A couple of months ago, Scheels asked me if I’d like to put together a Benchmade Flyway Review if they sent one over for testing. I am drawn to this style of blade for fishing, EDC, and general camping chores. So, I was, of course, excited and more than happy to run it through my typical paces, and ultimately, see where it fits in my rotation of knives. It is no surprise to me that the Benchmade Flyway has become a weekly user around here at Awaken Outdoors. Let’s dive into my full thoughts below and I’ll share more with you about why I’m digging this knife…
Benchmade Flyway at Scheels.com
Benchmade Flyway Review
To kick off this review of the Benchmade Flyway, let’s start by going over a few of the standout specs and my overall thoughts…
What is Benchmade’s SelectEdge™?
As I began my Benchmade Flyway testing, I immediately started things off by cutting some thick chunks of meat into thinner filets. I was blown away at how well this knife sliced through the meat and how surgical the Benchmade Flyway was. At the time, I didn’t even know “SelectEdge” was a thing…But, what I experienced with the Benchmade Flyway is the exact goal of SelectEdge™ according to Benchmade’s video. This is the sharpest knife I have ever received from a factory-made knife company.
Boltaron Sheath:
The sheath was the only area where I had a small issue with the Benchmade Flyway during any of my testing. My Flyway knife came with a loose sheath out of the box. I immediately wrote Benchmade though and they quickly got a replacement sheath out to me (this has been my experience with Benchmade’s customer service, even before working in this industry). This remedied the problem and the replacement sheath now retains the knife perfectly. Speaking of the sheath – It has plenty of lashing points for various mounting options, running paracord through, or whatever else you can think of.
Corrosion Resistance & CPM 154:
I have been hard on my Benchmade Flyway since it arrived. I’ve left it wet & dirty on multiple occasions. And what you see here in these photos is a good representation of how well the CPM154 Steel handles corrosion. The steel itself has remained razor-sharp as well. I have only stropped it on leather a couple of times to keep it well-maintained.
Pictured Above: Benchmade Flyway and Worksharp Field Sharpener
A perfect pair for backcountry adventures, fishing trips and hunts.
Blade Length: 2.7″
You all know that I love having a small knife along with me, both in the field and at home. They are incredibly handy for doing fine work, take up very little space, and don’t add any substantial weight to a kit. This Benchmade Flyway falls right into the sweet spot (under 3″) to bring along as a secondary blade to accommodate my larger bushcraft/survival knife. Or, it could very well be my primary knife when I’m out fishing and small game hunting.
Blaze Orange for the win!
As I’ve talked about many times in the past, I am a huge fan of blaze orange as the color for my primary tools (i.e. knife, firestarter, etc). This helps me not lose it if I get slack and forget to put it back in its sheath while I’m working on something else. Blaze orange contrasts very well against natural outdoor environments: Woodland environments, snow, or fishing banks. It also provides a great contrast in almost every urban area: Concrete, blacktop, grass, etc. So, in my opinion, blaze orange is perfectly suited for the Benchmade Flyway’s handle color.
Not just a hunting knife…
I know a lot of people view the Benchmade Flyway as a hunting knife. And yes, that is the primary design intent for this knife. But, consider me surprised, because this is one of the best kitchen knives I’ve ever used!
- Cutting hard vegetables:
Carrots are notorious for being tough to cut into thin pieces (especially baby carrots that roll all over your cutting board). But the Benchmade Flyway has taken care of cutting a ton of carrots in my testing and it has handled them all with ease. This thin, razor-sharp blade creates thin slivers very well. - Cutting dense vegetables:
Potatoes can be another difficult food item to cut. But, the Benchmade Flyway excels at cutting them too. As long as the blade can stick out past the width of the potato, it slices right through. - Cutting other food items:
It has been a pleasure to prepare all sorts of other food items with the Benchmade Flyway over the past couple of months: Peppers, broccoli, meat, onions, and so on. If I had to pick my favorite food item to cut with the Benchmade Flyway though, it would be meat.
Why am I diving so deep into talking about how this knife performs with food? Because, whether you harvest an animal or not, the dinner bell is going to ring eventually. And the Benchmade Flyway is my new favorite food prep knife.
Benchmade Flyway Hunting Knife
I have been busy with survival and camping trips lately. So, I have not had a chance to process any fish or squirrel with the Benchmade Flyway at the writing of this article. But I can already tell that this will be a go-to knife for me when I get back into the field for these purposes. The thin blade should work extremely well for small game animals and any species of fish that we have in the Eastern United States. I will certainly give you all an update through this article when that happens.
Models Pictured Above: 15700-1 Flyway (top left) and 15700 Flyway (bottom right)
I have thoroughly enjoyed my testing of the Benchmade Flyway so far and I will certainly use it consistently moving forward. As I mentioned earlier in this review, this is my new favorite kitchen knife. And it makes an incredible backup to a larger survival or bushcraft knife when I’m in the field. It has proven itself as a handy little carver, in addition to all of the other small camp chores that a sharp blade needs to do.
Recommend or Not? If you’re in the market and you’re considering the Benchmade Flyway, I highly recommend it. This is one of my favorite knives that has come through for testing in 2023.
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