All About Pocket Knives

I'm seeing Benchmade Mini Griptilians with different variations of the blade. Some have a thumbstud while others have the Spyderco round hole. Anyone know what the deal is on this?

I THINK SOME HAVE A OVAL HOLE TOO......

COLORS...... HANDLE MATERIAL......TANTO,DROP POINT....LARGE,SMALL,MINI IN FRAME SIZE .......ETC....

JUST "VARIETY" I WOULD SAY......

I PERSONALLY LOOK FOR BENCHMADES WITH THE "SPYDERCO HOLE"
OTHERS HATE IT..........

<EDITED TO FIX MY HORRIBLE SPELLING >

Josh, I can certainly tell you I don't have a clue. I've been considering picking up a BM Mini-Grip and would like to be semi-educated before I plunk down the kind of $ they ask for these guys. I lean towards the Spyderco hole. I'm just not good with thumb studs.

How do they get away with copying the Spyderco hole opening system??? Is there no patent on it???

YEAH JERRY ME TOO..... THE PRICE HAS KEPT ME FROM BUYIN ONE..... FOR A FEW BUCKS MORE YOU
CAN GET A NICER FRAMED BENCHY OR A G10 SPYDERCO.....
BUT YEAH, I WANT ONE TOO ,MAN....LOLOLOL

I WANT THE 555 PATTERNED UNIT
PLAIN EDGE AND THAT BLADE SHAPE JUST SCREAM GREAT USER TO ME

I REALLY LIKE THE AXIS LOCK TOO.....

PLUS DONT FERGET...YA STILL HAVE COLOR AND BLADE STEEL CHOICE!!!!!
then there is type of pocket clip!!!

jerry it is my understanding they just rip poor ol SAL GLESSER off......sadly!

I'm thinking 555 in yellow. I may have procrastinated too long for Orange.

Well Gents here is a 555 Mel Pardue with a oval hole and a improved sheepsfoot blade also a axis lock I can flip this all day ::nod::First two pic's are with new factory deep carry clip third pic is with original clip

I'm pretty sure they're legal with the hole opening. If it was a lock/frame it would probably break trademarks. It would be like suing for a nail nick.

My son-in-law told me that Benchmade as sued by Spiderco for using that hole in the blade, in that it mimicked thier blade pattern. Can anybody expand on this topic! ftd

There are other knife companies that offer models with a hole in the blade for opening purposes as well. I know for a fact that Buck does. Their Vantage for example is offered with an opening hole.
I believe that Spyderco has a patent on the "round" opening hole. The one on the Buck and the Benchmade are not round.
From what I have read, in order to keep their patent active and relevant, Spyderco has to put the hole on all of their knives, including fixed blades. That is why some of their knives that don't even utilize the hole for opening purposes still have a small round hole in the blade. Sorry, not trying to de-rail your thread Jerry! Getting back to the point, I think the BM Mini Grip is a great knife. I have the modified drop point model with a thumb stud, in black, and it is rock solid, flips open easy and smooth, and locks up tight with no movement. It's a great size knife for EDC, and carries easily as well.

I stand corrected, they have a trademark on the ''Spyderhole". I could cut and paste but here's a link explaining it all. http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showt ... -nail-nics

313 Mike wrote:Sorry, not trying to de-rail your thread Jerry!

Jeez Louise Mike. You're not derailing my thread. A broad question was asked. Broad responses are welcomed.

YES IT "IS" PATENTED BY SAL GLESSER.....
YES , BENCHMADE STOLE IT FROM MR. GLESSER ,THERE WAS SOME KIND OF COURT DEAL,AND THERE WAS A "UNDERSTANDING" IN END(per SPYDERCO.COM)......... THIS IS A LONG RUNNING FEUD


MR. GLESSER DOES ALLOW MANY MAKERS TO USE IT....."WITH PERMISSION" !!!!!!!


TONS OF INFO ON IT WITH A QUICK : GOOGLE SEARCH

One last off topic note that I find ridiculous as trademarking a hole. The website bushcraftusa has trademarked the word bushcraft.

Wondered about the hole- I have a BM 550 with and the mini Grip without- just used BM custom design on their site...

"Wondered about the hole-"



it was robbed from spyderco

It baffles me that a company could patent a geometric shape no matter what they used I for!

I guess Benchmade will just have to settle for having better knifes, IMO.
My Benchmades have much better edge retention than my Endura with VG10 steel.
My new Benchmade 710 puts the Endura to shame when it comes to edge retention!

REALLY thats good to know I have good luck with VG-10 in my Dellica4.

most new steels will out perform vg-10 .... it is SPYDERCOS low end steel(similar to a AUS steel-AKA not the best stuff out there) .......
as far as better,knives..... i PERSONALLY disagree. i feel SPYDERCO is far SUPERIOR, and they don't even steal BENCHMADES patents.

I've sure never thought of VG-10 as "low end steel".

junebug wrote:most new steels will out perform vg-10 .... it is SPYDERCOS low end steel(similar to a AUS steel-AKA not the best stuff out there) ......

I didn't know that either. I know some of the AUS are pretty low end, like AUS-6, but I love the AUS-8A Kershaw used in the 1980s. I have a CRKT M16-14 that has AUS-8A steel and it is a workhorse! Great edge retention and it is a knife I have used and abused in me shop. I wish Kershaw still used AUS-8A in more knives. IMO, their AUS6 is pretty humble!

I doo'ed it with my finger. After the better part of a year of looking, thinking, dreaming, can you really call it an impulse purchase? I've had this one on my eBay watch list for a couple of months and this morning I just said the heck with it and pulled the trigger. It's a yellow Mini-Grip with the modified sheepfoot blade and Spyder hole (I'm clumsy with thumb studs). I would have rather had orange but I believe orange is discontinued and they're EXPENSIVE when you find them, soooooo............ yaller it is.

Sellers picture.

philco wrote:I've sure never thought of VG-10 as "low end steel".

me either, Phil ............ i like the stuff(VG-10)
BUT THERE ARE ALOT BETTER OUT THERE

note- not saying it is "LOW END"......but saying " it is spyderco's LOW END errrr ENTRY LEVEL steel they use to
produce knives.

JERRY, VERY NICE, SAME GRIP I WOULD BUY MA'SELF (555 with SPYDER-HOLE) , JUST A DIFF COLOR....
SO WERE NOT MATCHIES


DALE - I READ SOMEWHERE (ferget where now) VG-10 AND AUS8 & AUS10 ARE ALMOST THE SAME EXACT THANG....... JUST DIFFERENT MAKER/STEEL FACTORY IN JAPAN.

Here is a quick comparison chart of the steel compositions in 154CM, Crucible CPM S30V, Takefu VG10, Aichi AUS8

http://www.zknives.com/knives/steels/st ... V%252CVG10

Good info Mitch. Thanks !

Thanks Phil! Did you click on any of the items on the left? This one here, has a lot of Great Steel info.

http://www.zknives.com/knives/articles/ ... lfaq.shtml