Benchmade Combo edge mini-grips,not enough of each edge?

afultz075

afultz075

Joined
Sep 2, 2006
Messages
486
I'm going to pick up a Mini Grip as my new EDC, not sure if i'll like the one with thumbstuds or the one with the thumbhole better so i'm going to get one of each. While one of them will definately be a plain edge, i'm thinking of getting one of them in combo edge. But I have a question, with an under 3" blade, do you find that there isn't enough of each edge for either edge to be particularly useful?
 
I don't think that there is enough of either in any folder. Personally, I only go with plain edges on all my knives with the exception of a Spyderco Rescue and a Wustoff Bread Knife.

In my mind, a sharp plain edge will do anything a serrated can; but a serrated cannot do everything that a plain edge can....like precise cuts.
 
Agree. If you need a "serrated edge" so bad, just sharpen your knife with a real coarse stone. That'll create "micro serrations" on the blade useful for hard cutting.
 
I don't like how partially serrated blades look, but I think they work just fine.

You really only need like three teeth for any of my around the house type serrated jobs. I mean, starting a cut in fabric, some plastics, etc...these kinds of things don't require you to saw through them. You start your cut with the serrated and move to the plain edge.

Now, if you were considering a serrated edge for really sawing through tough stuff, then a fully serrated blade will make your life a lot easier. I just don't have a need for that normally.

The best real world combination I've found is Spyderco's 80% serrated knives. Like the serrated S30V Native, for instance.

Native_FRN_Black_Blade-C41B.jpg


You've got enough serrations to really saw through something if you had to, but the short plain edge at the end is great for slicing open boxes, tape, letters, etc. Whilst I think the usual combo edges are underrated, I think this kind of combo edge is VERY underrated. I think the majority of combo edges should be 80% serrated like this Native....very useful knife.
 
What are you cutting?

If a fair amount of zip-ties, poly-rope (or any rope, really), plactics, and other tough on edges stuff, get the partial.

A rougher edge can approximate serration reasonably well, but not equal them in the long run IMO.

For daily use, I prefer a plain edge. But, when cutting the above mentioned materials is a surity, I will carry a knife with serrations. They just seem to cut easier with them.
 
The most common cutting tasks for me are opening envelopes and packages, cutting foam, occaisonally a food item, cutting cardboard, opening blister packages and other PITA to open products. Occaisonally i'll have to deal with a zip tie but I find the wire cutters on my Charge XTI are much better for that than any knife. Very rarely i'll have to cut a piece of paracord or twine but I find that a plain edge seems to do the job alright.

I don't cut many hard plastics. About the only encounter where I have to use a serrated edge is for cutting foam, which the serrated blade on the XTI does beautifully, however, the XTI rarely leaves the house.
 
OK, i don´t understand "foam" but from your words in general i think you should be fine with a plain edge. You might want to leave a small part of the edge coarser for a microserration effect. At this point it is up to your decission to leave the front or back part microserrated (steak knife or bread knife :D )
 
Blop said:
OK, i don´t understand "foam" but from your words in general i think you should be fine with a plain edge. You might want to leave a small part of the edge coarser for a microserration effect. At this point it is up to your decission to leave the front or back part microserrated (steak knife or bread knife :D )
Click to expand...

Egg crate foam is what I mean.

I think i'll go with plain edges this time.
 
Unless the blade is 4" or more, and the blade is a true 50/50 (and not just 1" worth of serrations), I really don't find that you get enough of either plain edge or serrations to bother with a combo edge blade.

A fully serrated blade can really rip through the rough stuff, but 1-1.5" worth isn't enough to bother with.

Just my opinion.
 
Benchmade's serrations are very well done and offer seamless cutting performance transition from the plain edge portions of the blades.
If you use one you will see that they have no downside and the serrations help with cutting some materials.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top