Benchmade's Crooked River Still Earns Its Four Inches
The full-size Benchmade Crooked River, model 15080-2, is the kind of knife that makes people start rationalizing a purchase. Four inches of clip point blade, wood scales, metal bolsters, orange accent rings and an AXIS lock in a 9.30-inch overall package. It looks like a hunting knife that wandered into a modern production catalog, and it carries itself with the confidence that comes from having no obvious competitors.
The review that landed this week is fair to it. The large handle has room for a full hand, the wood-and-bolster styling is genuinely attractive rather than nostalgic kitsch, and the thumb-stud action came smooth after a small pivot adjustment. For cutting cardboard — the actual test most knives fail — the long blade and thin-ish grind made quick work of it. The pocket clip is reversible and tip-up, which is more than some hunting-pattern folders bother with.
The problems are the ones this pattern always has. The factory bevels on the review sample were slightly uneven, the lock occasionally stuck after a forceful opening, and the mild jimping adds almost no traction. More seriously, the lock disengaged during a batoning demonstration. That is not a manufacturing defect; it is a folding knife being asked to do a fixed blade's job, and the reviewer says as much when he separates cutting tasks from questionable experiments.
The obvious comparison is with a Buck 110 or 112 — same wood-and-bolster language, far lower price, and a back lock that will never fire open in your hand. The Crooked River's counterargument is the AXIS lock, one-handed opening, better steel and a modern clip. Against a Benchmade Bugout it trades portability for a blade that can actually process an animal or a stack of boxes.
Verdict: buy it if you want a large, handsome folder for hunting, camping and heavy cardboard, and you are content to cut rather than baton with it. Skip it if you need a knife that folds into a jeans pocket, because four inches of blade and a 9.3-inch overall length make this a belt-and-jacket knife.
Disclosure: EDC News may earn a commission on links in this article. Nothing here changes the price you pay.