AllOutdoor Review: Benchmade Intersect – Water Collection
Eugene L. 09.03.24
Earlier this year at SHOT Show Benchmade announced the Water Collection of knives. A brand new set of fishing-focused knives made from the relatively new corrosion-resistant CPM-MagnaCut steel. Then at ICAST this July the Water Collection knives won Best of Category – Cutlery, Hand Plier, or Tool, in the New Product Showcase. I have had the Intersect, one of if not the smallest knife in the collection for the majority of this year. It’s a small convenient fix-blade fishing knife that could double as an EDC knife easily. So let’s see how this award-winning Intersect has held up to my abuse in both fresh and saltwater for the past 7 months.
Benchmade Coverage on AllOutdoor
- AllOutdoor Review: Benchmade Mini Osborne – Burnt Copper Aluminum
- AllOutdoor Review: Benchmade Mini Adira – Water Collection
- AllOutdoor Review: Benchmade Mini Taggedout – Hunting to Everyday
- AllOutdoor Review: Benchmade Shootout 5370FE – Aviation Approved
- AllOutdoor 1 Year Review: Benchmade Hidden Canyon Hunter Fixed Blade
Specifications and Features: Benchmade Intersect – Water Collection
- Overall Length – 6.55 inches (16.64 cm)
- Blade Length – 2.68 inches (6.81 cm)
- Blade Thickness – 0.12 inches (3.05mm)
- Handle Thickness – 0.625 inches (15.88mm)
- Mechanism – Fixed Blade
- Blade Material – CPM-Magnacut Stainless Steel (60-62 HRC)
- Blade Style – Drop-point
- Blade Finish – Stonewash
- Handle Material – Santoprene
- Handle Color – Depth Blue
- Lanyard Hole – Yes
- Ambidextrous – Yes
- Weight – 2.36 ounces (66.9g)
- Pocket Clip – Deep Carry
- Clip Position – Tip-down – 2 Positions
- Sheath – Molded
- Retention – Removable Strap
- Sheath Weight – 1.54 ounces (43.66g)
- Country of Origin: USA
- MSRP: $200
Additionally, the Intersect comes with two guarantees from Benchmade, the LifeSharp Guarantee and the Limited Lifetime Warranty. The LifeSharp Guarantee ensures free knife sharpening for the lifetime of your blade, fill out a form and send it to Benchmade and they will send it back with a sharp new factory edge. The Limited Lifetime Warranty covers all other issues that could occur during the life of the knife as long as you are not using it as a prybar.
Material Selection and Design: Benchmade Intersect – Water Collection
The Benchmade Intersect uses CPM-Magnacut Stainless Steel (60-62 HRC) for the blade. This is a relatively new steel alloy first made in 2021 by Crucible Industries in the USA. This steel scores very well in toughness, hardness, and corrosion resistance. All of these factors make it a great steel to use for a fishing knife. The handle is made of depth blue colored santoprene. This is a high-performance vulcanized thermoplastic elastomer that looks and feels like rubber but is a lot more durable. So the perfect choice for a knife that will spend a good portion of its life wet or bloody.
For the design of the Intersect is a compact little fixed blade, with a 2.75″ drop-point blade. Ideal for smaller tasks, but still having enough backbone to push through thicker fish bones when needed. The jumping on almost the whole length of the spine along with the handle material make the blade very easy to keep a solid grip on even when wet.
Out on the Water: Benchmade Intersect – Water Collection
The Intersect has been my go-to fishing utility knife for almost every fishing trip I have had this year. It has either been on my person, clipped to my bib, or in a tackle box. If I was near the water so was this knife. I gave it the same treatment I do for those cheap little bait knives you see at the tackle shop. The knife had three real jobs during this time, cutting line, cutting bait, and dispatching fish. While cutting line isn’t much of a stress test for the edge of the knife it is a good function test of the knife and sheath. When you are rigging up rods or retying you have to cut a lot of line, but not all at once. So you are constantly pulling the knife in and out of the sheath. This is how I found I really did not like the retention strap of the sheath. I understand the purpose of the strap, it really secures the Intersect into the sheath but if you are in a rush it just gets in the way. I promptly removed the retention strap, which you can just slide out of the sheath so it’s not a permanent thing.
Next was cutting up bait, I cut up a lot of bait on a lot of surfaces. Most of those surfaces were not cutting boards. The edge held up beautifully to this, even with crunching through bones on steel and fiberglass surfaces. There wasn’t any noticeable loss of sharpness, the edge stayed true with no rolling or chipping. This was also the same when it came to dispatching my catch. The most humane thing to do if you’re keeping fish is to stick them in the gills to bleed and stick them in the brain to kill them. This ends the suffering instantly and the meat is better quality so win-win. This is exactly what I did with the knife The tip is fine enough to easily push through a fish skull but the blade is still beefy enough to handle being twisted while in the bone. The jimping on the spine along with the Santoprene handle was great because even with fish-slimed hands I didn’t have to worry about the knife slipping from my grip. Touching back on the beefiness of the knife, the Intersect did great for gutting the catch back at the dock. Even though the knife is small I could easily push through bones on larger grouper and snapper.
I need to talk about the corrosion resistance of the Intersect now. This knife got put away wet often, I would regularly cut up some bait or bleed a fish with the Intersect then dip it in the livewell to wash away some of the gore, and then put it back in the sheath. This knife was left covered with salt and dried fish blood pretty regularly. I really wanted to see if the Magnacut was everything that it was hyped up to be. And honestly, it was, even after leaving it like that the worst that happened was a couple of spots of staining in the jimping.
Final Thoughts: Benchmade Intersect – Water Collection
The Intersect has become my favorite fishing knife. It fits great in the hand, handles everything you can throw at it, and just holds an edge so well. I’ve had many fishing knives over the years, many of which just live in a box now because I got sick of them rusting from just the salt spray in the air. Having a solid knife with a great edge that I don’t have to worry about rust with is great. When you are far offshore and you only have what you brought with you to rely on, having a tool you can trust is vital. For a general EDC fishing knife, the Intersect is that tool. However, that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t change some things about this knife if I could.
The first thing I would want changed up is the sheath, I’m not the biggest fan of the design. I understand that it was built around retention, but I feel like it’s overly deep and makes it more inconvenient than it needs to be to re-sheath the knife. Often times I found myself just leaving the knife out on whatever surface I was cutting things up on because of this inconvenience. Which on a rocking boat or a public pier is not something you should do, but in the rush of the bite I often found myself doing. The other thing I need to talk about is the price, there is definitely some sticker shock with the $200 price point of this little knife. I find that a stretch for the average angler to consider, especially considering how many knives I’ve lost over the side of the boat over the year. But I do know Magnacut is a premium product that has limited production now, so maybe in the future this might get better.
Even considering the two things I don’t like about the Intersect, I still recommend this knife to anyone who wants one of the best fishing knives out there. I could definitely see myself getting another one of these knives if me or my buddies accidentally drop this one into the drink in the future.
