Hey, everyone.
David C. Andersen here coming at you from the KnifeCenter, and today we’re looking
at the KnifeCenter exclusive Benchmade Battlewash Bugout; the coolest looking Bugout yet.
Let’s check ‘em out.
Now, the first thing you need to know about this knife is that it is a Benchmade 535 Bugout.
It’s the same American-made lightweight and slim EDC that you know and love, but the
handles are better than ever.
There’s no need to buy custom handle scales with this knife, because it’s perfect right
out of the box.
These feature the debut of Benchmade’s Battlewash finish, and right now they’re only available
on our KnifeCenter Exclusive Bugout.
The red and black look emulates the look of a stonewashed finish that’s so popular on
blades these days, and it creates a nice rustic, broken-in style that instantly looks right
at home next to your most-used gear.
Now, it’s the same grivory material that they use on the standard versions of the Bugout,
and it’s lightweight and nice and strong.
It lets them keep the weight down to less than two ounces on this knife.
It’s very slim in the pocket, too.
It’s less than half an inch thick, which cuts down on unnecessary bulk, making it easy
to stash it in your pocket along with other things like your wallet, cell phone, pens,
keys or any other things you might need to take with you every day.
Now, despite being thin, it still has just enough to get you through everything but the
heaviest jobs day to day, and I can get a full four fingers with my hands as well.
If you do need more length, you can always attach a lanyard, and there’s a nice generous
loop at the end of the handle to make attaching things easy.
Even paracord will fit very easily through this hole.
Now, when you look at the back of the knife, you can see that it has open-backed construction
with barrel spacers to connect the two sides.
That’s another thing that helps them keep the weight down, but it also makes this knife
easier to clean, as it’s going to be very easy to blow or rinse out that handle when
dirt or lint does collect in there.
Taking things up a notch are brilliant red anodized spacers, and it really sets off
the color of the red on the handles, and it matches the thumb studs on these blades as
well.
Speaking of blades, the Bugout does come with a versatile drop point shape, and it uses
S30V steel.
Now, originally, Benchmade marketed this knife as something for ultralight hikers, but this
model has found its way into the daily carry rotation for a lot of folks out there.
The reason for that is that it’s easy to carry, and that blade shape works for just
about anything, and that S30V steel brings a very good amount of edge retention to the
table.
When the edge does finally need some attention, if you’d prefer not to sharpen it yourself,
Benchmade does offer their Lifesharp program, which also applies to this knife.
All you have to do is send the knife in using the forms on their website, and they’ll
tune it up and sharpen it at no charge and send it back to you just as good as new.
Now, in keeping with the ultralight mission of this knife, the blade itself is thinner
than most of Benchmade’s other offerings.
It’s not even a full 3/32nds of an inch thick, and it sits right about 0.09 inches.
The flat grind on the blade is nice and high as well, almost a full flat grind.
You can see just a hint of the shoulder right here near the spine, and paired with the thin
blade stock, the flat grind helps the Bugout to cut exceptionally well and very efficiently,
and the swedge at the tip makes sure you can still pierce effectively, too.
Now, we have two blade finishes right now at launch, including this satin finished one
here, that actually has a light stonewashing to the texture, which is quite nice.
Now, the only way to get a satin finish before this was with the blue handled version of
the Bugout.
Now, I’ve always liked that look, but it is brighter than a lot of folks out there
might have wanted, so this Battlewashed edition is a great addition to the lineup.
You can also get this knife with a black cerakote finish.
Now, this sort of baked on ceramic-based coating adds some extra protection to the steel itself,
and the black looks even better with those battlewash handles.
And, of course, both have that awesome red thumb stud that ties in with those red backspacers.
Providing security for the Battlewash Bugout is Benchmade’s signature Axis lock.
Now, because of the way this lock operates, Benchmade doesn’t need to make right-handed
and left-handed versions of the knife, because the lock bar extends through both sides of
the handle.
This allows for easy ambidextrous operation, and it allows you to keep your fingers clear
of the path of the blade when you’re operating the lock as well.
Now, the lock bar itself is DLC coated titanium.
Again, nice and lightweight, and it interfaces with the tang for a sturdy lockup.
It’s easy to use one-handed, both deliberately as well as wrist flicking when you hold the
lock bar back.
There’s no faster way to access your blade, cut what you need to, and close and stash
the knife.
Even assisted openers and automatic knives can’t keep up with the Benchmade Bugout
since they usually take a bit more effort to close than this knife.
And yet, as far as speed of opening, I’d say that’s plenty fast for just about any
job out there.
Now, if you’re concerned about subtlety, because this knife is a little bit flashier,
you’ll probably appreciate the deep carry pocket clip.
This allows you to carry it nice and deep in your pocket, with only just a hint of handle
that’s gonna stick above your hem.
Shaving off even a little more weight is a shorter version of their pocket clip than
their normal deep carry pocket clip.
This mini version still provides plenty of retention, though, and at less than two ounces
of weight, you could just as easily clip this knife to athletic shorts as you could to a
pair of blue jeans.
The clip features their tough blackened finish that’s gonna wear very well with time.
It’s not painted on so that you’re gonna get pieces that flick off over time, and it’ll
wear in very nicely, and eventually it’s going to go even better with that Battlewash
finish.
Now, if you’re like me, you’ve probably loved the Bugout since it first debuted, but
you’ve been wanting more color options to show up, and the wait is now over with these
KnifeCenter Exclusive Battlewash models.
Now, if you’re watching this video when it’s first gone up, then these are available
for preorder right now on KnifeCenter.com.
With $140.25 on the satin blade, and $153.00 for the black cerakote at this point in time.
As with all our preorders, your card won’t be charged until they ship, and orders are
going to be shipped in the order that they’re received.
Once preorders are filled, you’ll be able to add this to your cart like anything else.
In the mean time, be sure to let us know in the comments what you think of this new KnifeCenter
exclusive Battlewash Benchmade Bugout, and make sure you’re subscribed to our channel
to stay up to date with all the cool knives just as soon as they come in.
I’m David C. Andersen from the KnifeCenter signing off.
See you next time.