Kershaw
Tualatin, Oregon, 1974 — a Japanese-owned American knife house that says outright its knives are made in three countries, and builds over a million a year in one building.
Benchmade
Oregon City, 1988 — a family-owned American knife company that will sharpen your knife for the rest of its life, and whose signature lock is now out of patent.
Benchmade is the American knife company that competes on service rather than on price. The brand name dates to 1988, the company runs from Oregon City, and its LifeSharp program will sharpen, clean, oil and adjust a Benchmade knife for as long as you own it. The engineering story is the AXIS lock, introduced on the 710 in 1999 — and the most interesting fact about it today is that Benchmade's own 2025 article says the original patent has expired, which is why crossbar locks are suddenly everywhere. The catalog spans hunting, rescue, kitchen and duty knives; automatic models require an eligibility acknowledgment before Benchmade will sell one.
- 1999The AXIS lock arrives on the 710 — the patent has since expired
- LifeSharpFree sharpening and adjustment for the life of the knife
- Oregon CityWhere Benchmade says its factory, people and home are
What we'd reach for
- BugoutThe ultralight AXIS folder that reset expectations for how little a capable knife has to weigh. The model most people mean when they say they carry a Benchmade.
- GriptilianThe workhorse. Large, unglamorous, and the one that made the AXIS lock a mainstream expectation rather than a curiosity.
- 710Historically the important one — the 1999 model that introduced the AXIS lock, and the reason a crossbar lock feels normal today.
- MeatcrafterThe hunting and butchery blade that pushed Benchmade into the kitchen and game-processing conversation.
- BailoutThe lightweight tanto-ground sibling to the Bugout, aimed at hard use.
- Auto knivesSold only under Benchmade's automatic-knife acknowledgment process to eligible customers, because federal and state law both bear on it.
More in Field & pursuits
All brands →The nearest neighbors on the shelf — same categories first, same department after that.
Bushnell
1948 — the binocular most Americans looked through first, now three owners deep in four years and still the honest answer under two hundred dollars.
Garmin
1989 — two engineers named the company after themselves, and thirty-six years later it is the reason a search party knows where you are.
Hawke Optics
Suffolk, England — a family optics house that grew out of a garage, sells serious glass at unserious prices, and does not tell you where it's made.