CPM-M4 Griptilian with carbon fiber handles

Funny how I am a waste of your time, considering you are the one who initiated the confrontation by challenging my opinion. So in reality, you are a waste of your own time. Might be a little too complicated for you, but worth a try. If you could have just stated your own opinion and left it at that, think of all the time you could have saved.

However, on topic, I would have to agree that it does all come down to personal taste. So maybe it is worth it to someone, but me calling it a waste of money is again MY opinion. Again, might be too complicated.
 
Fair enough, but the question is whether those upgrades on a Grip translate to an addition $125 or so (street price on the Gayle Bradley is around $125). I actually don't have an opinion on this, just mentioning the price delta.

tjsulli790 said:
This knife should have a street price of $255. I'm sorry but if there are any customs or midtechs out there for that price they won't be of any better quality.

The M4 Ritter is going for $150 so that means this knife has a $100 premium for the handle upgrade. That's still cheaper than what it would cost to get a handle upgrade from Chax or Wilkins.

Granted I won't be purchasing this knife just because I'm not a huge Grip fan and there's other knives I want more. But when you do the math the price is really not outrageous at all.



Um it's a L.E. Gold Class knife not a full production Taiwanese model. You also have to look at this Grip having polished CF, black nickel hardware, G10 backspacer. Just because they have M4 and CF doesn't mean they are similar knives.
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JNewell said:
Fair enough, but the question is whether those upgrades on a Grip translate to an addition $125 or so (street price on the Gayle Bradley is around $125). I actually don't have an opinion on this, just mentioning the price delta.
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Many people gladly spend $120 on S30V Ritter Grip and another $140 on G10 Wilkins Grips to dress it up. So I would say YES. $250 for a Gold Class M4 CF 551 is justified.
 
JNewell said:
Fair enough, but the question is whether those upgrades on a Grip translate to an addition $125 or so (street price on the Gayle Bradley is around $125). I actually don't have an opinion on this, just mentioning the price delta.
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Well, what is anything worth? Things are worth what the buyer is willing to spend. If I understand Benchmade's line correctly, Gold Class knives are designed for collectors, while Blue Class knives are designed for people who carry and use knives, but want one that is better designed and executed than most of what they can find at the local hardware store. Since I do not collect knives (not criticising, just not my thing) Gold Class knives are not worth anything to me. Blue Class knives? Different story. For me, it would be wasteful to buy a Goldie. For someone else, it will be a bargain that gives them great satisfaction for many years. As long as they came by the money legally, and without doing harm to me or mine, I wish them well.
 
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RxEnergy said:
Many people gladly spend $120 on S30V Ritter Grip and another $140 on G10 Wilkins Grips to dress it up. So I would say YES. $250 for a Gold Class M4 CF 551 is justified.
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I've never been able to get to "go" on the cost of the (beautiful) Wilkins scales. The (also limited edition) RSK M4 Grips are about $150 so that same ~$100 delta comes up when you compare this Gold Class to those.

Having said all that...(1) I might just spring for this one and (2) you can whip me for inconsistent logic because I did spend the loot to "upgrade" my 950-1001 to carbon fiber scales, and that was a lot more than a set of Wilkins scales.
 
CountyRat said:
Well, what is anything worth? Things are worth what the buyer is willing to spend. If I understand Benchmade's line correctly, Gold Class knives are designed for collectors, while Blue Class knives are designed for people who carry and use knives, but want one that is better designed and executed than most of what they can find at the local hardware store. Since I do not collect knives (not criticising, just not my thing) Gold Class knives are not worth anything to me. Blue Class knives? Different story. For me, it would be wasteful to buy a Goldie. For someone else, it will be a bargain that gives them great satisfaction for many years. As long as they came by the money legally, and without doing harm to me or mine, I wish them well.
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As I said, I don't really have an opinion on this, so you'll have to answer your question ("what is anything worth?") for yourself! :D You're right that Gold Class is intended to be collected not used - but CF is beautiful - life is short - if it makes someone happy and they can afford it, by all means go for it!
 
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Many people actually carry and use their Gold Class knives. I tried to convince myself to do it, but could never find the strength to actually go for it. I'm weak :(
 
That one is too rich for my blood. I would LOVE to see a G10 handle on a grip. Nothing elaborate just a grip with some plain black G10. I would throw down for one of those in a minute.

I love the full sized grip I have now but it does feel a little hollow in the handle area. An upgrade that is meant as a user at a user price would be just perfect. That's just my opinion though.
 
Well, considering I only paid $125 for the Gayle Bradley Syderco I've got coming, over $250 for this does seem high (much less anything close to $400). In spite of that, I might just go for it.

I've carried a Mini Grip for years now as my EDC and bought the GB as a possible upgrade/replacement. One of the reasons I carry the Mini Grip when I have a Ritter Grip in the safe is that I can't stand the "clacky" noise the scales make, so I may have to give this a try. I love CF and really like what I'm hearing about M4. Since the Grip is one of my all time favorite folders this knife could be a real winner for me.

My perspective on expensive knives has changed recently- if I get this, I will EDC it. I've gone from "It's too expensive to use" and "it will hurt it's resale value" to "If I'm paying this much for it, I'm darn well going to get to enjoy using it!" I end up selling so few (and getting so little for them) that I just can't stand any more safe queens, especially when half the reason for the price is the steel. If it's going to be a safe queen, why not just use 440A?

I'm glad I caught this thread, thanks for posting! Can't wait to see what these end up going for and how hard it will be to find one.
 
Liveitloud said:
That one is too rich for my blood. I would LOVE to see a G10 handle on a grip. Nothing elaborate just a grip with some plain black G10. I would throw down for one of those in a minute.

I love the full sized grip I have now but it does feel a little hollow in the handle area. An upgrade that is meant as a user at a user price would be just perfect. That's just my opinion though.
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I'm not sure that going to G10, CF or anything else will fix the feel of the full-size Grip. It is a great knife and a great bargain, and a better knife IMO in its RSK form, but I think most of that feeling comes from the size of the liner (which is not full-length), and I'm not sure that a materials upgrade on the scales would help. I could be wrong...
 
JNewell said:
I'm not sure that going to G10, CF or anything else will fix the feel of the full-size Grip. It is a great knife and a great bargain, and a better knife IMO in its RSK form, but I think most of that feeling comes from the size of the liner (which is not full-length), and I'm not sure that a materials upgrade on the scales would help. I could be wrong...
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Since there is no reason to increase costs by machining out G10/CF, scales of these and similar materials do affect feel/sounds.

I like my full-size Wilkins Grip, while I don't like the standard FRN full-size Grip.
 
tjsulli790 said:
This knife should have a street price of $255. I'm sorry but if there are any customs or midtechs out there for that price they won't be of any better quality.
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Not to be argumentative, but I never said you could get a mid tech or custom for $255.00. I admitted the price of a mid or custom would be more, but I feel the difference would be reasonable enough that I would opt for a more expensive knife before spending over $250 for a production model. Many mids and customs can be had for around $400, which is only $145 higher than this Grip, and I assure you that a large number of mids and customs in that price range will be of superb quality with excellent fit and finish.
 
Wow, the OP was definitely right on top of this- I just talked to a B&M that I know carries Gold class BMs and he said they just announced/released this 1/5/10- he couldn't even find a picture! He was talking about MSRP though : (
 
MVF said:
I end up selling so few (and getting so little for them) that I just can't stand any more safe queens, especially when half the reason for the price is the steel. If it's going to be a safe queen, why not just use 440A?
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That's like saying why keep a classic Ferrari in the garage with that nice engine when you can get a kit car. Part of what makes things collectible is that they are high quality. Why would anyone want to collect crap?
 
Reeper22 said:
That's like saying why keep a classic Ferrari in the garage with that nice engine when you can get a kit car. Part of what makes things collectible is that they are high quality. Why would anyone want to collect crap?
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No, it's like saying "If I'm going to pay for a Ferrari with a nice engine, I'm going to enjoy driving it"
 
For me this is just about my personal grail knife. Like others have said the only thing that would make it better is if it carried the Ritter blade.
 
MVF said:
No, it's like saying "If I'm going to pay for a Ferrari with a nice engine, I'm going to enjoy driving it"
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Sticking to the analogy, yes you would enjoy driving it, but its value would decrease and it wouldn't really be a collectible. I think you see my point.

Mine will be here tomorrow and it's going right to the display case. Different strokes for different folks. Wish I had two so I could use one of them.
 
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