Benchmade 950 RIFT: “Osborne Greatness” by Nutnfancy04:33

The Rift should last a lifetime. It’s an extremely well-made folder featuring a reverse tanto 154CM steel blade. Expect outstanding cutting performance from it: it penetrated 20 layers of cardboard with ease and had lots of edge left over afterwards. The steel is still an excellent choice these days and wears extremely well (especially with the perfected BM heat treat). Most steels have some limitations and this one’s no different: 154CM steel will show rust in wet environments if it’s neglected. The tip on the 950 Rift is strong but still capable of some precision work and the reverse tanto has surprisingly effective stabbing capability. The blade is handsome and provides outstanding belly for pretty much any task. My favorite finish of the Rift line is shown, the 950 model: the satin finished blade and black and charcoal sculpted G10 handle scales give a striking appearance. It has been offered in pure black G10 handles, with a combo edge, and BT black coatings. But the Rift shown is one of the coolest looking out-of-box folders I’ve seen. Overall ergonomics are good but take a few hits: the handle scales come with sharp shoulders (sanded and radiused in the knife shown), there is no jimping anywhere, the design lacks a meaningful thumb ramp or deep finger guard, and the handle scales offer only medium traction. In my book these design misses relegate the Rift to EDC and utility use where it will give great service. But many upsides combine to allow this Osborne design to achieve lasting excellence: the thumbstud is perfectly designed, easily accessed, and ambi; the knife deploys wicked fast (the previously-reviewed 950 SBK was an exception), lockup is tight and reliable even after much use, the long-wearing Axis lock is a joy to use and helps the speed, the knife comes out with a solid thwack (love that), open pillar design doesn’t hold debris, a reversible and strong, blackened pocket clip (that thankfully is oriented tip up), pefect blade centering and in-handle retention, and the huge stop pin are all impressive. Weight is 4.8 ounces which is heavy in the EDC role (some competitive offerings are half that for same size blade). It could be made lightet by BM: like the 710 McHenry Williams should feature drilled out liners from the. The 950 Rift shown features my milled out liners to save about .4 oz (a factory job would save more); it was a disproportionate amount of work and the hardened 420J liners broke a carbide drill bit in the process! Value is moderate and like many other Benchmade knives the entrance fee to the Rift is relatively expensive. But Benchmade fans will understand the value which becomes more apparent, year after year, as the knife continues to soldier on without any problems and never wears out. ////////////////////////// Nutnfancy Likablity Scale: 8.5 out of 10 (with milled liners, aggressive jimping, priced less: 9.5 of 10) ////////////////////Music: www.partnersinrhyme.com