Genuinely surprised by 154cm

Gizler00

Gizler00

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Feb 19, 2006
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After years of chasing super steel knives, I have been hit with what feels like a smack in the face for dismissing 154cm for so long. Especially from Benchmade. Some of you know that recently I was wanting to go back to a Large griptilian, or just a Griptilian in general. In case you didnt know, I stumbled upon some NOS griptilians that a local outdoor shop by me had. I wasnt in the market for a sheepsfoot blade or 154cm for that matter, I was leaning more towards the 551 with s30v. I have been very impressed with benchmades s30v on my last bugout. So much so that I was seeking out a Grip in the same flavor. Well...... I ended up finding a deal that I could not pass up on a NOS 550 154cm Large Griptilian. At first I was concerned that I would be disappointed with the edge retention and overall performance from the "sub par" blade steel that I ended up with. But after thinking for quite some time, I never really gave benchmades 154cm a test drive. My first "High end" knife was a custom shop Large 551 in s30v, then my second was a large ritter grip in m390. After that I had a few small grips in m4, m390, and one in 154cm for a very very short period of time.

So to say the least, I was a little apprehensive about, what seemed like, going backwards as far as the steel was concerned. Well.......I cannot begin to express how impressed that I have been with not only this knife, but the blade steel. It just will not dull at all!!! I have been exclusively carrying this knife for almost 2 months now and it has kicked everything out of my pocket. I have cut everything and anything with this knife in that time. Opening mail, Cutting zipties, Vacuum hose, Cutting my lunch, Breaking boxes down to burn, Opening packages, cutting up whatever fruit I have in my lunch, Cutting the hockey tape of both of my boys sticks every practice, Whittled a few sticks outside, opened bags of cement.......Just countless cuts of everything and anything and its still sharp. It will still shave hair off my arm! I have literally done nothing to the edge..No touch ups, no stropping, nothing..... It just keeps going. I am now trying to see how long it takes so get this thing dull to to point of needing a sharpening.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I am mad for letting myself buy into the hype that these "old" steels are no good. I am not saying that what is out there now isn't better, because there are certainly steels that crush 154cm. But.....154cm is definitely no slouch.....At least when BM makes it.....


Anyway.....Sorry for the long post without pictures. I will try to post a few here in a little while.
 
154CM has the perfect balance of edge retention, toughness and ease of sharpening for me. I also enjoy higher end steels, but 154CM is definitely one of my favorites.

I also love the hollow grind on the 154CM 550s. I'm sure that helps with all your cutting too! I bought a few of those when they were discontinued, I definitely prefer the hollow grind to the saber grind.
 
I’m a long time fan of 154cm. It takes a super keen edge.... it may not hold it as long as others, but it sure is easy to bring back. I’ve also never chipped it, like some harder steels. My beloved 710, among several others, are in 154 and I’ve been absolutely fine with them in many years of use. I have other knives in harder steels, but I’ve never felt lacking with the “lowly” 154cm.
 
It's just been such a great knife and blade steel so far. I have been using it for every single thing I can everyday.
 
MolokaiRider said:
I am also a fan of Benchmade‘s 154cm. No chipping, sharpens nice, edge retention is totally acceptable.
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I've been going hard at it all weekend and I have the same results. No chipping or rolling. I'm going to give it a workout later today and try to grab some pictures.
 
Had to get rid of an old compressor and cut up some belts and boxes. I also decided to test the blade out on an electrical cord. It definitely won't shave hair now...😂. But still surprisingly cuts well after this!

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Stupid imgur won't upload the photo. But I spent 5 minutes on a spyderco medium stone and it's hair popping sharp again !
 
Really nothing wrong with 154cm its good stuff and is far easier to sharpen in my experience than s30v which can be pretty finicky unless you are using CBN or Diamonds.
 
154CM (and the almost identical Japanese version ATS-34) are good steels. They were considered "super steels," in the late 80s and early 90s. There is a CPM version of 154 that seems to just enhance the positives and doesn't add any negatives.
 
Whitedog said:
Benchmade 440C is great too!
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My Griptillian from around 1994/95 is in 440C is excellent and still works great. BM switched over to 154CM around then. 154CM is excellent also. Yes, these were both considered super steels back then.
 
I've owned custom in CPM154, and have production in ats34.

Fine steel!! Easy to sharpen, and great edge retention.

Honestly, I'm not in the super high carbide extreme edge retention only camp.

I carry "sub par" steels all the time, and love them.

I'll let it be our little secret that Buck's 420HC and AEBL, and 1095 get carried and used even more than my CPM3v, D2, 440c etc...

And I don't have any S90v or 10v, or 15V, or Zmax, or Rex 121 etc....
 
Thinning the herd, with the cut being more about the knife, all in, then just the steel as OP has discovered with Benchmade's 154CM. Blade geometry looms larger then steel as others have noted.
Fact is, now that I know my bias, herd thinning is to build savings for keepers custom work. In order of importance for me, big chunk, form follows function: customer service, handle engineered to match geometry, lock strength, grips and uses; companies HRC for blade, frame, and ancillary steels appropriate, consistent, called out, long lived (heirloom), with assembly /disassembly cycles engineered for end user, and maintenance, as well as production; aesthetics. Not surprising, criteria eliminates quickly and embraces fraternity like birds of a feather.
 
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I decided that I wanted to make a full titanium Grip. I thought about finding an M4 Grip but then decided I really wanted a 550HG as I like the thin geometry. I ended up locating one BNIB and ordered some titanium scales for it.
 
I love 154CM. It's one of the easiest to maintain steels from my limited experience. In my opinion it gets overlooked way to much because of all the super steels out there. My Emerson is by far the sharpest knife I own. One of the most underrated knives in my opinion is the old HK 14205 in 154CM. Fantastic knife and perfect steel choice by BM.
 
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