Gary W. Graley
“Imagination is more important than knowledge"
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Mar 2, 1999
- Messages
- 28,068
Hi folks, well, my Benchmade Bone Collector arrived today, the large model number
15020 plain edged with black G10 scales. As others have noted, it is a NICE knife, very solid feel.
Some may not like it's thicker handle style but it provides a pretty secure grip
with somewhat of a palm swell to the shape of the sales.
It has the Axis lock, which works very well, solid lockup and smooth opening.
Has a thumb hole verses a thumbstud, which I really like as it doesn't get in
the way of sharpening or snagging on a pants pocket.
Pretty good guard area shape, with a slight rise on the spine as well so it's
like a double guard. with some grip cut into the steel liners, of course the
scales are deeply grooved, perpendicular to the handle and provide a nice feeling grip.
The clip also works pretty good, with the grooves in the scales, it helps retention
without tearing up your pockets.
The blade, it's made of D2 steel, would have liked to have seen CPM-D2 from
the reports of that compared to regular D2 but, D2 is no slouch and while it arrived
with a decent edge, I had to take it to the Edge Pro to polished them up to my liking.
That was a bit tricky to keep the manufactured bevels, didn't want to lessen
the angles just yet, so I had to raise the stones a lot higher to maintain the same
angles, ended up very nice and SHARP polished edges, slices through leather
with ease now!
NOW, the bit about modification, the blade shape is pretty unique, love the high
flat grind they apply, but wasn't overly happy with the way the blade came to
the tip, yeah, I know, I can't leave well enough alone, in less than an hour if
it's arrival, out to the shop to work on the blade shape
Now this is just my take on it, I'm sure there are MANY that LOVE how it arrives in the standard shape
but I like how this turned out and it seems to me to be a more useful point now.
This first image I borrowed from one of the other reviews, Be sure to view this as he adds a LOT of good info,
which you can see in this Thread here so thanks to marthinus, I should
have taken a Before shot, just in a hurry
here's how the blade arrived initially
I then took the blade to my 9" flat disc grinder rig, home made deal, and proceeded
to bring that spine down to meet the point in a sleeker way;
Now when I go to do some fine cutting with the tip, my thumb on the spine
of the blade, I feel I have a bit better control, than when it was a wider
thicker tip originally.
Overall, this is a superb folder and highly recommend it, even in it's original blade shape
After I reprofiled the blade I was slicing into some 1" by 4" wood and the thicker
handle provided a solid grip without any problems of it slipping or twisting in my hands.
Again, the change may not be for everyone, but, for me, it certainly made it a handier blade shape/point...
G2
15020 plain edged with black G10 scales. As others have noted, it is a NICE knife, very solid feel.
Some may not like it's thicker handle style but it provides a pretty secure grip
with somewhat of a palm swell to the shape of the sales.
It has the Axis lock, which works very well, solid lockup and smooth opening.
Has a thumb hole verses a thumbstud, which I really like as it doesn't get in
the way of sharpening or snagging on a pants pocket.
Pretty good guard area shape, with a slight rise on the spine as well so it's
like a double guard. with some grip cut into the steel liners, of course the
scales are deeply grooved, perpendicular to the handle and provide a nice feeling grip.
The clip also works pretty good, with the grooves in the scales, it helps retention
without tearing up your pockets.
The blade, it's made of D2 steel, would have liked to have seen CPM-D2 from
the reports of that compared to regular D2 but, D2 is no slouch and while it arrived
with a decent edge, I had to take it to the Edge Pro to polished them up to my liking.
That was a bit tricky to keep the manufactured bevels, didn't want to lessen
the angles just yet, so I had to raise the stones a lot higher to maintain the same
angles, ended up very nice and SHARP polished edges, slices through leather
with ease now!
NOW, the bit about modification, the blade shape is pretty unique, love the high
flat grind they apply, but wasn't overly happy with the way the blade came to
the tip, yeah, I know, I can't leave well enough alone, in less than an hour if
it's arrival, out to the shop to work on the blade shape
Now this is just my take on it, I'm sure there are MANY that LOVE how it arrives in the standard shape
but I like how this turned out and it seems to me to be a more useful point now.
This first image I borrowed from one of the other reviews, Be sure to view this as he adds a LOT of good info,
which you can see in this Thread here so thanks to marthinus, I should
have taken a Before shot, just in a hurry
here's how the blade arrived initially
I then took the blade to my 9" flat disc grinder rig, home made deal, and proceeded
to bring that spine down to meet the point in a sleeker way;
Now when I go to do some fine cutting with the tip, my thumb on the spine
of the blade, I feel I have a bit better control, than when it was a wider
thicker tip originally.
Overall, this is a superb folder and highly recommend it, even in it's original blade shape
After I reprofiled the blade I was slicing into some 1" by 4" wood and the thicker
handle provided a solid grip without any problems of it slipping or twisting in my hands.
Again, the change may not be for everyone, but, for me, it certainly made it a handier blade shape/point...
G2
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didn't know it would do that!