (not surprising), and it took them _two months_ longer than they originally quoted (which was already a full month) to fulfill this order, entirely because they were waiting on these Ti scales to come in. They later completely removed them from the customizer tool, presumably for the same availability reason. Hopefully they return someday, because they really are a great option! And there actually _are_ some cool material advancements between the handle materials Benchamde (and others) use! "Nylon" is actually a family of thermoplastics (in this case polyamides), where Grivory is a name-brand and proprietary process for polyphthalamide, a specific _type_ of semi-crystalline nylon with better strength and temperature properties than others. Then came GRN (Glass-Reinforced Nylon)/GFN (Glass-Filled Nylon)/FRN (Fiberglass-Reinforced Nylon)/Zytol (a name brand), which are all different names for the same thing: nylon that has small strands of glass fiber infused into it to increase the strength, but at the cost of slightly higher weight. This is conceptually similar, but quite distinct from G10, which also uses fiberglass, but this time layered sheets of fiberglass that are thermo-compressed with resin epoxy, rather than nylon. "CF Elite" is then Benchamde's trade name for CFRN (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Nylon), an extension of FRN that still uses nylon, but where the fiberglass strands have been replaced with carbon fiber strands, reducing the weight back down and dramatically increasing the strength further. True carbon fiber handles, then, are conceptually more similar to G10, as they consist of layers of material thermo-compressed with (in this case a different type of) resin, but where the fiberglass sheets have been replaced with sheets of woven carbon fibers. Micarta is also conceptually the same thing (a layered-substrate thermo-compressed resin material), but with yet again different types of resin, and the fiberglass/carbon fiber sheets replaced with natural cloth fabrics. Even stabilized plywoods like pakkawood are conceptually very similar to G10, CF, and Micarta, just with the layered material being thin plies of wood and different blends of resins used. This is evidenced further with paper micartas such as Paperstone and Richlite, where the sheets of wood are literal paper (compressed wood pulp) rather than shaved plies of solid wood. Meanwhile, "marble" and "shred" carbon fibers are conceptually a cross between CFRN and standard, woven carbon fiber: small individual strands of carbon fiber (in the case of shred, or the swirlier marble varieties), or small patches of woven carbon fibers (in the case of the splotchier marble varieties) are randomly dispersed through the material, just like in CFRN, but still with resins rather than nylon. All of these have some material advantage over the others, be it strength, weight, cost, or even just aesthetics. A lot of these materials were originally developed for the industrial manufacturing industry, where thermal and electrical insulation properties often matter (G10 and micarta, for example, were originally used for electrical insulation in high voltage applications), but have no relevance in knife handles. This is probably something I should make a whole video on, huh.
@@KnifeNerdery This is good knowledge. I think if you made the video on the topic it would be the seminal work on knife scales. Even your explanation in the comments was more informative than the treatment that I've seen elsewhere.
I'd love to see you check out a Two Sun. Ive handled/sharpened a ton but just bought my first (ts305-m390). The overall package is... fine, but as someone with a level of attention to detail that borders on obsessive, I was amused (to put it nicely) when I disassembled it.
Oh whoa, that just reminded me!!! Shoot! A guy actually sent me a TwoSun (TS129) to check out -- a generous donation to the channel, no less! But it arrived at a time when I was _swamped_ with other stuff, so I set it aside, and it must have gotten lost in the pile of empty boxes I keep to ship knives back out. I totally forgot about that! 😬 I gotta go dig that up and open it up!! 😅 I've never handled one before, but from watching videos on them, they seem to vary a lot in how ambitious they're trying to be. What was going on inside? Also it sounds like you sharpen knives for others? Just friends/family, or do you do it professionally?
@@KnifeNerdery There's a couple issues but the biggest one is the internal stop pin. They went for the "pin inset in the blade, channel cut into the liners" style and instead of doing it like Spyderco (precision milled, removable pins) or Stedemon (threaded like a thumbstud) or literally every other company (pin forced through an infinitesimally smaller hole) they used a pin way smaller than the hole and just peened it to get a rivet type effect. That resulted in a flared end that basically uses a large burr as the contact point against the channel in the liner when locked. The lockbar insert was also peened to give it a temporary, artificial early lock up. As dumb as that is, I completely understand why they did it and thats a whole different issue. After a few hard openings, it settled into ~30% lockup and hasn't moved since so that caused no real problem. The stop pin will cause a real problem if I don't fix it, though. Those issues aside, I actually really like the knife. The m390 seems to be suprisingly well heat treated, and I'm lucky enough to have access to equipment that makes the stop pin issue a simple fix. I guess I do enough sharpening to call it a side-business. I started out just sharpening for family and coworkers, but I've built up a small customer base mostly consisting of people I've sold knives to that liked the edges they came with. I've never gone out of my way to attract customers, yet I've also never had any shortage either.
Knives like the one and the Elementum and Native 5 are of wide appeal, and make me think of the recent Zac and Ben video on "Why do your knives all look alike?" Broad appeal/acceptance mean something, and of course affordability has a strong effect. I did find it fun to see you having to admit the knife was better than expected, sort of like watching someone at the animal shelter fall in love with a mutt completely not like the dog they thought they'd pick! LOL!
Hahahahah I love that analogy. The Ti scales really do make a *big* impact on how the knife feels overall -- much more rigid and precise feeling, on top of feeling a lot more premium.
I had my doubts about the bugout til i got one for 100$. Then i put the aluminum archon scales from applied weapons tech on it and its incredible! Its a must. The scales solve alot of issues.
I tried the configuration tool this morning andI guess they no longer offer titanium? There wasn’t much customization available. “What kind of plastic do ya want? Can we interest you in s90v? You want a black blade or hardware? Okay.” Not even a stonewash option.
😂 Yeah, their customizer has never really offered _that_ much flexibility, but they do take stuff out even further based on availability. This particular one took 8wk longer than initially quoted due to supply chain problems on those Ti scales themselves. Sounds like the issues got even worse, so they just disabled that option altogether for now.
I’m just curious how you customized a bugout in 20CV and titanium?!? I have never came across those options in their customizer in all the times I looked at their website. It’s always been S30V or S90V and glass-filled nylon or grivory or G10 or carbon fiber for as long as I can remember. And I know for a fact that I was looking at the options around the same time this video was published, as well as many times way before July 12, 2022. I’ve just never came across those options… I’m wondering if it’s a geographic thing, since you’re in Oregon and I am not, maybe?
Yeah, there was a long delay between ordering (Jan 14) and receiving (May 17), and then an equally long time between then and editing/posting this video (July 12). Sounds like these config options were long gone at that point! 😥
@@KnifeNerdery yep, thanks for replying, sorry to waste your time.. I should have just read a little bit more before asking.. the answers were already there right in front of me! The custom shop is getting less and less “custom” as time goes on it seems.. well, have a great day and October!
Haha, yeah, they pull stuff periodically based on availability, and supply chain issues are still ravaging the knife industry. This particular build took an additional 8wk on top due to dreadful supply chain issues on the Ti scales themselves. I'm sure those and other options will return to the customizer eventually, but who knows when!
I only own 3 benchmades, the Fact, a super freek and the bugout 535-3 (s90v and carbon) if you don't like bugouts because the frn trust me the 535-3 will change your mind.
Hahaha I've been meaning to use that more in my videos. Even with the phone mount on the trinoc port, it's still kinda hard to capture things on video -- the zoom isn't quite equivalent to what's visible through the eye pieces, and everything is inverted. But I'll be able to set the scope up in a more permanent position in my new office, so hopefully that'll make it easier to figure out!
@@KnifeNerdery that sounds awesome! I love when you go deep with the small details! I’m sure it’s not easy and probably a pain to do but stuff like that really sets your channel apart from all the chatter. I can’t say that no one gets the smallest details on camera, maybe there’s another out there, probably the closest thing to that is Beez Blades with his “texture vision”, which I appreciate, but you’d take it to a whole new level! There’s probably tons of ideas that you could bring to life, but I get it if the juice isn’t worth the squeeze. Just wanted to let you know I appreciated that microscope part and was ridiculously cool! Thanks man and keep up the great work, I’ll be watching whatever you film! (But not in like a creepy way..) haha
Did this bug out come from Benchmade with the titanium scales or those just aftermarket titanium scales? You may have said it in the video I may have totally missed it LOL
Jesse is correct -- this was a build done using Benchmade's customizer tool. A couple other folks have commented that Ti scales and even the 20CV blade aren't currently available there. This particular build was delayed significantly due to supply chain problems on the Ti scales, so they've likely disabled those options altogether until their supply is sorted out again. But as you pointed out, there's definitely lots of aftermarket options out there! My personal favorite are Rockscale's "Critter" scales and Flytanium's "Crossfade".
Oh interesting thought! They feel *very* different -- these are crisp, clean, smooth, flat surfaces everywhere, while the tactiles are all about that texture, and all of the edges have a soft radius instead of a crisp chamfer.
Yeah, and they very rarely release Ti as a standard option -- that's usually something you _have_ to do through the customizer tool, if it's even an option there. I personally am often happy with G10 scales (if done well), but I absolutely cannot stand FRN, and odds are very high I won't want it if it's aluminum!
You mean how stiff it was? I wasn't expecting it to be loctited like that, but I'm pretty used to factory-fresh Benchmades (and heck, nearly all brands, it's just easier to notice on washer knives) to come overly tightened down. I do agree that something you order through the customizer should come pretty much perfect, given that it's by definition receiving more last-minute attention than normal production parts, but I guess tight action like this is just considered normal/acceptable?
@@KnifeNerdery I mean every detail of the assembly should be perfect. If loctite must be applied, then it should be an appropriate amount. Screws should be tightened to the correct torque. Blade centering, action smoothness, and every detail of the assembly should be better than standard production knives. Using this customizer tool results in a dramatically more expensive knife, in most cases and you want your customer to be completely satisfied after they committed to spending more money than an "off the self" version. I'm a fan of Benchmade, but their pricing has gotten seriously inflated in the last couple years and the quality of their product should reflect that. $180 for a flexy plastic grivory model is really disappointing. Adding custom features could get one of these easily north of $300. I recently received a grivory model as a Groomsmen gift and although the knife was perfectly assembled and operational, I was pretty let down to the "cheap" feel and look of this knife. My previous bugout was the carbon/blue hardware model and it was amazing. I think I paid around $200 for that knife a couple years ago.
@@eriknash8783 Yep, all good points and I agree with everything you said! I could never stomach the grivory ones -- even though I know there was a justification for using them for the ultra lightweight backpacking target audience, they definitely just feel cheap!
Your description of the mechanics of an axis style lock was excellent. I never quite understood how the detent worked on these sort of locks like the axis, caged ball bearing and scorpion lock but now I do! Thanks!
Awesome man, I hope this option becomes available again.
Agreed! I'm assuming they removed it due to supply chain issues (it took way longer than originally quoted because they were themselves waiting on the scales to be finished), so hopefully it'll be back once things catch back up.
Ok I guess those were options that they no longer offer. You must’ve ordered that quite a while back. You can disregard my first post, thanks!
It’s available again! Im sure u people know already lol
Nice detailed revirew! enjoyed it.
I'm glad I finally gave one in titanium a try!
I opted for Flytanium scales for mine. I ordered them before I bought the bugout because I knew the plastic scales were not going to cut it for me. One of the nice things about the bugout being a bit ubiquitous is that there is a strong aftermarket for every piece of it. At this point I've replaced everything but the blade pivot and standoffs on mine and I'm looking for a quality made anodized pivot at this point.
Yeah, it's wild just how much you can Ship-of-Theseus the bugout. With folks like @transparentknives offering full reblades, the only part I _haven't_ see available aftermarket is the steel liners themselves. And hell, *somebody* has to offer that, right?
My personal favorite aftermarket bugout scales are the Rockscale "Critter" scales -- I just love that milling pattern! But the newer "Crossfade" ones Flytanium does are next-level for sure.
But regardless of which ones you go for, I definitely think swapping the scales is a requirement on the Bugout for a lot of people, and definitely for me if I were to ever get one!
@@KnifeNerdery I have not seen any aftermarket liners either. I suppose someone could make some titanium ones or go crazy and go with some Vanex ones. I am not sure you would notice much outside concerns over rusting your liners in very wet conditions.
Excellent review on those particular titanium scales used by Benchmade. I was debating on buying one myself. PS: love thin blade stocks, because they cut great.
100% with you on the blade stock. My favorite knives are all thinner for that exact reason.
Loosen the two small t6 screws above the pivot it may help. They hold the stop pin but it doesn't rattle if you loosen a bit, at least not on my mine.
Yeah, that's a good tip for folks -- many knives don't have additional body screws at the front, but a lot of AXIS-lock knives do, and those definitely impact the overall tension at the front of the knife.
Casper ended up opting for the "let it break in slowly at full tension" approach. I don't have the patience for that and definitely tune all of my knives immediately! 😝
Try a stubby screwdriver. You'll get more torque. My M390 aluminum one was very tight too. Got it drop shutty after some work. I polished the washers which seemed to help. The scale screws seem to have alot to do with the action not just the pivot. Primarily the one closest to the pivot.
Yeah -- after the video I was indeed able to turn it with a stubby screwdriver, but I synced with Casper on what he wanted, and he asked me to not mess with it any more than that. He said he wanted to break it in the slow way. For my own knives, I do what you said: tune the pivot tension and body screw tension and polish the washers!
I love the titanium. I wonder how much it set your friend back to order in that particular fabrication with the 20cv. It's nice enough that I wonder why Benchmade doesn't have this configuration as a prefixed offering. Coincidentally, I recently purchased my first Bugout (a particular retailer is having a nice sale). It's nice. Better out of the box than my Mini Osborne. It has the plastic scales and what I always thought was an unartful designed molded texture for grip. With the coated blade and black scales it's not a bad look. I don't know if there are actual advances in the composition of plastic but they went from just calling it nylon, to grivory (sounds too much like gravy to me), to CF Elite (which isn't carbon fiber). There's a nice rigidity, and a texture on the black scales that has just a hint of play with the light, that does seem to be an improvement from the bendable plasticiness that I saw in older videos.
I checked, and this config came in at $340, so not cheap. But I absolutely agree with you -- it's so clean and nice with the Ti/20CV that it seems like it would be a very popular build! I think the main reason holding them back is supply chain issues. They apparently outsource the scales from a 3rd party factory (not surprising), and it took them _two months_ longer than they originally quoted (which was already a full month) to fulfill this order, entirely because they were waiting on these Ti scales to come in. They later completely removed them from the customizer tool, presumably for the same availability reason. Hopefully they return someday, because they really are a great option!
And there actually _are_ some cool material advancements between the handle materials Benchamde (and others) use! "Nylon" is actually a family of thermoplastics (in this case polyamides), where Grivory is a name-brand and proprietary process for polyphthalamide, a specific _type_ of semi-crystalline nylon with better strength and temperature properties than others. Then came GRN (Glass-Reinforced Nylon)/GFN (Glass-Filled Nylon)/FRN (Fiberglass-Reinforced Nylon)/Zytol (a name brand), which are all different names for the same thing: nylon that has small strands of glass fiber infused into it to increase the strength, but at the cost of slightly higher weight. This is conceptually similar, but quite distinct from G10, which also uses fiberglass, but this time layered sheets of fiberglass that are thermo-compressed with resin epoxy, rather than nylon. "CF Elite" is then Benchamde's trade name for CFRN (Carbon Fiber Reinforced Nylon), an extension of FRN that still uses nylon, but where the fiberglass strands have been replaced with carbon fiber strands, reducing the weight back down and dramatically increasing the strength further. True carbon fiber handles, then, are conceptually more similar to G10, as they consist of layers of material thermo-compressed with (in this case a different type of) resin, but where the fiberglass sheets have been replaced with sheets of woven carbon fibers. Micarta is also conceptually the same thing (a layered-substrate thermo-compressed resin material), but with yet again different types of resin, and the fiberglass/carbon fiber sheets replaced with natural cloth fabrics. Even stabilized plywoods like pakkawood are conceptually very similar to G10, CF, and Micarta, just with the layered material being thin plies of wood and different blends of resins used. This is evidenced further with paper micartas such as Paperstone and Richlite, where the sheets of wood are literal paper (compressed wood pulp) rather than shaved plies of solid wood. Meanwhile, "marble" and "shred" carbon fibers are conceptually a cross between CFRN and standard, woven carbon fiber: small individual strands of carbon fiber (in the case of shred, or the swirlier marble varieties), or small patches of woven carbon fibers (in the case of the splotchier marble varieties) are randomly dispersed through the material, just like in CFRN, but still with resins rather than nylon.
All of these have some material advantage over the others, be it strength, weight, cost, or even just aesthetics. A lot of these materials were originally developed for the industrial manufacturing industry, where thermal and electrical insulation properties often matter (G10 and micarta, for example, were originally used for electrical insulation in high voltage applications), but have no relevance in knife handles.
This is probably something I should make a whole video on, huh.
@@KnifeNerdery This is good knowledge. I think if you made the video on the topic it would be the seminal work on knife scales. Even your explanation in the comments was more informative than the treatment that I've seen elsewhere.
Awesome stuff. I've always wanted a bugout. The m390 and aluminum version is the one I would go with. Great video 👍
What color would you want the aluminum scales to be?
All of my Benchmades were stiff out of the box. Few hundred flips and they break in nicely.
That is ultimately the approach Casper chose -- he instructed me to not mess with the pivot any more, and he just let it break in naturally with use.
Agreed
I'd love to see you check out a Two Sun.
Ive handled/sharpened a ton but just bought my first (ts305-m390). The overall package is... fine, but as someone with a level of attention to detail that borders on obsessive, I was amused (to put it nicely) when I disassembled it.
Oh whoa, that just reminded me!!! Shoot! A guy actually sent me a TwoSun (TS129) to check out -- a generous donation to the channel, no less! But it arrived at a time when I was _swamped_ with other stuff, so I set it aside, and it must have gotten lost in the pile of empty boxes I keep to ship knives back out. I totally forgot about that! 😬 I gotta go dig that up and open it up!! 😅
I've never handled one before, but from watching videos on them, they seem to vary a lot in how ambitious they're trying to be. What was going on inside?
Also it sounds like you sharpen knives for others? Just friends/family, or do you do it professionally?
@@KnifeNerdery
There's a couple issues but the biggest one is the internal stop pin. They went for the "pin inset in the blade, channel cut into the liners" style and instead of doing it like Spyderco (precision milled, removable pins) or Stedemon (threaded like a thumbstud) or literally every other company (pin forced through an infinitesimally smaller hole) they used a pin way smaller than the hole and just peened it to get a rivet type effect. That resulted in a flared end that basically uses a large burr as the contact point against the channel in the liner when locked.
The lockbar insert was also peened to give it a temporary, artificial early lock up. As dumb as that is, I completely understand why they did it and thats a whole different issue. After a few hard openings, it settled into ~30% lockup and hasn't moved since so that caused no real problem. The stop pin will cause a real problem if I don't fix it, though.
Those issues aside, I actually really like the knife. The m390 seems to be suprisingly well heat treated, and I'm lucky enough to have access to equipment that makes the stop pin issue a simple fix.
I guess I do enough sharpening to call it a side-business. I started out just sharpening for family and coworkers, but I've built up a small customer base mostly consisting of people I've sold knives to that liked the edges they came with. I've never gone out of my way to attract customers, yet I've also never had any shortage either.
Cool review !
Knives like the one and the Elementum and Native 5 are of wide appeal, and make me think of the recent Zac and Ben video on "Why do your knives all look alike?" Broad appeal/acceptance mean something, and of course affordability has a strong effect. I did find it fun to see you having to admit the knife was better than expected, sort of like watching someone at the animal shelter fall in love with a mutt completely not like the dog they thought they'd pick! LOL!
Hahahahah I love that analogy. The Ti scales really do make a *big* impact on how the knife feels overall -- much more rigid and precise feeling, on top of feeling a lot more premium.
I had my doubts about the bugout til i got one for 100$. Then i put the aluminum archon scales from applied weapons tech on it and its incredible! Its a must. The scales solve alot of issues.
It's amazing how big an impact changing the scales can make!
Yeah I only loved the bugout once I got flytanium’s titanium crossfade scales for it
I tried the configuration tool this morning andI guess they no longer offer titanium? There wasn’t much customization available. “What kind of plastic do ya want? Can we interest you in s90v? You want a black blade or hardware? Okay.” Not even a stonewash option.
😂 Yeah, their customizer has never really offered _that_ much flexibility, but they do take stuff out even further based on availability. This particular one took 8wk longer than initially quoted due to supply chain problems on those Ti scales themselves. Sounds like the issues got even worse, so they just disabled that option altogether for now.
I’m just curious how you customized a bugout in 20CV and titanium?!? I have never came across those options in their customizer in all the times I looked at their website. It’s always been S30V or S90V and glass-filled nylon or grivory or G10 or carbon fiber for as long as I can remember. And I know for a fact that I was looking at the options around the same time this video was published, as well as many times way before July 12, 2022. I’ve just never came across those options… I’m wondering if it’s a geographic thing, since you’re in Oregon and I am not, maybe?
Yeah, there was a long delay between ordering (Jan 14) and receiving (May 17), and then an equally long time between then and editing/posting this video (July 12). Sounds like these config options were long gone at that point! 😥
@@KnifeNerdery yep, thanks for replying, sorry to waste your time.. I should have just read a little bit more before asking.. the answers were already there right in front of me! The custom shop is getting less and less “custom” as time goes on it seems.. well, have a great day and October!
Unfortunately they have removed TI from the customizer. Now benchmade serves no purpose to me again.
I don't see 20cv in steel selection either
@@aj2i18jx damasteel and carbon fiber too.
Haha, yeah, they pull stuff periodically based on availability, and supply chain issues are still ravaging the knife industry. This particular build took an additional 8wk on top due to dreadful supply chain issues on the Ti scales themselves.
I'm sure those and other options will return to the customizer eventually, but who knows when!
@@KnifeNerdery I'm hoping they add the mini bugout to the customizer list with TI scales. That will be cool.
I only own 3 benchmades, the Fact, a super freek and the bugout 535-3 (s90v and carbon) if you don't like bugouts because the frn trust me the 535-3 will change your mind.
P.S. I really enjoyed the microscopic segment!
Hahaha I've been meaning to use that more in my videos. Even with the phone mount on the trinoc port, it's still kinda hard to capture things on video -- the zoom isn't quite equivalent to what's visible through the eye pieces, and everything is inverted. But I'll be able to set the scope up in a more permanent position in my new office, so hopefully that'll make it easier to figure out!
@@KnifeNerdery that sounds awesome! I love when you go deep with the small details! I’m sure it’s not easy and probably a pain to do but stuff like that really sets your channel apart from all the chatter. I can’t say that no one gets the smallest details on camera, maybe there’s another out there, probably the closest thing to that is Beez Blades with his “texture vision”, which I appreciate, but you’d take it to a whole new level! There’s probably tons of ideas that you could bring to life, but I get it if the juice isn’t worth the squeeze. Just wanted to let you know I appreciated that microscope part and was ridiculously cool! Thanks man and keep up the great work, I’ll be watching whatever you film! (But not in like a creepy way..) haha
Did this bug out come from Benchmade with the titanium scales or those just aftermarket titanium scales? You may have said it in the video I may have totally missed it LOL
Yes, you missed it, they are from Benchmade custom shop
Jesse is correct -- this was a build done using Benchmade's customizer tool. A couple other folks have commented that Ti scales and even the 20CV blade aren't currently available there. This particular build was delayed significantly due to supply chain problems on the Ti scales, so they've likely disabled those options altogether until their supply is sorted out again.
But as you pointed out, there's definitely lots of aftermarket options out there! My personal favorite are Rockscale's "Critter" scales and Flytanium's "Crossfade".
How would you compare them to tactile knife ?
Oh interesting thought! They feel *very* different -- these are crisp, clean, smooth, flat surfaces everywhere, while the tactiles are all about that texture, and all of the edges have a soft radius instead of a crisp chamfer.
Titanium scales are the reason I don’t really like benchmade most of the time. It’s almost a requirement for me to like a knife
Yeah, and they very rarely release Ti as a standard option -- that's usually something you _have_ to do through the customizer tool, if it's even an option there. I personally am often happy with G10 scales (if done well), but I absolutely cannot stand FRN, and odds are very high I won't want it if it's aluminum!
Pretty disappointing to see from custom shop. Every production version I’ve purchased was perfect
You mean how stiff it was? I wasn't expecting it to be loctited like that, but I'm pretty used to factory-fresh Benchmades (and heck, nearly all brands, it's just easier to notice on washer knives) to come overly tightened down. I do agree that something you order through the customizer should come pretty much perfect, given that it's by definition receiving more last-minute attention than normal production parts, but I guess tight action like this is just considered normal/acceptable?
@@KnifeNerdery I mean every detail of the assembly should be perfect. If loctite must be applied, then it should be an appropriate amount. Screws should be tightened to the correct torque. Blade centering, action smoothness, and every detail of the assembly should be better than standard production knives. Using this customizer tool results in a dramatically more expensive knife, in most cases and you want your customer to be completely satisfied after they committed to spending more money than an "off the self" version.
I'm a fan of Benchmade, but their pricing has gotten seriously inflated in the last couple years and the quality of their product should reflect that. $180 for a flexy plastic grivory model is really disappointing. Adding custom features could get one of these easily north of $300.
I recently received a grivory model as a Groomsmen gift and although the knife was perfectly assembled and operational, I was pretty let down to the "cheap" feel and look of this knife. My previous bugout was the carbon/blue hardware model and it was amazing. I think I paid around $200 for that knife a couple years ago.
@@eriknash8783 Yep, all good points and I agree with everything you said! I could never stomach the grivory ones -- even though I know there was a justification for using them for the ultra lightweight backpacking target audience, they definitely just feel cheap!