Benchmade 770 Osborne
Folding Knife Review

Another child of collaboration between Benchmade and custom knifemaker Warren Osborne - 770. Officially, it's a year 2001 knife, as usual, preproduction run appeared earlier. I got mine (#450) in December. As I write this (01/01) 770 first production run is not out yet, the best to my knowledge. Hopefully we'll see it soon. Benchmade keeps silence, that's also usual :(.

General

 - 770 is innovative, small folder. Another gent's pocket knife, slick, stylish and functional ;) To my taste, it's too small, but it's a nice looking, interesting design, with some new details, so why not to have it. Definitely not going to scare public when presented. For a single knife 770 has bunch of the new features such as: carbon fiber handles, fileworked spacer and thumbstuds, and modified axis lock. By the way the spacer filework, looks cool, however I don't know why 770 needed double spacer. By the way, if you like BM 770 Osborne, you should check out its later evolutions such as Benchmade 773 Osborne and 707 Sequel
    In my opinion, it just makes the knife thicker. I for myself would much rather thinner knife of that size. Other than that, I don't really have any complaints regarding Osborne 770. Well, ideally, I'd have 770 with at least 3.5-inch long blade, but that'd be another knife. Many hope this will happen some day ;) Though knowing Benchmade this is rather unpredictable. for example, people (including myself) were asking for AFCK with AXIS Lock for years, yet there was no response, neither positive nor negative untill it came out :)

Blade

 - 2.8-inch spearpoint blade, made out of 154CM stainless steel looks slick and nice, though Benchmade official designation for this blade style is Modified Spear Point. I am not quite sure to what part of the blade the word Modified refers in case of 770. Apparently not to the recurve, although who knows ;)
    As usual there are a lot of complaints regarding Benchmade factory edges. Generally, they are thick and rough. Even with that in mind, my 770 was plain dull when I have received it. No big deal though, I resharpen all the Benchmade knives I get anyways. Blade material used - 154CM, with Rockwell Hardness speced at 59-61. Interestingly enough, one gentleman posted his Rockwell test results for the different Benchmade blades. In short, they all came out with the lower margin. So, quite confidently one could say it's 59 RC. By the way, for the mass production knife that's a very good result. I've written enough about Benchmade 154CM steel, for more check out 940 Osborne review.
    Overall, the blade geometry is efficient enough to make 770 Osborne perform very well for its size. Recurve really helps with most cutting tasks, spear point is strong, and there's enough belly on the blade for utility uses and fine cutting. Though most likely you won't be using 2.8-inch blade knife for utility purposes, but if there's nothing else...

Coating

 - One more detail worth mentioning is the new coating Benchmade introduced in 2001. Official designation is BC1. That is - Boron Carbide, apparently version 1. I wrote a lot about Boron Carbide coating in 710 McHenry & Williams review. The pre-production knife I got originally had satin finish. Later on I've sent the knife back to Benchmade to get Boron Carbide coated blade. Click on the link to see the picture.

Handle

 - Flag checkered, black carbon fiber handle on 770 looks really cool, though the machined parts kind of ruin the picture. I'm referring to the finger groove and the handle edges. The handle has good ergonomics. For its small size, it's still comfortable, even for those with larger palms. Although carbon fiber itself is very light, the double spacer, axis lock and the liners add considerable weight to the handle, so 770 is not blade heavy as one might think reading the description.

Lock

 - Like I have mentioned at the beginning, the Axis Lock on 770 has been modified accordingly, i.e. make it better fit for this small knife. In other words it is significantly smaller. I think the strength will not be an issue, since you less likely you will be exerting that much force on the knife this small. Obviously, smaller axis lock ooks much better than the full size one on the 705 :), let alone the decorated stud. From the design standpoint it was a smart move.

Specifications:

• Model: 770s Osborne;
• Steel: 154CM steel hardened to 59-61 HRC;
• Blade: 71mm (2.8")
• Thickness: 2.8mm(.114");
• OAL: 171.45mm (6.75") Closed: 95.25(3¾");
• Weight: 51g (1.8oz);
• Handle: Black Carbon Fiber, 410 stainless steel liners;
• Lock Mechanism: Axis lock (U.S. Patent #5737841);
• Warranty: Limited Lifetime;
• Acquired - 07/2002 Price - 110.00$

Related reading:

• Benchmade 16707BT Blackwater Folding Knife review
• Benchmade 707 Sequel Folding Knife review
• Benchmade 773 Osborne Folding Knife Review
• Benchmade 705CFHS Forum Folding Knife review
• Spyderco Chaparral 3 C152STIP Stepped Titanium Folding Knife Review

Last updated - 05/19/19