griptilian sheepsfoot or droppoint?

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Sep 12, 2002
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Which one do you prefer and why?
What are the strengths or weaknesses of each design?
Are they designed for different tasks?
Think it's benchmades best selling knife, so there must be a lot of (happy) owners :D

Now they are in 154CM they are impossible to resist:cool:
 
I just love the 550. I have both the 550 and 551 and I would take the 550 any day if I had to choose. I just like the thicker tip and the blade shape of the modified sheepsfoot.
 
i like the droppoint and thumbstuds better myself, its all a matter of preference
 
The biggest difference for most people is probably not the blade shape - they're both good - but whether you're a thumb-stud guy or a blade-hole guy.


Joe Dirt said:
I just love the 550. I have both the 550 and 551 and I would take the 550 any day if I had to choose. I just like the thicker tip and the blade shape of the modified sheepsfoot.
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I'm just going to show it takes all kinds and disagree - :) - when I was looking, I bought a 551, because it looked like it had a thicker, more abuse-able point, and I'm a serial tip abuser. :D The 550 does have a slightly wider tip from the side, but the 551 seems to carry its full spine thickness closer to the tip. From above, the 551 tip looks substantially beefier to me.

I'll toss out another consideration. The real competition for - and probably the only knife directly comparable to - the Griptilian is Spyderco's new D'Allara 2 Drop Point, which despite being called a drop point, has almost exactly the same blade shape as the 550 (modified sheepsfoot.) So if you think you might like to try both eventually, ask yourself, would you rather have two very similar knives (which would allow you to make an incredibly direct BM to Spydie comparison, but seems to have no other upside) or have two differring blades?
 
I preferre the drop point blade simply because oval shaped holes are awkward to flick open for me. Thumb stud Axis knives flick open awesome. The blade grinds are also prettier on the drop point model.
 
I don't have a Grip, but I find a use for both a sheepsfoot and a more traditional drop or clip point blade. The sheepsfoot will give you better control on draw cuts, but you lose the obvious advantage of a stabby point. The sheepsfoot Grip still has a little bit of stab, so if draw cutting is your main use, I'd go with that one.

So, I guess the "answer' is "whichever you prefer", or the ever popular "buy both".
 
I don't care about stabbing, so I tend to prefer the sheepsfoot to the drop point. However, I bought the drop point Grip because I prefer thumbstuds, especially on an Axis lock knife as I find it more fun to flick with a thumbstud than a thumbhole. Since easy flicking is part of the appeal of the Axis lock, IMO, I tend to prefer the more flickable opening option.

But the thumbhole BMs are easy to flick too.
 
Nick Hyle said:
The real competition for - and probably the only knife directly comparable to - the Griptilian is Spyderco's new D'Allara 2 Drop Point, which despite being called a drop point, has almost exactly the same blade shape as the 550 (modified sheepsfoot.) So if you think you might like to try both eventually, ask yourself, would you rather have two very similar knives (which would allow you to make an incredibly direct BM to Spydie comparison, but seems to have no other upside) or have two differring blades?
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Yes, I had also thought about this.
There are some excellent reviews about the D'Allara with its "cobalt enhanced VG-10".
Only thing is that I live in an urban environment in a knife-unfriendly country. So I was thinking about a mini grip. The D'Allara is maybe too big.
If a mini D'Allara is in the works the choice would be easy. A mini droppoint grip and a mini d'allara.:p
So lets hope Spyderco is going to a direct confrontation with the grips :D (Maybe one reason why benchmade is upgrading the steel of the grips :confused: )
 
Nick Hyle said:
The biggest difference for most people is probably not the blade shape - they're both good - but whether you're a thumb-stud guy or a blade-hole guy.
Click to expand...

The thing I also like about the blade-hole is that the Grip becomes very 'waveable' with the addition of a ten cent zip tie. I experimented a bit to find the right size that let me easily open it as I drew it from my pocket but still let me pull it out slowly without it opening. Once you get the right balance and position, it works quite well (even if it looks a little ghetto). :)
 
What I forgot to ask.:o

Is the grind on the sheepsfoot the same hight as on the droppoint?
I think this is the case.
If so, the point and the stud/hole are the only differences.

Maybe the thumbramp is a bit larger on the sheepsfoot?
 
Either will work just fine. If you chop up lots of carrots and veggies for dinner with your knife, or are a sailor/boater, get the sheepfool style.
 
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