I'm looking for a folder, under $100 with a 3" max. blade for EDC but also for occasional light bushcraft while hunting and camping. I know there are sooooo many choices and I have narrowed it down to Kershaw Leek or Benchmade Mini Griptillian. Any input on either would be appreciated.

I have many benchmade knives and carry them often (even though I am on a spyderco kick now) if you are going to only own 1 knife it should be a benchmade, you can't beat the axis lock.

I like the Leek. It's probably a little Light for 'Bushcraft' IMO.
I usually carry mine in town. I go for a heavier blade when I go out there.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

The Leek and the Mini Grip have this attribute in common: when you see one for the first time, you say "I've gotta have one of those". Not "I'd like to try one sometime", but "Gotta have one." I ran right out and ordered up a Leek. I still don't have the more-expensive Mini, but I do have the full-size Griptilian. I bought the Mini for my son, and have envied him ever since.

Of the two, for your purposes, I would recommend the Grip. The Leek is a very slim, elegant knife. I think of it as a knife to carry when I am wearing a suit, though of course I carry it at other times since I rarely have to put on a suit any more.

The Benchmade will take more abuse, I think; prying, battening, using as a screwdriver, etc. My son-in-law has done all of that to his, and more; it still looks like a new knife. The textured scales will be less likely to slip in the field. The Mini is a little better suited to EDC, but you might find the full size Grip works better in camp. Either way, if you can only have one knife, the Benchmade is the one to have.

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Not in jail.

Benchmade has better steel and is made for heavier use

I have a Mini Grip with a D2 blade. I have carried it for a few years now and use it every day. In my mind, there isn't a better folder for the money.

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paws for friendship

I love the Leek but the blade is thin and the edge is in my opinion too fine for bushcraft. I carry one every day but for camping I would go heavier duty.

I have carried this Leek every day since 2006. It has taken and kept a edge better than any knife I have ever owned. I few swipes on the stone about once a month keeps the edge. I don't baby it, it gets used fro everything from opening the mail to cutting the insulation off wires to be spliced, dressing game. It's the right weight & size. If you would plan to "chop" limbs with it it may not be heavy enough. For the kind of use any 3" bladed knife would be expected to do the Leek can handle it. This picture was take probably 5 years ago but it still shows not much more wear. The finish it tough.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Every member of my family has and uses a Griptillian. In fact my wife "strongly suggested" my sons and I purchase a pink one for her several mothers days ago, as her knife kept finding its way into one of our backpacks, jackets etc., so now she has two. Simply put whenever someone asks about a knife I direct them toward the Grip.

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always trust your cape...

I have both. My Griptilian is the full size one. The Leek has the composite blade. I find the Leek to be a nice, slim around town knife but not suited to heavy use if you are looking for a more general utility/field folder. The Griptilian's Axis Lock is very strong and suitable for left or right hand use. The grip is thicker and has a good texture to keep your hand from slipping. The pocket clip can be switched to either side. The tip of the Leek Is more of a slim, needle point. I like them both but they are different animals...My favorite all-around folder is my Spyderco Paramilitary 2 but they cost more than under $100. It sounds like the Benchmade should serve your stated purposes the best between the two...I predict you will eventually wind up with both.

I've had a Kershaw 1660 for many years. I'm on my second one. Broke the first. Very thin blade. Very fine, pointy tip on the blade. Cuts like a scalpel. Bends very easy when force applied. Pretty knife. Not for heavy use.

I have two Leeks and just about every Kershaw with "assisted opening", love that feature. The Leek is thin, thin grip, thin blade. If you want to cut something hard and/or thick , the thin grip makes it a bit uncomfortable to do heavy cutting with. Thin, light and sharp makes it a great carry in back pocket, but if you want to cut something , a more substantial grip and thicker blade makes it easier.
I have found that of all the Kershaw's I own the model 1970 Burst is working out to being best for heavy work. It's compact, Not much bigger than a Leek, but thicker handle, textured black material, thicker blade , just as sharp and even has a small hilt at blade to stop fingers from slpping forward onto blade in case you have to defend yourself with it.
I cant compare it to the Benchmade but you should look at the 1970 Burst.
I really like it and it is affordable.
I looked at the mini-griptillian and the 1970 Burst is more in line with it than the Leek. Check it out...I like both the Leek and the Burst.
Gary

Daryl,
Another Kershaw that might meet your needs is the 3650 Volt II, about the same size as the 1970 burst, it has a nice blade shape and profile.
I don't know how the Benchmade opens, but the leek, burst and volt II all open, how shall I put it...automatically. Getting the knife open and closed one handed is a necessity for me. If you need to use it in a defensive situation , auto- opening is a paramount feature.
This is why all my pocket knives have the Speed-Safe feature, they work and are affordable. Amazon has all three , leek is $42.00, the 1970 is $23.00, the 3650 is $22.00. All three will cost $89.00.
Gary

I would go with the grip. The axis lock is stronger for batoning IMO. For bushcraft I'd look at the Ritter Mini Grip. It has an improved blade geometry for those type tasks. I EDC a D2 mini grip and love it. I don't baton with it though, I carry a Mora when I expect to need to do those tasks. The leek is more of a gentleman's knife, where as the grip is more hardworking.

Do what I do....buy them all, life's too short not to have a whole bunch of knives.
Yeah, I know , I got a blade problem! Have been fascinated with knives my whole life. When I was a kid, I would borrow my dad's pocket knife and whittle myself one out of wood. Then a friend of my dad's , who only had one arm, showed me an Italian , stiletto switchblade he carried, for one hand operation, and I thought that was the coolest thing on earth!
Gary

I have made this complaint about the Leek before, the knife's scales are too darn slippery if you have sweaty or bloody hands. Go with the Grip.
For normal edc the Leek is elegant and pocket worthy.

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Regards, Ron
USASA 1965/69

Howdy,
Good question. I'll offer my opinion. I have a Griptillian. I really like it. It is great working man's knife, but I find it bulky. Great knife, just chunky.
I like several of the kershaws and they serve me well.
If I was regulated to one brand it would be the Spyderco brand. To me it is a best buy. Great quality and fair prices and a multitude of sizes and styles.
A guy can get into a Tenacious or Resilience for about $35.00 and have a pretty nice working knife.
Good luck in your search.
Mike

The mini-grip is the Cat's meow, I sent one to India with a friend, and another with my Son-in Law to Iraq, I do still have mine, and the axis is beyond awesome for one handed operation and toughness.

after I thought about, nobody really said this: the real reason I bought it is it's just a gorgeous little knife, very well thought, engineered, and just nicely done??

The Leek is not for brushcraft... but you still have to get one. It is just a fabulous, elegant knife that is great for most EDC. I love it.

I wouldn't want to do anything to talk you out of a Benchmade, but he is right about the Leek. You could have the Leek and a Mora 612 for bushcraft for about half the price of the Mini Grip.

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Not in jail.

Recently bought 2 BM minis for me and Mrs. jtt.
Just curious, what do the Leek and Mora costs? Thanks in advance.

Stainless Leek with a plain blade cost me $42, and I saw it for that the other day on Amazon. You can pay more if you shop around. Mora 612, $13.

I think I paid $105 for my boy's Mini Grip; the full-size can be had for about $85. I think Cabela's wants about a buck and a quarter for the Mini.

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Not in jail.

Ive had the same Kershaw Leek for 3 years. Sharp as a razor and keeps its edge very well. Fast to open as too. My vote is for the Kershaw.

I've owned a Mini-Grip for several years (154CM). Handy. Thick-ish, but that can be good when hands are wet and/or cold. Excellent blade grind and edge/geometry and good fit & finish. Mine is pink. Why? Easy to see, for one thing ... and nobody else at the cop shop where I bought it apparently wanted anything to do with a hot pink folder, so it was priced right, compared to the black/tactical blades.

I've been the owner of a Leek for about an hour. It's a black 1660CKT model with the DLC finish. I've wanted a Leek for my collection for a long time.

I just finished packing it back up and affixing the return shipping label (Amazon) to return it as being unsatisfactory. Hopefully, it's just an aberration, but the frame lock consistently has very minimal engagement behind the blade. Rough surfaces involved, too. Looks like it's just corner-to-corner engagement between the involved surfaces. I can manually push it over for good engagement, but that shouldn't be necessary, even for a $50 folder. Nowhere near the smooth and generous engagement of the several imported (Chinese) Kershaw Speed-Safe folders I've picked up the last couple of years.

Maybe the replacement I requested will be better.

I have some Kershaw lock-blade folders from the 70's. They're beautifully fit, finished and polished for standard production knives. Probably unfair to compare newer examples of Kershaw knives to them, though.

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Ret LE Firearms inst & armorer

i use to carry a leek but was a tad too slippery, i switched to a kershaw cryo II which i really like, then for the heck of it i bought a benchmade mini grip 555hg, man i wish i would have bought one sooner cant say enough good things about it. my favorite edc for sure

I've been edc a leek for several years, it has all of what I'm looking for in an edc/around town knife, thin overall/ light wt/ comfortable to carry/ opens & closes with 1 hand/ a thin blade/great for opening letters and boxes/ fine for cleaning trout & birds, I remove the pocket clip & blade lock on mine & had a kydex sheath made for it to keep out pocket lint, that also fits just right in a vest pen pocket, or as a neck knife. After losing 2 of them, I wish they would make 1 in blaze orange. For any jobs bigger or heavier, it's just not made for heavy work like prying etc. For the woods/field, I prefer a large handled sheath knife with a thicker blade. Aside from being stronger & easier to keep clean & free of sand in the works, it will handle many more tasks the leek was never meant to do. 2 I like & recommend right around 20$ are the Gerber 3 3/4" rubber handled drop point (sorry no name on it but 17$ at walmart), & the Morakniv, from Sweden for app 23$ on e-bay etc. If the Schrade sharpfingers were still of the same quality and made in the USA for under 10$, I'd recommend 1 of them. So given your parameters, for you I'd go with the griptillian, I'd hate having such a thick knife in my pocket 24/7.

Yeah, from previous handling of a Leek at a store, and today's brief examination before returning the one I ordered, I felt the Leek was more of a smooth Gentleman's Pocket Knife than anything.

The smaller Cryo, Volt II, Chill and Rambler all seem less likely to slip in my hand, while the larger Volt I bought is still a bit smooth, with rounded edges. Fortunately, the size of the larger Volt gives a bit more to grasp and position in the hand.

All of my assorted CRKT & Spyderco folders have good gripping textures, as well as some acceptable blade materials and edge profiles. Some better than others, of course.

Now, some of my larger Benchmades, like the 300SN AXIS Flipper and the 810BK Osborne Contego, have a lot of solid gripping surfaces, along with some heft, width and blade length. Unfortunately, they also have longer blades than are allowed in a couple places out-of-state where I travel, so a 2.75" - 3" blade length is attractive to me for being able to carry on my driving trips to those places.

The pink Mini-Grip 154CM, a blue Spyderco Delica VG-10 and the smaller Cryo are my common choices for those visits to areas where larger locking pocket folders aren't permitted. I'm hoping the replacement Leek will be fine, in which case I'll add it to my road-trip travel choices.

Naturally, I also place a lot of emphasis on a collection of SAK's to serve as everyday practical pocket tools.

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Ret LE Firearms inst & armorer

How orange would you like?
Kershaw 1660OR Leek Folding Knife (Orange) with SpeedSafe

http://www.amazon.com/Kershaw-1660OR...aw+leek+orange

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Ret LE Firearms inst & armorer

Of the two the OP listed, I would go with the Mini Grip. That being said, a Swiss Army Knife is all you need for hiking. If you are going to build a shelter, take an axe. And that's not hiking anyway. Leave no trace.

Benchmade Mini Grip or Regular for great all around carry. If you want a great do all knife that will take what you can dish out look at the Zero Tolerance 350. Very fast deployment and you can use it without worrying about it. When I am on a tractor or in the woods, that is in my pocket.

Just received the replacement Leek.

Engagement between the locking bar and the blade is still very slight and unacceptable (to me) for a Speed-Safe folder costing almost $50.

I own many imported liner & frame locks that have significantly better fit and engagement, and for much less cost. I'll make do with a different steel in order to get better fit & finish.

This one is being returned, like the first one, but this time for a refund instead of another replacement.

This reminds me of how I had to return some American-made Case pocket knives because of fit & finish problems a while ago. That was surprising and disappointing, too.

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Ret LE Firearms inst & armorer

Just bought the Mini-Grip yesterday. It appears to be a great EDC knife, got it for $88 at LGS. I have had Kershaw knives before, not the Leek, but this Benchmade appears to be the cat's ***. Really love the AXIS locking system. I got the 555HG, which has the Spyderco thumb hole.

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M&P45, 9L, Shield9

Congrats.

The AXIS lock takes a little time to get used to using, but it's fast, smooth and positioned pretty well for finding it (with practice).

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Ret LE Firearms inst & armorer

The liners (frames, really) on my Leeks do not center on the heel of the blade; about half the liner engages maybe 2/3 the thickness of the blade. The liners on my other liner locks generally center on the blade. Those separate liners are likely to be much thinner than the frame of the Leek, so the the off-center Leek frame still engages he blade with more metal than the thinner liners on the other knives.

What's the point? I dunno, but your post made me curious.

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Not in jail.

My liner locks engage on all three that I own. One did the 2/3 engagement thing and I just bent the liner over a tad, problem solved.
None have ever closed up while in use, so I'm happy.....
Gary

I'd have been very satisfied with the amount of engagement you describe, and quite satisfied with 50% engagement behind the thin blade. I'd even have been happy and kept one of them if either had exhibited even 30% engagement behind the blade.

I'll simply stick with their imported Speed-Safe models I've tried, all of which, thus far, have provided really good engagement (50%-80%) the first time tried, right out of the box.

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Ret LE Firearms inst & armorer