Benchmade Anthem Review
Yes, I am a bit late to the party with this one, but I want to include it in my review catalog because it is a unique knife in the Benchmade line up. I am so late to the party that the Anthem was added to Benchmade’s discontinued list during the writing of this review. If you like this strangest of Benchmades, now is the time.
Bell Labs occupies a unique place in history. It is an entity that has been owned by a series of businesses, but it was founded on the idea that blue sky, blank check scientific inquiry pays dividends over time much larger than profit-focused research can. With nine Nobel Prizes and a list of inventions that includes radio astronomy, the transistor, the laser, Unix, C++, photovoltaic cells, and information theory, clearly that instinct is correct. This is why “budget hawks” that criticize things like NASA and pure scientific research are shortsided morons. In their effort to count beans, they miss the big picture—namely that humans, while enjoying profits, are often motivated by something more idealistic, especially when you are dealing with the smartest humans. Money matters, of course, but the desire to explore, to plumb the depths of the universe, or push the limits of knowledge are better motivators than a paycheck for some people.
This is why I have always loved projects of passion. My favorite film, Eraserhead, took years to make and David Lynch delivered pizzas and took odd jobs, all to ensure that his vision alone would animate the film. The result is perhaps one of the most idiosyncratic movies ever made and something I truly cherish watching. The same is true of the work of Horatio Pagani. He began life as an employee of Lamborghini, but his ideas were so outrageous that they couldn’t find a home, even in a company aimed at producing ultra luxury cars. The Zonda and then the Huayra prove that Pagani’s vision, singular as it was, is completely transformative. No car embodies the idea of rolling sculpture better than the Huayra.
In the production knife world, on rare occasions, we are treated to blank check, blue sky knives—knives so ornate or complex or unique that they shouldn’t, by all rights, exist given the need to laser focus on the bottom line. When knife builds are amortized across tens of thousands of units down to the individual screw, these crazy blank check knives should never exist. But they do. Because, in the end, making knives is about passion. Its really just a specialized form of industrial machining. Benchmade could make widgets for washers and dryers, but where is the fun in that?
Problem is some of these blank check knives, like the Spyderco Nirvana, miss the mark. Its especially hard to swallow a blank check design when it is a swing and miss. So, does the only integral in Benchmade’s line up, the Anthem, cash the check or swing and miss? Read on.
Here is the product page. There are no variants. Here is a written review. Here is a video review. Here is my Anthem review sample, sent to me by long time friend of the blog Knife Art. Knife Art has the Anthem and many other premiere, high end knives, expertly curated with superior customer service:
Twitter Review Summary: The Apotheosis of Benchmade
Design: 2
The idea of a luxe, new-from-the-ground-up Benchmade has a lot of appeal. So often I look at the Gold Class knives and think: “That is a nice, but gaudy Mini Grip…” With the Anthem, there is no lily that has been gilded, its a totally new knife. And for that reason it was a breath of fresh air. The fact that it is also a really good design is a nice thing. With a drop point, great thumb studs, a thin but solid (literally) handle, and good steel the Anthem is an excellent design, even if you ignore the fact that it is a machining tour de force. It is also the best version of the Axis lock ever thanks to a forced redesign necessitated by the integral handle. With one solid spring pushing the sliding bar, you get a great, snappy and consistent action.
The b:w is .96. The b:h is .77. Both are pretty good and surprising for a knife of this size.
Fit and Finish: 2
With a locked in action on the pivot and Axis lock and meticulous machining, it is impossible to find a flaw in how the Anthem was executed. The machining on the handle is particularly clean and the pattern, while simple, it is mesmerizing. In some lights it looks like a single pattern (see the picture in the Design section) and in other lights it looks like something split down the middle (see the “review sample” picture").
Grip: 2
As visually appealing as the handle it is, it also provides some real grip to it. It also has the rock solid feel only possible in an integral design. The fact that it is so solid AND thinner, it just sings in the hand.
Carry: 2
With its slim handle and nice machining, the Anthem carries like a much smaller knife. It is one of the many knives that have prompted me, over the decade that this site has been around, to contemplate how to measure a knife’s volume. I wish this was a spec companies released, because there are some knifes that are small but bulky, like the Reate Bushido, and some knives that are big but skinny, like the Spyderco Spydiechef. Having an actual number to tether to that intuition would be nice. Any ideas how to measure this, leave them in the comments section below.
Steel: 2
20CV is a good steel with great all around attributes, but it is not a premium steel anymore. I would love to see an upgrade here. I am not going to dock the Anthem points but I will note this in the Value section below.
Blade Shape: 2
The blade shape here, a standard drop point, is nice, but, well, a bit too slopey. Its not ugly and if the knife is closed it is not noticeable, but when open the point is well below the blade’s centerline. This is 100% a preference thing, so no points off, but I don’t like it. In terms of utility, you won’t find better.
Grind: 2
Thanks to thin stock on a knife that is pretty thin already, the Anthem is quite the slicer. Also impressive is just how clean the grind is—steady cutting bevels, perfectly symmetrical and crisp plunge lines, and a clean transition to the main grind. Like with the lock, which I will discuss below, it is clear that Benchmade took their time with the Anthem and it is shows in the grind and elsewhere.
Deployment Method: 2
Thanks to a silky pivot and reworked Axis lock (necessitated by the Anthem’s integral construction), the thumb studs here produce a convincing and quick snap as the blade pops into place. Every bit as fun as a good flipper, the Anthem’s deployment just sings. The ping you get because the entire knife is a single block of material is also pretty satisfying.
Retention Method: 1
The clip works well, but once told you can never unsee it: its a penis. The clip is clearly a striated dong. Its distracting and ugly. On a knife this nice, a clip this ugly and phallic is kinda unforgiveable. If you are swinging for the fences you can’t take half measures.
Lock: 2
The lock here is the best iteration of the Axis lock ever, using a springloaded ram mounted on the inside spine of the knife to push the lock bar into place. Its simpler and sturdier than the traditional omega spring set up found on Axis and other sliding bar locks. It also gives the Axis lock absolutely none of the wiggle found on other Axis lock designs. Benchmade, since the Bugout, has made that possible on traditional Axis locks, but it is clearly something they have worked on over the years. I wonder if this set up is possible on non-integrals, and if so (which clearly it is possible), would it benefit the Axis lock design. In addition to the clean lock up, like with all Axis lock knives, the blade is easy to engage and disengage.
Other Consideration
Fidget Factor: Very High
The ping, the swing, and click all make this a fidgeters dream. The ping of the knife snapping closed comes from the integral design. The smooth, glassy pivot gives the blade a smooth opening and closing path, enabling the swing. Finally, the click comes from the reworked Axis lock. This is a fun knife to play with, like all Axis lock designs.
Fett Effect: High
The knife’s handle finish will pick up scars nicely even if the blade itself is pretty immune. The first scars should, of course, come from the removal of the hideous pocket clip.
Value: Low
At close to $500 this is no one’s idea of a good value. Knives in this price range need to be outstanding and while the Anthem is good, better than the Nirvana and Paysan from Spyderco, its not clear to me that this knife feels worth the money. It is probably the best Benchmade ever and it is a very good knife, but $500 is a lot to ask for in a knife. There are, of course, worse values in production knives, like some D2 stuff from Medford, but this is still a significant chunk of change.
Overall Score: 19 of out 20
This is a beautifully made knife that functions as well as anything Benchmade has ever produced. I am stunned at how well the alternative set up on the Axis lock works and I would love to see it brought back on future designs. I am also really pleased at how good the integral design works in the hand and the pocket. The solid, slim feel is a small but noticeable thing—like a clean engine compartment instead of the chaotic “bag of snakes” in some cars. Its a connoisseur’s delight. The steel, while not the most exotic on the planet, is very good. For me, the only real stumbling block here is the penis-shaped pocket clip, which is really silly. I know, having talked to lots of knife company folks, that clips are a hassle to design and make, but here, its striking that this one made it through the design process.
Competition
Lionsteel has a bunch of integrals that are all, in my opinion, inferior to this knife. Their comical curves and weird, unnecessary features are always off putting to me. Spyderco made two integrals, both Rassenti designs, but they both had pretty obvious issues, one with a thick blade and the other with a weak detent. Reate makes a few integrals too, I just can’t remember, for the life of me, which knife is which. In the end, if you are looking for an integral, I really like this one.
If you expand your search to include other high end knives including non-integrals, the competition is much more fierce. Of course we have the Sebenza and frankly its a classic. You either like it you don’t. Personally, I feel like the Anthem IS a good comparison to the Sebenza. I also really like two Reate-made knives—the Sharp by Designs Micro Evo and the X Series Penas. Both are truly splendid knives and rival this knife in terms of fit and finish. One knife that kept coming up in comparisons I did was the Spyderco Spydiechef, which is similarly sized and also quite thin. It is also $200 cheaper. One other knife, also available at Knife Art, is the impeccably made Spartan Harsey. The good thing is that at this level its hard to go wrong. Any of these knives are great.
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