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troglodyte wrote: ↑Wed Jul 25, 2018 9:53 pmI found a Benchmade Osborne similar to the one in TAMs post. I carried it for years and loved it...then I lost it...and I can't bring myself to spend the money to replace it. I know the general area where it lays but it is in the woods in central Texas. If I get back that way I may have to take a metal detector and see if I can find it amongst all the other metal tidbits from an old turkey farm.

I certainly hope you find it again. I don’t know if yours was a 940 variation - there are a number of Benchmade’s designed by Osborne besides the 940s - but I can say without equivocation that my 940-2 Osborne has been my very favorite EDC knife ever. It was the first one of my modest little collection of Benchmades (which includes also a 183 Contego fixed blade that I didn’t mention above), and other than showing a little wear on the black paint of the pocket clip, It’s as smooth and sharp as the day I bought it.

I’ve begun a modest Benchmade collection in the last couple of years, but today I added my first “grown up” Spyderco - a Paramilitary 2 .....left-handed model. Yep....they actually make a left-handed version of the knife. Here’s a picture, next to my Benchmade folders:





Top to bottom, the Benchmades are:

1. 485 Valet - this is a gentleman’s folder with G10 scales, AXIS lock, and a 2.93” M390 stainless drop point blade.
2. 940-2 Osborne - this is a EDC folder with G10 scales, AXIS lock, and a 3.44” CPM-SV30 stainless reverse tanto blade.
3. 570 Presidio II - this is a rough use folder with machined aluminum scales, AXIS lock, and a 3.72” CPM-SV30 Stainless drop point blade.

Below those, for size comparison is the Syperderco Paramilitary 2. I show them closed, and with blades open so that you can see comparative blade lengths. The Paramilitary 2 falls somewhere between the 940-2 and the 570 in size. The PM and the 940 have virtually the same blade length, within a few hundredths of an inch, but the 940’s cutting edge is a little bit longer. But the 940’s handle is a little shorter, so it is overall a more compact package than the Spyderco. It’s also maybe little bit more in the “gentelman’s“ category than the “tactical”, while the PM is the other way around.....filling the niche between an EDC folder and a rough duty folder.

Anyway, I’m pleased with the Spyderco. It does take a bit more real estate in the pocket, but it also lies a little bit flatter than the 940.... so it might be a wash. I’ll need to carry it around for a while to see. One thing that I hope Spyderco has available, would be a deep carry clip like all three of my Benchmades have, which allows the knife to sit a little deeper in the pocket. It’s less obtrusive that way, but also less likely to fall out of your pocket and get lost.