Maybe the lowest priced option to benchmade altitude

[lak2004]

Did a full elk with mine last week. Pretty impressed with it.

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[UtahJimmy]

Did a full elk with mine last week. Pretty impressed with it.

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Factory edge or did you rework it beforehand?

The edge folded over on mine.

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[lak2004]

Factory edge or did you rework it beforehand?

The edge folded over on mine.

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I reworked it. I got one of the first batch knives. Not sure if they made em better. Had to rewrap the handle too

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[sndmn11]

Brought this with me to hunt mule deer yesterday. Wife ended up getting a big buck so I was stoked to put it to work. Thing was dull by the time I was done, could barely bone out the last 2 quarters.

I won't be trusting this as my only knife on a backpack hunt, iron will k1 will continue to be the correct option.

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I'm a buyer if you're wanting to get rid of it.

 

[ztc92]

Had a chance to process a cow elk with mine last week and overall I was pretty happy with its performance. Based on posts from others, I did spend about 20 minutes touching up the factory edge with a diamond stone and then a ceramic rod once I had a burr on each side. I was surprised how easily I got a burr, which makes me think the steel is softer than Benchmade’s S90V, which is notoriously difficult to sharpen by hand.

I brought a ceramic field sharpener on the hunt but I didn’t need it. After that elk, the knife is no longer shaving sharp but still plenty sharp to cut. I did notice one very tiny chip on the belly but otherwise it is undamaged.

Overall I think it’s a solid knife at this price point and low weight but at times I was wishing for a longer blade, especially for long cuts of hide/meat. I was also frustrated by how often the hide became caught in the sharpening choil. While this did improve as I got used to the small blade, it’s never been a problem with my larger knifes in the past and was pretty annoying.

In the end, I’d have no concerns bringing it as my only knife if weight was a major concern and I think if I further refine the edge it may perform even better next time.

 

[Jstumbaugh]

Used mine to dress a doe WT over the weekend. Worked great for the simple task and had no problems splitting her rib cage to the brisket.
Question- how often do you change the paracord out on the handle??? Mine got pretty grimy from gutting her and I washed it pretty well but now I'm worried about the blood/water rusting the handle under the wrapping.

 

[sndmn11]

Used mine to dress a doe WT over the weekend. Worked great for the simple task and had no problems splitting her rib cage to the brisket.
Question- how often do you change the paracord out on the handle??? Mine got pretty grimy from gutting her and I washed it pretty well but now I'm worried about the blood/water rusting the handle under the wrapping.

I'd be more worried about gross bacteria!

Cerakoted stainless steel should have no problem with rust. Biologicals soaked Paracord however is a good home for things that make you sick.

 

[wapitibob]

Factory edge or did you rework it beforehand?

The edge folded over on mine.

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The factory edge on mine looked like it was done by hand; massively inconsistent from one side to the other.

 

[Coopsdaddy]

Would not have paracord on any knife i used for dressing.

 

[UtahJimmy]

Update to performance:
After putting a new edge on it I was able to get through an entire elk: skinned, quartered, deknuckled, and deboned and it's still pretty sharp. Did develop a couple chips but performance was vastly improved over the factory edge. I'd have no problem recommending this as a value solution over some of the competition. It earned it's way back into my quiver, but make sure you put a new edge on it as the factory one is very poor.

 

[Big_wals]

Finally pulled the trigger on one today. $102 for the knife and belt combo with free shipping, not bad

 

[Blandry]

Check out this video, starting at 11:50. He makes a pretty good case for plasti-dipping the handle.

 

[DRP]

Did the gutless method on a 5pt bull this year with the ridge belt knife. after receiving the knife (2nd batch) the only work I did with the blade was run it across a ceramic rod and a leather strop. I was able to complete the process of breaking down the bull with only cleaning the blood and fat off the blade once and running it across the ceramic side of a worksharp field sharpener once. Blade stayed very sharp. Next day at camp I washed the blade thoroughly and put it across a leather strop and it will still shave hair on my arm. I just ordered some cork to make a handle because I did not like the paracord getting bloody and stinky. overall Im impressed with this knife.

 

[Bump79]

Did the gutless method on a 5pt bull this year with the ridge belt knife. after receiving the knife (2nd batch) the only work I did with the blade was run it across a ceramic rod and a leather strop. I was able to complete the process of breaking down the bull with only cleaning the blood and fat off the blade once and running it across the ceramic side of a worksharp field sharpener once. Blade stayed very sharp. Next day at camp I washed the blade thoroughly and put it across a leather strop and it will still shave hair on my arm. I just ordered some cork to make a handle because I did not like the paracord getting bloody and stinky. overall Im impressed with this knife.

When did you buy? I got a deer last year and quartered it, boned it and processed the entire deer with it just to see how far it'd go. Still shaving hair at the end.

Wild for the price. Where did you get your cork?

 

[Blandry]

I had cork but the cork started breaking down after some use. I removed the cork and platidipped the handle blaze orange. It's been used in the kitchen and field and only takes a touch up on the 6k grit whetstone every so often to stay shaving sharp.

sndnm11 can put some cork on it for you, if that's what you want. He did a good job on mine but the cork just wasn't durable enough for my uses.

It's a great little knife. I think this knife, like a lot of mass produced knives, are sharpened on a belt which can overheat the initial bevel. After I touched it up 5x times on the whetstone it holds a much better edge and doesn't chip as much for whatever that's worth. S90V is just really hard steel and why it holds an edge better than most.

 

[DRP]

I bought mine in august 2022 when they started their second production of the knife. I ordered the cork from custom fly grips. Sndmn11 posted the link where he got the cork from in post #70 of this thread

 

[Blandry]

Multiple dip with plastidip. I could get the handle as large and conformed as I needed it but it's perfect now.

 

[Big_wals]

Multiple dip with plastidip. I could get the handle as large and conformed as I needed it but it's perfect now.

Looks good! Might have to try that with mine

 

[Blandry]

Looks good and works good, the best part is you can keep adding coats and form it to your hand before it hardens

 

[Bump79]

Multiple dip with plastidip. I could get the handle as large and conformed as I needed it but it's perfect now.

I'd be interested to learn more about how you did this