Benchmade Model 32 Mini Morpho

Alright, I know you all are tired of me posting nothing but low rent Sino-bullshit lately. So here’s a pallete cleanser from the opposite end of the spectrum. This is the Benchmade Model 32 “Mini Morpho.”

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You don’t have to ask the question, because this is already the answer. This knife. Is my favorite knife. In the world. I also personally believe it to be one of the finest production knives ever made.

I actually took all the pictures for this post twice, because I was reviewing all the photography and realized halfway through the shame and dishonor I was bringing to my ancestors by showing it off in the condition of filthiness that it was in. Believe it or not (and most collectors probably won’t), this knife was my EDC companion for years before I finally retired it and replaced it with my current CQC-6K. My Morpho went with me everywhere. Work. Camping. Riding. Hell, out of all my probably hundred or so knives this one is the one I wore to my wedding.

So I did what I should have done along time ago, before putting it away in the first place, and dismantled it completely for a thorough cleaning. And then took all the pictures a second time. (And you get not one, not two, but three stacked focus shots in this post as well, by the way.)

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Through this we can see, yes, the wear and tear on the scales and liners. But also a few of the things that make the Morpho a special knife even among balisongs. To start with, you can see right out of the gate that this knife breaks down into a prodigious number of components.

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It goes without saying that every single part and piece of this knife is precision machined and it all fits together perfectly. Just so. The total bill of materials is nine screws in total both male and female (the main pivot screws are not in this crop) as well as two precision bushings for the latch pivot and its release mechanism, plus all eight scales and liners, four washers, two spacers, three precision pins, and two threaded and shouldered barrels, the latch, the clip, and of course the blade.

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I believe, but don’t quote me, that the Morpho was released in or around 2004. I bought mine in 2006. It was regarded as Benchmade’s first “modern” balisong, along with its larger brother the model 51. It includes a few key innovations which were a big deal at the time, namely a contemporary scale-on-liner construction, the “zen pin” rebound design that does not use or need kicker pins pressed through the blade, and a new style of spring loaded latch release.

That is illustrated thusly, in crunchy gif-o-vision:

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The “Morpho” name, by the way, comes from the Morpho butterfly which not only shares an aesthetic with this knife but also achieves it in the same way. Here’s a science fact for you turbo-nerds in the audience: Both the anodized titanium handle liners and the butterfly’s wings are blue due to refraction of incoming light. Neither are actually pigmented or dyed blue.

The handle liners are jeweled beneath the scales. That’s not to say they’re studded with diamonds and sapphires, but rather it’s a surface finishing process that results in a pattern of faceted concentric embellishments that catch the light from all different angles. The pictures do not do it justice. You have to handle it and see it in motion to get the full effect.

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The latch is sprung by way of a pair of these prongs machined into the liners, which are joined with a cross pin. Squeeze the handles together and the latch pops open automatically, but without the need for (and bulk of) the extension spring traditional in Benchmade balisongs. The pin also acts as a both a detent for the latch in the open position, and also serves as a soft endstop to keep it from striking the opposite handle or the blade when the knife is being flipped. That’s all thanks to an especially funky and specific shape machined into the heel of the latch.

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The Morpho model 32 is the smaller of the pair between it and the model 51. It is actually unusually small for a balisong, and thus a perfect EDC size. It’s 7-1/4" long open, and 4-3/8" long closed with a 3-1/4" blade (measured from the forward ends of the handles) with a 3" usable edge. The blade is D2 tool steel, the handle liners are titanium as mentioned, and the scales are carbon fiber. All of these materials were varying degrees of unobtanium in 2004. Getting them all on the same knife was practically unheard of. But that makes the Morpho pleasantly light: 79.1 grams (2.79 ounces) by my scale. And yes, it is provided with a pocket clip which is reversible. Mine is showing its fair portion of wear in that picture above.

The blade is a spear point profile, single edged, and features a prominent choil at the base which is mirrored on the blunt side. That’s because this cutout serves double duty as the part that strikes the “zen” pins inside the handles for the blade to rebound from.

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That works like so, and makes the heel of the Morpho’s blade quite svelte and also completely smooth, with minimal fore and side protrusion and no pins to snag on anything. (And no, I don’t know what that divot is for at the 6 o’clock position below the pivot hole. It’s obviously there on purpose, because there’s one on both sides in precisely the same location.)

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The design gives the business end a nice clean look.

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The package is rounded off, possibly literally, with “impossible” pivot screws which are smooth on one side. This side also bears the patent number which describes the spring-prongs which in this case drive the latch mechanism. Curiously, this patent does not appear on Benchmade’s current patents page.

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The reverse features the Benchmade butterfly logo. Look, I took a lot of pictures of this thing just now and I’m going to show off all of them, got it?

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If you ask me, the Morpho’s fit, finish, and feel are impeccable. The pivots ride on phosphor bronze washers and the action spins freely despite having extremely minimal play in the mechanism.

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The wiggle test reveals all, and despite ball bearings being after this knife’s time, the Morpho still scores very favorably. It ought to please anyone who is bothered by having a ton of slop in their balisong, because it has about as close to none as you can get with washer pivots.

The Morpho, particularly this mini 32 variant, is both light and short. That’s very different from most other balisongs people get used to, which typically have quite long and very heavy handles. The Morpho is practically weightless by comparison and rather than the big, ponderous spins you get from a traditional balisong you can flip this thing lickety-split. If you’re good, you can bust the Morpho out extremely quickly. The spring latch helps there, as does the ability to position the clip on whichever side suits your manipulation style so the latch winds up where you want it. Draw, squeeze, windmill, cleave whatever it was in twain, double rebound, latch, pocket. Onlookers won’t even have time to pick their jaws up off the floor.

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To help you not fling your $350-and-appreciating collector’s item across the room, the handle spacers are jimped just like you see here on both sides.

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Here it is with two more Benchmades, plus the usual article. As you can see, the Morpho is much more the size of an ordinary EDC pocketknife. The Model 42 on the right dwarfs it.

The Inevitable Conclusion

This knife is Benchmade’s version of Sgt. Pepper, their Nevermind, their Mellon Collie. That is to say, despite numerous follow ups and going ever onwards to fame and popularity, it’s that one entry in their back catalog that has still yet to be surpassed.