Support BladeForums! Paid memberships don't see ads! Good morning BF's. Some of you may know I'm into slipjoints,but I do love all kinds of knifes. Recently ,Charles May sent me this Benchmade Griptilian 551 to check out. It has a hand made/ground blade by Charlie of D2. Heat treated & flat ground,by him. Hand rubbed satin finish. The lightweight - ness & toughness of this popular folder,with an improved blade. It's really sweet . Feel free to discuss the knife here or privately . Check it out
Wow... hope BM is paying attention. That's an elegant knife. Love my Cabella's Grippie in D2; BM really does that steel well.
While promising. It loses big because It either needs the Axis lock pulled and blade flicked to open it. Or two handed opening.
There is no thumb stud or Spydie hole for opening the blade. So that leaves two options for deployment. Pull the lock back and flick or two hand slip joint style opening.
I prefer 154CM, but I love the blade shape and grind. I like the absence of thumb studs and hole, but acknowledge that I would prefer a good one hand open option. The blade is beautiful.
That's a beauty of a blade. I like that nice clean line that flows along the top of the handle down to the drop point, but without the ramp up that's at the top of the factory blade there's probably no room on this blade for a thumb stud (or a Spydie hole). It's such a nice knife that I guess I wouldn't mind adjusting the lock so I could flick it open -- I can do that with most of my Benchmades already. Is this something he plans to offer normally through his site?
Charlie makes a hell of a knife, and that blade looks great on the Grip. I don't mind the lack of an opening hole/thumbstud as I mostly flip my axis lock folders open anyway. Nice full flat grind and I bet it cuts better than the production blades.
Support BladeForums! Paid memberships don't see ads! Thanks for all the comments. Yes it's deliberately done with no hole or stud. The profile of the folder with this blade looks like one of Charlie's knives ,and the Axis lock is a favorite. Tough,lightweight ,best lock,now it has a razor slicer blade .