Benchmade 151 Fixed Griptilian?

[marylandeer]

Does anyone here have one of these? I know Benchmade has a good reputation for making good knives and great customer service. I have never used a fixed blade knife for hunting. I have always used small low priced folders which work fine but I'm getting tired of having to clean the guts out of the handles. I cut myself pretty good the other day doing just that, I was pushing the guts out of one of my Buck folers with a Q-tip through the handle. It slipped out and my thumb went straight up the blade. Spilt me wide open, if it wasn't for my thumb nail stopping the blade it would have been a lot worse....
As soon as that happned, well as soon as the bledding stopped I started surfing the net for a nice fixed blade knife.
I found this one for $70.00 shipped and I think it's the one for me.
4" modified drop point, good gripping handle, 154cm Stainless (sounds like good stuff to me) and a decent looking sheath...
What do you knife guys think???   


http://www.benchmade.com/products/product_detail.aspx?model=151

[LEO]

I don't have one but one of the guys I work with carried one this summer.  He was real pleased with it, the only thing I heard him complain about was that it was hard to sharpen but that once sharp it held an edge well.  I didn't try to sharpen it but I kindof took it with a grain of salt because he is a big fan of carbon steel and if it doesn't take a shaving edge right away he tends to say it is hard to sharpen.  I used the knife a couple of times and it seemed well balanced and as you mentioned Benchmade stuff is usually top shelf.  If I were in the market for something similar I would seriously consider this knife.

[Joel]

I use 154CM as my main knifemaking steel and it takes a really good edge if heat treated properly.  I've no idea what they mean when they're referring to the Heat treat method they use, since Paul Bos perfected the cryogenic HT for this steel years ago and the steel needs to be cryo'd for absolute top performance.  Still, even with a "regular" HT it takes and holds a decent enough edge.  Certainly better than a lot of the other crap the factories use.

[marylandeer]

Thanks for the replies guys I just ordered the knife and can't wait to try it out..
I just wanted to post it here first to make sure I didn't get a bunch of horror stories.
It sounds like a good one to me. It's the most expensive knife I ever purchased I know that.

Now as for my next question. Now that I have a decent knife, I'm in the market for a new shapener for it.
I don't want to spend too much money. I looked at the Lansky system and the Gatco system (both about $40.00 I think).
Will these two sharpeners be ok for this kind of steel? Are there any other sharpeners that you guys could/would recomend?
Thanks in advance for any replies. 

[Buckfever]

I have a Lansky and really like it.  I don't go over 25 setting and have found that to work fine.  Doesn't work to good on thick tapered knives, struggles to hold them.  Works great for most knives.  After I have sharpened I leather strop it on a flat surface, which really puts the fine sharp edge on it.   Buckfever

[tmccray45]

Marylandeer:

I use a general medium-grade stone to setup the blade of my knives using a soft touch, and then a hard Arkansas stone (you know, the transluscent kind?) to finish.  After getting an edge, it's off to the leather strop.