New Benchmade 162 'Bushcrafter' arrived!

[Stainz]

I had wanted one of these on first sight on BM's site - was on a waiting list on a mailorder site - and my local sharp thing emporium. The local store got two Tuesday - no discounts these days - it was $160. I traded in a Christmas gift I wasn't so fond of - voila, $76 difference and I went home with one. Here it is with my pocketable Gent's knife - last summer's BM482 Megumi:



And here it is with another Sibert-designed BM, and my common 24/7 EDC, a 755 MPR:



The first thing I noted was the uniform razor sharp edge on it's S30V blade. Next, I noticed it was devoid of any bladeback or tang jimping. The leather sheath is nice, even has a 3/8" Firesteel loop, but hangs out at the top when belt mounted - with most of the handle hanging out - and somewhat precariously, except for the securing strap. That Firesteel, or ferrocerium rod, is of limited use with S30V, even though it does produce the odd spark. A CS blade, like the Condor Bushlore's 1075 steel, will produce a veritable shower of sparks. The weirdly shaped handle - with a far forward palm swell - just fits my medium+ sized hands and, despite my initial misgivings from it's odd look, is really comfortable. Any larger of a hand would be a problem. The scales of green G10 have no hot spots and are secured along with the red spacers via two large Ti tubes and a smaller Ti lanyard tube. It could easily be lashed to a limb/pole as a spear head, with it's centered point drop point design. Nice fit & finish! Made a nice fuzz stick and fine strips of flimsy printer paper, too.

So... is it nicer than the Condor Bushlores? You betcha... but it's a C-note more ($130 vs $28 delivered). I am spending a little bit of time TLCing on my Bushlore. It will be in my Bug Out Bag! Still, the 162 'Bushcrafter' is a nice knife.

Stainz

PS Nearly forgot - it's .164" blade has a 4.4" edge and 9.2" OAL - weighs 7.7oz (Full tang!)

 

[dayhiker]

That Firesteel, or ferrocerium rod, is of limited use with S30V, even though it does produce the odd spark. A CS blade, like the Condor Bushlore's 1075 steel, will produce a veritable shower of sparks.

The steel type has no bearing on sparks from a Ferro rod.I can get sparks off my LMF Army with a piece of broken glass. As well my F1 has no problems.

How sharp are the edge angles of the spine? If you square up a section you will have better luck, and more sparks.

 

[Stainz]

I am sorry - my experience is otherwise. In fact, the BM's S30V spine is sharper edged than the Condor's. It could have something to do with the S30V's harder and finer grained CPM structure vs CS. It may pare the ferrocerium and just not produce as much friction, a necessity to ignite the fine ferrocerium shards. Your F1 has the hard VG-10 laminated between softer steels and who knows what Gerber used on the LMF series - some reported a '400 steel'.

I simply reported my experimental findings in comparing/contrasting my Condor Bushlore and my Benchmade Bushcrafter 'in use'.

Stainz

 

[BCCL]

I believe the "LMF" dayhiker was referring to, was a "Light My Fire" Army model firesteel, not a Gerber LMF.

Dayhiker is correct, steel type should not have much bearing on how well a blade spine works to get sparks from a Ferrocerium rod, but how sharp the squared off spine is.

 

[dayhiker]

I believe the "LMF" dayhiker was referring to, was a "Light My Fire" Army model firesteel, not a Gerber LMF.

Yes it was, thank you. I should have spelled it out.

 

[JShirley]

I'm not a huge fan of BM, but that looks like a good design.

John

 

[lemaymiami]

Looks like a solid work knife.... I'll have to get a closer look the next time I'm with a vendor that carries Benchmade products.

 

[Stainz]

My son gave me an LMFII several years back for my 'Bug Out Bag'. Mystery steel... and relegated to a garden/yard knife duty these days. I gave him a BK2 for his BOB. My 3/8" FireSteel is actually a black handled 'LMF'.

Several years ago, when S30V was my 'super steel of choice', mainly in Buck knives - later adding Benchmade & ZT knives - I found I couldn't draw the same sparks from S30V as I could D2, 1095, 01, etc. I reasoned then that the wire edge produced with a fine mill file or stone wasn't present in the S30V. Doing as Bear Grylls would with his $650 Bayle knife and drawing any ferrocerium rod, teeny PRC-made pieces or 3/8" LMF, over the blade's edge would produce a shower of sparks - and, eventually, a dull edge.

Just don't expect a huge shower of sparks off the BM Bushcrafter's spine.

Stainz