Benchmade BM 319 Proper Folding Knife

Benchmade knives have a deserved reputation for quality; they started out in 1979 making Bali-Song or butterfly knives in California and in 1996 they moved to a larger facility in Oregon.

The Butterfly, of the butterfly knife that they were so famous for making in the beginning, became the company’s logo. What is a departure for them, is a slip joint knife.

The slip joint non-locking mechanism has become very, very popular now with the restrictions imposed in many counties, including our own. The Proper knife from Benchmade is proving to be a winner worldwide already, even in the USA, for a few reasons. It’s the company’s take on a gentleman’s knife. You’ve got to love the name too, Proper! This is a proper knife, they have not made it down to a price. They have used the latest CPMS30V steel, this ultra-modern steel holds an edge very well indeed, it’s normally found on top-end custom knives. The use of this steel puts the knife firmly out of the budget end price range.

It comes in two styles, the red G10 scales and the one on review here, the green canvas Micarta. They really have stuck to the simple gentleman’s knife format, the 319 for this is the model number of the Proper, does not have a now fashionable pocket clip, the body of the knife is slim at only just over 10mm wide. The blade has a small 1.4mm wide, 16mm long groove to form a nail nick on the left-hand side of the S30V blade. I found I did not need this to open the blade, there is enough blade showing once closed to get a good grip on the satin finished blade with the thumb and fore finger. The blade has a 90-degree stop position, something I like to see on a slip joint knife for safety’s sake.

Get a grip!

There are jimping notches on the back spring, five in number, these match up with four more on the blade spine, I loved the texture of the superb canvas scales, they’re warm to the touch and with its matt finish very, very grippy. The blade shape is a sheep’s foot design, something I did not expect out of an American knife. The back of the blade has a false edge type grind, overall the design of the blade is very good. It also comes with a black fabric drawstring bag, complete with the Benchmade logo on it. You can use this to keep it protected in your pocket, the final thing I loved was the 4.8mm lanyard hole on the rear of the knife, I always fit a lanyard to all of my pocket knives and you can add a cool bead and paracord of your choice to the 319. It’s not cheap but the Proper is set to become a benchmark for slip-joint knives, of that there is no doubt.