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White handles, too! Wonder who I got that idea from. 😁😎

Yes he does.

So... he isn't the enemy? Almost nice work on the triple negative.

JL, That Kious is cool!

As far as I know that carbon fiber handled drop point hunter is the only one of its kind that Joe made. I know he did not enjoy working with the carbon fiber.

ive just discovered the benchmade 535 and it really has me horned up. best pocket knife ive carried in terms of ergos, weight, utility. still getting used to S30V, the spyderco sharpener doesnt seem to phase it.

I have several Benchmade knives, and several have the same S30V steel as yours (and presumably the same heat treat). Holds an edge a LONG time - harder than woodpecker lips but doesn't chip.

I think you need to use diamonds to sharpen that blade, as I found.

If you otherwise like the system, you can get diamond rods for that Spyderco.

John

thanks! ive gotten some helpful advice on this. also looks like sending it in to benchmade when its finally dull isnt as onerous an option as i previously thought.

The medium grey hones on the Sharpmaker sharpen S30V just fine. Just make sure you are actually hitting the edge with the hone. You have to match the factory angle. Use a Sharpie marker on a small area on both sides of the blade to see if the angles on the knife edge and Sharpmaker are matching up. If they are you should have no trouble sharpening your S30V.

Dale Howe makes a nice knife.

Dale Howe
Tim Olt
Rick Menefee
TK Stienglass

Jeffbird,

What are the models of the Phil Wilsons in your Picture?

Thanks.

Frank

This is always a great discussion topic. Found several great makers from these discussions over the years. Funny thing, when I look back to the last one I participated in on here it's sad how many of my favorites from back then have either died, retired, gone broke, or gone off the deep end...

The constants though are Gene and Phil. Can't say the good things as well as others have said about Gene above, but wish to add a big "plus one". I probably have more of his, and have given more as gifts, than any other maker, and the performance to effort, (ie sharpening/care/etc.) are the reason. Plus he's always a pleasure to deal with.

Phil's also a super guy. His knives though, are not for the casual user as said above, but they ARE the pinnacle in performance.

"Double Whammer" set from Phil. Sorry mine aren't very pretty anymore...it ain't the years it's the miles...

Meadows semi skinner on the bottom?

They both look fine to me. What steels are they? You want to sell them? You know his blades are hard to come by right?

L,

It's actually smaller than the Meadows. I had one of those in hand for a while in 10V that I sent on down the line because it was too big. I asked Phil for something smaller to more closely pair with the B&T. Actual correspondence from him says "I put you down for a semi skinner, full tang, rounded butt handle, proportional to the Sprig."

It's 4-1/4" handle plus 3-1/2" blade including finger choil. If I recall you have/had a Sprig so imagine that with thicker micarta handles vs the rounded G10.

Funny, this got rolling when I got hold of him, after you told me he had a batch of B&T's in the works. I wanted to get one for my nephew for graduation but all he had left was a 4-1/2" bladed one in Elmax. Easy pass all around, so I told him I'd just gift one of mine, which is what the kid wanted anyway, even though I had a couple of big hunts coming up, and asked him to put me on his list for a replacement. But...Phil got back with me in a couple of days, said he'd really been thinking about the situation and wanted to make the semi for me to use and test and had it to me 3 weeks before I left.

Like I said above - SUPER guy!

The semi is S110V and the B&T S30V. If I sold those knives I'd have at least half a dozen guys I hunt with each year and two heirs who'd disassociate me...

Longest I've waited for one is about 7 months, but last we were in touch Phil told me though he had no plans to quit making, he'd probably quote " just slowly do less and less production." Said since they lost the house in the fire he had to drive to the shop from town vs walking out the door. Can't imagine how much it would suck to be retired, happy, enjoying life and have something like that happen. He said he lost 30 or so personal knives among everything else. Bet they were something...what a loss.

Yes same thing he told me. My comment wasn't meaning hard to get from him, hard to find his knives on the second hand market. I got a bunch of his goods. Been a customer of his for a long time. He is a great guy. His knives are the pinnacle for sure. I have used them hard and they never fail.

How do Charlie's blades stack up against Gene's?