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This is Randall with BlueSheepdog.com and today we're going to be talking
about Benchmade's Heckler & Koch Soldat folding knife. All right, the
Benchmade knife ships in a box, and it comes with a nice little synthetic
bag.
The design of this knife, it's a folding knife, with a button lock,
ambidextrous pocket clip, and a round opening hole. Now this has a button
or plunge lock this is not a automatic opening knife, this is a manually
opening folder. The handles are made of a thermoplastic called Grivory.
It's a high performance thermoplastic and in some industrial uses, it's
used to replace metal.
It's got a pocket clip on here that mounts on either side of the knife.
This is a very light knife, and part of the reason is that the handle
doesn't have any integral liners or anything like that, it's got some
ribbing inside this so the interior of the handles are slightly
skeletonized for lightness but they're also very thick. You can see this
knife is about 0.76 inches across or a little more than three-quarters of
an inch across, which is a little bit larger than most folding knives
across and I think part of that is what gives the knife its strength in the
handles.
I think they've done away with the liners by making them a little bit
thicker and heavier which is something that I like because this knife fills
your hand up very nicely. It's also got very good purchase, you can see
that the surface of the knife has some diamond plate or tire-tread pattern
on it. It's got some scalloping here on the top and bottom edges of the
handle.
Also the back spacer has some serrations on it. Then there's some jimping
on the back of the blade itself to provide a little bit of traction for
your thumb when you're cutting. It has a very well thought of handle
design. Because there are no integral steel liners for mounting the pocket
clip they've included some steel inserts that the actual screws screw into
so that it doesn't screw into the thermoplastic itself.
As I said, it's got a 3.3 inch blade. The blade in this knife is made of
N680 steel which is a high corrosion resistant steel that has a little
nitrogen infused into it. Rockwell hardness 57 to 59 on the Rockwell scale.
This is a drop point, the knife also comes with a tanto point. I like the
drop point because there's a lot of belly for cutting and at the same time
I like the combo edge. The combo edge gives you a nice edge for cutting
fibrous materials like rope, paracord, or seat-belts. I always like having
a combo edge on a duty carry knife like this.
The opening hole is a bit over sized on this; it's just a little bit larger
than the average opening size which is nice because if you're wearing
gloves or something else you can get your thumb in there. The opening hole
on this knife is not chamfered at all. It's got a nice squared up edge so
when you put your thumb in there, it grabs very tightly right on there and
opens right up.
This button lock design, you can see as I open the knife up here, opens up
about half way across the blade to block it from opening. You got your
pivot pin and your hardened stop pin on the back. This knife, because the
handle is so rigid, locks up very tightly as there is no play in the blade
side to side. There is a very, very tight lock up on this knife. Also, you
can hear the plunge lock when I close this knife which acts as a detent so
when this knife closes, it's closed very securely so that the blade will
not pop open in your pocket. It won't be jarred open. If you've ever had a
knife opened partially in your pocket, this is especially with knifes that
are clip carry with a tip up design like this, you reach into your pocket
to pull this out you can cut yourself, get the knife hung up on your pocket
so it won't come out, tear your pants. Just something you don't want.
Especially on a rough and tumble knife that's going to be carried on duty
like this, you want something that's going to be secure.
When Benchmade designed this knife, they had a couple of goals in mind. One
was that they make a U.S.A. made knife, this knife was made in the U.S.A.
with the button lock. They wanted to have it with a little bit lower price
point than some of the comparable knives that are out there. This knife has
an MSRP of about $70. If you do a bit of internet due diligence, you can
find this knife for sale under $50, which I think is a great value
especially in a duty folder. If this thing is going to be carried on duty,
use it and abuse, you want to be able to get a good price if you lose it so
you can go out and buy another one without a problem.
I've been carrying this particular knife on duty for about two months. I've
been cutting a variety of materials with it. Overall, very nice package. I
really like the way the handle is designed; it's got a nice shape to it,
feels good in the hand. Even though it's a little bit thicker, it carries
well in the pocket. There aren't very many problems with it. It comes right
out. I carry mine on my left side. This is kind of a duty folder for
chores, and I try and maintain its sharpness all the time, but if I need a
backup weapon this is what it's also carried for.
Anyway, quick overview of the Benchmade H&K Soldat knife.