Benchmade AFCK Folding Knife

Yesterday, I lost my Benchmade AFCK (Advanced Folding Combat Knife) while on a hunting trip. Since I had owned the knife for nearly 15 years, and carried and used it daily, I thought I would provide my thoughts about it.

(Source)

First, the stats for the knife:

• G10 handle scales
• Locking-liner locking system
• 3.96" ATS-34 stainless steel blade
• Clip point blade with round-hole opener
• Closed length 5.3"
• Overall length 9.24"
• Weight: 4.20 oz.

 Unfortunately, the stats do not provide the full story about this knife. The knife had a full metal liner on both sides. Since it used a liner-locking system (i.e., a piece of the liner acts as a spring and locks underneath part of the blade to keep it open), it was mechanically very simple. In ~15 years of use, I never had a mechanical issue with the knife. The only maintenance was a periodic cleaning and lubrication with a thin oil (I found sewing machine oil works the best).

Unlike a lot of other knives on the market today, the AFCK is slim. It fits in the pocket and in the hand without feeling bulky. Having used it for many cutting tasks (as well as digging, one-time, in an emergency situation), the handle design works well both in a saber-hold, a reverse-hold, and for fine work with the finger over the top of the blade. Because of the large finger cut-out, and the grooves cut along the top of the very back of the blade, you can get a very firm grip on the knife. I don't remember every having problems with my grip slipping while using the knife.

Although the photograph above shows a plain-edged blade, it also came with half of the blade serrated, which was very nice for many tasks, including cutting cord, or shaving off fine pieces of wood or plastic.

The blade was ATS-34, which is a very hard stainless steel. It keeps an edge very well, but that also makes it difficult to sharpen. Fortunately, because of the hardness, it also means that you shouldn't have to sharpen it very often. I know that after purchasing and using the knife, I went several years before I felt that I had to sharpen it (and that was after the digging incident, which, since it was in sandy soil, quickly dulled the blade).

Another nice feature was that the blade was 4 inches long, whereas most folders seem to have settled on 3.5 inches. While the extra half-inch may not seem like much, I certainly thought it did--particularly with having a blade that was half-serrated. It gave me a usable length of serration, as well as a usable length of plain edge (one of my complaints with Spydero's serrated blades is the lack of any reasonable length of plain edge).


In short, it was probably one of the best folders every produced. Unfortunately, I've learned that Benchmade discontinued the AFCK several years ago. Thus, the final lesson. The two-is-one, one-is-none rule not only applies to tools that you carry, but tools that you own. If you come across a product that you really-really like, but realistically may be lost or destroyed in use, it may very well behoove you to get a backup while you can.