New member with mini grip question

Surfingringo

Surfingringo

Joined
May 25, 2013
Messages
3,700
Hello everyone. My name is Lance and this is my first post here. I have been reading for awhile and I really enjoy this forum and decided I would participate. Apologies in advance because this is my first post and its going to be a bit long winded I think, but I have some questions and would like to hear the input of some of the users in here.

I live in Costa Rica and am a surfer and an avid kayak fisherman (ocean). I rarely carry a knife down here because i am often shirtless in board shorts with no pockets. It just never seemed practical so i didnt bother. Well, I recently purchased a couple of cheap gerbers to have with me on the kayak. Meh...unimpressive but they can cut line and butterfly bait.

Anyway, last month my 73 year old father came down for a visit. My dad is old school and never goes anywhere without a pocket knife. Well, he brought me a gift. He gave me his benchmade mini griptillian. Umm...this is not a Gerber! I'm obsessed! Really a wonderful knife! Can't keep my hands off of it!

Ok, so let me get to the point. He doesn't like clips so he took it off when he bought it and threw it away. So for the first week I didn't even bother with the knife, as I had no practical means of carrying it. Especially on the kayak. That's when I got an idea from this forum! I heard people talking about "neck knives". Boom! I'm in business. Made an adjustable necklace out of fine paracord and I just loop the end through the lanyard hole, drop the knife back through and attach the knife that way.

So now I've got three ways to use it. If I need a quick task, the "necklace" is long enough that I can just use the knife while its still around my neck. Or I can slip the loop back out of the lanyard hole. (Takes about 3 secs). Or I can slip the whole thing over my head and voila! Knife with a safety cord for the kayak!

The funny thing is, I'm suddenly so excited! I guess because I've finally got a practical way to carry a pocket knife everyday! I wear it all the time! It comes off to sleep and surf...that's it! I mean I kind of feel like an idiot talking about how happy I am wearing a "knife necklace" :-) but theres something else about it. My moms been gone awhile and my dad and I are pretty close. He's getting old and his health isn't great. So every time I reach up and touch my chest now and touch "his" knife...well, you get it.

Ok, if anyone is still with me after all that, here's my question. I'm a little bit concerned about the knife opening inadvertently, I mean I don't want my obituary to read "lived a good life till he stabbed himself in the heart with a necklace!" Considered getting something like the barrage mini with a safety, but this ones kind of special to me. Dont get me wrong, i am obsessed now and i want MORE, but this is the one i want hanging around my neck. Can I tighten someone up so it doesn't open so easily? Any advice welcome. And again, hello to everyone!

P.S. Also can anyone help me come up with some good excuses to get some more benchmade knives??

P.P.S. I know some are going to suggest kydex, but I'm happy with the way I'm using the lanyard hole. I can get to it plenty fast for my needs...I'm not much of a knife fighter. ;-). I just want it to be a bit safer.

Thanks in advance,

Lance
 
Welcome to the forum!

I have several Grips and I really can't see how it could come open hanging from a lanyard around your neck. All of mine have VERY good detents with the axis lock.
 
you have to shake an axis pretty hard to get it to pop open so regular swinging shouldn't be a problem but you could still tighten the pivot screw so its not quit as easy to open and use some blue Loctite to keep it inplace. A good excuse to get more knives is "what else is there to buy better then a knife" :)
 
Yeah, you're probably right. I noticed the other day when I took it off and wrapped the cord around the knife. Later when I unwrapped, I just held the end and let it "yo-yo" down and the blade popped open. I've tested it since and if I hold the end of the cord and bounce it around "fairly hard I must admit" the blade will occasionally open. But, your are probably right. It's extremely unlikely the cord is going create those kind of abrupt jerks and movements while around my neck. I'm just really stoked on my new knife and carry method and didnt want my buzz killed by worrying if I was going to stab myself. Hehe. I think I'd still like to tighten it a bit
 
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I think if you tighten it to the point where you can open it with your thumb in one slow motion and not a flick you should be good and like I said before use blue Loctite on the pivot screw to keep it from coming loose.
 
Thank you for taking the time to respond to a relatively dumb question. It was kind of just an excuse to introduce myself to the forum and share a little bit of my newfound stoke!!
 
I have a possible second solution for you. Add another small piece of paracord close to the end of the necklace. Tie a small loop in this small piece of para cord just slightly larger than the end of the knife. Then slide this loop over the end of the knife past the lanyard hole before slipping the paracord through the lanyard hole. If it's fairly snug, the loop shouldn't slide back while the necklace is attached to the lanyard hole. The loop around the knife will prevent the knife from opening accidentally. That way you wouldn't have to play with the pivot.
 
Yeah Kris! Problem solved. Even simpler than what u suggested! But your post made me ink of it. Simply run the end of tied necklace through the hole, drop the knife through the loop sticking out but instead of tightening it over the spine, tighten it over the blade side! Problem solved. Knife rest secure and comfortable and blade cannot open. I took pics to post, but I don't know how to do that? Simplest way to post photos here anyone? I don't really have any web albums. Do I have to create one?? :-(.
 
they do make necker sheaths

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Kydex sheaths are still a good option even if you're not a "knife fighter". I'd also like to note that most of the people here don't think of themselves as "knife fighters" or of knives as weapons and the ones that do tend not to think of folding knives as being useful for fighting, and many don't think that they're good weapons at all. Also, if you send an email to Benchmade, you can ask for replacement pocket clips and they'll send them over for free.
 
Cool, thanks for the info. Main reason I'm not interested in a sheath is I don't trust it to hold for my purposes. In and out of the ocean, launching the kayak in overhead surf. I have learned the expensive way that whatever is not well tethered will eventually be consumed by the ocean. As far as the "knife fights" comment...just me trying to be funny. Pokin fun at myself, not anyone else.
Thanks again everyone for the info!
 
The chance of a good sheath losing your knife is extremely slim. There's not a very likely chance of this at all.
The chance of the Mini Grip coming open just riding around your neck isn't likely either.
But it seems like you have figured out your problem.

Oh, and the best reason I have for buying knives, is just simply, because I like them and like having them around.

Welcome to the forums Lance, you'll feel right at home here.
 
Lance, first, welcome to BF! :) don't listen to any of these people or you are going to go broke. :p

I don't want to burst your bubble here but personally I would never carry anything around my neck if there is a chance of going into or under the water. And if I absolutely had to it wouldn't be with parachute cord. Things don't stay put when you are under water, which you probably know being a surfer or a kayak fisherman. I would worry if the kayak goes over or if you go off the surf board that the knife would catch on something and the paracord isn't going to break away.

I would suggest just getting a new clip and screws sent from Benchmade and putting it on your knife, and keeping the knife clipped in the waistband of your board shorts.
 
Thanks for the concern Pete, i will consider your advice, but I think to not use on the boat is a little extreme on the safety side. As far as surfing?? Lol, no no, we surf some pretty serious waves down here. No joke. I would never DREAM of surfing with a cord around my neck, much less one with a knife connected to it! That would be suicidal. To quote my hero Peter Griffin..."I may be an idiot sir, but there is one thing I am not sir, and that is an idiot." ;-)
 
Ok, I think I've got photobucket working, lets see. I'm going to try to post a couple of pics of how I'm tying the knife. You can see that the loop goes over the blade tip and holds there so knife cant open. Really practical for me and the weight and size of the mini grip doesn't bother me at all. Been wearing it a few days and I don't even notice it's there.
http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums...0E3454D-2778-000003FD51D7D328_zpse4481a3b.jpg
http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums...C3038FF-2778-000003FD6EEC706D_zps705dfeb9.jpg
 
Testing...

<a href="http://s1287.photobucket.com/albums/a633/surfingringo/?action=view&current=87F84B06-4BDD-4390-AE52-7829BC3038FF-2778-000003FD6EEC706D_zps705dfeb9.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/a633/surfingringo/87F84B06-4BDD-4390-AE52-7829BC3038FF-2778-000003FD6EEC706D_zps705dfeb9.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos" /></a>

87F84B06-4BDD-4390-AE52-7829BC3038FF-2778-000003FD6EEC706D_zps705dfeb9.jpg
 
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