Purchased my first Benchmade

V

Von Aether

Joined
Jun 30, 2011
Messages
35
Recently I purchased my first Benchmade. I was looking for a larger EDC knife, and decided to try out a Benchmade 551. I've been carrying this everyday for two weeks and I really like this knife :D Very sharp out of the box, and the axis lock feels very solid. The only slightly negative comment I have is the scale material. While very functional in providing a solid grip, the material has a bit of a cheap feel. This isn't much of a negative, and certainly not a complaint against Benchmade since I have a newer Spyderco with scales from a similar material.

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I've hesistated on the griptillian because of the handles so I went with the beautiful 707 and by far is the best EDC knife I own along with my Chaparral.

Nonetheless, Congratulations :)!
 
Congrats, the 551 was my first Benchmade as well. I am guessing at least half the people who own the Griptillian or Mini-Grip don't love the handles. They are very functional but lack a certain aesthetic quality. There are other options though...


 
Nice, the griptilian was my first benchmade, I bought it at a gun show. 20 mins later I bought another because I was so impressed with the quality. Been hooked like a fish ever since.
 
eschwebach said:
Congrats, the 551 was my first Benchmade as well. I am guessing at least half the people who own the Griptillian or Mini-Grip don't love the handles. They are very functional but lack a certain aesthetic quality. There are other options though...


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Those scales + liner look great. :) Good to know there are upgrades available.
 
Those Cuscadis and the Limited Edition versions with a similar type of groove, but differently laid out both look like the type of scales I'd like to upgrade to someday.

Are there any domestic (less expensive hopefully) or foreign-made scales of equal quality and style?

Wilkins grips look very interesting too, but I feel as though the more utilitarian Cuscadi style might feel better.
 
Several people say the Griptilian "feels/sounds cheap". If I were to blind fold you and have you wave your magic value detecting hand over the hood of a Lexus and a Toyota could it feel the cheapness of the Toyota? If you were blindfolded and listened to a Toyota idling vs a Lexus could you tell the more expensive car?

I agree there are things you want from your knife. Some of those are a certain feel and sound. My gripe is calling your sensation of the Griptilain cheap. It's not the feel/sound you want but how is it cheap? Some YT video shows a big man bouncing on a Grip suspended open between two boards. A cheap knife could not have held up nearly as long. Calling it cheap implies a quality issue. Griptilians are very well built, some people just can't tell.
 
NG VI said:
Those Cuscadis and the Limited Edition versions with a similar type of groove, but differently laid out both look like the type of scales I'd like to upgrade to someday.

Are there any domestic (less expensive hopefully) or foreign-made scales of equal quality and style?

Wilkins grips look very interesting too, but I feel as though the more utilitarian Cuscadi style might feel better.
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There is a BF member named "Keyman" who does superb work. I don't have any of his work so I can't speak to the prices, but I have seen many pictures and they look amazing. Hopefully he doesn't mind, here is a link to some pics.

http://s868.photobucket.com/user/Keyman25/library/Examples?sort=6&page=1
 
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