Benchmade or Spyderco Folder

Durwood

Durwood

Joined
Dec 10, 2003
Messages
1,620
I'm mainly a slipjoint guy these days, but I'm in the mood to mix things up with a modern folder. I've owned Benchmades and Spydercos in the past, but have fallen out of the loop on most of the current models. I'm looking for a knife with premium steel, G-10 or micarta handle, with a preference for tip up carry. I will be using this knife primarily for field dressing deer, but wouldn't mind having one for more tactical carry too, so a couple of suggetions would be fine. I am familiar with the Axis lock, but that isn't necessarily a requirement. Looking for a real world price of $125 or under. Would consider other brands too, just thinking that Benchmade or Sypderco should have a couple of knives that suit me:D Also plain edge only;)

Thanks for your help in advance.

P.S. Any thoughts on the Mini Dejavoo?
 
A Benchmade 710 in D-2 steel sounds like the ticket to me!,,,VWB.
 
The 710 is a safe bet. I wish the scales were a tad grippier but that is about all I can fault it for. I own three and getting a fourth so I do think they are damn good knives.
 
A 710 D2 or a Griptilian 550 or 551. If you want a badass try a HK 14205 (it is made by BM). For skining or field dress you won't want micarta. It will stain where G-10 will not.
 
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I'm partial to the Mini Devavoo. Bob Lum knew how to design a knife.

IMG_1306.jpg
 
Benchmade 950 Rift.
When the knife was released, initially the odd layered colouring of the G10 put me off.

Eventually I bought one and I am so glad I did. The design shines.
 
710. best large production knife there is in my opinion. there is a reason a lot of people are suggesting it and it has been in the benchmade catalogue for so long.
 
if ur willing to consider other brands, CRKT M16-13SF is a great tacticoolknife that u can carry tip up. Spyderco endura 4 has nice FRN scales. a BM672 is the high end of ur price range....
 
I'd buy a Mini Dejavoo in a heartbeat.

For other choices, you cannot go wrong with the popular Benchmade 710D2. I also really like my Benchmade 941 (Osborne clip point -discontinued!). A Spyderco Manix or Mini-Manix would probably fit the bill, as well. I have the Manix and it's a beast of a folder.

Stay sharp,
desmobob
 
When reading your requirements, the BM 710 came right to mind. It's too bad nobody else has mentioned it yet ;)

For dressing game (or maybe just for skinning?), I believe you want a little more belly in a blade. Based on that I'd suggest you look into the 615 Mini-Rukus and 552 RSK Griptilian.

Regarding the Dejavoo... I really like the design of the blade and handle a lot. However, I just can't bring myself to buy liner locking knives. I would not consider it a hard-use knife, so it would sit at home.
 
Thanks for all of the recommendations and comments. I had a Griptilian 556, though I field dressed several deer with it, I was never really happy with it for that purpose. The blade really had a tendency to get wedged tight when splitting the chest cavity on more mature deer.
 
I think you would be very happy with a Spyderco Paramilitary. Nice belly on the blade with a sharp point, lightweight and slim but tough enough to beat on, with a strong reliable lock and an open construction to make cleaning easier. The longer handle makes it easy to control and safer to grip. IMHO most of the BM's mentioned are too heavy or too fat by comparison to the Paramilitary which is just as strong and a phenomenal user.
 
I have owned both and everytime I buy a Benchmade I end up selling it. Nothing against them, they are great knives, they just don't fit or appeal to me like the Spydercos. I think the ergos on the Spydercos fits me better. For the price range that you quoted I don't think you can go wrong with the Military. It's my favorite in the Spyderco bigger knife line up.
 
carrot said:
I think you would be very happy with a Spyderco Paramilitary. Nice belly on the blade with a sharp point, lightweight and slim but tough enough to beat on, with a strong reliable lock and an open construction to make cleaning easier. The longer handle makes it easy to control and safer to grip. IMHO most of the BM's mentioned are too heavy or too fat by comparison to the Paramilitary which is just as strong and a phenomenal user.
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ditto. I agree with Carrot. Paramilitary or Military.
 
I prefer the benchies over the spydies... Kind of the opposite of Shike it would seem. And the 710 I like and use alot but the handle isn't near as grippie as the Griptillian was. I just bought back a Grip and picked up a Rift as well to try out as I loved the way the grip worked with me, but didn't care for it's less than hmmm dressy looks. So I got one of each for a work knife and a dress up nice knife.

Even though I've had the Delica and one or two other spyders, I never did really become a fan of the thin, slick handles of the spyders.

You can find loads of blades for your price so good luck and let us know what you end up with and how you like it.

DM
 
DevilMan said:
Even though I've had the Delica and one or two other spyders, I never did really become a fan of the thin, slick handles of the spyders.
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I suppose this could be a question of relativity, but I find the handle on my Delica 4 to be anything but "slick." Assuming, by "slick," you mean slippery. That is one of the reasons it's the knife that's in my pocket when we sail. (Until and unless somebody comes up with The Perfect Folding Rigging Knife, that is ;).)
 
EDCeeker said:
I suppose this could be a question of relativity, but I find the handle on my Delica 4 to be anything but "slick." Assuming, by "slick," you mean slippery. That is one of the reasons it's the knife that's in my pocket when we sail. (Until and unless somebody comes up with The Perfect Folding Rigging Knife, that is ;).)
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Same can be said for my Endura 4. Handle is anything but "slick."
 
The Paramilitary already mentioned would be a good choice, but it's tip down only. If you can adjust to that, I'd try one. If you have to have tip up, the H&K 14205 that someone suggrested is a great knife with everything you're looking for.

The Endura 4 with G10 scales and a flat ground blade might also be worth looking at. The VG10 flat ground blade will be a good slicer, it should be large enough for what you want, and the clip is 4-way so you can set it for whatever carry you want.
 
By slick I mean the SS handled ones. Never could get a feel for them. And although I loved lockback knives I always hated the way I have to fumble the Spydies around in my hand and almost always had to use 2 hands to close it up since the lock was right in the middle of the back of it. Also the other spydies I had were the black plastic handled ones. Which were far better than the metal slabbed ones, but still didn't take on me very well. Trust me I carried them and was a fan of them for along time til I picked up some others like the benchie or something else and I was like.. AHHHHH I like this one!!!! So that's my take on it. I've never handled a G10 or Micarta slabbed Spydie and I've not carried a spydie since around 97 or so I figure so alot has changed.

Just my take on it... Really it's all about preference. And thats mine. As my preference is also for 50/50 combo blades. ALOT of folks here are not like me.

Best of luck,

DM
 
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