[Nestor]

I always loved that reverse tanto blade on Benchmade 940. Unfortunatelly the ergonomics just don't work for my rather long fingers. So, i was looking for another, best thing which is Benchmade 950. Discontinued model. Came across one that seen some hard use according to the previous owner. Well, it's here. The price was right ($80 shipped) and I'll be looking for another one soon - just in much better condition. It fits my hands much, much better than 940 and offers the same reverse tanto blade - just bigger and beefier. IMO it's one of the most versatile shapes out there. The 950 is the black class knife designed by Mr. Osborne - so the same guy who came up with the 940. It's a manual axis folder with 3.67' blade weighting under 5 ounces. Knife has full, solid steel liners with no lightening cuts. The action is gritty, but the blade is well centered. No blade play in any direction. There are some obvious rust issues with the liners and pocket clip. Micro damage to the side of the blade itself, but nothing really scary. I think I can make it work.

I'm going to do my first ever knife rebuild (this factory service is not available to the Canadians). Please bear with me as I'm navigating through this process. I explored the DuraCoat options and I may go that way eventually, but not just yet. Perhaps later this year if everything will be up to my liking. I got a new pocket clip, omega springs, thumb studs and handle screws incoming in the mail. Existing ones will go into my long time storage.

Here is what I've got.

 

[Nestor]

Taking the knife apart. There is some pitting on the liners under the G10 handles. Inner side of the liners is rust free. Same with the pocket clip where it was resting on G10. Blade is carrying tons of scratches in all directions.

 

[Nestor]

Took me two days to get that blade back into some kind of shape. Just some sandpaper and elbow grease. I'll leave sharpening till the very end.

Washers appear to be fine, so I gave them an overnight bath in alcohol. Disclaimer: no whiskey was harmed during this rebuild.

G 10 scales after cleaning (Ballistol)

 

[mj9mm]

Very nice, your work is always first class,, that knife will last you many years…

 

[FullClip]

Again, I'm torn between being wicked impressed and wicked jealous about the patience and eye for detail Adam has.....so I'll settle with both.

 

[Nestor]

I cleaned the rust off the liners and the pitting isn't terrible - just a few, small spots. Got it sprayed with the anti-rust solution, dried and primed with Tremclad Professional Enamel Primer. Decided to only use what I have available in my basement right now to save some money for later.

48 hours later I went with the light coat of semi-gloss black rust enamel (Tremclad Professional). That should be ok for now. I'm leaving the inner side as it is. No issues there.

 

[Nestor]

Blade getting primed too (more like experiment than necessity, but...why not?).

More to come...

 

[Skeebo]

Blade getting primed too (more like experiment than necessity, but...why not?).

More to come...

Very interesting to watch the transformation. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Nestor]

Just a thought. I'll finish what I am doing and share with you the process. Then I'll take this knife for a test drive for my incoming vacation after re-assembling everything with the old parts. If I like it, I am going to professionally CeraCoat the metal and re-assemble everything again, but this time for good with the new parts. Almost perfect opportunity for testing this thing is arising Stay tuned.

 

[rfd339]

Looks great Nestor. Thanks for sharing.

 

[mj9mm]

Back when I was working and had access to a nice blaster box, I sanded some of my knives up to 1000grit and then glass bead blasted them. The finished blades were amazing…. But I never thought of Cera coating them. Would have looked pretty cool I think…

 

[Nestor]

Back when I was working and had access to a nice blaster box, I sanded some of my knives up to 1000grit and then glass bead blasted them. The finished blades were amazing…. But I never thought of Cera coating them. Would have looked pretty cool I think…

If I could find a place to bead blast the blade and make it look more matte and universal, that would be ok. Cerakote offers extra protection and all the weird colors, so time will tell.

 

[Nestor]

Re-assembled the handle using the old parts. Just oiled everything, but I skipped on the blue locktite since most likely I'll be taking it apart again right after vacation. It's rust free now at least. Started painting the blade. Nothing special - whatever I had on hand in the basement. I may drop a tiny bit of locktite on the pivot once the blade will be re-attached to the handle to avoid any troubles down the road. Thinking that either silver (bead blasted or Cerakoted) or black blade would fit this color scheme of the handle nicely. Liners should be black I think, but if you have some cool ideas, feel free to fire away. I'm listening.

 

[Nestor]

Ok, I didn't like the paint on the blade in the end and cleaned it up. Knocked down the shine with the sandpaper and re-assembled everything. Synthetic grease between the blade, washers and liners. This thing is butter smooth now, no blade play at all. Sharpened the edge and it's slicing newspaper without any effort. Bit of the blue loctite on the pivot and it's ready for an adventure. Thanks Guys!
More to come. Next update from the road.

 

[Julius Seizure]

Ok, I didn't like the paint on the blade in the end and cleaned it up. Knocked down the shine with the sandpaper and re-assembled everything. Synthetic grease between the blade, washers and liners. This thing is butter smooth now, no blade play at all. Sharpened the edge and it's slicing newspaper without any effort. Bit of the blue loctite on the pivot and it's ready for an adventure. Thanks Guys!
More to come. Next update from the road.

Well done, very impressive!

 

[Nestor]

Thanks! Thinking about some black or grey Cerakote for the blade now and black for the liners and pivot. Should be looking even better

 

[Nestor]

It sounds like you scored a great deal on a Benchmade 950, even though it's seen some wear. The fact that it fits your hand well and has the reverse tanto blade you love is a big win. You're taking the right approach by tackling a rebuild yourself, especially since Benchmade's service isn't available in Canada. The parts you ordered (pocket clip, omega springs, thumb studs, handle screws) should address most of the cosmetic and functional issues. Disassembling and reassembling a Benchmade can be tricky, so be sure to find good online resources and take your time.

Disassembly and reassembly are actually fairly straight forward (especially if one has that Benchmade pivot tool on hand - I can recommend buying one if you don't). Certainly, it is easier than the Winchester 94 that I just completed restoring
I'll try to post some size comparison pictures for You Guys to see later today.

 

[Nestor]

Size comparison. Top Benchmade Griptilian full size. 950 Rift in the middle. Spyderco Stretch 2 at the bottom. All mid size folders. All fit my hands really well. 950 appears to have the longest blade here, but it's also quite far away from the handle. Which is fine for what I am doing.

950 Rift on the left, 551 Griptilian on the right. Rift is less bulky.

 

[lamename1331]

I always loved that reverse tanto blade on Benchmade 940. Unfortunatelly the ergonomics just don't work for my rather long fingers. So, i was looking for another, best thing which is Benchmade 950. Discontinued model. Came across one that seen some hard use according to the previous owner. Well, it's here. The price was right ($80 shipped) and I'll be looking for another one soon - just in much better condition. It fits my hands much, much better than 940 and offers the same reverse tanto blade - just bigger and beefier. IMO it's one of the most versatile shapes out there. The 950 is the black class knife designed by Mr. Osborne - so the same guy who came up with the 940. It's a manual axis folder with 3.67' blade weighting under 5 ounces. Knife has full, solid steel liners with no lightening cuts. The action is gritty, but the blade is well centered. No blade play in any direction. There are some obvious rust issues with the liners and pocket clip. Micro damage to the side of the blade itself, but nothing really scary. I think I can make it work.

I'm going to do my first ever knife rebuild (this factory service is not available to the Canadians). Please bear with me as I'm navigating through this process. I explored the DuraCoat options and I may go that way eventually, but not just yet. Perhaps later this year if everything will be up to my liking. I got a new pocket clip, omega springs, thumb studs and handle screws incoming in the mail. Existing ones will go into my long time storage.

Here is what I've got.

Beautiful work on the 940.

 

[SuzukiGS750EZ]

Looks great! I’ve got more knives than I can even care to share but haven’t picked up a project knife. I may just do that