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Benchmade 9501BK Mini Auto-Stryker Tanto Auto Knife, 154CM Black Blade

MSRP: $235.00
$199.75
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BEN9501BK
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Description

The Benchmade Stryker line-up stems from a long successful family heritage of knives that has bread automatic models, spring assist models and now folder models. The second generation of the Benchmade Mini Auto-Stryker automatic knives provides a larger access port and stronger spring action. Further improvements include an open back spacer design for care-free maintenance. The black anodized aircraft aluminum handle scales offer a wide finger groove and incorporates additional milled lines for a solid grip and the minor thumb ramp on the blade promotes maximum control--even on precision cuts. The push-button design fires the blade plenty fast and, like most Benchmade automatics, there is a slide safety integrated into the spine of the handle. This smaller auto model, the 9501BK, features a tanto blade in a black finish and the pocket clip is designed for tip up carry only. Made in the USA.

SPECIFICATIONS:

  • Blade Length: 2.95"
  • Overall Length: 7.21"
  • Blade Material: 154CM Stainless Steel
  • Blade Finish: Black
  • Handle Length: 4.26"
  • Handle Material: 6061-T6 Aluminum
  • Weight: 2.9 oz.

In addition to Benchmade's history of strategic partnerships with leading custom designers and the innovative knives that have resulted from those collaborations, the company's in-house design team also produces progressively styled, enduringly useful blades fabricated from high-tech materials. Likewise, Benchmade's commitment to manufacturing quality leads it to implement production processes that derive the utmost performance from its choices of blade, handle, and other functional materials. Benchmade’s commitments to anticipating and fulfilling a wide variety of customer needs continue in the new and enhanced model line up introduced for 2016.

 

Benchmade positions its Black Class of knives as the answers to the demanding needs of active-duty armed forces personnel, law enforcement officers and other first responders, public safety workers, and work-day or recreational users who expect tactical capabilities from a blade that's also designed to be an everyday carry. Among the Black Class offerings for 2016, the partially redesigned 9501BK Mini Auto Stryker does not disappoint. This new model represents the gradual evolution of a knife within a product family that has been a mainstay of the Benchmade product lineup for a decade.

 

Blade Profile

The Benchmade 9501BK Mini Auto Stryker features a tanto-point shape on a thin blade. Also called a chisel point, the single-edged tanto-point blade profile incorporates a secondary cutting surface at the tip of the blade, positioned at between a 60-degree and 80-degree angle to the rest of the cutting surface. In general, tanto-points excel at tasks that involve piercing, but their flat to nearly flat sharpened edges lack the expanded cutting surfaces of blade profiles that feature a belly, or curve, to expand slicing capabilities. A thin blade tip also may lack the impact absorption for penetrating moves, especially into tough materials.

 

On the Benchmade 9501BK Mini Auto Stryker, the blade is milled so the tip narrows dramatically from the beginning of the tanto point. As you would expect from a Benchmade product, the knife features a very sharp edge out of the box. Because of the shape of the tanto point, this knife style is less suited to tasks that involve penetrating strikes. The thinness of this specific blade should guide the user’s implementation of the knife.

 

A swage milled into the top edge of the blade runs from just past the position of the Benchmade logo to slightly beyond the beginning of the tanto point. Immediately in front of the handle of the knife, jimping on the spine of the blade helps facilitate your grip, adding friction under the thumb. On the cutting edge, a choil marks the transition to the sharpened portion of the blade and helps protect the hand against accidental injury.

 

Depending on your needs and preferences, you can opt for the Benchmade 9501BK with or without serrations. The base mode, the 9501BK, incorporates a plain-edge blade with a flat ground edge. Choose model 9501SBK instead, and you receive a knife with serrations that cover half the cutting edge (not including the tanto point). Serrations create a cutting edge that functions as if it contains multiple small blades. Soft or fibrous materials compress between the rip teeth, presenting more of the material to the cutting surface simultaneously.

 

Benchmade's LifeSharp limited lifetime warranty coverage includes the option of returning your knife to the Benchmade factory for refurbishment and resharpening by a dedicated staff of technicians. To qualify for this service, you must prepay shipping to and from the company’s Oregon headquarters, and enclose your original purchase receipt. Note that the LifeSharp resharpening service does not apply to the serrated portion of any of the company's blades.

 

Blade Finish

In earlier editions of the Mini Auto Stryker, you could purchase the knife with a satin-finished blade, but that option was unavailable on the preceding Benchmade 9500 Mini Auto Stryker. For 2016, Benchmade continues to manufacture only versions of this knife with black coated blades. The letters "BK" in the model number signify a coated blade with a black finish. Owners verify that the use of the non-reflective coating renders this knife virtually invisible in low-light situations, which can offer a tactical advantage.

 

If you work among colleagues who all carry similar knives and want to identify your Benchmade 9501BK Mini Auto Stryker, you can opt for the company's lasermarking service to add your name to your blade. This service carries additional charges that depend on whether your inscription consists of text, graphics, or both. The engraving process uses the same laser technology that applies the Benchmade logo and other markings to the blade during the manufacturing process. If you don't order a lasermark at the time that you purchase your Benchmade 9501BK Mini Auto Stryker, you can add this option at a later time.

 

Blade Steel

Crucible Industries of Syracuse, New York, developed 154 CM in the early 1970s for use in components manufactured for jet engine turbines. After a hiatus, Crucible resumed production of this alloy. You'll find similar steels from other foundries, but 154 CM has been a top choice for knife makers since 1990, and was classified as a premium steel until newer alloys superseded it at the turn of the 21st century. Today, it still fulfills a role as a popular option for use in the fabrication of sporting knives. 154 CM also sees typical applications in the production of bearings, bushings, tooling, and valve parts. This alloy represents an improvement on the performance of 440C, another popular steel alloy with longstanding industrial and blade-making use. Compared to 440C, 154 CM offers greater hardness, wear resistance, and corrosion resistance.

 

As a high-carbon steel alloy, 154 CM incorporates 1.05% carbon, 14% chromium, 0.50% manganese, 4.00% molybdenum, and 0.30% silicon, with a hardness measured at 58 to 61 HRC. Carbon contributes to hardness, measured on the Rockwell C Scale using laboratory test equipment that drives a diamond-tipped test instrument into a sample of the material under scrutiny, and assesses the depth of any resulting indentation. Chromium produces resistance to corrosion and wear, along with hardness and tensile strength. Manganese improves hardness and boosts resistance to wear. Molybdenum helps a steel retain a sharp edge. Silicon improves hardness and degassifies steel during production, removing oxygen to help prevent pitting.

 

Post-production heat treatment improves, and even determines, the performance characteristics of any steel alloy, including 154 CM. Over the years, Benchmade has developed heat treatment protocols for all the steels it uses, each recipe designed to maximize blade resistance to the environmental forces, stresses, wear, and use that its products face in the working world.

 

Handle Materials

The Benchmade 9501BK Mini Auto Stryker uses black anodized 6061-T6 billet aluminum for its handle scales. Originally developed in 1935 and often selected for the production of bicycle parts, fly fishing reels, components for the transportation industries, consumer durables, heat-sensitive equipment, piping and tubing, machinery, and RC aircraft, 6061-T6 combines strength, toughness, light weight, and corrosion resistance.

 

The chemical formula for a 6061-T6 aluminum alloy incorporates between 0.40% and 0.8% silicon; 0.007 iron; between 0.15% and 0.40% copper; 0.0015 manganese; between 0.8% and 1.2% magnesium; between 0.04% and 0.35% chromium; 0.0025% zinc; and 0.0015% titanium, along with the base aluminum and traces of other elements. This alloy capitalizes on aluminum's intrinsic light weight, adding other elements to increase strength, toughness, and corrosion resistance without weighing down the result. The result is a handle that contributes to building a light, well-balanced knife that tolerates demanding environments.

 

Because Benchmade uses 6061-T6 billets to produce its handle scales, it can machine these parts for the 9501BK Mini Auto Stryker to exceedingly tight tolerances, producing clean curves, sweeping chamfers that follow body lines, precisely dimensioned edges, and crisply detailed grooves and screw holes. The use of anodizing to produce a finishing exterior means the black surface treatment actually forms part of the metal itself, rather than being applied as a coating. This electrochemical treatment makes the handle scales of the Benchmade 9501BK Mini Auto Stryker exceeding durable, and increases their resistance to chipping or signs of wear.

 

Handle Design

The handle design of the Benchmade 9501BK Mini Auto Stryker differs only slightly from the appearance of the knife throughout its presence in company's product lineup during many years and product feature refinements. Like its predecessor, the Benchmade 9500 Mini Auto Stryker, the new model uses three Torx screws, including the blade pivot, to fasten the knife together.

 

The handle itself includes no jimping, which may make the process of maintaining a secure grip on the knife more challenging. Three parallel grooves milled into the left-hand scale help increase your working hold on the handle. These grooves narrow in height as they progress toward the butt of the knife, and terminate in rounded ends. A chamfered forefinger groove maintains the position of your hand when you grasp the knife in a conventional position. The handle belly curves gently to accommodate the remaining fingers. The butt of the knife slopes to a curved point.

 

On the spine of the Benchmade 9501BK Mini Auto Stryker, Benchmade has opened the back (the area from the front of the handle up to the safety switch), revealing the spacer and making the knife easier to clean. For 2016, the area around an enlarged actuation button is milled into a roughly semicircular area that extends all the way up to the spine of the handle. The off-center lanyard hole is located near the spine of the knife so its position does not conflict with the placement of mounting holes for the pocket clip.

 

Blade Deployment Mechanism and Safety

Benchmade's most significant improvements to the 9501BK Mini Auto Stryker come in the areas of automatic blade actuation and safety. With the enlargement of the push-button that deploys the blade, Benchmade has made the knife easier to use in situations that require quick action or that take place in areas with low light. An accompanying modification of the handle's milling profile also makes the actuation button easier to reach. To speed the blade's opening action, Benchmade has incorporated greater spring force.

 

Throughout its various incarnations, the knife has incorporated a jimped safety switch located on the spine of the handle. This design feature continues, but Benchmade has milled an opening between the handle scales, running forward from the safety switch to the end of the handle. This design change increases cleaning ease, and reduces the chances that the knife picks up pocket lint or other contaminants that may become lodged in the automatic opening mechanism.

 

The proximity of the actuation button to the blade pivot screw may make it possible to mistake the latter for the former, especially if you must use the knife in the dark or without enough time to glance at the handle before deploying the blade. However, because the handle milling now places the blade deployment button in a semicircular depression that extends all the way to the edge of the handle scale, the button is even easier to locate and actuate than before.

 

Pocket Clip

Attached with three Torx screws, the painted steel pocket clip on the Benchmade 9501BK Mini Auto Stryker fits only on the right scale of the knife in a tip up carry position. Because of the design features incorporated into the left scale of the knife, Benchmade does not mill in mounting holes to accommodate an alternative positioning of the clip. Note that if you modify your knife to add mounting holes to the left scale or so you can carry it tip down, you void your warranty.

 

Knife Dimensions and Weight

The Benchmade 9501BK Mini Auto Stryker measures 7.21 inches long in the open position and 4.26 inches with the blade closed. The blade measures 2.95 inches long and a mere 0.098 inches thick. The handle measures 4.26 inches long and 0.47 inches thick. The knife weighs 2.91 ounces, a one one-hundredth of an ounce increase over the preceding model, the 9500 Mini Auto Stryker.

 

Users who prefer a larger knife, or who want the flexibility of pocket clip attachment and carry alternatives, can opt for the Benchmade 9101 Auto Stryker, which delivers equivalent features on a bigger platform. The Benchmade 9101 Auto Stryker measures 8.30 inches long open, 4.70 inches long closed, with a 3.60-inch-long blade that runs 0.124 inches thick. The larger Benchmade 9101 Auto Stryker's handle measures 4.70 inches long and 0.50 inches thick. It weighs 4.20 ounces.

 

Other Observations

The Auto Stryker family has held a popular position within Benchmade's product lineup over the years during which the company has refined this sibling pair of knives. The Benchmade 9501BK Mini Auto Stryker represents the latest set of enhancements and adjustments to the smaller knife in the family. With an enhanced automatic blade deployment mechanism that features a larger actuation button located within an expanded recess in the handle scale, and greater spring force to speed the blade's travel from closed to open, the Benchmade 9501BK Mini Auto Stryker can offer even more responsive performance in the workplace and in emergencies.

 

 

9500 Mini Auto Stryker

 

9501BK Mini Auto Stryker

 

9101 Auto Stryker

 

Weight

2.90 oz.

2.91 oz.

4.20 oz.

Overall length

7.21"

7.21"

8.30"

Closed length

4.26"

4.26"

4.70"

Blade length

2.95"

2.95"

3.60"

Blade thickness

0.098"

0.098"

0.124"

Handle length

4.26"

4.26"

4.70"

Handle thickness

0.47"

0.47"

0.50"

Handle material

Anodized 6061-T6 billet aluminum

Anodized 6061-T6 billet aluminum

Anodized 6061-T6 billet aluminum

Handle color

Black

Black

Black

Blade material

154 CM stainless steel

154 CM stainless steel

154 CM stainless steel

Blade hardness

58-61 HRC

58-61 HRC

58-61 HRC

Blade style

Tanto-point

Tanto-point

Tanto-point

Blade grind

Flat

Flat

Flat

Blade finish

Black coated (9500BK and 9500SBK)

Black coated (9501BK and 9501SBK)

Black coated (9101BK and 9101SBK)

Blade edge type

Plain (9500BK) or serrated (9500SBK)

Plain (9501BK) or serrated (9501SBK)

Plain (9101BK) or serrated (9101SBK)

Pocket clip

Tip up

Tip up

Removable, reversible tip-up or tip-down carry

Opener

Push-button automatic

Push-button automatic

Push-button automatic

Lock type

Integrated safety

Integrated safety

Integrated safety

Sheath material

Sheath sold separately

Sheath sold separately

Sheath sold separately

Benchmade product class

Black

Black

 

User

Right-handed

Right-handed

Right-handed or left-handed

Best use

EDC, tactical

EDC, tactical

Tactical

Manufacturer's suggested retail prices

9500BK or 9500SBK: $215

9501BK or 9501SBK: $225

9101BK or 9101SBK: $265

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