Fixed Griptillian initial impressions

bigbcustom

bigbcustom

Joined
Dec 20, 2005
Messages
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Just got a Fixed Griptillian in the mail about fifteen minutes ago, and, after looking at it for a bit, decided that I should post my first impressions. I will try to follow up with some impressions from use later.

WOW!.....the knife is bigger than I expected when looking at pictures/specs. It fits my hand nearly (more on this later) perfectly. The grinds and bevels are executed flawlessly. It is hair popping sharp right from the factory. The sheath is top notch in my book, it is firm fitting nylon with kydex insert with fully adjustable malice clip on back. It feels very good in the hand, and has excellent overall ergonomics...I can't wait to use it.

Pros:

QC on this knife is excellent
initial sharpness is excellent
Grinds are even
handle is grippy
sheath is top notch
handle and blade shape are excellent
154CM blade steel

Cons:

Handle is a wee bit too short for me (I have large hands however)
Not everyone is likely to appreciate the malice clip as the only way to attach to belt, etc.
the fact that the tang stands proud of the handle by 1/16" or so as on the Nimravous annoys me.

Overall:

I have to say that I really, really like this knife...especially for what it sells for ($66.00 from www.savsonswordsandknives.com ). The handle, though a wee bit too short, feels good in my hand, very grippy with the rubber inserts, and the thumb ramp is placed perfectly with jimping that isn't too sharp or too smooth. Yes, the tang stands proud of the handle, and yes, it annoys me, but it doesn't really detract from the usability of the grip, or knife. I think that this is an excellent knife for the money. 154cm blade steel shouldn't disappoint in the use category, but I will reserve judgement until I get some time in with this particular knife.
 
Okay, so I couldn't resist....I just went out in my yard and did some whittling, cut up some scrap leather, split some kindling off a couple of pieces of wood, debarked a few sticks...this knife is definitely a user. Felt great in the hand and is still razor sharp. Admittedly, this isn't a lot of use, and I will post after the next time I hit the woods, but initially at least...what a knife.
 
Okay, I've been carrying & using this little knife for about a month now. I thought it would be a great blade to take on canoe trips or other boating type activities. So I've been sort of testing it out - I've used it for food prep, cutting reinforced tape, opening boxes, notching tree limbs, opening mail & other packages, cutting rope, twine and some vegetation. It performs very well at all of those...

However, I have taken it swimming with me in the pool a few times now in preparation for taking it out on the water. And let me just say YIKES! The Griptillian Fixed blade is not exactly an amphibian!!!

Now each time I've used the knife or gotten it wet I have dried it off as promptly as possible. I started to see some rusting though so I started to wipe the blade down with a little gun oil after each use - however, low and behold - the handle traps water under it. Guess I should have known...

I now see some rusting underneath the handle. I soaked it in gun oil yesterday & am leaving it to dry out in the sun really well - best I can do right now as I don't have an allen wrench small enough to remove the handles...

Long story short, I'm sure the knife will be just fine once I've gotten her all cleaned up, strip it down & reassemble it. Nevertheless, I will not be taking this with me on a canoe trip! The overall corrosion protection is less than I would have expected from good quality stainless. I can live with that but not the idea I'd need to take the knife apart after getting it wet. That is not what I'm looking for.

So its back to the drawing board for a canoe knife for me. I want something small, relatively PC and very low maintenence. The CS Kodun I've got works fine but the blade shape is wrong. Definately not PC. My Spydie Fred Perrin knife is okay if I keep it in a pocket or want to get a new sheath for it but otherwise is not secure enough. And my SRK is too big... :(
 
James Green Dragon said:
Okay, I've been carrying & using this little knife for about a month now. I thought it would be a great blade to take on canoe trips or other boating type activities. So I've been sort of testing it out - I've used it for food prep, cutting reinforced tape, opening boxes, notching tree limbs, opening mail & other packages, cutting rope, twine and some vegetation. It performs very well at all of those...

However, I have taken it swimming with me in the pool a few times now in preparation for taking it out on the water. And let me just say YIKES! The Griptillian Fixed blade is not exactly an amphibian!!!

(
Click to expand...

I notice your in the Daytona area. Were any of these trips near salt water? Living on the MS Gulfcoast I find this interesting since I had intended to get a folding grip.
 
James,

When you do finally get the grips off, put some automotive blue silicone gasket goop on the handles before reinstalling. Should seal them up nicely, yet not glue the slabs to the blade. Thanks for the tip though, I haven't used mine in a wet environment as yet. (soaking as in pool wet that is). What did you think of the knife other than the rust issue?
 
No salt water yet - just the pool.

Other than the corrosion issue, I am VERY happy with the little knife. I love the design other than this issue - its a pretty big issue though. I'm considering just wrapping the handle with paracord once I have the slabs off...

*Just tagged it with a big dose of WD-40. Also noticed that removing the handles voids the warranty (?). Hopefully the WD-40 will do the trick for now. I'll be going to the hardware store tomorrow.
 
WD-40 is terrible for preventing corrosion. Stick with the gun oil after you wipe off the WD-40 (or it evaporates.. in like a couple hours)
 
Wow, thats a really good price. I looked at a bunch of knives on that website... how are they able to sell them for so cheap?
 
No coating. I'm not worried about superficial discoloration. Just the fact that the handle actually held enough water for it to run down the blade after I thought it had dried out :( .

I think the black blade is combo edge only :thumbdn: - plus its not as PC.

Hindsite being 20/20, perhaps I should have gotten one of these instead: http://www.knifecenter.com/kc_new/store_detail.html?s=BM100SH2O - anyone know if the handles on it hold water?
 
James Green Dragon said:
No coating. I'm not worried about superficial discoloration. Just the fact that the handle actually held enough water for it to run down the blade after I thought it had dried out :( .

I think the black blade is combo edge only :thumbdn: - plus its not as PC.

Hindsite being 20/20, perhaps I should have gotten one of these instead: http://www.knifecenter.com/kc_new/store_detail.html?s=BM100SH2O - anyone know if the handles on it hold water?
Click to expand...

In my experience, H1 and X-15 ( Benchmade is supposedly switching from one to the other at this time) don't hold an edge nearly as well as a steel like 154CM. If you like the knife except for the handle, take the handle off and gasket them then reinstall. Problem solved. I really love the knife, and if I had the problem that you are having I would rather fix it than replace the knife. That dive knife does look pretty good....though I really don't like serations on the front of a knife...
 
Alright, went to the hardware store & got anallen wrench that fits the knife. Took the slabs off & I immediately discovered why the thing held so much water; the handles are hollow with an inner structure. The inner structure is what makes contact with the tang. There are corresponding rust lines on the tang. In between the 'girders' of inner structure the handle must've held water. Design flaw IMO. A simple flat bottom slab would have completely prevented the problem.

BC suggested I 'gasket' the slabs. What do you mean by that exactly?

Also, there is a cutout, roughly the shape of the kraton insert in the tang. This may have been where some of the water was trapped too...

In the meantime I scrubbed her down a little & used the scrap of paracord I had handy to temporarily wrap the handle with... Me likes! The rounded tang was tricky to wrap & I'll likely have to revisit the effort - the cutout helped though - And I like it just as much this way as I did before. ...Now to find the dang sheath for it...
 
Hmmm. Pool is not fresh water, it's HEAVILY chlorinated, and chlorine is very reactive.

A fresh water rinse after "pool" use MAY solve this problem in the future.
 
How about a fresh water rinse & a nice scrub down with handsoap & a toothbrush? That is what I did.

Look, I like the knife but I won't pull my punches - the handle slabs are poorly designed IMO. They trap water between the handle & the tang. Plus, it's not like I neglected the knife by swimming with it in our family swimming pool :rolleyes: - And we keep a very low chlorine level in the pool due to the pump & filter system we've got...

My intention was to take the knife on a canoe trip. That means it would be fully submerged in brackish water at times.

I will take something different instead. Probably the SRK actually - I did so last time - and before I did, I took it in the pool with me too. You have to dry & oil the edge on it but there are no other corrosion issues with it. ...I was only worried about the PC issue as it is a larger knife - but - being that so many local people have been attacked by gators this year I'm just not going to worry about it.
 
Okay, going with the gasket idea, I cut two peices of black duct tape to shape & attached it to the slabs to create a 'gasket'. The adhesive side is adhered to the slabs - so even if water gets between the tang & the slabs, it won't collect in the handle hollows. I guess water can concieveably get in between the tape & the slabs - not sure about that. Guess we'll see...
 
For anyone interested, the duct tape handle slab gasket idea works like a charm. My Griptillian is now an amphibian :thumbup: :thumbup:
 
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