Made in the USA

Benchmade 535 Bugout Review

The Benchmade Bugout is a knife I was interested in reviewing when it first came out. But my original role as the sole author of this website has transitioned to more of a “contributing author and editor” role, and the Bugout was on someone else’s list to review. These days I need to work with the other authors and not step on their toes if they want to review a particular knife. That’s OK. There are plenty of other knives to review.

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So I forgot about the Bugout and moved on to other knives.

Fast forward a year or two later. I’m at a friend’s house party. He knows I have this “weird website dedicated to knives” and wanted to introduce me to his friend. As an aside, a handful of my friends know I operate this website, and the majority of them think it’s hilarious that someone could dedicate an entire website to pocket knives. Anyhow, at this party my buddy was excited to introduce me to a friend of his that carried a pocket knife. I showed him the Native 5 in FRN I happened to have in my pocket, and he produced his Benchmade Bugout.

Handling the knife for about 30 seconds was all it took. It has a beautiful thin profile, wonderful tactile handles, is light as a feather, and the bright blue anodized hardware gave the knife an almost jewelry like quality. I could immediately tell it was a knife I wanted to add to my collection. I followed up with one of my writers, who confirmed the Bugout had fallen off his radar, and that I was clear for takeoff to acquire my own Bugout for purposes of today’s review.

General Dimensions and Blade Details

The Bugout has an overall length of 7.46″, a 3.24″ blade, and weighs 1.85 ounces. In some ways it can be considered a largish EDC knife with its over 3″ blade, but on the other hand, it’s so damn slim and light how could you not recommend this for daily carry? It’s only half an ounce heavier than the revered Dragonfly 2, but it packs an extra inch in blade and almost 2 inches of overall length. Incredible really.

As usual, your local laws and preferences in terms of size and blade length will come into play here, but personally the Bugout has been a great choice for daily carry. And I don’t think anyone will kick it out of their pocket for being too heavy.

The Bugout features a long drop point blade. In many ways it reminds me of my Volli, but I suppose the profile is a little closer to the discontinued 707 Sequel. Regardless, it’s a classic looking drop point with a high flat grind and a swedge running half the length of the blade. The knife has been given a combination satin / stonewashed finish that you find on pretty much all of Benchmade’s uncoated knives. The blade shape is classically appealing and the execution is excellent.

Here is a size comparison with the Spyderco Native 5. Another excellent FRN clad USA made EDC knife:

My favorite thing about this blade is how well it cuts. I realize that sounds a little odd as most will agree the purpose of a knife is to cut stuff, but not every pocket knife cuts that well. Sometimes it’s a conscious design decision (ie, a thick “hard use” blade), and sometimes it’s a form over function thing. I’m pleased to report the Bugout cuts well.

Benchmade went with S30V for the blade steel. S30V may turn some folks off as it has a reputation for being an older steel that can be difficult to sharpen, but here it’s a great choice. Benchmade does a tremendous job with their S30V. It’s easy to sharpen and holds a great edge. I have some Spydercos in S30V and the steel is stubborn to sharpen. The Bugout is a lot like the Volli, knife that is a proven slicer and an underrated Benchmade. Like the Volli, the Bugout features thin blade stock that has been thinly ground. The end result is an exceptional slicing knife.

I have used my Bugout extensively and have been polishing the edge up on my newly acquired Spyderco Golden Stone. As I mentioned in my recent Wayfarer 247 review, I have been having a ton of fun with this new sharpening stone. I’m able to take my edges to the next level, and have gotten some truly exceptional results out of the stone on this Bugout.

I will eventually review the Goldenstone, but for now I want to comment that I’ve been getting some scary sharp edges on my knives, and the Bugout has taken to the Goldenstone like a duck to water. I have a mean working edge on this knife. It pops hair, push cuts paper, and zips through cardboard like no one’s business.

The S30V blade takes a wonderful edge and holds it for a long time. I prefer Benchmade’s S30V over their classic 154CM because I find it to be just as easy to sharpen, but has the advantages of more corrosion resistance and better edge retention.

Handle, Ergonomics, and Pocket Clip

The Bugout has a textured high density plastic handle with partial stainless steel liners. The steel liners mainly serve to house the omega springs for the Axis Lock, and the handle construction is similar to a Benchmade Griptilian. Here Benchmade has developed a handle that is super thin, but features a minimal amount of flex.

If this was a 2 sentence review on Amazon, this may be the part where the reviewer bitches about the plastic handle scales. Frankly, I haven’t read any of those reviews, but it’s almost a requirement that if you are going to review the Griptilian you will at some point gripe about the FRN handles. I assume that’s a complaint some may register with the Bugout as well. Personally, this is a lightweight light to medium duty EDC knife, and I have no problem treating it as such. The handles feel high quality to me. The knife lacks the heft of a full liner and G10 scaled knife, but that’s a good thing in my book. Plenty of heavier duty knives out there if that is what you need.

Fit and finish is great on this knife. I have yet to find an issue in the fit & finish department, and the handle is a great place to search for flaws. All the parts line up, everything is nicely finished, the screws are flush, and the blue anodized hardware give the knife just a touch of zazz.

While this is a sub 2 ounce folder, the Bugout has the ergonomics of a full size knife. That’s because it is a full size knife. The handle is simple and there is plenty of it to grab onto. I take an “XL” size glove and have plenty of room for a full 4 finger grip. I think most people will have no problem using the Bugout in a forward or reverse grip.

The simple handle design benefits from a couple small traction features. First you have a short row of mild jimping on the spine of the handle. That works well without tearing up your thumb. In addition to the jimping you have a nice textured FRN handle. Benchmade included a good deal of diamond patterned texturing, but even the naked parts of the handle have a good gritty feel to it. Good traction on this knife.

The pocket clip is another interesting aspect of the Bugout. Benchmade went with a stubby low rider clip. It’s a discreet deep carry pocket clip. This sounds good in theory, but I’m kind of on the fence about it. While on one hand I think it looks super cool, the knife has popped out of my pocket a couple times. The Bugout has always fallen into my pocket, rather than onto the floor, but still this is concerning. Granted, I wear shorts a lot of the time, and I have big fat legs, so I don’t know if you will have the same issues. Regardless, the combination of a long knife and short clip haven’t 100% jived with my style of carry.

This knife will accept a standard Benchmade clip, which Benchmade will probably send for free if you ask nicely or use their Lifesharp service. So if you have issues like me you can always swap out the clip. I will be curious to hear if anyone else has experienced this issue. If so please leave a comment about it below.

Deployment and Lockup

The Bugout makes use of two blue anodized thumb studs to get the blade open. One of my few criticisms of this knife is is that the thumb studs are placed close to the handle in the closed position. It makes it a little hard to get the blade out. Contrast this with a knife like the Griptilian where there is more room, and the blade flies open. However, the thumb studs do work, and if you played around with the design too much you would spoil the lines of the Bugout.

Benchmade went with phosphor bronze washers. This is standard fare for their axis lock knives and should come as no surprise. The action is smooth and fluid. It isn’t as glassy as the G-10 Griptilian, but it’s definitely workable for my purposes.

With a sub 2 ounce plastic handled axis lock knife, you would think there would be some blade play. After all, I’ve experienced that in a lot of earlier Benchmades. It’s just part of the gambit when you buy a FRN clad axis lock knife. Or so I thought. Oddly enough my little Bugout has no blade play at all. It’s as tight as a drum. Really nice to see.

Here is a shot with the significantly more expensive, yet still excellent, 940-1:

The Axis lock itself remains as easy and fun to use as ever. This is a fully ambidextrous knife. There is not much new I can add to this section. The lack of blade play is surprising, as traditionally that is the only compromise I can note in a FRN handled Axis lock knife.

Blade centering is perfect on my knife.

Benchmade 535 Bugout Review – Final Thoughts

I know I’m a little late to my party with the review of the Bugout. The knife has been out for over a year. Old news for those who track the knife industry. But this is a great knife adding to a string of impressive releases for the Benchmade. I can recall just a few years ago when folks thought Benchmade had nothing left to offer. Then they release the G10 Griptilian, 940-1, Anthem, Crooked River, and Proper. All top shelf pieces.

The Bugout is a worthy addition to that long list of excellence. But the Bugout is unique from these other knives (save the Proper) in that it’s priced a little over $100. While that’s still a good amount of money for the average person to plunk down for a pocket knife, I think it’s a fair price for the Bugout and is relatively inexpensive for a Benchmade. You get an attractively built USA made knife that is completely dialed in, and packs all of the function of a full size folder into a sub 2 ounce package. Pretty amazing when you stop to think about it.

My only nits are that the small pocket clip, while attractive, doesn’t work as well for me as a full size clip, and the thumb studs are close to the handle. As a result you need to pay a little more attention when trying to flick open the knife. That’s all I got.

So it should be no surprise that my review echos the near universal acclaim for the Bugout. It is a great piece. While it took me a while to resist the knife when I initially saw it on the internet, the first time I saw one in person it had me in it’s thrall in under 30 seconds.

Benchmade - Bugout 535 EDC Manual Open Folding Knife Made in USA, Drop-Point Blade, Plain Edge, Satin Finish, Blue Handle

List Price: $119.00

Price: $119.00

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I recommend purchasing the Benchmade Bugout at Amazon or BladeHQ. Please consider that buying anything through any of the links on this website helps support BladeReviews.com, and keeps the site going. As always, any and all support is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

Olamic Wayfarer 247 Review

by Dan Jackson 2 Comments

Years ago, when I was in law school and just starting this web site, Olamic came onto the scene with their damascus fixed blade knives. They actually reached out to me, to see if I would write an article on their knives for the site. I agreed, as I thought it was pretty cool that a knife manufacturer actually cared about what I was doing, and they ended up sending 3 knives over for examination.

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Due to some intellectual property complications on their end I was asked not to proceed with the article, but I still had the chance to check out the knives. They were cool, but never something I would have bought for myself. In fact, not even Olamic knows who buys those things. Ultimately I boxed them up and sent them back at their request.

Since then Olamic has continued to make damascus fixed blades in Russia, but they are best known are their high end folders. Olamic means “everlasting” and their motto is “Never the Same”. That’s because they offer the knives in a near infinite number of configurations. Even their logo is the infinity symbol. Pretty cool.

Originally their folders were true custom pieces, and they still make custom knives, but the Wayfarer 247 is more of a mid tech knife. What I mean by that is the basic parts are pre-machined in Italy, and then the folders are completed by hand in California.

This is a high end folder with the basic model starting at $375, but most of them are priced at $500+ with various hand worked finishes. At that price, it’s no wonder it has taken me this long to buy one of these knives. But plenty of people buy them. In fact they appear to fly off the shelves. The high praise intrigued me, so I ponied up and acquired a 247 for review.

General Dimensions and Blade Details

The Wayfarer 247 has an overall length of 8.125″, a 3.5″ blade, and it weighs 5 ounces. The knives are made in America. This is a larger EDC knife. Olamic recently came out with the Busker, which is more of an urban EDC knife with its 2.5″ blade. I’m sure the Busker is more practical as a daily carry, but the Wayfarer caught my eye with its sleek lines.

The 247 comes in your choice of blade shapes. I went with what Olamic refers to as their “original drop point”. It has a high flat grind, a long swedge, and a fine clipped point. My blade has been given an excellent satin finish, but you can also get the blade stonewashed, coated, or two tone. The grinds are pretty crisp, and the edge is neat and even. There is a sharpening choil so you can easily sharpen the knife all the way to the heel. It’s a nice functional blade shape.

For blade steel we have M390. I think that’s all they are offering the knife in currently, as I don’t see an option for blade steel on their website. That’s fine by me as M390 is good stuff. Relatively easy to maintain, excellent edge retention, good toughness, stainless, it has a proven track record as a high end knife steel.

I bought this knife used off the forums, and it came with what appears to be the used factory edge. The prior owner had nicked it in a couple spots and it was quite dull. So to bring the edge back I started out with my DMT Diafold to work out the nicks. I then switched to the ceramic rods from my Sharpmaker.

At that point it was pretty sharp, certainly a workable edge for my basic purposes, but I decided to hone it on my new Spyderco Golden Stone. This is an ultra fine ceramic stone with an interesting ducks foot shape. I thought it would be good for my kitchen knife given the stone’s size and unique configuration, but at this point I’m using it on all my blades. I was able to get an extremely fine hair popping edge with this stone. It is truly an excellent stone and I look forward to reviewing it in the future.

The moral of the story is despite it’s high hardness, M390 is an easy steel to maintain. If I can get it sharp most people will be able to. The knife has held a good edge and has worked just fine for my usual EDC tasks, which these days is mostly opening up cardboard boxes containing cigars and more knives. It makes great carrot sticks as well.

Handle, Ergonomics, and Pocket Clip

The handle is where things start getting interesting. This is a full titanium framelock. Just like all their other knives. You have a wide choice of finishes. My particular knife features holes in the show side slab, a bronze anodization, and their “kinetic earth” finish. The hardware has been anodized as well. The end result is a unique knife.

Everything has been beautifully put together. The titanium slabs are thick, and everything has been nicely finished. Perhaps the most interesting feature is the floating backspacer. It’s a cool detail, and has been given the same finish of the rest of the handle. Another detail is the custom pivot. I’m happy to say Olamic includes a pivot tool with each knife. The pivot looks good, but it’s a little more fiddly to adjust than a regular torx or allen pivot, as the tool has a tendency to slip out of the pivot. At least when I’m using it.

Another cool detail is that you can order replacement sets of hardware for your knife. My guess is that this is mostly for those that want to change up the look of their knife, not so much replacing missing hardware, but either way you are covered.

Let’s turn to ergonomics. This is a comfortable knife. First off, it’s quite thick, clocking in at .46″. The thickness combined with the sweeping full size handle gives you plenty to grab onto. The knife fills your hand, and Olamic has done a great job knocking down any sharp edges. The Wayfarer almost feels like a cold stick of butter in your hand. It’s not slippery, but it is extremely smooth and comfortable. It feels unique when compared with everything else in my collection.

The simple handle design provides one groove for your index finger to nestle into place. Plenty of room even for larger hands. I suppose if you run out of real estate you can always graduate to the full size custom Wayfarer, but that may require a second mortgage. Rounding things out is a short run of jimping on the spine of the blade. The jimping captures your thumb nicely, and strikes a balance between providing traction without blistering your thumb.

The pocket clip is another interesting detail. The clip borrows heavily from the designs found on the Todd Begg Steelcraft Bodega. Olamic licensed it, so no worries there. The clip is a slab of titanium secured by 3 stand offs and then for retention you have an oversize ceramic ball bearing pressed into the titanium.

The end result is a highly robust pocket clip. Spring tension is excellent, so strong I sometimes have trouble getting this knife into my pocket. No worries about it falling out accidentally I suppose. It’s a good stiff pocket clip, and another high end detail.

In practice the 247 carries well for it it is. This is a big chunky titanium frame lock folder. The chunkiness makes it feel great in hand, but the Wayfarer 247 will never carry like my Spyderco Dragonfly, or even my Native for that matter. But the strong clip keeps the knife securely in place. It’s not a deep carry clip, but must of the knife buries discreetly in the pocket. That’s about all I can ask for.

Deployment and Lockup

This is a titanium framelock flipper. There is a lot of competition in this space, but Olamic spent the time to distinguish their knife from the rest. They utilize caged bearings, a ceramic ball detent, an internal stop pin, and a detent ramp. A detent ramp is a small groove or chamfer milled into the tang of blade. What it does is make the action a little smoother when you close the knife. Rather than the ball detent hitting the tang jarringly, this groove makes rentry smoother and easier. Its details like this that help set the knife apart.

And the knife does have a different action than anything else I own. The detent ramp and other details give the action of the 247 an almost hydraulic feel. The blade practically “whooshes” open as if there were a pneumatic piston inside. The blade fires hard no matter what, and the action is smooth and glassy. The detent is strong, but the detent ramp and thick handle smooth it out whether you are opening or closing the knife. Opening and closing the blade of the 247 is a uniquely satisfying experience.

Here is a shot of the detent ramp:

Moving towards lockup, we have a titanium framelock with a stainless steel lock bar insert and an internal stop pin. The internal stop pin is another interesting feature. It makes for a simpler design (no visible stop pin), and it works well. There is zero blade play in this knife. No lock rock, no lock stick, no side to side, no nothing. It’s a perfectly executed framelock. You would expect that at this price point, and Olamic delivers.

Here is a size comparison with the ZT 0609:

A final point is the blade centering. My blade is perfectly centered. I noticed that the pivot came loose during testing causing the blade to wander. and I was able to tighten it back up to true without a problem.

After publishing the review I decided to disassemble the knife. The 247 was straight forward to disassemble. You can see that in addition to caged bearings, there are stainless steel washers to prevent the bearings from wearing into the titanium handles. Reassembly was easy and the knife came back together perfectly.

Olamic Wayfarer 247 Review – Final Thoughts

Olamic’s goal for the 247 was to build a top shelf titanium framelock flipper that can be customized to the end user, yet still sold at a reasonable price. By and large I think they have accomplished that. I detect very little in the way of compromise here, and that is reflected in the build quality and price tag. Every aspect of the knife has been lavished with attention, from materials selection to engineering to finish work, it has all be carefully considered and expertly executed.

Where the 247 really stands apart is in its ability to be factory customized. A handful of years ago “modding” knives was all the rage. You see less of that these days, but the success of knives like the 247 show that people still care enough to want to have a customized knife. The standard 247 is really a blank canvas, and Olamic will do whatever you want with it. Of course it quickly gets expensive, but that doesn’t seem to deter people.

So that begs the question, a knife like the one shown here retails for approximately $500. For that amount of money, would you rather have the 247 or 2 high end Spyderco’s or ZTs? When I plunked my 0609 down next to the Olamic, I could see where the extra money went. Olamic has succeeded in creating a unique feel for their factory custom framelock flipper. The ergonomics and action are unlike anything else I own. The ZT is an excellent knife for the money, but there is no comparison. Especially if you get a base model 247 for around $350. At that price you get the exceptional flipper action and ergonomics without the additional cost of the extra finish work.

And Olamic doesn’t seem to be competing with these major brands anyways. They are essentially building the Chris Reeve Knives of flippers. Actually, I’m not sure if that is still a fair comparison. While CRK may have shown us what was possible with a high end production folder in the early 2000s, Olamic shows us what’s possible today.

Some will scoff at the robust price tag, but this is a high end knife. It simply isn’t aimed at the price conscious. If you want a titanium flipper framelock with uncompromising quality and the ability to “make it your own”, then the 247 is an excellent choice.

Olamic Wayfarer 247 – From $375.00
From: BladeHQ

I recommend purchasing the Olamic Wayfarer at BladeHQ. Please consider that buying anything through any of the links on this website (including Amazon) helps support BladeReviews.com, and keeps the site going. As always, any and all support is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

GEC #15 Tidioute Boy’s Knife

by Aaron Shapiro Leave a Comment

I was just reading some statistics about Great Eastern Cutlery: in 2007 GEC produced approximately 7300 knives whereas in 2017 it’s nearly 30,000 pieces. This is remarkable in today’s hyper competitive EDC pocket knife market. That’s a 310% increase over ten years for a traditional knife company. Admittedly, these numbers are based on hearsay, but a glance at the production totals on GEC’s site show there’s some basis for them.

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I’d like to think that the focus on traditional knives is born out of a perspective shift within the EDC community, perhaps away from the overbuilt tactical to the purpose-based smaller utility folders? It’s hard to say at this point, but just from observing the ripe secondary market it’s clear that slipjoint fever is on fire these days.

Today, we’re looking at the GEC #15 Tidioute Boy’s Knife, a well rounded and sized EDC slip-joint at a very accessible price point. Based around the traditional “Sleeveboard” pattern, these are sometimes also made into barlows with full steel bolsters. A “Boy’s Knife,” is generally characterized by their diminutive size (generally between 2.75″ and 3.25″ closed), the idea being these could be a child’s first pocket knife. These were most often spearpoint bladed pieces, but we’re seeing a lot of variety now in the modern iterations. But, before we get too far into that, let’s hit some specs:

Blade: 2.5”
OAL: 6.187”
Thickness: .43”
Blade Thickness: .09”
Steel: 1095 Carbon Steel
Weight: 1.8oz
Lock: Non-Locking Slipjoint

(These are my personal measurements made with my calipers and my faithful (pink) ruler. The manufacturer’s published numbers may vary.)

Blade

The #15 pattern by Great Eastern Cutlery is an amalgamation of several different knives they offer in the same size. I’m aware of a Wharncliffe version (Navy Knife), Wharncliffe with a cap-lifter/prybar type tool (Crown Lifter), Special Run Barlows (TC’s), and then the Spearpoint (Boy’s Knife) featured here. There are very likely other versions that I am not aware of out there, the world of GEC’s is deep and wide.

In my opinion the Boy’s Knife in spear point offers one of the more versatile blade shapes out of the GEC offerings. The blade has a straight back for nearly three-quarters of the length before descending into a fine point. GEC has also opted for a small swedge running nearly the entire length of the blade. I think that this offers a little dimensionality to what would otherwise be a very simple blade shape. In practice what I have found is that most of the knives that Great Eastern makes have very nice, thinly ground blades. Case in point, the #15’s blade I have has been taken down to .012 behind the edge… this thing screams through paper.

In practical use, I’ve found the #15’s blade to be a generally good fit for most of what I do. I think the spear point works well for piercing tasks and the thinness of the edge really excels for slicing. I wind up breaking down a lot of boxes at work and it only takes the lightest touch to break the tape.

As for steel, 1095 is a tried and true performer, high carbon, generally taken to 58-60HRC, I’ve had great experiences with it both in cutting and sharpening. It will stain or rust, so I’d suggest oiling the blade and spring with mineral oil or something similar (but not too much, some good use patina is cool.)

Handle and Ergonomics

The Boy’s Knife handle is a simple teardrop shape with micarta scales and a short steel bolster over steel liners. Construction is pinned. There are many options for scale material, but I opted for a micarta handle.

The handle offers a full grip for me, which is surprising to me since the knife appears to be so small on paper. The small teardrop shape doesn’t offer what I’d call a “secure grip,” but in the use case scenario for a small slip-joint, I tend to think this is more than adequate. When the #15 gets put to work cutting up cardboard boxes I’m careful with it as this is a smaller handle and the grip is not as secure as a full size knife.

I’d recommend a full size GEC if you intend to use the knife routinely for harder tasks like breaking down lots of boxes, but this knife is fine for light EDC use and the occasional package.

There is no pocket clip on this knife, so no need to comment on that. Often these knives are carried in leather slip sheathes. Either way this will be a small and slim carry.

Another option with this knife is to pick one up with a bail and chain. This is kind of like a wallet on a chain. It won’t walk off on you. Traditionally these bail knives were for sailors, and they continue to practical for marine applications and other times when you want to keep your knife on you.

Walk and Talk

Talking about the “lockup” on a traditional folder like this always presents a challenge, but I think it might be more applicable to talk about it’s fit and finish since those will directly relate.

The areas that are often talked about with traditionals generally are flushness of the spring and centering. I would expect a handmade custom Slipjoint to be flush in all three positions and perfectly centered, whereas I give a little grace to production knives.

The #15 is flush in the open and closed, but the spring does stick up a little at the half-stop. This would only become apparent if you stopped mid opening or closing to look at it. Centering, however, is right on the money.

Since this is a non-locking slip joint, we don’t talk about deployment and lockup. Instead we talk about “walk” and “talk”. The walk is the feel and tension of the blade moving against the spring, while the talk is the sound of the knife snapping open/closed.

The walk and talk on most GEC’s I’ve handled is pretty decent. My only gripe is that I don’t think that nail nicks are a viable method to open knives. My only interest in a nail nick is if it allows some portion of my finger to “stick” to the blade so I can pinch the knife open, and it barely functions as such on the #15. I’d love a more pinch-able blade.

GEC #15 Tidioute Boy’s Knife Review – Final Thoughts

All in all, my experiences with the GEC #15 have been very good. It’s a solid knife that performs well in the context that I think it was designed for. I think that most traditional knives perform pretty light duty tasks for everyone. Slice an apple here, open some mail there, maybe break down a few boxes as the need arises, but most of us won’t be carrying a GEC for a survival knife except perhaps as a tertiary backup to other gear. GEC’s have also maintained a good collector base, so if you’re the “Gotta Catch’em All,” type you will do well in this world.

If you are looking for a small and simple GEC slip joint, the #15 Boy’s Knife is well worth considering.

GEC #15 Boys Knife
From: BladeHQ

Editor: I recommend purchasing the GEC #15 Boys Knife at BladeHQ, KnivesShipFree, or GP Knives. Please consider that buying anything through any of the links on this website helps support BladeReviews.com, and keeps the site going. As always, any and all support is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

Hinderer Knives XM-18 Slippy Review

by Dan Jackson 9 Comments

Hinderer Knives is a company best known for their overbuilt XM Series. Burly titanium framelock flippers that helped popularize the titanium framelock flipper. So to see them release the XM-18 Slippy, a slip joint using their XM pattern, is a bit of an oddity. But then again, it’s not that surprising given the recent resurgence of interest in slip joint knives.

Buy the Hinderer XM-18 Slippy at BladeHQ

And oddly enough this may be their most practical daily carry folder yet. Reasonably small, slim, lightweight, and retailing for under $300, this may be the Hinderer that you didn’t realize you needed.

General Dimensions and Blade Details

The XM Slippy has an overall length of 7″, a 3″ blade, weighs 3.71 ounces, and is made in the USA. It’s a great size for urban or suburban daily carry. It has similar dimension to the XM-18 3″, but is a hair thinner, .4 ounces heavier, and $150 cheaper.

I think if they had to borrow from one of the XM framelocks, the 3″ version was smart. This is all I need for an EDC knife. The 3.5″ version would have been way too much.

Hinderer has rolled this knife out in a couple of blade shapes, but shown here we have their classic drop point. It’s hard to go wrong with the clean look and practical features of a drop point. A good functional tip, plenty of belly, and Hinderer’s high flat “slicer” grind all work together to provide all-round performance.

Most of these early XM-18 Slippys appear to be coming with CPM-20CV blade steel. We are starting to see more high end knives in CPM-20CV. I’ve reviewed a couple Benchmade knives in this steel, including the G-10 Griptilian. Another notable knife in CPM-20CV is the Cold Steel 4MAX.

So at this point I have a few knives in my long term collection in CPM-20CV and I’ve put some miles on them. CPM-20CV is Crucible’s answer to Boeller M390. It’s the same chemical composition as M390, but it’s made by Crucible in the USA. I think it’s a great steel, and it provides a good blend of edge retention, ease of sharpness, corrosion resistance and toughness. Here is a link to ZKnives’ page on 20CV where you can get some more details.

In practice this is a slicey knife that has performed admirably in all the typical EDC chores. I have used my Slippy for your basic EDC knife stuff including opening mail, breaking down boxes, light food prep, and the random jobs that you invariably encounter when carrying a pocket knife. For each task the Slippy worked fine. It slices well and the stonewashed finish hasn’t shown much in the way of wear. Edge retention has been great, and when it’s time to touch it up, all I’ve needed to do is run the edge along the fine stones that came with my Spyderco Sharpmaker. I can’t ask for much more out of a daily carry blade.

Handle, Ergonomics and Pocekt Clip

The handle is textured G10 scales over titanium liners secured with Hinderer’s custom hardware. One complaint is they have a lot of extra bolts on this thing. The show side has the pivot, 2 bolts by the lanyard hole, and then 3 button head bolts running across the handle. These may be necessary for their slip joint mechanism, but it’s not pretty. It would look much cleaner if they could ditch the button heads.

Beyond that, everything has been executed with Hinderer’s typical care and attention to detail. All the pieces have been beautifully finished, the parts line up, and any sharp edges have been broken. Anyone who has handled a regular XM will know what I’m talking about. The fit and finish is top notch.

This is a comfy little knife. The 3″ XM pattern is tried and true, and it’s just the same for this slip joint version. You have a good size handle with plenty of room for a full 4 finger grip. If you want to choke up on the blade you can with the forward choil. There is a run of mild jimping on the spine of the handle right above the pivot, and the textured G-10 scales offer grip without shredding your pocket like a fresh emery board.

The pocket clip is your standard XM-18 spoon style clip positionable for right side tip up or tip down carry. This is a proven clip that does a good job of keeping the knife mostly buried in the pocket. Hinderer includes a filler plate so you fill the void in the G-10 when you reposition the clip.

There isn’t much to complain about when it comes to this pocket clip. Some may favor a deep carry clip, but very little of the handle peeks up out of your pocket anyway. In practice the Slippy carried like a dream. Thin, lightweight, and discreet.

Walk and Talk

For the most part, all the stuff above is essentially a review of the 3″ XM-18 in CPM-20CV steel. Nothing earth shattering in my findings. This section is where it gets interesting. Our titanium framelock has been replaced with a slip joint, and our flipper and thumb studs have been replaced with an adjustable thumb disk.

The thumb disk is removable with an allen wrench, so this knife can be made into a 2 hand opener. Good for certain legal jurisdictions. Personally, I left the thumb disk on, but I did adjust it by loosening it with an allen bit from my WiHa bit set, and then sliding the thumb disk down the channel cut into the blade.

I positioned it to a good “sweet spot” where my thumb naturally brushes it when gripping the knife. In practice I think this is a cool feature. The groove in the blade may look a little weird at first, but I quickly got over it, and I like how the thumb disk can be adjusted to fit your hand.

Here is a size comparison with the Slippy next to my Spyderco Native 5:

Lets talk about the walk and talk, since this is a slip joint after all. The backspring on this knife is pretty good. I’d give it a “6” on a 1-10 scale, with 1 being floppy, and a 10 requiring significant force. I’d put most Swiss Army Knives around a 3 or 4. The Slippy has a good amount of resistance, but it won’t rip your fingernails off as you try to open the blade.

The blade opens up with a satisfying snap, and that same strong spring holds the blade open. There isn’t a hard half stop, but there is a “no man’s land” at the 90 degree point. From there you can push the blade closed and the spring takes up the slack to bring the blade home.

Blade centering is perfect on my knife.

Hinderer Knives XM-18 Slippy Review – Final Thoughts

I liked this XM-18 Slippy more than I expected to. What I appreciate is the simplicity. The Slippy has everything you need, and nothing you don’t. I know everyone’s needs are different, but for me 99% of the time I don’t need a locking folder for my daily carry chores. So this slip joint version strikes me as streamlined and practical given what I require out of an EDC knife. For those wanting a more robust locking folder, there is always their regular XM-18 series.

In addition to the practicality of the XM-18 Slippy, I’m also drawn to the price. A sub $300 Hinderer is an accomplishment in my book. The Slippy is a full $150 cheaper than their framelock version. It’s still expensive, but this is a relatively small batch precision product made in the USA. It oozes the kind of quality you would expect from Hinderer. My example is flawless, and at this price I’m a little more inclined to roll the Slippy in my daily rotation carry than keep it as a collectible.

As for potential downsides, I’m not a fan of the extra screws featured on the show side. I haven’t taken this knife apart to see why the bolts are necessary, but probably should. If I do I’ll snap a picture and update the review. Also, some may not be able to get around the thumb disk and channel in the blade. It’s unusual and strikes me as an acquired taste, but I don’t mind it. Like the rest of the knife, it’s practical and it works.

In closing I think Hinderer did a nice job with their take on the slip joint. The slip joint bandwagon has been gaining a lot of steam lately, but Rick and his team have found away to offer a unique take on the slip joint that compliments their existing lineup. Recommended if you are looking for a premium non-locking EDC, are curious about the design, or are a fan of Hinderer knives in general.

Hinderer Knives XM-18 Slippy
From: BladeHQ

I recommend purchasing the Hinderer Knives XM-18 Slippy at BladeHQ, Amazon, or Knife Art. Please consider that purchasing anything through any of the links on this website helps support BladeReviews.com, and keeps the site going. As always, any and all support is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

Demko Knives AD-15 MG Review

by Aaron Shapiro 5 Comments

There are knives that elicit feelings of elegance and delicate class, and then there are knives that make you feel like you’re carrying a tool that can handle damn near any task that you throw at it. Demko Knives belong solidly in the latter camp.

Buy the Demko Knives AD-15 at BladeHQ

For those of you that are hearing the name Demko and it’s sounding familiar Andrew Demko is the designer of Cold Steel’s famed Tri-ad Lock as well as some of their (in my opinion) coolest designs. Demko has also maintained his own custom knife shop, producing well built heavy-use folders that kept that distinct look that made his name famous among knife aficionados.

Based on my experience knives from Demko’s shop directly were a little difficult to come by when I first started getting into custom pieces. I’m not sure if that due to his work with Cold Steel, or maybe just the circles I ran in… but recently Andrew did two things that changed this. First he developed a new lock, the scorpion lock, that is not available from Cold Steel and secondly, he developed his Machine Ground (MG) series.

I would probably call his MG series mid-techs, although from what I have heard the only difference between Demko customs and the MG’s is the actual grinding of the blades themselves. Obviously his customs are hand ground, while the MGs are machine ground. More on that later.

First, the ever important specs of our Demko Knives AD-15 MG, the subject of this review:

Blade Length: 3.75”
Overall Length: 8.625”
Handle Thickness: .59”
Blade Thickness: .196”
Steel: S35VN
Weight: 6.4oz
Lock: Demko Scorpion Lock
Country of Origin: USA

(Please note these measurements are according to my ruler and calipers. The manufacturer’s listed measurements may vary.)

Blade Details

So, as I stated in the intro these knives are part of the “MG” series that the Demko shop is now putting out. I think the overall idea is to get some of their knives into customer’s hands without having to have the custom price-tag attached. In order to cut down on the cost, they have opted to put Machine Ground blades in these AD-15s. Apart from that I think there are minimal cosmetic differences between these and the customs.

So what does this mean for the end user? Well, nothing really. The knife is evenly ground, with crisp lines and a thin flat grind, and it is finished extremely well. For the run that was available at Blade Show, where I bought this knife, they had actually gone back and put a machine-satin or grind-line finish on the blade. This is generally my preference in a blade finish.

All that said, the knife came to me horrifyingly sharp, and I say this as someone that can sharpen a knife to a mirror–hair whittling edge. The Demkos did something to make this knife glide through paper like nothing I’ve seen. What makes this even more remarkable is the blade is made from 4.5mm thick stock. That is thick stock for a folding knife.

The steel choice is worth noting as well. S35VN is a weird pick for a knife that I’d consider a “heavy-use knife.” Don’t get me wrong as S35VN is generally a fine steel. I have it in my Chris Reeve knives and it’s performed great for me, but I would have expected 3V or M4 in this monster. Gimme something with some real brawn, Demko!

I suppose the choice of S35VN isn’t really a problem, as S35VN is still a premium steel with a well deserved reputation for all-round performance. It was just a surprising choice to me as this knife is otherwise entirely overbuilt. I think a tougher steel with a greater reputation for hard use would have been even better under these circumstances.

Handle, Ergonomics, and Pocket Clip

To address the elephant in the room before we talk about anything else, the AD-15 MG is a big knife. I mean the thing is over eight and a half inches long. However, as a result Demko was able to figure out how to incorporate a very effective saber-style handle to the knife. This allows you to grab onto it and know that you’re not going to slip anywhere, and to add additional traction most of these knives are offered in textured G-10 or Micarta for even more grip.

As for the handle material itself, it’s okay. Don’t tell anyone I said this, but I kinda wish I had gotten a G-10 version. The natural micarta has a raw edge that has turned out to not really be my favorite. His G10 knives were very nicely squared away, I’d love to see one in CF.

The Demko’s are also now offering these knives in full Ti handles. This was debuted at Blade 2018. In my opinion full titanium is a lousy “upgrade” as it adds nearly $200 to the price tag and a lot of extra weight, but the full titanium version offers no additional operational strength.

The clip is a ho-hum spoon style three screw clip that straddles the lanyard hole. This placement makes the knife ride a bit high in the pocket. I love and hate this high clip placement. On one hand, it allows you to have a really positive grip on this (expensive) knife in your pocket when you withdraw it, but the knife is also is going to dig into your side when you sit down. So this clip configuration has its pros and cons.

Deployment and Lockup

Dudes, this lock is super weird. Like, I get it, and I like it, but it took me a solid 2-3 days of playing with it where I stopped nearly cutting myself when I tried opening it. The knife is not that different from the famed Tri-ad lock that Demko licensed to Cold Steel. It’s essentially a titanium bar that runs across the top of the knife, that bar pivots around a pin towards the rear, when doing so it lifts the locking pin and allows you to close the knife. That same spring tension also serves as the “detent.” As a result, you sorta have to push away from the pivot when you open the knife otherwise it won’t budge.

As I said, it’s a different but ultimately intuitive way of opening a knife. Another result of this lock is that the action of the knife has a very hydraulic feel to it. It’s smooth, but slow. As if you were pushing the blade open through soft butter. This isn’t a knife that you’re gonna “pop” open with your thumb. The AD-15 MG’s run on poly washers, so that contributes to the slow hydraulic feel of the action.

Demko Knives AD-15 MG Review – Final Thoughts

How do you pin a bow on a knife this unusual? It’s a new style of mid-tech, with a new locking system, in a different size category than I normally buy. I never condone knife abuse, but the AD-15 seriously feels like a knife that could do pretty much anything and go pretty much anywhere. Need to stab through a car hood? No problem. This AD-15 MG is an absolute tank, and in that capacity this knife is phenomenal.

With a different steel I think the AD-15 MG’s would be perfect. S35VN is fine for a Sebenza, but for an overbuilt folder like this I’d love to see the jump to an even tougher steel like 3V. I believe that Demko has used different steels on the hand ground versions, so perhaps that will trickle down to the MGs eventually.

Also, these knives aren’t cheap. The base model (with G10 or Micarta) comes in around $675 and is readily available on BladeHQ or even Amazon. This AD-15 MG is a lot of money, but you’re essentially getting a custom Demko that has a blade that went through a double disk grinder. Practically speaking it’s very similar to what they’d call a “custom knife.” The hand ground version of this knife starts at $900, and if that’s if you can find one.

For these reasons, I recommend the Demko Knives AD-15 MG if you want a hard use folder from Andrew Demko without spending the cash on one of his full customs.

Editor: I recommend purchasing the Demko Knives AD-15 MG at Amazon or BladeHQ. Please consider that buying anything through any of the links on this website helps support BladeReviews.com, and keeps the site going. As always, any and all support is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

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Benchmade Anthem 781 Review

by Aaron Shapiro 3 Comments

There was a time when Benchmade was kinda the sleepy “Gunshop Knife Brand.” There’d always be a few dusty Griptillians sitting in the case next to the preowned Glocks, and while the Grips might be fantastic value-props, they a bit vanilla-icecream-y if you get my meaning.

Buy the Benchmade Anthem at BladeHQ

However, something has been changing in the last few years. I don’t know if someone put some sriracha on the break table over there in Oregon City, or what, but something has injected some pep into their design team. Introducing the Anthem 781, Benchmade’s first Integral Titanium folding knife. There are lots to say about this one, but before I get too deep let’s go over some specs:

(Please note these measurements are according to my ruler and calipers, manufacturer’s listed measurements may vary.)

Blade Length: 3.25” of cutting edge, 3.375
Overall Length: 8.125”
Thickness: .585” with clip, .421 handle only
Blade Thickness: .115”
Steel: 20CV
Weight: 3.7oz
Lock: The famed Axis Lock
Country of Origin: USA

Blade Details

With a knife like the Anthem, I believe that it’s intended to be a daily carry type piece. It’s not overly large, doesn’t have any sort of complicated aspect to it, and the functional bits are designed to be, well, functional.

The blade is a great example of this: drop pointed shaped with a rounded (or crowned) spine. Eyeballing it, I’d guess that it’s flat ground but I suppose it could be a shallow hollow grind as well; either way, it’s a great slicer. It came out of the box with a very nice, toothy, utility edge and I didn’t feel the need to change this on my wicked edge. In the couple of weeks that I’ve been carrying it I have had occasion to break down boxes, slice up food, and perform just daily “knife-stuff” tasks with it, nothing crazy, no batoning or zombie apocalypse type stuff, but in terms of daily EDC tasks, it excelled.

In terms of the steel, I will briefly comment on it: Benchmade chose 20CV for this blade, and I believe that to be an excellent choice for a knife like this. 20CV is a high toughness and corrosion resistance steel, that hardens to around 62HRC. I have no means testing to see if my knife is in that range, but I can tell you that it’s performed beautifully and has been easily maintained on a strop. 20CV is very similar to M390 (one of my favorite steels) and I have been really pleased with it in this application.

Handle, Ergonomics, and Pocket Clip

Ah yes… The INTEGRAL handle. This is really what makes this knife stand out, isn’t it? This is the first Integral from Benchmade. For those of you not familiar with the term: Integral means that the handle of this knife is milled out of a single block of Titanium as opposed to two that are screwed together. There aren’t any screws holding the knife handle together. In the past, this level of knife making was reserved to custom makers that had a lot of time on their hands (it takes a while to mill a channel out of a block of Ti) but recently a few companies have started incorporating integrals into their lineup.

One of the interesting things about Benchmade’s execution of the integral handle is how they incorporated the axis lock into it. When you look at the spine of the knife (the money shot of any integral) you’ll see two screws hidden in the decorative milling, these hold the locking method in place.

In the hand the first thing that came to mind for me was how thin the knife is; It carries very well in the pocket and feels great in hand. The handle itself is trim in both dimensions thickness and height, but there is a sort of faux-choil towards the blade that locks the hand in securely when holding the knife open. Otherwise, the milled texture gives you a little bit of grip on what would otherwise be a pretty slick knife.

The pocket clip is an ambidextrous milled Ti clip that is more than a little phallic, but it is also very functional. There are several makers out there that are offering custom clips made from Moku-Ti so if you want something different there are options for you. The knife carries well with approx 1/2” sticking out of the pocket, offering a perfect grip to withdraw it.

Deployment and Lockup

The blade on the Anthem opens by way of ambidextrous thumb studs. The blade deploys easily thanks in part to bearings washers. The action is smooth and easy.

For lockup, the Anthem comes equipped with Benchmade’s Axis lock. I’m not sure there’s much to say about the Axis lock that hasn’t already been said. It’s an incredibly solid lock mechanism that isn’t prone to lock rock, doesn’t really suffer from failures in the way a liner or frame lock might, and it is completely ambidextrous to use. The execution of the Axis lock is worth noting on the Anthem, there’s a block screwed to the spine of the knife that acts as the anchor point for the axis lock mechanism.

Benchmade Anthem Review – Final Thoughts

So to wrap all this up…the Benchmade 781 Anthem is a great step forward for Benchmade knives. I think it shows a focus shift on Benchmade’s part too, hopefully, starting to produce some higher-end knives. I am also very pleased to see their adoption of some different steels. I love CPM154 and S30V, but it’s good to have some variety. Between the 20CV here and the S90 in the 940-1, it’s been refreshing.

Now, the caveat to this entire review: This is an expensive knife. MSRP is around $500, with retail landing closer to $425 on BladeHQ and Amazon. Competitively, this puts you in the ballpark of a Chris Reeve, or above the ballpark of some really nice Zero Tolerances, but what you’re paying for here is the time and difficulty in making the handle. It’s a remarkable feat, but you have to decide if it’s worth it to you, for me it was too cool to pass up. The nice thing, however, is that you won’t be getting a gimmicky integral for that price—you’re going to be putting a knife that will make a great daily carry in your pocket.

Benchmade - Anthem 781 EDC Manual Open Folding Knife Made in USA, Drop-Point Blade, Plain Edge, Satin Finish, Titanium Handle

List Price: $425.00

Price: $425.00

Price Disclaimer

I recommend purchasing the Benchmade Anthem at BladeHQ or Amazon. Please consider that buying anything through any of the links on this website helps support BladeReviews.com, and keeps the site going. As always, any and all support is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.