Benchmade Leuku Made in the USA in CPM 3V

Benchmade Leuku 

Made in the USA in CPM 3V

Preview: by @BushCampingTools

The one thing I've found about Benchmade is that you either need microscope eyesight, or a magnifying loupe to read their damn company insignia! 

They make great knives but fail every time with being able to reliably put their mark upon their blades! No matter how I tried to photograph their company logo, I couldn't do it justice (ok just joking!). It actually reads Benchmade (ha ha, you don't say!), USA and then under this "USA" are the numbers 202.

The reverse side is no better with a microscopic "3V" denoting the CPM 3V, powder metallurgical alloy, ok they are certainly not being ostentatious! 

Ok so what is CPM-3V? Basically a high Vanadium (2.75%) and Mo (1.3%) containing alloy, with approx (0.8%) Carbon. it is made by the "powder metallurgical" process. The PM process allows for a much finer control of alloying constituents compared to other steel making processes. The main advantage of 3V is extreme toughness and resistance to edge chipping. Crucible recommend it be hardened within the range of 58-60. It's not as tough as S7 but has much better wear resistance according to Crucible Industries. Strangely, I'm not sure why benchmade harden this blade to >60 because according to Crucible Industries data, toughness is basically halved going from HRC58 to HRC 62 and hence the real advantage of using CPM-3V as a steel in an outdoor blade is somewhat lost IMHO.

used in this American version of a Finnish Leuku knife. The Benchmade Leuku features a full tang (lanyard hole), 

a non-scandi ground edge, a Santoprene (so like Forprene, a thermoplastic elastomer in other words) grip, which is extremely ergonomic AND grippy!

The knife comes with a pretty basic split leather sheath, single stitched with thick thread and reinforced with rivets, one at the top and three at the bottom. There is a regular belt loop and a press stud removable dangler loop.

There is a standard leather tube for a fire steel (not supplied)

One thing though, they have had the good sense to line the entire inner of the sheath with a plastic liner to help prevent damage to the rather thin leather from the blade, which BTW came deadly razor sharp put of the box.

The stitching looks ok and there are no loose ends, as I said it's a basic scabbard. The leather craft if i was to compare it to a much lower priced Spanish made knife, is inferior in quality of leather and thickness. However, I'm not saying this is a bad scabbard just that I think they could do better, maybe tis is a reflection of using a higher priced steel in this knife?

Now the embossing upon the sheath is good for sure, no mistaking the company logo!

This knife comes under their marketing banner as a "Blue Class model" which sits product wise directly under their "Gold Class" top of the range knives.

The Benchmade Leuku is listed by them for "Outdoor" and "Survival" usage.

Stick around and I'll be putting this to the test shortly on

Box contains:

3.55mm thick CPM-3V blade

Santoprene over-molded grip

leather scabbard

Information sheet and (75% "post consumer waste" recycled cardboard box packaging)

@BushCampingTools