Knife Review: Benchmade Boost Spring Assisted Knife CPM-3V Rescue Knife

The Benchmade Boost Spring Assisted Knife

For over thirty years, Benchmade has been designing and manufacturing world-class products for world-class customers.

When Benchmade was founded, the mission was to create something better; something exceptional. Today, they continue to innovate with the goal of taking performance and reliability to the next level. To exceed what is expected.

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The next thing that makes Benchmade knives so top notch is their mechanisms. The mechanics of opening and closing a knife are essential to its function. Benchmade asks themselves questions like Is it easy to actuate? Can it be opened with one hand? Is it ambidextrous? Will it absolutely not fail when you need it the most? They ask these questions because they are critical considerations when it comes to the mechanism.

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Today we will be talking about the Benchmade Boost Spring Assisted knife, which is in stock at BladeOps right now.

The Blade:

The blade on the Boost is made out of CPM 3V steel. This steel is made by Crucible Industries, which is definitely an edge above the rest of the steel manufacturers. They are known for making high-end steels specifically for knives. This means that their steels are going to offer all the best qualities for a blade. They describe this steel by saying, “CPM 3V is a high toughness, wear-resistant tool steel made by the Crucible Particle Metallurgy process. It is designed to provide maximum resistance to breakage and chipping in a high wear-resistance steel. It offers impact resistance greater than A2, D2, Cru-Wear, or CPM M4, approaching the levels provided by S7 and other shock resistant grades. CPM 3V is intended to be used at 58/60 HRC in applications where chronic breakage and chipping are encountered in other tool steels, but where the wear properties of a high alloy steel are required.”

This steel has incredibly high wear and toughness properties. This is a major advantage for the Boost which specializes in outdoor acts. This is because it is not going to wear out quickly no matter how rough and tough the going gets. It is definitely going to be able to withstand abuse. That being said, it is not going to hold its edge as long as S30V would. This is a slight disadvantage, because you are not going to want to worry about sharpening this when you are in the field. This is also not a stainless steel, which does mean that you are going to have to take exceptional care of it. You are going to need to make sure that the steel is dry after each use and oil it often. When taken care of, it is going to excel.

The blade on the Boost has been finished with a black coating. This finish is an ideal option for a tactical knife such as this one. This is because it increases the corrosion and wear resistance of the blade immensely. This is because it forms a barrier in between the steel and the environment. So, an already corrosion resistant steel, becomes even more corrosion resistant and requires less maintenance.

The next reason that the black coating is a great option for a tactical knife is because it will cut down on glares and reflections. It is a matte black coating, so no reflections are going to give away your position when you are using this knife in the field.

The biggest drawback to a coated blade is that the coating can and will scratch off after time and heavy use. Coatings do not stay on forever and this is something that you are going to have to deal with eventually. Once the coating does come off, you are going to lose out on all of the good qualities that the coating once provided.

The blade has been shaped into an opposing bevel style shape. This is a unique blade shape. The spine extends straight from the handle to the end in a very slow curve. However, there is no point. Instead, it is a completely flat tip, which does a few things. For starters, there will be no accidental stabbings, which means that this is a good option for a rescue blade. This means that you can be up close and personal to the action without worrying about piercing anyone with the tip.

The belly is not large, but it does have a lot of cutting area. This means that you will easily be able to slice with it.

The Handle:

The handle on this is made out of Grivory as well as Versaflex. Grivory is an amorphous nylon copolymer with exceptional dimensional stability. With a Benchmade Grivory, it has 50% or more glass fill. Grivory has been known as the proven material for metal replacement. Some of the benefits of Grivory is that it has high levels of stiffness and strength, resists absorbing moisture, and has good chemical resistance. All of these characteristics make the material durable, strong, and has a long lifetime.

The handle on this is pretty standard. The spine extends from the blade to the butt in a slow and gentle curve. Near the butt, there is a row of jimping that is going to give you a little bit more control and grip when using this knife. The butt is mostly rounded.

The belly is simple as well. There is a very slight finger guard that will help protect you somewhat, but it is nothing dramatic. After that, there is a very slight finger groove. This will give you a comfortable grip on the handle. After that, there is a very elongated and shallow groove. Again, this will provide you with a little bit more comfort when you are using this knife. There is a lanyard hole in the butt of this knife that has been outlined with red.

The bulk of the handle is made out of black Versaflex, with red Grivory inlays. The Versaflex will give you some grip, but the Grivory is where you are going to get the bulk of the grip.

The Pocket Clip:

The pocket clip is reversible as well as deep carry. It is designed or tip up carry only, but it is eligible for a left or right handed carry option. The clip is black, which matches the blade very well. It does have the Benchmade Butterfly logo stamped on the middle of the deep carry pocket clip.

The fact that it is deep carry means that it is going to stay securely inside your pocket as you move about your day and go about your tasks. You won’t have to be concerned that you will lose your knife, because it will be securely attached to your pocket. The deep carry aspect also helps it stay a little bit better concealed.

The Mechanism:

The knife has been equipped with Benchmade’s AXIS assist mechanism. Benchmade describes the AXIS mechanism by saying, “A patented Benchmade exclusive, AXIS® has been turning heads and winning fans ever since its introduction. A 100 percent ambidextrous design, AXIS® gets its function from a small, hardened steel bar that rides forward and back in a slot machined into both steel liners. The bar extends to both sides of the knife, spans the liners and is positioned over the rear of the blade. It engages a ramped tang portion of the knife blade when it is opened. Two omega-style springs, one on each liner, give the locking bar its inertia to engage the knife tang. As a result, the tang is wedged solidly between a sizable stop pin and the AXIS® bar itself.” They go on to explain the AXIS assist by saying, “Easily opened, quickly and with one hand; this evolution of the AXIS® includes a spring that helps to fire the blade into the open position once the user pushes it beyond a certain point manually. The AXIS® lock also has the added benefit of “suck-back,” which encourages the blade to stay in the closed position. AXIS® Assist knives also feature integrated safety lock systems.” This means that the knife is going to be reliable and durable. You are never going to have to question the locking mechanism.

The Boost has also been equipped with dual thumb stud, which means that the thumb stud extends out of both sides of the blade. This makes it a fully ambidextrous knife. The thumb stud also allows you to open the knife with only one hand. It is easy to use and easy to get the hang of.

The Specs:

The blade on the Boost measures in at 3.43 inches long with a handle that measures in at 4.83 inches long. This creates an overall length of 8.26 inches long when the blade is opened. This is as slightly heavier knife, weighing in at 4.49 ounces. This does still fit in the range of weight that is optimal for an EDC, just on the slightly heavier side. This knife is made in the United States of America, so you can feel proud to own, carry, and use this knife. You will know that you helped give a fellow American a job and you know that you can rely on the quality of the Benchmade.

Conclusion:

The newest rendition of the Boost family includes some unique yet practical features such as a blunt pry-tip blade and a tough-as-nails tool steel blade swap. The unique handle scale showcases a dual textured and dual durometer design--a co-extrusion process that fuses two materials of different physical properties into one uniform or consistent cross section. Each Boost spring assist knife utilizes Benchmade's AXIS® Assist mechanism which is a fully ambidextrous operating system utilizing a dual thumb stud design to deploy a premium CPM-S30V stainless steel blade as well as integrating a slide safety on the spine. This model features a black over molded Versaflex® handle with a red Grivory® inlay, stainless steel liners, an opposing bevel style blade in a black finish and the reversible deep carry pocket clip is designed for tip up carry only but is eligible for a left- or right-hand carry option.

You can shop all Benchmade brand knives here.