Battle of the high end frame locks

I'd go Sebenza for absolute precision and overall quality.

If you want something with a litle more flair to it, the RRF looks like a winner but are hard to get right now.

Finally, if you're on a budget, the BM 635 Mini-Skirmish is an impressive knife for the money....it's no Sebenza, but for $150 or so it's surprisingly good.
 
Since your examples were medium sized framelock folders and not large I wouldent hessitate to say the Buck Mayo is the best out of the three IMO if you exclude the small sebenza.

The Dominator is slightly larger and is a great knife also.If you are not going to get a small Sebenza(I like the small classics best) I would say its a toss up between these two.

Yes there are other good ones but not in this price range.
The Benchmade Pinnacle of the past is not equil to these two knives(espically the Mayo) in lock fit,finish or blade steel.
 
What is so hard about getting an RRF? MY spouse ordered me one for Christmas directly from Combat Elite.
 
I would say based on what I have owned that if you want to save bucks go with the Buck/Mayo. Great little knife. I have kept mine. I like the Sebbie too but I didn't keep it. Traded it for a Lighfoot Mag. 460 and am glad I did, although that one is a liner lock. I haven't owned the Camillus Dominator so can't comment. I have also owned a couple of Camillus CUDA edc knives and the Maxx in both bowie and dagger style. Great knives but pretty big for edc hence I don't own them anymore. The edc well didn't like the recurve on the blade.

Never owned an alias either so can't comment except to say how the heck is it a rip off of CRK? Blade style doesn't look like any sebbie I have owned or seen. Just the integral lock is similar. Then again cause E.E. gave props to CRK his knives are OK. I haven't owned an EKI CQC 7HD or the 12 yet but hopefully will this year. They seem from all reports to be very high quality too. Myself for now it is the Buck/Mayo for my edc in my uniform pants. keepem sharp
 
Hinderer's framelocks are nothing short of outstanding.

Sebenza is the gold standard. Excellent all the way around, but newbies may be put off by considerable break-in time required to achieve full buttery smoothness.

Must be something to the Bradleys...a clue lies in how vehemently people decry them. I've owned three, and all have been fantastic. It flat-out amazes me that people say they're "junk". Nothing about them remotely warrants that description unless you mix in a healthy portion of personal bias.

Benchmade 635 is also very, very good. I've had a few of those as well and the only little gripe I could think of was that the blades weren't consistently as out of the box sharp as I'd have liked from one to another. (All were sharp enough, one was really, really sharp.)

Which one is best, who knows. They're all dang good, so in the end it comes down to what trps your personal trigger. For me personally, I listed these four in the order of which I liked best. Hinderer Firetac, Sebenza, Bradley, and 635.

But hey, that's me. YMMV.
 
Its not really the same style of knife as any mentioned here, but if your main requirements are Titanium and framelock, there is always the Ti Spyderco Salsa. Its a tough little knife that that performs a lot bigger than it looks.
 
Ti salsas have been discontinued.

Also, just for my own edification, I never felt Bradley's where junk, they're decent. But overpriced and trying to ride on the coatails of the sebenza.
 
LDC Sebenza
ldc04.jpg
 
DaveH said:
Ti salsas have been discontinued.
Click to expand...

I would think they are still available with a little digging though. Anyway, I am running behind, my 2006 Spydeco catalog just came yesterday, and I have only glanced through it. :D
 
Well, let's see. For the price of a Sebenza, I'd rather have either a Hinderer, or an Obenauf. I mean, really, if you can get a GREAT custom for that price?!?

I've had 3 Sebenzas. I didn't get it. I originally had a "trapeze" model, but didn't feel the jewels in it would be good for my personal EDC habits. Traded it for a regular sebenza, but didn't like the amount of access to the lock bar that it had. Traded THAT one for a Classic, which is my favorite if we're just talking sebenzas. Still wasn't completely happy with it, and found someone who traded me a small Model 2 Obie. I then traded that for one of the first Mini-Model 2's that was made. While I had to sell that knife in an emergency, it was STILL better than any of the sebenzas. Also, I could say it was a custom so it was worth the price because I was paying for a craftsman's time and creative energy. Don't get me wrong, sebenzas are put together VERY well, but with the amound of Ti framelocks coming out now- and MANY of them being VERY well done-, it seems a little silly to me to pay for the premium price on the sebbie. Anyway, enough pontification.

I have and EDC a Buck/Mayo 172. Its fantastic, and just the right size. On top of that I got it in NIB condition for $130. That seems totally appropriate in terms of price/performance. It's also smoother than any of the sebenzas I owned- though I admit I didn't spend hours working in the sebenzas I had.

I'd get a Strider as well, but as I said, you can get some really good Ti framelocks made by really good companies for a lot less.

Good luck and let us know what you decide.

-Anthony

Edited to add: To me the Strider culture and the Sebenza culture are a lot alike- either you get it and it "fits" or it doesn't. Both are pretty nice, but (like Harleys) if it has to be explained to you, you're never going to get it.
 
Bradley. No comment about the rip-off thing tho' - I don't think it's that straightforward. CRK invented the framelock...everyone's using it now. YMMV.
 
Oh, I forgot to mention, a Strider PT might fit your criteria, seems like you can get them for $250 without to much trouble. However you'll might take a roll of the dice on quality.

Here's a pic of mine, considerably customized:

mpt1_resize.jpg
 
TheKnifeCollector said:
What is so hard about getting an RRF? MY spouse ordered me one for Christmas directly from Combat Elite.
Click to expand...

After the article in one of the knife mags (I think the RRF was on the cover) they have sold all of them. There is now a 60 day wait for them to make up the back log. I spoke to both Darrell Ralph and Ryan Wilson (both good guys) in my quest to get one of these. I had to order an assisted opener instead of the manual to get one shipped to me without the wait. This was about three weeks ago, so I suspect another month or so they will have then in stock again.

BTW, I like the AO, but imagine the flipper on the manual is practically just as easy to open.
 
I have to agree with all Rick Hinderer suggestion. I love my Strider SNG and it's a solid tank of a knife but the Hinderer just out-classes it in every respect. Smooth as glass to open and becomes a virtual fixed blade once it locks up. First custom folder I ever bought and still my favorite.

Nice Firetac oil! I need to make that next on my list of "must have's". :D

My Hinderer/TADgear Dauntless Extreme
 
I own a butt load of frame lock knives, custom and production. The one that goes in my pocket 90% of the time is the Buck Mayo TNT. I'm not a real hard use guy but for my criteria it's the best knife I own. :thumbup:
 
First of all, I own a Mini Skirmish, have done passaround reviews of a Sebenza, Bradley Alias I and A.G. Russell "ItTi", but have never laid eyes on a Mayo.

OK, here comes my not-so-humble opinions...

My top choice is the one I actually bought -- the Mini Skirmish. I picked mine up for a little over $100, and it's a helluva lotta knive for that money. Recurve blade cuts like crazy, S30V holds an edge like crazy, handle fits my hand like it was made for it, lock is strong and secure, and dammit it just looks like a work of art. :)

Second place goes to the A.G. Russell. Just finished that passaround, and I was damn sorry to see that one go. Like the Mini Skirm, both beautiful and functional, but not nearly as beefy, especially in the blade. Still, with a price not much higher than the Mini Skirmish, it's a good value.

Third place: the Bradley. Forget all that crap about how it "copies" the Sebenza -- the choice of finish on the handles and thumbstud is only cosmetically similar. The blade looks derived from the Benchmade Ares, and the handle shape looks derived from various Osborne-designed Benchmades; hey, if you're gonna steal, steal from the best! I reviewed the smaller Alias I, but from that experience I have to assume that the Alias II is one helluva nice knife. But at half again the cost of my #1 and #2, it's just not as good a value for the dollar.

Last place: the Sebenza. Yeah, I know, it's a classic; it opens sooo smooth, locks up like a bank vault; and when it hit the market, it was about the toughest hard-use folder out there. But times have changed: at twice the price of my #1 through #3 picks, it just doesn't offer anything special. Maybe if the blade was flat-ground instead of a thin hollow grind, and if the handle was a little more ergonomic and less brick-like, it might be worth the dosh; but to me, now, it just isn't. Sorry, CRK fanboys.

So... what about the Mayo? I hesitate to rank it, having not actually used one... but from what I've read and heard about it, I have a feeling it would end up in between #2 and #3. Anybody got one they'd like to lend me for a while? ;)
 
I'm only going to rank what I actually own.

1. Large Sebenza (BG-42 version)
2. Benchmade Mini-Skirmish
3. Camillus Dominator

The Camillus Dominator gets #3 because I really don't care for their Robo Assist. Do they sell the Dominator in a manual version? Or can the Robo Assist be disabled? On mine it requires a fairly hard push to get it going, more than what I find to be comfortable. It just annoys me. Also it has nylon washers which I'm not crazy about.

The Sebenza, while very plain in looks, has a solid design, easy to take apart and clean, and the blade out performs the Skirmish and the Dominator.

I picked up a Mini-Skirmish for $125 and I think it's a steal.
 
yes the dominator is sold in a manual lift-ag russell has them-

i just bought one used last week-cant put it down-
blade isnt dead center but it is a used piece-thats my only complaint with it-
 
Unfortunately, there's not any real way for me to afford customs or sebenza/striders while I'm an undergrad unless I just win the ebay lottery and get one for 150.

I'm not really into either Sebenzas or Striders, but for reasons I won't go into just because that seems to cause a lot of problems. I should have put a Strider up. I just wanted to give the Sebenza (and now Strider) fans a way to vent, because otherwise I imagine it might have gone more like this:

Those knives are okay, SEBENZA!!!! x 20

Maybe some Strider replacement with Sebenza.

Of course, now someone will actually post that exact thing for a joke.

If I had the money, I'd be all over an Airkat Tripwire. They're my favorite looking knives ever, bar none. They're also way too big for me, but, hey, can't have everything. Well, I certainly can't have an Airkat tripwire. But just for our viewing pleasure:

DC8130.jpg


Awesome. But it'll have to wait till after medical school.

I also really enjoy the Hinderers and combat elites, but out of my price range (well, if I really wanted to, I could get a Combat Elite) and at some point I'd probably just decide to keep saving until I could get the Tripwire.

Well, we all need a fantasy knife, and I've got mine.

In any case, I'd like to keep it contained to the production stuff, although I should have said that in the first post. Feel free to continue discourse on the customs though in addition to the production ones I've listed, since sooner or later I'm going to see something new and cool. I only discovered the Tripwires a few months ago.
 
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