Inside the Infidel (Benchmade)

[JohnyV]

After many months of waiting, I finally received the Infidel, Benchmade's entrance into the OTF (Out of The Front) knife market.

Benchmade markets this OTF for use by police, as well as military. To anyone not familiar with OTF's, making a claim that any knife (never mind an OTF) can be relied upon when your life maybe at risk, is a profound claim to say the least.

This was one of the biggest reasons why I wanted to see if the Infidel was as grand as Benchmade had advertised.

The second reason I wanted to add one to my collection was the simple fact, IMO, that the Infidel is simply a great looking knife.

I was very impressed upon opening the box, The Infidel is even better looking in person than any picture can give it justice. The Infidel has a truly aggressive styling.

My first thoughts were, "If the blood & guts of this thing is anything like the styling, then the Sandshark is in trouble" (IMO the DKW Sandshark is the strongest, toughest production OTF that was ever made).

As soon as I fired the Infidel, disappointment set in. I was not impressed with its power. It fired back in with great force, but upon firing out again, I was still surprised at the lack of force. Figured a little oil or dry graphite may help, so I put this fact on the back burner until I opened it to see the design of the firing mechanism.

Opening the Infidel. This is where a little disappointment became even greater.
The firing mechanism was not just a sad let down, but pitiful, as far as high priced and well designed OTF's go.

The blade is fired and retracted by two coil springs that a single steel pin holds in place. A piece of thin flat metal that has 4 angled ends, houses the center rod and coil springs. This is all connected directly to the firing button and travels with each movement of the button. This is also the reason there is such a long travel, and the needed extra push to the button, to fire & retract the blade, more so than most OTF's

The springs are compressed when force is applied to the button. As the button is moved forward to fire the blade, it compresses the the forward spring until two of the four angled ends of the flat metal trips the rear sears, releasing the blade.

There are four sears (sears are what keeps the blade locked out & holds the blade in). These sears, are a pitiful, one (1) mm think. Not only are the sears very thin, but they are held out by six extremely thin leaf springs, 3 on each side. Each of these leaf springs are barely a 1/2 mm thick.

Infidel box & black carrying sack







Size comparison. From left: Piranha Excalibur, DKW Sandshark, Infidel, ProTech Godfather.



Opening the Infidel. Held together with 12 torque screws, 6 on each side.





All hardware is held in each half. Sears in bottom half (belt clip side) *pictured on left*. Springs and firing catch housed in top half (button side) *pictured right*.









Complete breakdown







Closer look at the very thin sears, (barely 1 mm thick), and the 6 leaf springs that hold the sears out to lock the blade, each are less then a 1/2 mm thick.





Bottom line, the Infidel is very aggressive looking, with one of the best styles I have seen. It is truly a nice knife to look at, but sadly that's were it ends.

For Benchmade to advertise this knife to be used for law enforcement and military is completely without foundation.

The infidel is not even in the same ballpark as the DKW Sandshark.
The design of the Infidel is lacking, with very small sears and even smaller leaf springs. The Blade is completely sandwiched between two thin pieces of metal which would jam at even the thought of sand or dirt because there is no place for it to escape.

To be fair, not even the Sandshark would be useful for the military. Only a heavy, large, fixed blade is something I would even consider for combat.
Also, since all my OTF's are nothing more then show pieces, I guess this whole thread really means little, but at the very least it helps to understand which OTF is made better than the next.

If you would like a comparision to gauge the Infidel too, Please veiw this link to "Inside the Sandshark": Great thread by Nameless (Thanks for all the advice & help) http://jerzeedevil.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22736

I hope you enjoyed!

[gzb]

Nice job JV. Really appreciate you both taking the time to document your endevours step by step, w/good clear pics to boot...

[nameless]

Welcome, it was a pleasure to help. Nice work!

[Hawaiian]

Thanks for the write up and pics. Best I have seen yet on the Infidel.

[Mr.LaBella]

Originally Posted by Hawaiian

Thanks for the write up and pics. Best I have seen yet on the Infidel.

+1. Good Job!

[jimmydred]

Originally Posted by Hawaiian

Thanks for the write up and pics. Best I have seen yet on the Infidel.

+2

-Jimmy

[Tinysd]

Great pics and review!
Here are some pics of a DA Microtech to compare with.




Spring assembly

[The General]

Great insight into this knife! Thanks! :spin:

[hanky]

Great presentation. thanks hanky

[fod]

nice.

fine job of showing this interesting design.

Thanks!

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Thanks for doing this disassembly and photographing it. The mechanism is pretty interesting. I played with one of these at the local knife shop and was surprised by the button travel too. But it did seem to fire pretty hard. I wonder how difficult it would be to find and install stronger springs?

Have you any plans for a "torture test"? We all have seen the DKW "steel barrel show" and PVK's "hammer the Piranha into a pine board" video. I wonder if the BM could withstand similar abuse.

I bet the BM would surprise us...the way the sears are trapped between multiple layers of metal, It looks to me like it would be unlikely they would bend despite their thinness.

Just MHO.

[UT-II]

I agree especially with your conclusion about the suitability of a D/A OTF in dirty real-world conditions where your life might depend on reliable deployment.

According to TAD Gear, they dropped the Sand Shark for just that reason: the tolerances are too tight for it to work outside (in their opinion).

[jimmer_5]

Awesome thread!! I was amazed to see how differnet the mechanism is inside the infidel - I had just assumed that it was the same basic mechanism shared by everything from Microtechs to cheap NATO OTF's! :spin:

[jorvik]

great review......I like it when it is dispassionate and to the point, and this was,
sadly the infidel doesn't seem to be up there with the best of them..from what I've read the best (withoutadoubt) is the sandshark..........the Piranha Excalibur has excellent mechanics ( thank-u-Mr.nameless).....and then we have the Michrotechs......which I must say I do like the looks of.but I've heard that there are quality control issues.....that is the beauty of these forums the fact that knifenuts can exchange these facts/opinions...........
and thanks again for the honesty....really Johny V it was an awesome review, I love it when folks strip a knife down to the bone............... much respect.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

I haven't handled a DKW Sandshark (yet!).

I would definitely rank the BM Inifidel that I handled WELL over the Piranha Excalibur that I owned for 24 hours.

In terms of lockup and firing strength I'd rank the Microtechs that I've owned and handled above the BM and the Piranha. However the quality issues and the general Marfione attitude have turned me off to MT.

That said, if I were military or LEO I would never consider carrying an OTF auto. There's simply no reason to carry such a finicky, expensive item when your ass is on the line. It would be like using a Ferrari Testarossa as a patrol car.

Thanks again for the review JohnnyV. If you get around to beating on that BM let us know about it.