Benchmade Bone Collector Mini Axis

[Travis Autry]

I had the chance to be in a Bass Pro Shops store this past week and saw the Benchmade Bone Collector Mini Axis with the black and green micarta grips.  It looked like a pretty sweet knife.  The D2 blade and micarta suggest it would be a workhorse.  I also like the Spyderco-ish opening hole.

While my Triage is my work EDC, I'm thinking the Mini Axis might be a good option for when I want something smaller.

Does anyone have experience they'd care to offer?

[Gryffin]

I've got the large one, it's a beast. The handle is gorgeous, but out of the box had a few edges that were sharper than I'd like; a little sanding, and it's *much* better, fits my hand very well, I could cut all day with it.

I'm a big fan of D2 and the toothy edges it gives, and the Bone Collector is no different. For a fairly thick blade, it cuts very, very well.

[jekostas]

I find the Bone Collector handles tend to need a little work out of box to be comfortable for all but the biggest hands, even in the smaller sizes.  Otherwise, pretty nice.  D2 steel does need a little more TLC than 154CM or S30V as it's not a stainless steel, but it more than makes up for it in the absolute wicked, scary sharp edge it can take.

[Heinz Doofenshmirtz]

Are the Griptillians and Mini Griptillians all hollow ground?  I haven't had a chance to handle one myself, and they do look like sweet knives.  But, all the pics of the various ones I've seen look like they're hollow ground, and I can't help but feel that for the price, they should be full flat ground instead. 

Perhaps I'm just biased by my experiences with my Spydies, and that I've had hollow ground blades fail in the past, but I just can't seem to get over the idea that hollow grinds are inferior to full flat ground blades.  It's held me back from buying a Benchmade for a long time.

[Gryffin]

Are the Griptillians and Mini Griptillians all hollow ground?  I haven't had a chance to handle one myself, and they do look like sweet knives.  But, all the pics of the various ones I've seen look like they're hollow ground, and I can't help but feel that for the price, they should be full flat ground instead.

The thumb-hole versions are now only available in hollow-ground, which I think is a sin. The thumb-stud models are still flat ground, thankfully. Oddly, the tanto models are flat-ground, which is unusual for an American Tanto grind; Cold Steel's, f'rinstance, are hollow-ground on the main grind and flat on the tip grind.