help me decide between two fixed blades?

I

iamorami

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May 6, 2011
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I'm torn between two knives.

1. Benchmade Bone Collector 15000 in D2 (http://www.benchmade.com/products/15000)

2. Sog Team Leader in 20cv (http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&safe=active&q=sog+team+leader+20cv&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&wrapid=tlif130504511060110&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=4670840592158667630&sa=X&ei=nWjJTfuAAeX30gGqge2ZCQ&ved=0CB0Q8wIwAA#

I love them both, but they would both perform in the same role for me, my small camp knife. Used for food prep, whittling, and general tasks that my large blade won't be doing. Both will work well, but I have an opportunity to buy the 15000 as a first production run 1 of 500 for a very fair price, that kinda adds come coolness to me. To decide, I was hoping that someone would tell me if either steel type would be better for my purposes, or if one will be horrible, or if both will perform similarly. I'll be happy either way, just wanted to see what you guys thought. Thanks in advance!
 
I like the BM knife better. It's lighter and appears to have a more user friendly handle. SOG typically makes a fine fixed blade knife however I'm unfamiliar with the new 20CV steel they are using. I'm prone to let others spend money on the latest and greatest. I'll wait for the reviews.
 
I have the 20CV SOG Team Leader. I bought if for an all around hunting knife and camp knife. I like the Bone Collector in D2 also, but don't have one. I can tell you that the 20CV steel is excellent, as is the flat grind and simple, yet very functional design of the Team Leader. It makes a great camp knife for slicing, whittling wood, and field dressing game. It also makes a good skinning knife, but the blade shape is a little wide for the finer details. It holds a great edge, sharpens easily, and is very easy to clean. I did a review on it last year: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...-Leader-20CV-Duratech-(TL-01)-Informal-Review.

I would say that they are two pretty different knives. The bone collector 15000 is a caping knife, with a narrower pointy 4" blade, designed for fine details of field dressing, but probably very functional for camp chores. The Team Leader I think was designed as a tactical knife, although I'm not sure that's what it turned out to be. It has a 5" blade in a willow leaf design. Both steels are excellent, and I would think the Bone Collector has a more comfortable handle.

Also, I have the Fallkniven F2, which is very similar to the Bone Collector. I like the VG-10 steel and slightly longer blade, but I think the Bone Collector is a cooler looking knife.
 
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Thanks guys! Planetcat, I had read your review, and thank you for posting it, it was very helpful to me. And thanks for the extra input here as well! Syntaxerrorsix, I hadn't even compared the weight of the two, so thanks for pointing out that the sog is more than twice the weight of the benchmade. That said, I've made my decision based on your guys input, I'm going to get the benchmade while I still have the ability to get number 1 of 500(cool-factor), and I'll get the sog PROBABLY when I get more money, as it's more availaible. Thanks again, and if anyone else has advice to chime in with, please do.
 
iamorami said:
Thanks guys! Planetcat, I had read your review, and thank you for posting it, it was very helpful to me. And thanks for the extra input here as well! Syntaxerrorsix, I hadn't even compared the weight of the two, so thanks for pointing out that the sog is more than twice the weight of the benchmade. That said, I've made my decision based on your guys input, I'm going to get the benchmade while I still have the ability to get number 1 of 500(cool-factor), and I'll get the sog PROBABLY when I get more money, as it's more availaible. Thanks again, and if anyone else has advice to chime in with, please do.
Click to expand...

Glad to be helpful. Looking forward to hearing your feedback on the bone collector caper too!
 
Just to muddy the waters... the BM 15005-2 was my choice. The 15000 is a narrower, skinner-style, .125" thick, while the 15005 is a wider blade and .140" thick - a drop-point utility blade (Check the two out at Benchmade's site.). It's MSRP is $125 vs the base 15000 at $100. Below you will see it on the left - then my CRK Nyala - S35VN in a $229 CRK! The last is a stag handled Gerber Freeman in S30V - all three were made in the USA, too.

IMG_4589.jpg


Don't get too fond of that '1 of 500' nomenclature - it'll wear off with use. The BM Bone Collectors, fb & folders alike, are great values! Let us know how you like yours.

Stainz
 
Well guys, I went with my heart and got the Team Leader, and I'm so glad I did. I was looking around and saw that nobody actually had them in stock, and the only places that actually did have one was selling them for outrageous prices. I started to get the feeling that the Team Leader in 20cv was going to quickly be a rare knife, so when I finally found one for under 200 dollars (it was actually closer to 100), I had to snag it up. I'll get the benchmade later if I still feel the need for it (thank you Stainz for snapping me out of the 1 of 500 thing, haha!).

Anyhow, I love the size of this one better, and the blade shape was love at first sight for me when I first saw a picture of it. The weight is more, but that just makes me feel more comfortable that it won't break as easily. It makes it feel like a real nice quality, heavy-duty tool. Doesn't seem that it's really sharp, but I'm no expert on sharpness. I mean, it can shave hair off my arm, and cut paper smoothly, but then again, so can my 2 year old leatherman that's never been sharpened and gets used heavily. I guess those aren't really good tests. All I can do is feel the edge to get an idea, and it's better than my leatherman, but not as good as my gerber atrifact (that's cheating though, the artifact uses #11 hobby blades). It cut my chicken dinner as good as I could expect from a blade that thick I guess, so it not that bad. I guess my point is I think I need to buy a sharpening device now. However, I would rather have had it come this sharp, than it come sharper and cost 20 bucks more for the time spent to make it sharper, you know?

Only thing I would change is the handle. Not the size or shape, which is excellent for my hand (large size gloves), but the blade tang is larger than the grip scales, and the tang isn't exactly beveled, so the entire perimeter of the tang my hands pressure points meet the uncomfortable metal edge. I'm hesitant to file the edge, as I'd probably screw it up, but that would be ideal, should I muster up the courage. Otherwise, I probably could have sacrificed the removable scales, to get a more comfortable, formed, permanent rubbery handle grip. But I guess that's just me, and ya can't please everybody, and maybe I care less about getting a rubber grip, than someone else cares about having removable scales. It's definitely not a deal-breaker, I love this knife. I might actually wrap the handle with some baseball-bat-handle tape or something, then I'll be set.

Sheath sucks, nuff said.

Okay, this isn't a review, I haven't even used it('cept for the chicken and some paint-stirring sticks from home depot), I just wanted to add "data" to the internet on this knife, as far as my first impressions of it. Sog, thank you for making my dream knife blade shape, and even making it full flat ground(THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU), and then making it out of some cool steel. I can't wait to go camping and test it out!

Thanks again everyone for your input. When I get the benchmade I'll come brag about that one too, haha.
 
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