Benchmade Bushcrafter Family

Fantastic knife with excellent ergonomics and a simple, stout, and sharp blade.

With all the buzz around the word “Bushcraft“ in the past 5-10 years, it has almost become like “tactical“ (aka “tacticool”) with regard to items being marketed towards the Urban Lumberjack crowd that spends more bank on products for their beards per month than most families spend on groceries. I’m not sure which direction things like that are heading. Quite frankly, I don’t care. I needed a knife that would be used in the woods, not one that would sit on a shelf to be admired.

Enter this knife, the Benchmade Bushcrafter 162. This is a solid piece of kit. Designed by Shane Sibert.

Specs below (from Benchmade website)

• Designer: Shane Sibert
• Mechanism: Fixed
• Action: Fixed Blade
• Blade Steel: CPM-S30V (58-60 HRC)
• Blade Length: 4.40" (11.18cm)
• Blade Thickness: 0.164" (4.17mm)
• Overall Length: 9.15" (23.24cm)
• Handle Thickness: 0.92" (23.37mm)
• Weight: 7.72oz. (218.86g)
• Sheath Weight: 2.70oz. (76.54g)

The sheath has received its share of negative reviews on the internet. While I don’t completely hate it, it does leave a lot to be desired. One minor point of contention from me is the wafer-thin plastic insert/sleeve that houses the knife. Mine was broken on arrival and just seems like it is almost meant to be disposable. Not what you’d expect from an established company like Benchmade.

I did apply some Obenauf’s LP to the sheath, which served to darken it and add some character to its otherwise bland nubuck appearance. It does have a built in slot for a ferro rod, which is a handy and much-appreciated touch.

The knife itself is a joy to work with. Feather sticking and batoning are both easily done for long stretches with no hand fatigue or hotspots.

It can even chop fairly well if that is something you find yourself wanting/having to do. These can currently be had for around $160-$180 if you do a little shopping...so don’t be put off by the retail price of $200-$235 (on Benchmade’s site).

I highly recommend this full-tang working blade for anyone looking for a high-quality knife.

Looked into getting a cheaper bushcraft knife that was full tang to compliment my Mora. At first hard to swallow the price, but this is S30V steel. This blade holds an edge like no other. Has a fantastic warranty and will not rust here on the Oregon coast.

I bought this knife as a closeout. I previously purchased a couple of Moras that I absolutely love. But I as I got into the hobby of so called bushcraft—what I used to call camping recreation until it took off—I decided I wanted a full tang knife. Needed, probably not, but I did not have a full tang in my collection.

So I looked into "camping" knives and bushcraft specific knifes kept coming up, in particular the Benchmade. It is expensive, but I justified the cost because of the high quality steel and handle materials used, along with the fact it is American made. And honestly it's a sexy knife to look at.

In use it feels great. I have medium hands for a man and it fits well. I love that the handle was designed with multiple hand uses in mind including a finger guard. The knife holds an edge wonderfully. I do not baton generally but since YouTube makes it look so fun I have tried it and this knife slices right through anything including green wood.

The sheath is okay, especially for use a few times a year. Nothing special. As far as throwing sparks I have not tried that but multiple videos show that this knife loves ferrocium rods.

I HIGHLY recommend this knife. And hey, if you don't like it you can resell it to the right buyer with probably only a 10-20% loss. Not too bad for a tool.

Inspires confidence.

Love everything about this knife. It is solid, well assembled, great material (s30v steel, g-10 handles, titanium holds everything together.) This knife has proven to be excellent at bushcraft, batoning, feather sticks, striking flint, etc. ergonomics of the handle make a lot more sense when you're holding the knife and understand the different grips it's designed to accommodate.

Thick steel blade inspires confidence that the knife will survive normal use and abuse, as well as the fact that the s30v holds a great edge while at the same time being easy to sharpen. The sheath is good, although kydex would be preferable in humid climates.

If you're looking for a zombie apocalypse, cut through a car door, mall ninja weapon, keep looking. If you're looking for an excellent bushcraft tool that would serve you well, even in the event of worst case wilderness scenario, get a bm162. It would be hard to find a better blade.