Benchmade 750-101 Damasteel Titanium

Benchmade's gentlemanly Gold Class upgrade of the hardworking Pinnacle, for those of us who like to smoke $200 cigars and crash our Lambos.

A shot I "borrowed" from somebody's nicely done Polish language review of the venerable Benchmade Pinnacle.

If you've been collecting and/or drooling over many of Benchmade's Knives as long as I have, you may remember a great Ti handled knife called the Pinnacle.  The Pinnacle used BM's variation of Chris Reeve's framelock concept, Benchmade referred to it as a "Monolock".  I still have a very beat up Pinnacle, whose Ti scales I polished on a hard buffing wheel, I sent it back to De Asis and Co. a few years back and they tuned it up nicely, though I REALLY wish that while the Pinnacle was still being manufactured that I would've gotten one with (at the time) Benchmade's BT2 Black Teflon coating (replaced nowadays with BK1, a harder, more scratch resistant coating).

I guess if I could afford $680.00 to $800.00 USD, I could get this new Gold Class take on the Monolock equipped Pinnacle.  Who knows, maybe Benchmade will bring back the old school Pinnacle just for fun.  For me, it was like owning a more affordable Benchmade-ized take on a Chris Reeve Sebenza, actually, at the risk of sounding like some heretic, I'll go ahead & say I like the looks of Benchmade's original Pinnacle over the looks of the Sebenza, whatever, I just do.

Anyway, here are the specs for the Gold Class 750, which traces its lineage straight back to 1999 and Benchmade's original Pinnacle folding knife:

750-101
Damasteel USA Infinity pattern blade
Titanium monolock handle with
contoured and hand blended black carbon fiber inlays
Titanium backspacer anodized bronze
DLC finished hardware and clip
Limited run of 200 pieces


Blade Length 3.65" (9.10cm)
Blade Thickness 0.120" (3.18mm)
Open 8.36" (21.23cm)
C losed 4.71" (11.96cm)
Weight 4.50 oz (127.57g)
Handle Thickness 0.47" (11.90mm)

I should note that the initial run is only 200 pieces, that's part of that exclusivity that makes the Gold Class Edition knives worthwhile for many people.  Sure there are still a ton of schlubs like me out there who have an older, regular model Pinnacle that probably sold for about $140 USD back in its day, but by being able to leisurely drop $680-$800 on a non custom, manufactured knife (granted a real beauty, but still...) you're telling the world.  "Fuck you, I have and $800 pocketknife in my pants AND I'm happy to see you baby!"

Don't get me wrong, most of the Gold Class pieces the big BM does are gorgeous, I just feel that if I could afford them, I personally would get something even more unique and likely support an upcoming custom knifemaker.  But who knows...it won't be until I'm older, hopefully comfortably retired and not living off of catfood and $50 social security checks that I'm able to afford such gentlemanly luxury.  I have a LONG time to go until retirement, maybe I should start working on "monetizing" this here blog eh?

:)

-A

And another "borrowed" image of somebody's original Pinnacle.  Mine is the comb-edge, uncoated version that shimmers like a wet fish due to the polish job I did on the disassembled knife.  I'll have to dig it out of the hidey place and take some pix for posterity.

You can see this badboy in its $800 glory @ knifecenter (though it can be had for over $100 less elsewhere online)