Benchmade was founded back in 1979 by Roberta and Les de Asis in California. They gear their products towards many niche markets such as Law-Enforcement, Search and Rescue, Martial-Arts, Sporting Cutlery, and Military. Over the years, Benchmade has collaborated with numerous custom Knife makers to create some pretty amazing Knives.
The History Of Benchmade
Back in 1979 Benchmade got its start known as Bali-Song and in 1988 they changed their name to Pacific Cutlery Corporation. In 1990 Benchmade moved the company from California to Clackamas, Oregon. Back in the early days Benchmade was known primarily for their Bali-Song style knives “Butterfly Knife” in which they continue to make to this day. Benchmade has been so well identified with the Bali-Song that they registered “Bali-Song" as a trademark. Back in 1979 Jody Samson was awarded Blade Magazine's Knife of the Year for the original Bali-Songs design. They employ around 150 people right here in the United States. Benchmade has been growing at a tremendous rate over the past several years and not just the facility itself but the variety of Knives it produces as well.
The Products Of Benchmade
Benchmade produces a wide variety of Switchblade Knives, along with a range of hunting, fishing, utility and miscellaneous Knives, however Bali-songs remain the core product. Benchmade has acquired a patent on the locking mechanism used in most of the Switchblades they produce and they hold an additional license on the use of McHenry / Williams “AXIS Lock”. Its a strong, spring operated locking mechanism that is used in both manual action and automatic models. Benchmade receives a large amount of their revenue from selling restricted-sales Knives to law enforcement and to the military. Benchmade has collaborated with custom knife makers such as Jody Samson, Bob Lum, Mike Snody, Bill McHenry, Ernest Emerson, Allen Elishewitz, Warren Osborne, and Jason Williams on several production Benchmade models based off the work of these designers. Some of the Benchmade knife models are :
Benchmade HK
Benchmade Griptilian
Benchmade Contego
Benchmade 556 Mini Griptilian
Benchmade BKC Bedlam Axis
Benchmade Blade Steel
When it comes to blade steels, Benchmade not only selects premium grades for their natural qualities, but they also have perfected their own proprietary custom heat treat process which maximizes each steel's edge toughness and cutting performance.
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