I’ve been carrying the Benchmade Vapyr for the majority of July 2026. I ordered it directly from Benchmade after finally succumbing to their marketing, and I have to admit, it’s a pretty handy knife to have in your pocket.
I’ve been carrying a knife since I was eight years old. That gives me a solid 47 years of carrying, using, testing, and evaluating pocket knives.
Like most knife enthusiasts, I go through phases. Sometimes I’m carrying traditional knives, sometimes modern folders, and sometimes fixed blades. At the moment, I’m pretty stuck on modern knives, and when I started reading about the new Vapyr from Benchmade, I decided I had to give it a try.
My history with Benchmade goes back to the early 1990s, when I ordered my first one—a CQC7.
That knife is quite literally in pieces at the moment.
Over the years, I’ve taken it apart, had it customized, fiddled with it, sent it off to different modifiers, and generally messed with it so much that I can’t seem to get the damn thing back together. That isn’t Benchmade’s fault. It’s entirely mine. I allowed a few people who probably shouldn’t have been working on it to work on it, and now its current condition can best be described as a box of parts.
Maybe I’ll turn it into an art piece and frame it.
Since that first CQC7, I’ve collected quite a few Benchmade knives. And like most knife guys, I’m always looking for the next knife to add to the tool bag.
I ordered the Vapyr on July 1, 2026, and it showed up about a week later. Since then, it has spent the majority of its time riding in my pocket and handling everyday tasks—from opening packages to preparing food.
While I was waiting for it to arrive, I did what any knife guy does after ordering a new knife: I watched YouTube videos about the knife I had already bought.
One complaint caught my attention. A few people mentioned some side-to-side blade play that could be corrected with a Torx bit set and some adjustment to the body and pivot screws.
I made a mental note and waited.
When my Vapyr arrived, sure enough, there was the slightest amount of side-to-side play in the blade. Nothing terrible, but enough that I noticed it. I pulled out my trusty Torx bit set and went to work.
After a little adjustment, the blade play disappeared, and I was able to dial the knife in exactly the way I wanted it to function.
Since then, the Vapyr has pretty much been my sidekick.
I’ve used it for all the normal everyday-carry tasks, but I’ve also put it to work preparing food. It isn’t a large knife, but the blade is just long enough to handle basic food prep. I’ve used it to cut potatoes for the skillet, slice up ingredients, open packages, and take care of whatever else happens to come up during the day.
After carrying knives for nearly five decades, I’ve learned something important:
There is no one knife that does everything.
There are always compromises. A knife that excels at one task may be less useful for another. That’s part of the reason so many of us end up owning far more knives than we actually need.
But I’ll give Benchmade credit—the Vapyr comes pretty darn close to being the kind of knife you can put in your pocket and simply forget about until you need it.
And that may be the best compliment I can give an everyday-carry knife.
I change knives about as often as my daughters change shoes, so I’m not going to pretend the Vapyr will permanently replace everything else in my collection.
It won’t.
But after spending the better part of a month carrying and using it, I can say this:
The Benchmade Vapyr has earned a regular spot in my daily carry rotation.