Benchmade 890 Torrent Nutnfancy Knife Review

You will love it, the wife will hate it (well most wives). In 2009, Benchmade has issued several intriguing designs that should awaken many of its fans to spend yet again more money on their knife passion...again disconcerting many spouses. But the tractor beam of Benchmade is pulling hard in 2009. Example: The Model 890 is a beautiful US-made knife featuring smooth, matte finished G10 scales that provide contrast against the stonewashed finished 154CM blade. The Steigerwalt-designed blade has a strong tip, good belly, an atractive unsharpened top swedge, and razor sharpness that terminates out of a 3/4 flat grind. Its 3.6" length could provide adequate reach in emergency defensive use and has plenty of strength. What it doesn't have is jimping on the short run of flat spine topside, a perplexing miss. That, coupled with the slick scales, absolutely no thumb ramp, and a shallow finger guard, might make a thrust attack with the 890 non-optimal. But its triangular pommel can deliver some devasting impacts both in the closed and open position and is a outstanding feature. The 3.6 oz weight is light for the cutting performance achieved but may have been a little lighter had the liners been skeletonized. Other upsides include: loop-shaped clip carries the knife deep, authoratative and fast "Nitrous" assisted opening, rock solid lockup, beveled G10 slot for deployment access, flow thru construction, ergonomic handle shape (fits hand well), and superb quality. One more downsided: the loop-style pocket clip tip extends out of pocket too far ("shelf" can catch on items, getting bent) and should be more streamlined. Also, perhaps sacrificed upon the altar of good looks, it is not reversible in any direction and forces a tip-down carry. If this was corrected (it won't be) and high traction scales and jimping were offered then the 890 Torrent would be a solid homerun. But even now it's still an impressive, crowd-pleasing triple. The Benchmade Torrent is a beautiful knife to collect and enjoy but stands ready as a serious EDC or duty use performer. Sorry ladies for feeding the addiction./////////////// Nutnfancy Likeability Scale: 8.5 out of 10 (2nd kind of cool prevails for me on this one)