For about a year now I have been a big fan of the Benchmade Griptilian series of knives. I find the blade shape, 440C steel, and locking mechanism to be just about perfect. The only drawback is the nylon handles that work alright but look and feel rather cheap, especially on the big Griptilians.
Through a long series of trades and deals I ended up with a LNIB BM 720 with black aluminum handles and a black coated blade. Loved the handle, hated the blade. I really don't like the blade profile, and the BT2 coating is not my style. No matter how hard I tried to like this blade I just couldn't do it.
I then noticed that the Benchmade 720 and 550 seemed to use the same "Drop-in" Axis cartridge. From then on I was determined to put a 550 blade into my 720 handle to create my perfect folder or ruin 2 perfectly good knives trying.
The first major hurdle was the fact that I did not own a 550, and was not able to find one laying around my yard or office. This meant that I would have to purchase one. I bought one from Bladeforum's 32055 (great guy to deal with BTW, quick shipping and fast response to emails).
Up to this point other than looking at pictures of the blades I had no way to be sure that the Axis lock mechanism on the two knives was actually the same, so I was a bit worried that they would not work together. Turns out that the Axis mechanism was identical, but the 550 blade was about .25 inch too long for the 720 handle and would need to be shortened. Fortunately it did curve up just enough to clear the inside of the handle, so I didn't have to deal with any clearance issues.
Because I wanted to maintain the Griptilian blade profile as much as possible I made a cardboard tracing of the tip and marked it onto the blade with a permanent marker. I then went to work with my Dremel tool and a 1" diameter Silicon Carbide grinding wheel. I wrapped the blade in ice cold shop towels and removed material very slowly to avoid destroying the temper. The blade never even reached boiling, much less glowing; so I feel that the temper is safe. The grinding wheel was considerably worse for wear, however. I ended up removing about a quarter inch of blade over the course of 3 hours of off and on work.
Then it was just a matter of breaking the burrs and polishing up the rough portion of the spine with some 400 grit sandpaper and the blade was ready to go. There was a small ding in the edge from contact with the vice jaws that I was holding it with, but that sharpened out easily with a medium diamond rod.
I then assembled the Frankenbenchmade together and took it for some testing.
First up was the lock. Simce this knife was cobbled together from random parts I wanted to make sure it was safe. I don't usually do spine whacks, but I smashed this thing like it was going out of style and it performed perfectly.
Carry (tip down for me), opening, and cutting performance are all excellent; as I would expect from a knife that has all my favorite features.
I had considered putting a "wave" on this blade by grinding out some of the opening hole, but since i carry tip down in a rear pocket it would be pretty useless. I am planning on putting a convex grind on it and polishing up the clip. After that it should be perfect.
I have plenty of pictures that I can email to anybody who wants them, but (unless somebody can direct me to a photo hosting service) I will not be able to post them.
Sorry if this post is a bit long, but this is my first real knife related "project" and I'm quite proud of the results. It gave me a whole new appreciation for what real knifemakers do.
Any criticism, opinions, or questions welcome.
Through a long series of trades and deals I ended up with a LNIB BM 720 with black aluminum handles and a black coated blade. Loved the handle, hated the blade. I really don't like the blade profile, and the BT2 coating is not my style. No matter how hard I tried to like this blade I just couldn't do it.
I then noticed that the Benchmade 720 and 550 seemed to use the same "Drop-in" Axis cartridge. From then on I was determined to put a 550 blade into my 720 handle to create my perfect folder or ruin 2 perfectly good knives trying.
The first major hurdle was the fact that I did not own a 550, and was not able to find one laying around my yard or office. This meant that I would have to purchase one. I bought one from Bladeforum's 32055 (great guy to deal with BTW, quick shipping and fast response to emails).
Up to this point other than looking at pictures of the blades I had no way to be sure that the Axis lock mechanism on the two knives was actually the same, so I was a bit worried that they would not work together. Turns out that the Axis mechanism was identical, but the 550 blade was about .25 inch too long for the 720 handle and would need to be shortened. Fortunately it did curve up just enough to clear the inside of the handle, so I didn't have to deal with any clearance issues.
Because I wanted to maintain the Griptilian blade profile as much as possible I made a cardboard tracing of the tip and marked it onto the blade with a permanent marker. I then went to work with my Dremel tool and a 1" diameter Silicon Carbide grinding wheel. I wrapped the blade in ice cold shop towels and removed material very slowly to avoid destroying the temper. The blade never even reached boiling, much less glowing; so I feel that the temper is safe. The grinding wheel was considerably worse for wear, however. I ended up removing about a quarter inch of blade over the course of 3 hours of off and on work.
Then it was just a matter of breaking the burrs and polishing up the rough portion of the spine with some 400 grit sandpaper and the blade was ready to go. There was a small ding in the edge from contact with the vice jaws that I was holding it with, but that sharpened out easily with a medium diamond rod.
I then assembled the Frankenbenchmade together and took it for some testing.
First up was the lock. Simce this knife was cobbled together from random parts I wanted to make sure it was safe. I don't usually do spine whacks, but I smashed this thing like it was going out of style and it performed perfectly.
Carry (tip down for me), opening, and cutting performance are all excellent; as I would expect from a knife that has all my favorite features.
I had considered putting a "wave" on this blade by grinding out some of the opening hole, but since i carry tip down in a rear pocket it would be pretty useless. I am planning on putting a convex grind on it and polishing up the clip. After that it should be perfect.
I have plenty of pictures that I can email to anybody who wants them, but (unless somebody can direct me to a photo hosting service) I will not be able to post them.
Sorry if this post is a bit long, but this is my first real knife related "project" and I'm quite proud of the results. It gave me a whole new appreciation for what real knifemakers do.
Any criticism, opinions, or questions welcome.
![bmclosed1f[1].jpg](/data/attachments/6/6322-51e2b280bf37211a69b2e072a193fecf.jpg?hash=UeKygL83IR)
![bmopen2f[1].jpg](/data/attachments/6/6323-65e6cae2a32eace9e485bcfc867f3a92.jpg?hash=ZebK4qMurO)
