Benchmade 705 Thoughts

I've had the opportunity to try out this Benchmade 705 for the past few months, courtesy of my friend Laura. Huge thanks to her! I've enjoyed carrying it as an EDC knife, but I will say, it's nothing fancy. The materials aren't going to blow you away by any means. The design is simple and is one of those ones that just work for EDC without looking that cool. I will say, if you're looking to buy this knife, you won't be able to find it easily. It has long since been discontinued, and when I tried looking it up on eBay, I didn't find any for a decent price. I'm sure they pop up occasionally on Instagram and eBay if you would like to pick one up.

Blade wise, there's nothing that stands out. I've got no huge complaints about it. I like how simple the blade shape is. It's a nice mid-sized option, coming in just under 3" at 2.95." The steel on it is 154CM, which isn't amazing in this day and age, but it's still perfectly adequate for my needs. I'm not typically a fan of thumbstuds, but I like these ones. Paired with the Axis lock, this knife is a joy to flick open and closed. The smoothness on all Benchmades is unlike any other blades I've tried.

I do have a slight issue with the handle. Where your thumb rests, the handle swoops upward slightly. It's a nice touch, but that means it isn't flat where the spine of the blade meets the handle. I've found that there is only one real way to comfortably hold this knife, as the handle will jab into you if you try to choke up. I wish Benchmade had just smoothed out where the spine of the blade and handle meet. Besides that, the ergos are just okay overall. I'd say this knife is on the smaller side of mid-size blades. The handle is 3.8" overall, which is a decent amount of space. For some reason though, it feels kind of cramped to me. I have smaller hands, so I can only imagine how cramped it might feel if you've got bigger hands. I can still fit a four-finger grip, yet there's just something about it that feels kind of weird. The scales are G-10, but they don't feel like G-10 to me. They've got a smoother texture that reminds me of FRN. This is an old knife, so maybe the G-10 has worn down over time. There is some jimping on the thumb ramp and where your first finger goes that help add some extra grip. There's also couple of grooves in the scales that only function cosmetically. I think they look kind of dumb, but that's just me. The clip is a standard clip and works well. The knife doesn't feel all that light to me, yet it always seem to disappear when I carry it. Like I mentioned earlier, the Axis lock is tons of fun to play with, and it functions well as a lock too. There's some side to side blade play on this one, but I'm sure that could be fixed by tightening the pivot.

Overall, this isn't a flashy knife by any means. It'd be a nicer, classy option for sure. Though this model is discontinued, the 710 is still being produced by Benchmade and is essentially the bigger brother to this knife. The 707 is also kind of similar design wise, but I think Benchmade also discontinued that one recently. I don't think I would've bought this for my rotation. I had fun giving it a try though. I'm not sure what it went for back in its time. Knowing Benchmade's ridiculous price, I'm sure it was over $100. Personally, I wouldn't pay that much for a bland knife with just G-10 and 154CM. I will say, giving this knife a try kind of makes me want to pick up another Benchmade just so I can play with the Axis lock. If you're absolutely in love with the design, I say it's worth the effort to track down. Honestly, you can get a better knife material wise for a cheaper price nowadays. There's lot of other G-10, mid-sized blades out there on the market now. Thanks for looking!