Benchmade 140 Nimravus Overview| Survival Life

within the Benchmade 140 Nimravus Survival Knife?

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Survival Knife Overview:  Benchmade 140 Nimravus Mounted Blade Knife

In earlier articles, we mentioned selecting a fixed-blade survival knife. Test them out within the hyperlinks under:

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A knife is likely one of the extra essential items of apparatus you may have with you in a survival state of affairs. As such, an excellent, survival-appropriate, fixed-blade knife is your best option for inclusion in a survival equipment or BOB (Bug Out Bag) or equal, and/or to be strapped on when an emergency is probably going. On this article, we’ll contemplate a contender for “Finest Survival Knife”.

As talked about within the common articles, there are two courses of fixed-blade knives that may be applicable for survival situations, the “bush” (medium) knife and the “subject” (giant) knife. This knife belongs to the bush class.

Why did I contemplate this knife?

 I’ve at all times been a fan of Benchmade pocket knives since their begin in 1988 with the Bali-song (butterfly knife). From that humble starting, they’ve grown into one of many premier knife firms, and in the present day, they make a few the very best survival pocket knives I’ve discovered primarily based on their Griptilian mannequin. So I used to be comfortable they’ve some mounted blade fashions which look promising.

In fact, discovering one in my value vary was a little bit of a problem. Lastly, I got here throughout a Nimravus I may afford; sadly it’s the serrated model, however that ought to not forestall an affordable analysis. Impressively, this mannequin is certainly one of their “Black” grade knives, made for the “skilled”. This mannequin is the 140; there’s a 141 mannequin with a Tanto-style blade, which might be much less optimum for survival utilization.

Along with a lifetime guarantee, typical of many high quality knife firms, Benchmade affords the “LifeSharp” service, the place they may resharpen your knife to manufacturing unit razor sharpness any time you need. Though solely ship a knife to Benchmade should you obtained it from a licensed supplier, as they will confiscate or destroy any knives decided to be “counterfeit”, with out reimbursing you.

The specs

Particular Options:  Accessible with or with out serrations, Matte darkish blade coating

Preliminary impression 

 This can be a very spectacular knife. The grips are pretty skinny, however comfy and safe in all grips, and the darkish coating makes the knife much less obtrusive than knives with thicker or lighter-colored grips could be. The grips are ridged in direction of the rear, for optimum slip resistance ahead, good for stabbing.

Slip resistance is nice with the hand moist or dry, and passable with a little bit of vegetable oil. A lot of the guard is a minimize out within the tang, however that is extra comfy than others of this model. The jimping is on a slight ramp and is a really efficient mixture. Stability is a bit far behind the guard, which seems to be the case in about half of the bush knives I’ve tried, nevertheless it feels tremendous within the hand, and regardless of a comparatively heavy deal with, could be very nimble.

The Benchmade 140 Nimravus.

The knife is frightening sharp. My hairs are likely to flatten out forward of razors, and a “razor edge” normally solely manages to chop off among the hair. This one obtained all of them, simply.

From the images, the non-serrated model seems to have a typical choil. The serrated model doesn’t have a choil, per se, however the straight edge runs into the serrations, which offers an equal benefit when sharpening. Within the eBay market, serrated appears to be extra usually at cheaper costs; it’s not clear whether or not it’s because they make extra of them, or that the non-serrated model tends to promote extra simply.

The perimeters of the backbone are usually not notably sharp and have a easy coating, so it’s unlikely they are going to be helpful

The lanyard gap is a bit small, however you may ultimately work a size of paracord via it. The perimeters of the lanyard gap are usually not rounded, so verify your lanyard for put on each once in a while. The outlet is thru the tang, so it could not be sensible to bevel the perimeters. .

The blade coating is easy, so should have no impression on reducing capabilities, and doesn’t replicate gentle.

The top of the tang extends a bit, however it’s considerably rounded and off middle, and the grip is kind of brief, so it’s not universally helpful both as a glass breaker or a “cranium cracker”.

The sheath is type of uncommon, however seems to be helpful and versatile in methods to connect it. Retention is fairly good.

The Benchmade 140 Nimravus.

Benchmade claims that is their “all-time best-selling fight mounted blade“, which I initially discovered to be a bit odd. In fact, it’s higher for fight than many bush knives, however it’s not optimum for that objective. However then, checking via their line, I discovered that Benchmade does not have a hard and fast blade mannequin which seems to be a greater fight knife, and there’s that Tanto blade model, which might be even a bit higher for fight. However I digress. The essential factor is whether or not this can be a good SURVIVAL knife, and though it is a wonderful knife, I am undecided how effectively it should do at some survival duties.

Blade Design and Materials

 That is fabricated from 154CM, a high-grade, American-made, stainless-steel, some of the generally utilized in reasonably high-end knives lately. It’s much like the earlier “champ”, ATS-34. The steelmaker makes use of a particle metallurgy course of which produces a product with a extra uniform microstructure, leading to a extra dependable metal with a finer edge much less liable to chipping.

The knife got here with an distinctive edge, so I didn’t strive sharpening it. After fifty slices via cardboard, it didn’t endure any vital razor sharpness. As anticipated, the sharpness sliced the cardboard simpler than different knives I’ve examined.

The Benchmade 140 Nimravus in a Filipino grip.

To summarize, it seems that the metal has good rust resistance, excessive power, superior edge functionality, honest or higher ease of sharpening, average resistance to chipping, and good edge holding functionality.

Analysis

Normal duties

• Chopping the wire – That is usually needed through the development of shelter, fishing, stitching, and making snares and traps, in addition to different instances. As essentially the most generally obtainable to survivalists, I attempted fish line and paracord, in addition to 3/8″ Manila and three/4″ Sisal, simply because fish line and paracord would appear to be trivial for any knife price having. Chopping the fish line was no downside, as was reducing paracord each beneath stress and laying on a flat floor. It went proper via Manila and Sisal, and I did not even “cheat” and use the serrations.
• Making notches in branches – This might be required for shelter development and making snares or traps, in addition to different instances. I did reasonably effectively at this. It appeared to chop with the grain properly and was sharp sufficient to make the perpendicular cease minimize adequately. It’s so sharp, that it was essential to maintain the cease minimize present, in any other case it could simply hold going previous the place I wished it to cease.
• Trimming/Sharpening/smoothing branches – This might be for shelter development, in addition to making arrows, spears, stakes, strolling sticks, and even bows. The knife did an excellent job of this, even contemplating I used the ahead a part of the bladesince the rear half was serrated.

The Benchmade 140 Nimravus is nice for all types of duties.

• Pounding in stakes – This might be required for making shelters, snares and traps. This knife isn’t set as much as carry out this perform.

Firemaking

• Use with a magnesium bar or ferrocerium rod is simply barely doable utilizing the sting of the backbone; it not solely doesn’t shave or spark effectively, nevertheless it marks up the blade coating on the facet of the blade, and removes it completely from the sting of the backbone. Use the sting; it doesn’t trigger any seen harm.
• Making a “feather stick” with this knife is pretty simple; it could possibly make your selection of huge or small curls, simply watch out as a result of, with out ample management, these curls will probably be hitting the bottom reasonably than staying hooked up to the bottom stick.
• Drilling a gap (for a fireplace drill) was pretty simple, though the consequence was a smaller and fewer easy gap than earlier knives. The tip is a bit skinny and is stainless-steel, so attempt to keep away from excessive stress on the tip.

The Benchmade 140 Nimravus is a good knife for fireplace making.

• Batoning for entry to Tinder or making kindling from logs labored fairly effectively. The shortness of the blade restricted the width that might be dealt with, however the serrations didn’t appear to have any destructive impact. There have been minor marks, extra smudges than scratches, within the blade coating after this check.

Meals Gathering/Preparation

– Use as a throwing knife – A phrase to the sensible, do not. When you throw your knife, chances are you’ll not get it again, or it may be broken, notably whether it is fabricated from stainless-steel which is a bit brittle. I didn’t strive throwing this, as the associated fee was too excessive to dare danger chipping or breaking it.

– Use as a spear – Turning your knife right into a spear provides you further attain, however throwing a spear fabricated from a stainless-steel knife is extra vulnerable to wreck than is appropriate. In addition to, the grip panels look like unable to be eliminated, so this can should be lashed “to” the shaft, that means will probably be pretty off-center and never throw effectively anyway.

The Benchmade 140 Nimravus in a reverse grip.

– This chops veggies fairly effectively and the blade form ought to be first rate for skinning and butchering, though presumably a bit slim. It’s prone to be first rate for filleting as effectively.

– Digging for grubs and bait. It’s exhausting to think about something which might boring or harm a knife faster than digging with it, and stainless is liable to chipping if it hits a rock, so I do not advocate utilizing this knife for digging.

Chopping

– Sticks or fronds – For shelter and different development, splints, and firewood. This knife is simply too gentle and wrongly balanced to cut effectively; taking many strokes to get via a half-inch department. This isn’t unacceptable in a bush knife, however does make additionally having an excellent subject knife a helpful selection.

Protection  

– The grip and level are usually not the very best for fight, however they’re fairly first rate. The steadiness and relative narrowness of the blade makes it extra applicable for fight than many bush knives. The blade size is just too brief to be distinctive however is sufficient in lots of instances. There may be, after all, little safety out of your opponent’s blade, however it’s higher at stopping your hand from sliding onto your personal blade than many knives of this design. I’d say this knife may really be thought of a “fight” knife.

Sheath and Carry Choices

 The sheath, as talked about, is a bit uncommon. Manufactured from nylon, it seems to be fairly top quality. It’s a “dangler” model; that’s, has a belt loop portion, a hoop, then the sheath itself. The benefit of that is that it rides low, and flexes with physique motion. The draw back is that it flops round until you utilize a leg tie, which is included. The belt loop is closed with Velcro, so you may add or take away it out of your belt with out disturbing the rest on the belt, and even detach the belt loop from the sheath should you do not want it.

The again of the Benchmade 140 Nimravus sheath.

On the again is one thing referred to as a “Malice” clip which ought to assist you to fasten it to a Molle panel or different military-style attachment methodologies. Above that could be a Velcro closed loop, which I presume is for belt carry within the “excessive” place extra widespread for bush knives. There’s a piece of Velcro INSIDE this loop, which can be to stop motion on the belt, assuming it has the matching Velcro.

The entrance of the sheath has two paracord straps throughout it, so maybe a small Molle pouch might be hooked up. Retention is by a rugged, snap-closed grip strap. The blade liner seems to be thick sufficient, however there’s nothing to maintain you from inserting the knife between the nylon and the liner, which most likely could be disastrous in the long term.

This picture illustrates a possible concern with the Benchmade 140 Nimravus sheath.

The liner doesn’t look like fitted, however there’s a little bit of friction, so there isn’t a rattle. The knife will be inserted “backward” with out issue, so might be carried in a left-hand place.

Equipment

From Benchmade, you may get alternative sheaths in black or coyote brown, or a Kydex sheath with thumb break. It doesn’t seem to have caught on with the customized sheath makers.

Worth and Availability

The record value of the Nimvarus at this time limit is $185.00. You may normally discover them new on eBay for $130 or so; sometimes used and even new ones will be had for $100 and even much less.

The Benchmade 140 Nimravus in a sideways grip.

Firm Web site

Hyperlink to knife

It’s listed as being in inventory on the firm, and there are a bunch of individuals promoting it new and used on eBay, as auctions (maybe cheaper) and Purchase It Now (faster). Amazon appears to have a better value, and it’s on the Prime program, plus, tax will probably be added.

If I had been going to make use of this knife for survival, I’d look into the accent Kydex sheath, or, on the very least, strive squirting in some actually robust glue between the blade protector and the entrance layer of the sheath, ensuring to have a extremely good bead throughout that high edge.

The Benchmade 140 Nimravus in an upside-down grip.

Would I take advantage of this knife for survival? My preliminary take was most likely not, however as I progressed via the exams, I used to be impressed. I nonetheless wouldn’t depend on it by itself due to its poor chopping capability, however because the bush knife in a bush/subject knife set, it has potential. Notably if the sphere knife was inappropriate for fight utilization. Additionally, I’ve been contemplating stainless-steel as a second selection for survival utilization, however this knife and others examined throughout the identical time prompted me to just accept that stainless-steel generally is a legitimate various to carbon metal.

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