Could this be real? (Benchmade Presidio 5000SBK auto)

[obidya]

So, I bought a Benchmade Presidio 5000BKS Auto off a facebook post for knives for $4. At first I was pretty sure it was a knock off but the blade has me thinking it might be the real thing.
Overall the knife is not in the best shape, Its clearly seen some use, but having said that. The coating in the blade is completely in tact, and actually looks really good. On top of that the grind patterns match a typical benchmade, specifically in the plunge grind and along the spine.

 

[obidya]

More Pictures

The fact that it actually says "special forces on it" makes me question it authenticity, but I have seen others like the Infadel that do.

The axis lock is hollow and a 3 piece and has a higher profile than my other benchmades but is really really smooth

Its definately a benchmade pocket clip, I can interchange and the holes line up with deep carry clips I have laying around.

But the holes seem bored larger than other Presidios Ive seen granted this is a lot older than any ive seen, and Ive only seen other autos in pictures online.


All in all its a suprisingly sturdy knife and im starting to really enjoy it. Im just curious if its ACTUALLY a benchmade or if its a really well done knock-off.
Thoughts?

 

[danielocean03]

My guess is likely fake, fit and finish looks pretty poor overall. There are loads of Benchmade clones out there unfortunately. I absolutely despise fakes/clones of any sort.

Brad is a Benchmade dealer and could probably tell pretty easily, maybe he'll weigh in if he feels so inclined.

 

[K_W]

Nice knife for $4 but not real... looking at shots of real ones, there are no rough machining marks on the blade and the serrations on real ones are bolder and cut higher up the blade.

 

[obidya]

yeah, I took it apart and its clearly a fake. Its got a garbage pivot, garbage washers, the scales arent finished very well and theres lots of sloppy machining on the inside. The blade however isnt terrible, and its coating is actually pretty durable concidering the kind of wear present everywhere else. The stainless frame and scales are actually half way decent minus the fit and finish.

SO! Heres what Im going to do.

I went to knifekits.com and got a hardened pivot, bronze washers, titanium stand offs and hardware, all for like $15. Im going to take some of the tools I have, dedicate some time into it and just for fun see if I can make it a knife worth losing out in the woods. Could be a fun little project. Im sure I can have it built to a pretty decent level tool/junk knife and do it all for under $30. Im going to ditch the safety and the back spacer for stand offs mainly because its simply too big for the blade+washer dimentions of the knife and it doesnt work very well anyways. Right now the plan is to keep it an auto and tune up the axis lock to make sure there are no accidental deployments BUT, im not dumb and if its not safe I wont do it.

 

[danielocean03]

To each their own, I would have just trashed it and not thrown away another $15 towards a fake. (I would not have purchased it initially, this is purely hypothetical. )

A dubious quality automatic knife that could easily fail to open, deploy or close unexpectedly is an accident waiting to happen. If it causes an injury, you'll be out a lot more than $19.

Best of luck with your rebuild.

 

[obidya]

It was only half shown in the sale pic and had the butterfly, for $4 I HAD to buy it. Really the only reason im doing anything but throwing it away is just for the fun of building something, fine tuning with some different quality parts. Ive been looking into making my own knife so im taking it as an oportunity to just play around and hopefully learn something. I highly doubt it will ever be anything carried or taken seriously. Theres a level of trust it will need to earn, which I dont forsee happening.

 

[Bradsknives]

yeah, I took it apart and its clearly a fake. Its got a garbage pivot, garbage washers, the scales arent finished very well and theres lots of sloppy machining on the inside. The blade however isnt terrible, and its coating is actually pretty durable concidering the kind of wear present everywhere else. The stainless frame and scales are actually half way decent minus the fit and finish.

SO! Heres what Im going to do.

I went to knifekits.com and got a hardened pivot, bronze washers, titanium stand offs and hardware, all for like $15. Im going to take some of the tools I have, dedicate some time into it and just for fun see if I can make it a knife worth losing out in the woods. Could be a fun little project. Im sure I can have it built to a pretty decent level tool/junk knife and do it all for under $30. Im going to ditch the safety and the back spacer for stand offs mainly because its simply too big for the blade+washer dimentions of the knife and it doesnt work very well anyways. Right now the plan is to keep it an auto and tune up the axis lock to make sure there are no accidental deployments BUT, im not dumb and if its not safe I wont do it.

You will still have a blade made out of compressed juicy fruit wrappers, and not to mention, you will still be supporting an illegal item.

 

[Fargo]

You will still have a blade made out of compressed juicy fruit wrappers, and not to mention, you will still be supporting an illegal item.

Do you still deal Strider knives?

 

[obidya]

You will still have a blade made out of compressed juicy fruit wrappers, and not to mention, you will still be supporting an illegal item.

well... I bought it used so the only thing im supporting is knifekits.com and potentially a buddy of mine with a machine shop which would also lead to supporting my local brewery, and I'm OK with that. The blade itself is hard, much harder than say a 440C or even AUS-8, I can tell by how it sharpens and evidence of edge retention and corrosion resistance, I still highly doubt its 154CM BUT, its not garbage steel.

Its cool if you guys arent interested it just seemed like a shame to waste what could be a decent blade.

 

[Dean C.]

Last I checked you still sell knives made by a convicted thieving felon and admitted stolen-valor-liar-for-profit. Not seeing the moral high ground here...

Nice try with the edit

 

[Fargo]

Nice try with the edit

Sometimes I try to take a politer tack. Some people apparently don't like that. If you think that thwarting my attempt to be politer somehow concerns me, go ahead and keep telling yourself that.

If people want to get all holier than thou about buying fake goods, maybe they shouldn't make money off convicted thieves with really bad reputations for truthfulness.

 

[Dean C.]

Sometimes I try to take a politer tack. Some people apparently don't like that. If you think that thwarting my attempt to be politer somehow concerns me, go ahead and keep telling yourself that.

If people want to get all holier than thou about buying fake goods, maybe they shouldn't make money off convicted thieves with really bad reputations for truthfulness.

I don't have a dog in this fight, I did however recognize the beginnings of a totally unsolicited Strider meltdown, also it could have been about being more polite or it could have been to let Brad walk into said unsolicited Strider meltdown. I guess we will never know now.

Also Striders are VERY popular knives and to not carry them in a successful knife retail business would be foolish, literally every other knife retailer sells them as well, heck Strider is one of the most collaborated with makers out there with people like Richard Marcinko, Chuck Mawhinney, Steve Tarani, Microtech and Buck Knives have all collaborated with Strider at one point or another. Hell even the USMC issues SMF's to MARSOC.

 

[Fargo]

I don't have a dog in this fight, I did however recognize the beginnings of a totally unsolicited Strider meltdown, also it could have been about being more polite or it could have been to let Brad walk into said unsolicited Strider meltdown. I guess we will never know now.

Also Striders are VERY popular knives and to not carry them in a successful knife retail business would be foolish, literally every other knife retailer sells them as well, heck Strider is one of the most collaborated with makers out there with people like Richard Marcinko, Chuck Mawhinney, Steve Tarani, Microtech and Buck Knives have all collaborated with Strider at one point or another. Hell even the USMC issues SMF's to MARSOC.

I think I made my feeling on Mick Strider perfectly clear to Brad last time he used Mick Strider as a moral authority in an argument. There is nothing for him to walk into.

Once again, if you want to preach at people about buying fakes, maybe you shouldn't profit off the name and product of one. Either it's about principles, or it's about money.

 

[obidya]

So the last of the new hardware came in today so i mocked up what I have going on to observe the fit/finish and mechanics of it. Its actually really solid, and silky smooth. This may be my new MTB knife. Ive also cleaned up all the machine work on the scales and am goint to give them a coating of some left over roll bar and chassis stuff I use on the body armor of my Jeep. After that im hitting it with a light layer of camo tan rustoleum I have sitting around. the tan will wear off the black won't so it should make for some cool wear patterns and marking as it gets used.

I got a few different springs to experiment with the torque rating, Im wanting it to have enough power to open it unhindered but not so much that if it were to ever accidentally deploy its going to actually open in a pocket or backpack. I think I have it about dialed in to where I want it.

All in all, its a solid and decent knife now, I actually like it a lot.

 

[Double T]

I think I made my feeling on Mick Strider perfectly clear to Brad last time he used Mick Strider as a moral authority in an argument. There is nothing for him to walk into.

Once again, if you want to preach at people about buying fakes, maybe you shouldn't profit off the name and product of one. Either it's about principles, or it's about money.

While ALL of what you say me true, is a Strider knife a piece of ****? Or is it a piece of quality craftsmanship? MANY old time things were made BY felons in working camps. Do we badmouth the product because of who made it, or do we let the product speak for itself?

I don't care WHAT someone has done in the past. If they offer a good or a service that is rock solid, I'm good. Hell, we've had roofing guys that I know were felons put a roof on about 10 years ago. Felons need jobs too. If they were still a danger, they shouldn't be free.

Get off your high horse. You don't like strider knives. You probably don't like SOE gear either. Don't buy it. Makes the wait shorter for the rest of us

 

[tradertator]

Sometimes I try to take a politer tack. Some people apparently don't like that. If you think that thwarting my attempt to be politer somehow concerns me, go ahead and keep telling yourself that.

If people want to get all holier than thou about buying fake goods, maybe they shouldn't make money off convicted thieves with really bad reputations for truthfulness.

Congratulations, todays INGO Troll of the Day Award goes to you. Regardless what you think of Mick Strider, that was a real stretch to contort it into this thread. And being a dick to Brad is just plain wrong, he's one of the nicest guys on this forum and a real asset to INGO's "Cutting Edge".

 

[Fargo]

While ALL of what you say me true, is a Strider knife a piece of ****? Or is it a piece of quality craftsmanship? MANY old time things were made BY felons in working camps. Do we badmouth the product because of who made it, or do we let the product speak for itself?

I don't care WHAT someone has done in the past. If they offer a good or a service that is rock solid, I'm good. Hell, we've had roofing guys that I know were felons put a roof on about 10 years ago. Felons need jobs too. If they were still a danger, they shouldn't be free.

Get off your high horse. You don't like strider knives. You probably don't like SOE gear either. Don't buy it. Makes the wait shorter for the rest of us

By all accounts they are solid knives. You may notice that my issue isn't with the quality of the knives. You may also notice that my issue isn't even with those that buy/sell/own them.

My issue is with those that sell them for gain while going around the forum chastising members for buying/owning secondhand "illegal" clones. If you are going to sell the products of a company that engaged in grossly fraudulent advertising about the combat pedigree of its knife designs, I don't see how you get to look down on someone else for buying a secondhand disclosed clone to tinker with.

 

[Dean C.]

By all accounts they are solid knives. You may notice that my issue isn't with the quality of the knives. You may also notice that my issue isn't even with those that buy/sell/own them.

My issue is with those that sell them for gain while going around the forum chastising members for buying/owning secondhand "illegal" clones. If you are going to sell the products of a company that engaged in grossly fraudulent advertising about the combat pedigree of its knife designs, I don't see how you get to look down on someone else for buying a secondhand disclosed clone to tinker with.

As I stated before Strider Knives have one of the best real life "Combat Pedigree" ever they have even been issued to allot of military units and several models have MSN numbers. Did was Mick ever a "SF Operator" no he was not but he does make a kick ass American made product that has one of the best track records in the industry.

Also just remember every time you go off on your little "I hate Mick" rant you are advertising for and selling Strider knives just FYI.

 

[Fargo]

As I stated before Strider Knives have one of the best real life "Combat Pedigree" ever they have even been issued to allot of military units and several models have MSN numbers. Did was Mick ever a "SF Operator" no he was not but he does make a kick ass American made product that has one of the best track records in the industry.

Also just remember every time you go off on your little "I hate Mick" rant you are advertising for and selling Strider knives just FYI.

Mmmmmmmmkay, go ahead and believe whatever you want to believe.

You should probably tell Brad to stop posting threads ripping on cold steel/Lynn Thompson though, because apparently he's advertising for their crappy product too.