Two griptilians purchased - DULL.

freq18hz

freq18hz

Joined
Mar 4, 2010
Messages
1,093
Hi,

First post. Long time lurker.

Just purchased two griptilians:

1 full sized, olive drab, black combo blade, drop point, 154cm

1 mini, olive drab, black straight blade, drop point, D2 steel

Both are DULL. Not only can I not shave with them, but I can't even cut paper.

Looks like I have to send them back to benchmade. I just spent over $200 for two knives, and they are dull.

Not a happy camper :(

-Freq
 
wondering how those bad boys ran you over $200...

Seems like BM's blades are hit or miss.. some sharp, some not...

Just throw em on a sharpmaker or something.. nothing to get down about - you would have had to sharpen them soon enough anyways
 
freq18hz said:
Hi,

First post. Long time lurker.

Just purchased two griptilians:

1 full sized, olive drab, black combo blade, drop point, 154cm

1 mini, olive drab, black straight blade, drop point, D2 steel

Both are DULL. Not only can I not shave with them, but I can't even cut paper.

Looks like I have to send them back to benchmade. I just spent over $200 for two knives, and they are dull.

Not a happy camper :(

-Freq
Click to expand...

Don't you know how to sharpen a knife? I bet it won't take much to get them very sharp. They are good knives but it sounds like you over paid a tad.
 
Unless he paid the full market price not the street price but yeah like the two forumites above me have been saying, sharpen it yourself. Its much easier that way and fun too.
 
Owning a knife and not knowing how to sharpen it is like owning a vehicle and not knowing how to pump gas.

It is unfortunate they didn't come sharp given the price, but I don't see it as a big deal.
 
I believe the mini grip with D2 steel was $99, and the full size combo 154cm was $95. Prices seemed consistent and even cheaper than other retailers I looked at. If you guys know of a trusted cheap place, let me know. =)

As far as sharpening goes, no I don't know how to sharpen actually. I bought one of the benchmade field sharpeners, and the damn thing still isn't sharp. The regular grip seems decent, but the mini is just dull dull dull. No way could I even begin to shave anything with either of these knives.

If they came with a poor factory edge, isn't it just wiser to send them back?

Thanks,

-Freq
 
freq18hz said:
I believe the mini grip with D2 steel was $99, and the full size combo 154cm was $95. Prices seemed consistent and even cheaper than other retailers I looked at. If you guys know of a trusted cheap place, let me know. =)

As far as sharpening goes, no I don't know how to sharpen actually. I bought one of the benchmade field sharpeners, and the damn thing still isn't sharp. The regular grip seems decent, but the mini is just dull dull dull. No way could I even begin to shave anything with either of these knives.

If they came with a poor factory edge, isn't it just wiser to send them back?

Thanks,

-Freq
Click to expand...

If you're going to send them back, why not practice your sharpening skills on them now? If you mess up the edge royally, the factory will fix it afterwards anyway.
 
Get a DMT aligner kit. It will hold the angle for you. And yes IMO it sucks to get a new $100 knife that isn't sharp. They need to get it together at BM because these threads(dull NIB BMs) are showing up on a regular basis.
 
I must be lucky, of all the many many folders I've bought, not one was anything less then quite sharp.

Unless the whole edge bevel was beyond easy repair, I'd just keep em and practice sharpening until I got it right.

Hey it took me awhile before I could duplicate and surprass sharp factory edges, but it won't get easier without practice.
 
I have no idea if the edge is beyond repair, but I can pass it over my arm in either direction with enough force to hear a loud scrapping sound, and not a single hair is cut. And this was not only right out of the box, but I've tried pulling it through a Benchmade field sharpener, and an Accusharp hand sharpener. I guess I just need to send em back. Really unimpressed. I had a kershaw that I lost, it was a million times sharper than this, and stayed sharp. Hell, my $30 on sale at the thrift store cuisinart knife block knives are sharper than this.

-Freq
 
All you need is a fixed angle sharpener. I always did ok with hand stones and the like, but once I got a sharpmaker, wow.
 
I know I can go out, and buy an 80 dollar sharpener, and watch a dvd, and get them sharper.

That's not really the point (no pun intended). Especially considering lots of people say that they still can't get a factory sharpness with a sharpmaker.

These are supposed to be premium knives, about twice the price of a similar spyderco or kershaw. What kind of knife company, especially one dealing in premium knives, sends out a dull knife? Scratch that, TWO dull knives?

A knife is made to cut. If these were screw drivers, they would have shipped in two pieces.

I will say that the weight, feel, and mechanisms feel high quality. But as of now, I will never buy benchmade again.

-Freq
 
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I'd say your complaints are pretty justified. While you really should learn to sharpen them on your own one way or another, having a knife come with a flat-out dull edge (can't even cut paper) as you described just isn't on.

If you're really worked up over it, I'd send them back.
 
After a week of use knives will get dull regardless. What are you going to do then?
 
Here's the thing, I'm not a knife geek, or a knife expert.

I'm a busy guy that likes to go hiking/backpacking at the drop of a hat when my company doesn't force me to work unpaid weekends. I just wanted a couple knives I could rely on, and I thought that spending the kind of cash I dropped was all the work I needed to do. I didn't realize I needed to shell out a chunk of a change, and put craftwork in just to make the damn things sharp out of the box.

While I can appreciate the time it takes to learn a skill like sharpening etc, I already put a lot of work into researching/selecting what I thought would be an upgrade for the kershaw that was stolen (along with the rest of my survival gear).

I don't use a knife that often, I simply wanted to buy the griptilian, throw it in my pack, and forget about it. Only there for emergencies. I figured I could use it for everything, and even baton with it if I had to in a stranded situation.
I liked the feel of it so much, I bought a mini griptilian at the same time, just to have with me day to day, for the hell of it.

I'm not a knife expert, and I don't plan on using the full sized one, pretty much ever (just for emergencies) and I don't plan on using the mini that I may or may not have with me all that frequently either.

The thought of buying a big sharpening kit is kind of a pain in the ass.

I just wanted two premium, already razor sharp knives, to use at my leisure.

I realize this may offend some of you, who are knife, and metallurgy experts. But this isn't me. I'm worse than a weekend warrior. I'm not even a hobbyist, just a guy that wants a couple sharp knives for his dollars.

-Freq
 
Your not a happy camper because you spent 200 dollars on 2 knives that you said you hardly plan on using, wich came dull out of the box and you don't want to sharpen them? What did you plan on doing when they got dull if they where originally sharp?
 
Here's my recommendation:

Look into a few of these. They come obscenely sharp out of the box, they're so inexpensive you can buy bunches of the things, and when they get dull, you don't even need to worry about sharpening them! Just throw the little buggers out! Hell, you can buy one for every place. Chuck a few in your pack, a few in your pockets, a few scattered around the house for those few-and-far-between times you'll need them. They'll always be handy and convenient. :thumbup:





00001668.jpg
 
LOL!


Awesome! I love the trolling!

Why isn't there an emoticon for slitting my wrists...=)

This will have to do:
:jerkit:



Ok Ok, I get the POINT, I guess I should learn how to sharpen a knife. It just would have been nice to have a razor sharp, proper edge from the factory.

Now I have to go learn about sharpening, and possibly screw the blades up. =)

The worst thing about this is, once I put all this time in, I'm going to become knife obsessed, like every other forum I'm on.

Expect to see pictures of my upcoming gold class griptilian soon...
:grumpy:
 
You can sharpen them on a $5 hardware store stone. Use the coarse side to raise a burr, then use the fine side at a slightly higher angle to remove it. I use 20 strokes each side on the coarse, then check for burr. Then use alternating strokes at a slightly higher angle to remove it. It should cut paper and shave coarse hair off your arm. If you have very fine arm hair, it may not shave at this point, but it will be sharp enough for your uses. Or just send it back to Benchmade or if you bought at a brick and mortar store, take it back there for a trade in. Ask to hold the knives before buying, so you can check the edges for yourself. FWIW, I've never gotten a dull Benchmade, and a couple would shave hair above the skin. Or if you don't trust BM after your purchase, send them to me and I'll sharpen them and send them back. Griptillians will take a scary edge, even at low grit levels. I haven't tried the D2 though.
 
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