SPECIFICATIONS:
- Blade Length: 3.45"
- Overall Length: 8.07"
- Blade Material: N680 Stainless Steel
- Blade Finish: Satin
- Handle Length: 4.62"
- Handle Material: Nylon Polymer
- Weight: 4.2 oz.
Benchmade 551 H20 Knife Review
I went on a Kayaking trip in the August of 2012 down the Green and Colorado Rivers. Naturally, working at a knife shop, I had to decide which knife to take with me down the rivers. I narrowed it down to the Spyderco Yellow Salt and the Benchmade 551 H2O Orange. I finally decided on the Benchmade because I had previously carried a Spyderco knife (dont get me wrong, I love Spyderco) and I had never tried out a Benchmade. I had heard great things about them and I wanted to see if they were true.
BLADE
The blade on the Benchmade 551 H2O is made from X15-TN, very high rust resistant steel that was designed for use in jet ball bearings. The X15 steel is great for those who will be using their knife heavily around water. The whole time I was kayaking the knife was getting splashed and dripped on. There was even some points where I purposefully submerged the knife (it almost hurt me to do so) and swirled it around in the muddy water. When it came out of the water I resisted the urge to wipe the water off of its blade and I left it there and promptly closed the knife. When I got home from my trip the steel looked like it had when I started. Well it was dirtier (these rivers were truly muddy) but that wiped off with some Blue Lube but no rust whatsoever. A year later the blade still is rust free. The H20 is made in the same shape as other Griptilians, which is a modified drop point and it features an Axis lock which is very useful.
HANDLE AND POCKET CLIP
If youve ever handled a Benchmade knife you know that they are some high quality cutting tools. To be a high quality cutting tool you need to have more than just a nice blade steel. You need to a have a comfortable, tough handle that can perform in the same sort of conditions as the blade. In this case the blade was designed for use in water. So the handle follows suit. The handle features a textured glass filled Noryl GTX handle thats grippy but it could be grippier seeing as its supposed to be used in wet conditions. The nice thing about the handle is the color. Its orange so it can be seen for a bit longer if it falls in the water. Depending on the water of course, the water on the Green River (this was down in southern Utah) was more sediment than water. The pocket clip works terrifically but I really wish it had something different to attach it to outdoors gear better.
AXIS LOCK
The AXIS lock is great. Its definitely up there among my favorite types of lock. It provides really easy one handed opening with a simple flick of the thumb or even just your wrist. The only problem was I was kayaking so I had to put the paddle down anyway to use the knife because I dont know about you but I cant paddle a kayak very effectively with one hand. However the AXIS locks up tight and is simple to use. The action was smooth up until the point I submerged it in the river. It opened fine after that but it felt gritty. A little bit of cleaning fixed that up nicely.
OVERALL IMPRESSION
The Benchmade 551 H2O served me well on my camp. I would say that if youre not going to be in the water stick with the 154CM steel, it seems to hold an edge better. However if youre kayaking, boating, canoeing, or sailing this might just be the knife for you. When push comes to shove I love this knife for what it was designed for but I never carry it on a daily basis around town in arid Utah. Theres no need and theres knives that I like more for that sort of thing. The lesson, make sure you buy your knife based on what its going to be used for.