Opinions on benchmades serrations?

[Wartstein]

My only NON Spyderco quality folder is a benchmade Minigrip - drop point,sabre grind, plain edge,thumb studs.

I perhaps could exchange it on the secondary market to a sheepsfoot, hollow grind, opening hole, partially serrated one.

I know that I´d prefer (surprise! :D )the opening hole over the thumb studs and also the mod. sheepsfoot and hollow grind. Unlike many others, I even like combo edges in small knives.

BUT: I never tried Benchmades serrations. And while I love Spydercos serrations, just from looking at benchmades serrations I am not so sure I´d like those...

Any opinions?

Thanks! :)

[Halfneck]

I never liked how BM serrations look like they are just added on to a plain edge blade. By that I mean the serrated cutting edges are deeper than the plain edge.

[GarageBoy]

BM won't even sharpen them for you when you send it in...

It's an interesting pattern, no points, just scallops

[James Y]

I tend to like serrations that are less aggressive, but I personally found Benchmade’s serrations to be so smooth as to be almost useless. Also, at least on some of the Benchmades I still own, BM grinds off too much metal for their serrations, or they used to. I haven’t bought a BM since probably 2004.

Jim

[Evil D]

The style seems ok for the most part but I agree it seems really unnecessary that they're ground so deep into the blade like that...I could imagine maybe that would help to lock some materials into the section of serrations, the last scallop by the PE section would act sort of like a little hawkbill. Honestly I just don't have any interest in 99.9% of their knives, no offense to them it's just a Ford vs Chevy thing and I just don't like their designs whatsoever. I'm sure they make good knives but they're even more expensive and they have a lot of the design details that I mentioned in my thread about deal breakers.

[Wartstein]

I never liked how BM serrations look like they are just added on to a plain edge blade. ...

The style seems ok for the most part but I agree it seems really unnecessary that they're ground so deep into the blade like that......

I tend to like serrations that are less aggressive, but I personally found Benchmade’s serrations to be so smooth as to be almost useless. ...

Thanks, guys, for your help! :)

Meanwhile I think I won´t trade my PE thumb stud Minigrip for the comboeedge opening hole one, but actually just sell mine and use the funds for another Spyderco.
To be clear: BM makes cool knives, and their customer sercvice worked great for me two times!
Still I just don´t carry that Minigrip at all and literally ALL of my other quality folders are Spydercos anyway... could go all the way as well I think and solely own Spydies.

[JD Spydo]

Interesting timing that this subject about Benchmade's serrations would come up. Because just yesterday I was strolling through a popular knife website and I noticed that Benchmade now has a double-bladed folder. They kind of copied off of Spyderco's Dyad model because it has one full PE blade and one full SE blade.

The only serrations of Benchmade's I've ever put to the test were on combo edged units. I used to own about 8 of the Boguzewski Spike Benchmade models and the combo edged Spike models would cut rope extremely fast. But the newer serration patterns on the Benchmade units aren't the same from what I could tell on that one picture. But I do find it interesting that Benchmade has finally gotten into some full SE blades. For years all they have were a few combo edged models.

[DSH007]

Like many of you here, I only have a handful of NON-Spyderco knives.. one of them is the BM 940S. I got it recently, deeply discounted, due to it being a discontinued model. Serrations are not my preference.. never have been.. but at ~ $50 off the cost of the plain edge model, guess what, I have a serrated BM 940 now! I didn't think I'd like it as well as plain edge, but figured I'd give it a fair shot.. I have to say, in use, I really don't mind it. As others have mentioned, the scallops are quite shallow, which keeps the blade from catching on material like with more pointy serrations. So because of this, the knife feels pretty similar in use to a PE for me for a number of cutting tasks. I prefer this. I get that others may not.. The serrations do seem to set deeper into the blade than on other companies' knives, but I don't feel that this hinders my use of the knife in any way.

Idk I suppose it ultimately comes down to personal preference.. given the choice, SE or PE, same model knife, same cost.. I'm choosing plain edge ten times out of ten. The only reason that I have a serrated BM is because it represented a fantastic deal. Turns out, I can live with the serrations.. I'm not sure that they really add anything to the knife.. but I don't feel like they detract from it either.. So I guess "neutral opinion" here on BM serrations..

[JD Spydo]

Now this is just commenting on the combo edged Benchmade models I've acquired over the years. And like Spyderco they have changed patterns over the years in some models. Benchmade had a really wavy type serration pattern on some of their models in the late 90s/early 2000s era. Those serrations really cut rope and cordage really nicely.

There is one of their automatic models I had quite a few years ago and the model number escapes me at the moment. But it had a more spikey type serration and I didn't think it was as good as the first one I mentioned.

I doubt if Benchmade will ever go "head to head" in competition with Spyderco for a bigger market share of serrated blades. But I do think they are now going to offer up more of them. I was so surprised to see that double bladed model in a recent website I looked at.

[James Y]

Even though I said I didn’t care for BM’s serrations, I do like them far more than the serration patterns used by Emerson or Cold Steel.

Jim