Older Benchmade Auto!

[MITCH RAPP]

Here is an older Benchmade Auto I bought in the 1990's, I thought I

would post because the Tactical Knife Forum is kind of AAPK's "RED

HEADED STEP CHILD" and she doesn't get much love! As you can

see this early Benchmade Auto has no Safety switch and no pocket clip, it

came with a belt sheath. It also has a 4 inch blade which they don't make

anymore. I can't remember the model number because in those days I

wasn't into saving boxes. I think it was a model #9000.

[El Lobo]

Bill

[orvet]

Mitch,
IIRC, that was the first model Benchmade came out with in the late 1980s. Les showed that knife to me when it was still on the CAD program and he had one rough prototype. It was kind of cool to see the birth of the knife that has sparked a whole new generation of automatics.
I wish I had bought a dozen or two of them back then!
They are a nice solid knife.

Al Mar also had some made with his name on them. According to Al, Benchmade was the only US company that ever made a knife for him. They were the only company that could meet Al's quality standards.

Dale

[MITCH RAPP]

Orvet; Thanks very interesting story! Your right the knife is built like a

tank, it's rock solid. Do you remember what the Model name and

Number was?

[jonet143]

hey mitch, that's a bad to the bone knife!

[sunburst]

Hey Mitch,

I have always wondered about those Benchmade auto's, looks good. It would look better over here in the sunshine state in my hand..

Thanks for sharing,

Sunburst

[MITCH RAPP]

Thanks! Ralph; You know it's a hair shaving sharp knife and if you

happen to cut yourself with it, I don't think I could live with

that!

[sunburst]

I appreciate you looking after me there Mitch...

[orvet]

Orvet; Thanks very interesting story! Your right the knife is built like a

tank, it's rock solid. Do you remember what the Model name and

Number was?

Mitch,
I hate it when I give wrong info, but I gave the wrong date on that knife. I have been been going through some old knife magazines that I have from 1988 through 1991. I cannot find any advertisement for Benchmade's automatic in those magazines.

There is an interview with Les de Asis in the Fall 1990 issue of Fighting Knives. There is also an interview with Al Mar in a 1989 SWAT Special Edition Fighting Knives. There is also a 1988 SWAT Special Edition Fighting Knives, a March/April 1990 Blade Magazine, Summer 1990 Fighting Knives, and Winter 1990 & Winter 1991 issues of Blade Trade Magazine. In these magazines are a large number of advertisements for various knives, especially fighting knives.

I am sure that Benchmade's Automatic was advertised heavily when it was introduced. So my best guess is that it was introduced in late 1991 or early 1992. I know it was on the market prior to October of 1992 when Al Mar died, because Al had Les makes some of the automatics with Al Mar's name on them. I remember it quite specifically because I was in Al's office when he showed them to me. That was when he told me that Les (Benchmade) was the only US company that had made a knife with his (Al's) name on it. That conversation took place prior to August of 1992.

I do not remember a model number for the knife. I think it was widely referred to as "the Benchmade automatic." At some point, the knife was referred to as AFO (Armed Forces Only), but that may have been a name that Al Mar used.

I guess I will have to send an e-mail to Les and ask them when it was introduced. I know he's pretty busy but hopefully he will have time to answer my e-mail.

Sorry for the misinformation on the date. But digging through the magazines looking at the ads in them I did find some interesting things, some of which I will post in the General Knife Discussion forum and the Knife Lore forum.

Dale

[justold52]

.."RED HEADED STEP CHILD"..

This sounds to young for me...


MITCH RAPP I still hear you talking about Benchmade Auto's
I still do not have any Auto's. This one could be a frist for me if you want to let her go.

[MITCH RAPP]

Ken; I 'am holding on to this one for it's sentimental value. I bought

this knife from a friend of mine who was a Retired Recon Special Forces

Marine Sergeant. He is an old Warrior who missed the action so much

that he at the age of 43, some how got into the National Guard/Reserves

and is shipping out to Iraq in June. He told me he can hardly wait to get

there!

[justold52]

..A knife from any MAN like that is a keeper.
So much history and love from a knife is priceless...


In fact I would like to buy a knife from him my self.
Can you ask him for me the next time you wright him if he has any knives for sale. PLEASE.

[muskrat man]

Cool story and knife Mitch. I have one identical to it, a later issue one with the saftey and clip. It is a model 9050

[MITCH RAPP]

Thanks! Muskrat; Like Orvet said The knife is one of Benchmades first

foray into the Automatic Knife market. I remember back around the time

my friend purchased it for me the only way you could get that type of an

Auto Knife was to be Active Military or Law Enforcement. The Internet

sure has changed all that


P.S. I don't know if you can see it but inside the butterfly on the blade it reads BALISONG rather than BENCHMADE

[orvet]

I remember back around the time

my friend purchased it for me the only way you could get that type of an

Auto Knife was to be Active Military or Law Enforcement.

The one advantage I had in the 1980s, besides being in the cutlery business & walking in & picking up orders and chatting with Al Mar & Les, is that I lived & worked in Oregon. I think Oregon was the only exception to that rule.
In Oregon we could, (and still can), buy, sell, manufacture and carry an automatic knife.
Makes me glad to be a native Oregonian.

Dale

[MITCH RAPP]

Dale; I know you feel my PAIN! I live in a State, where you

practically can't even carry a RUBBER BAND GUN! Thanks to all

the "LIBERAL JACK ASSES" running things. I live in a State where

OJ SIMPSON and ROBERT BLAKE can Murder their wives and get off

SCOTT FREE! Let's see what happens with that "JACK ASS" PHIL SPECTOR

A guy who has been shoving loaded hand guns into peoples faces his

whole adult life.


P.S. Sorry for the Rant!

[orvet]

You are right Mitch , I do feel your pain.
I have lived in Oregon all my life, except when I was in the Marine Corps. I was stationed at El Toro before I went to Vietnam and I was med-evaced to Oak Knoll Naval Hospital in Oakland. I spent the last 10 months of my time in the Marine Corps between Oak Knoll & Treasure Island Naval Base, in and out of the hospital.

We have a large number of California liberals who have moved to Oregon and many have moved to Washington as well.
Oregon and Washington would appreciate it if you would notify them that their presence is needed again in California. Because we sure don't need them up here!

It's kind of funny, if it wasn't so true.
I grew up in Ashland, Oregon, which is only about 25 mi. from the California border. In the 1960s we had a great influx of Californians moving to Oregon. That was in the days of the Governor Tom McCall era, and the Un-Oregon greeting cards. There was a very popular bumper sticker in those days that said: "Don't Californicate Oregon". What was really so hilarious was that these were not found on the bumpers of Oregonian's cars, but were usually seen on vehicles that still had California license plates on them. The people had been here such a short time that they hadn't even gotten Oregon license plates yet!

They say that the worst anti-smoker is an ex-smoker. I think the most vocal anti-Californians are ex-Californians.

The majority of the liberals in Oregon are located in the Portland area and in Eugene (Eugene is famous for all their hippies, still today. I believe the city Council recently voted to stop putting fluoride in the water and instead substitute LSD). Outside of those two places, which are the two most populous areas in Oregon, most Oregonian's are very conservative. On the eastern side of the State most pickups have a gun rack in them. Most gun racks have a couple of guns and one fishing pole in them.

It is legal in most areas of Oregon, with the exception of some of the bigger cities, to carry a side arm, as long as it isn't concealed. And you can carry concealed with the permit, which isn't hard to get as long as you don't have a criminal record.

I guess we are kind of like the Texas of the Northwest.

Dale

[MITCH RAPP]

Yeh! Dale it's good to know we still have some sanity on THE LEFT

COAST of the U S of A. I am a PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF

CALIFORNIA native, born and raised here and I keep telling my wife

when we retire we need to move out of state! Just the drive time traffic

alone can drive you crazy. I have been stuck in traffic jams on the 405

freeway at 3am in the morning! As much as I want to move, I don't know

if I will ever be able to drag my wife to far away from the Grand

kids.

[OriginalCasteel]

The original design was created by me (Larry Milligan) while sitting at the Vallaton (Butch and Shawn) table in Rice Hill, Oregon, during my apprenticeship in '91. A New York businessman, known for selling expensive switches to law enforcement, stole the notepad off the table during a business dispute with the family. Later, I caught him with it in his drafting room while delivering the '92 OKCA Best Sword of Show prize winner I crafted that year. Crazy but true. I am very proud of that design, but I never received any credit for it, except for the number 70-something he let me keep. Even then, I had to remind him that he had stolen it as he showed it to me. I was young and naive for not making him confess.

I would love to meet the businessman and discuss it someday. I am now writing a letter to address this for those still around. As I age, I reflect on my accomplishments, and it aches to think of it.

[bestgear]

The original design was created by me (Larry Milligan) while sitting at the Vallaton (Butch and Shawn) table in Rice Hill, Oregon, during my apprenticeship in '91. A New York businessman, known for selling expensive switches to law enforcement, stole the notepad off the table during a business dispute with the family. Later, I caught him with it in his drafting room while delivering the '92 OKCA Best Sword of Show prize winner I crafted that year. Crazy but true. I am very proud of that design, but I never received any credit for it, except for the number 70-something he let me keep. Even then, I had to remind him that he had stolen it as he showed it to me. I was young and naive for not making him confess.

I would love to meet the businessman and discuss it someday. I am now writing a letter to address this for those still around. As I age, I reflect on my accomplishments, and it aches to think of it.

WOW simply WOW on so many fronts. Thank you for sharing your story.

[1967redrider]

The original design was created by me (Larry Milligan) while sitting at the Vallaton (Butch and Shawn) table in Rice Hill, Oregon, during my apprenticeship in '91. A New York businessman, known for selling expensive switches to law enforcement, stole the notepad off the table during a business dispute with the family. Later, I caught him with it in his drafting room while delivering the '92 OKCA Best Sword of Show prize winner I crafted that year. Crazy but true. I am very proud of that design, but I never received any credit for it, except for the number 70-something he let me keep. Even then, I had to remind him that he had stolen it as he showed it to me. I was young and naive for not making him confess.

I would love to meet the businessman and discuss it someday. I am now writing a letter to address this for those still around. As I age, I reflect on my accomplishments, and it aches to think of it.

Very interesting post and I hope you can get things resolved to your liking.
to AAPK!

[blazermax1]

The Warrior's Blade

A blade held close, with stories to tell,
From a friend who served, where shadows fell.
An old warrior, brave and strong,
Marching back where he belongs.
In the sands of far Iraq,
He yearns for action, ready to pack.
At forty-three, his spirit alive,
In duty's call, he'll forever strive.