Full Size Griptillian Not Sharp out of the box.

YardbirdUSA

YardbirdUSA

Joined
Feb 5, 2011
Messages
143
I just purchased a brand new Benchmade Griptilian 550bk with a CPM-20CV Blade. This is the first new Benchmade I have purchased in quite some time. This knife is beautiful and looks well made. This is the first knife with 20cv steel I have owned. When I get a new knife I always try and cut a piece of paracord to test the sharpness. Most times the knife blade will “pop” right through clean like a cleaver. With this knife I had to rub back and forth several times and it still did not cut “clean”. Is this a common problem with Benchmade that the knife is not sharp out of the box? Should I send it back to Benchmade to re-sharpen? Advise please. Thanks
 
Roy Batty said:
Depends. Do you have a Spyderco sharpmaker? If not, yes, send it back.

However I can get any knife better than factory with a little time on my sharpmaker. I can’t deal with waiting weeks for my knife to come back.
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I guess I should invest in one. Just hate the idea of having to sharpen a "new" knife out of the box thanks
 
YardbirdUSA said:
I just purchased a brand new Benchmade Griptilian 550bk with a CPM-20CV Blade. T Is this a common problem with Benchmade that the knife is not sharp out of the box? Should I send it back to Benchmade to re-sharpen? Advise please. Thanks
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Sigh...I have several Benchmade knives, including a 551-1 and yes, they were all sharp out of the box and no, it is not a common problem. At least according to my very limited experience with Benchmade.

However, I have a few knives from other well respected knife manufacturers that required touching up with a sharpener. No biggy in this hobby.

Oh and forgot to add: Never, never, ever, and I mean never, send a knife back to the manufacturer for blade sharpening. Too many horror stories of half the blade missing due to over sharpening. The above recommendation for a SharpMaker is a sound one.
 
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My 550-1 was not super sharp out of the box either. I took care of it though. Other than that, all my Benchmades have been sharp out of the box.
 
I received a new Benchmade Presidio 2 570-1 that was dull enough to run over my finger without leaving so much as a scratch. Upon closer inspection, I noticed it had the burr left on it, and a few passes with a ceramic sharpening stick cleaned up the edge and made it useable.
 
Jmboz said:
I received a new Benchmade Presidio 2 570-1 that was dull enough to run over my finger without leaving so much as a scratch. Upon closer inspection, I noticed it had the burr left on it, and a few passes with a ceramic sharpening stick cleaned up the edge and made it useable.
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Wow.. Bad QC on Benchmade
 
at some point in time your knife will need to be sharpened, so sharpen it and put in your pocket
 
If the knife is put together well, has decent bevels, and is a model I want, I would just give it a quick touch up to get it sharp.

Sharpening a knife now a days is a pretty straightforward and easy thing to do.

That said, if you are not comfortable doing this, and your plan was to not use the knife much, then I’d send it back for a replacement.
 
Another vote to get yourself a Sharpmaker, and add the coarse diamond rods ASAP. This outfit has been my single best knife-related purchase; worth every penny. On top of working well, it is an elegant design; it's all self-contained, except for the extra set of rods. It doesn't take the wear and tear that a knife does, but it will let you get the most from MANY knives in your collection.

For a super steel like 20CV, it would take forever with the medium grit rods that come with the Sharpmaker. (the other set of rods are fine or super-fine)

I have a 550-1 Griptilian in the mail now. It'll be a shame if it's not sharp, but not the end of the world. I feel like the knife manufacturing world should have a way of machine sharpening by now. Probably, there's some poor schmuck just sitting at the sharpening grinder all day, and being human, they're not all going to be great.
 
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Smaug said:
Another vote to get yourself a Sharpmaker, and add the coarse diamond rods ASAP. This outfit has been my single best knife-related purchase; worth every penny. On top of working well, it is an elegant design; it's all self-contained, except for the extra set of rods. It doesn't take the wear and tear that a knife does, but it will let you get the most from MANY knives in your collection.

For a super steel like 20CV, it would take forever with the medium grit rods that come with the Sharpmaker. (the other set of rods are fine or super-fine)

I have a 550-1 Griptilian in the mail now. It'll be a shame if it's not sharp, but not the end of the world. I feel like the knife manufacturing world should have a way of machine sharpening by now. Probably, there's some poor schmuck just sitting at the sharpening grinder all day, and being human, they're not all going to be great.
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Spyderco, at least at the Golden factory, use a robot to sharpen the blades. They do have some variation, but my S30v pm2 and m390 pm2 are many years apart, but had the exact same edge grind. My Shamans (S30v and a bhq m4) also had the exact same edge grind. That is consistency, and I appreciate that. Makers like Kershaw/ZT and Benchmade should invest in robots as well, because they are much less consistent, especially benchmade.
 
Got my Griptilian a couple days ago. It wasn't sharp either. Nowhere near sharp enough to slice paper, but usable for some things.

Its edge was evenly ground, but with a bit of a wide angle. About 30°, as that setting on the Sharpmaker matched it perfectly. The grind was very coarse.

I put the diamond rods in the Sharpmaker and smoothed out the 30° back bevel. Next, I went to 40° for the cutting edge, still with the coarse diamond rods. Then medium, then fine ceramic rods. It's properly sharp now and the edge is holding up to use well so far. The sharpening took about a half hour.

At this price point, they should have the sharpening done a bit better. Like Spyderco.
 
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