Benchmade AFCK

[vivi]

nice comparison photos. the police 3 lines look even closer to the AFCK.

[Skywalker]

full sized ruckus was my favorite BM. If I saw one for a fair price I'd snag it.

710 is a classic but the thumb ramp placement was too far back for me.

they had some cool designs in the 2000's. not much catches my eye from their current catalog.

The last Benchmade I bought was back in 2004.

Jim

Last one for me was a Mini Crooked River my wife liked the look of last year. Before that, buying closeout discontinued 710s in 2017.

Of course, deer season last year rolls around, she drops one, we get out of the stand and she asks me for a knife. "Where's your new one I just gave you?" "...I forgot it."

So that's how she ended up using my PM2 and that nice little Mini Crooked River hunting folder I got her still doesn't have any blood on it.

[yablanowitz]

I have a full-sized and a mini-AFCK. As well as a couple of TSEKs. If I can, I'll try to post a pic of them at some point. My AFCKs, which I got in the late '90s, have the round hole instead of the oval hole.

I remember many years ago, Chris Caracci used to have a sub-forum on BF, and had a thread discussing this. One thing I'll add is that he said he'll always prefer liner locks over back locks, which it seemed he didn't trust for 'tactical' use. He also didn't trust the Axis lock, feeling it would be too easy to disengage.under stress.

When the AFCK was designed, liner locks were the "in" thing. And some people still favor them over other lock types today.

Jim

Thank you for contributing to the discussion Jim.
I've also picked up some info here and there indicating that Mr. Caracci didn't trust the Axis lock for some reason (Navy seal stuff). So far I've not found any info suggesting he disliked the backlock, only some posts indicating he chose the liner lock over a backlock for the AFCK to avoid having a choil or ricasso and as such have an edge that goes all the way to the handle. That's my current interpretation at least, but it would have been nice to have better source material for these kind of details.

Edit: this statement aged poorly and quickly. https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/chr ... ns.171773/
No specific reasoning for why he doesn't like backlocks, but there's hardly any love there.

I seem to remember reading Chris Caracci's actual post, way back when his subforum was active, where he stated he would never trust a lockback for a knife intended for his uses (tactical).

* Edit: Just went back to that link and saw his full statement on that again, and for the most part, my memory was accurate. It's been around 25 years, maybe longer, since I read his original post.

Jim

Not too surprising to me. Mud/dirt can get packed into the lockwell of a back lock, causing failure. Linerlocks are more likely to get jammed open by dirt and mud, preventing the knife from closing.

[James Y]

I have a full-sized and a mini-AFCK. As well as a couple of TSEKs. If I can, I'll try to post a pic of them at some point. My AFCKs, which I got in the late '90s, have the round hole instead of the oval hole.

I remember many years ago, Chris Caracci used to have a sub-forum on BF, and had a thread discussing this. One thing I'll add is that he said he'll always prefer liner locks over back locks, which it seemed he didn't trust for 'tactical' use. He also didn't trust the Axis lock, feeling it would be too easy to disengage.under stress.

When the AFCK was designed, liner locks were the "in" thing. And some people still favor them over other lock types today.

Jim

Thank you for contributing to the discussion Jim.
I've also picked up some info here and there indicating that Mr. Caracci didn't trust the Axis lock for some reason (Navy seal stuff). So far I've not found any info suggesting he disliked the backlock, only some posts indicating he chose the liner lock over a backlock for the AFCK to avoid having a choil or ricasso and as such have an edge that goes all the way to the handle. That's my current interpretation at least, but it would have been nice to have better source material for these kind of details.

Edit: this statement aged poorly and quickly. https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/chr ... ns.171773/
No specific reasoning for why he doesn't like backlocks, but there's hardly any love there.

I seem to remember reading Chris Caracci's actual post, way back when his subforum was active, where he stated he would never trust a lockback for a knife intended for his uses (tactical).

* Edit: Just went back to that link and saw his full statement on that again, and for the most part, my memory was accurate. It's been around 25 years, maybe longer, since I read his original post.

Jim

Not too surprising to me. Mud/dirt can get packed into the lockwell of a back lock, causing failure. Linerlocks are more likely to get jammed open by dirt and mud, preventing the knife from closing.

Yeah, makes sense.

I wonder what his opinion would have been on compression locks. Probably not great, but who knows.

Jim

[James Y]

nice comparison photos. the police 3 lines look even closer to the AFCK.

Yes it does.

I thought the AFCK was an excellent design. However, I felt (at least from my personal experience) that there were inconsistencies in manufacturing quality. And for actual cutting uses, I felt the TSEK was better.

Jim

[aicolainen]

Very pleased to see so much engagement on this topic. Thanks!

I've mentioned before that the secondary knife market here in Norway isn't the most exciting, but against all odds a search for AFCK yielded exactly one relevant hit. A first gen, full size AFCK with combo edge ATS 34 blade that's now on its way and scheduled for delivery tomorrow.
I don't know how many disco'd knives I've searched for, but I think this is the first time I've got a hit on my initial search. For comparison it took several years before I got a hit on a Rookie. That's just too low hangig a fruit not to be picked

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Very pleased to see so much engagement on this topic. Thanks!

I've mentioned before that the secondary knife market here in Norway isn't the most exciting, but against all odds a search for AFCK yielded exactly one relevant hit. A first gen, full size AFCK with combo edge ATS 34 blade that's now on its way and scheduled for delivery tomorrow.
I don't know how many disco'd knives I've searched for, but I think this is the first time I've got a hit on my initial search. For comparison it took several years before I got a hit on a Rookie. That's just too low hangig a fruit not to be picked

Hei!
I am glad you are on the forum. I have never been to Scandinavia but I so want to. I love the Norwegien steel and knives from Sweden and Finland. Some questions if I may, please:

1 Is Finland part of Scandinavia or is it a different language and cultural group?

2
One of my dreams is to see Scandinavian made lockback knives that do not use flippers but are made from 100 percent Swedish and Norwegien materials.

3 What are Danish knives like?

Thank you

[vivi]

https://www.eka1882.com/en/category/folding-knives

regarding #2, SEF.

[aicolainen]

Very pleased to see so much engagement on this topic. Thanks!

I've mentioned before that the secondary knife market here in Norway isn't the most exciting, but against all odds a search for AFCK yielded exactly one relevant hit. A first gen, full size AFCK with combo edge ATS 34 blade that's now on its way and scheduled for delivery tomorrow.
I don't know how many disco'd knives I've searched for, but I think this is the first time I've got a hit on my initial search. For comparison it took several years before I got a hit on a Rookie. That's just too low hangig a fruit not to be picked

Hei!
I am glad you are on the forum. I have never been to Scandinavia but I so want to. I love the Norwegien steel and knives from Sweden and Finland. Some questions if I may, please:

1 Is Finland part of Scandinavia or is it a different language and cultural group?

2
One of my dreams is to see Scandinavian made lockback knives that do not use flippers but are made from 100 percent Swedish and Norwegien materials.

3 What are Danish knives like?

Thank you

Thanks for the kind words, SEF.

#1: Finnland is not commonly considered part of Scandinavia, and the Finnish language is not in any way related to the other Nordic languages. And while culturally very distinctive, I'd say they're very compatible with the Nordics, and probably more similar than different.

#2: https://us.helle.com/collections/folding-knives

#3: I have no experience with Danish made knives. I've been there countless times, but mostly before I got really interested in knives, so I never looked into it.
More broadly, you could consider Jens Ansø and Jesper Voxnaes designs as Danish knives, in which case they're well known and highly regarded, but they're all customs, licensed products or OEM produced though.
Even by Scandinavian standards Danish knife laws are quite draconian, so maybe that is holding them back somewhat.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

https://www.eka1882.com/en/category/folding-knives

regarding #2, SEF.

Thank you! Oh wow. That Swede 10 model is amazing.