Benchmade Mini Griptilian Review

Blade Quality

The Mini Griptilian features a blade made from S30V stainless steel, a popular option among production knives across many well-known brands. It's a top-tier stainless steel known for a great balance between toughness, edge retention, and corrosion resistance.

The factory edge and the blade centering are flawless, and the blade is quite sharp out of the box (as checked with a fingerprint across the edge). So we were surprised when it kept catching an edge in a standard paper-cut test. It's not a particularly thick blade, so our best guess is that the angle of the edge causes it to catch sometimes while slicing. It's nitpicking a bit, but noticeable.

While there may be some issues with blade geometry, the other characteristics hold true, especially corrosion resistance. Despite the uncoated finish, we found only the smallest blemish after spraying the blade down with salt water and letting it sit for 24 hours.

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Ease of Use

The opening action is one of the best for a manually-opening knife. The pivot is smooth without feeling loose, and the thumb stud is perfectly placed to pop the blade open reliably every time.

Only assisted-opening models have an improved open action – but that addition often comes with the complexity of navigating local laws.

The crossbar-style blade lock is one of Benchmade's calling cards. It'll engage automatically when opened, and releases easily, allowing you to essentially swing the blade back into the grip. It's ambidextrous and can be done one-handed with a little practice, making the Mini Griptilian fast to both deploy and store.

Carrying Comfort

It's clear to us that the main reason for scaling down the popular, full-sized Griptilian was to improve carrying comfort. Even though the Mini Griptilian is a bit heavier than other compact knives, it's still well suited to be an everyday carry (EDC) knife.

What makes the Mini Griptilian a 'mini' knife is not just the size of the blade – though measuring only 2.9 inches, it is slightly smaller than average – it's really the size of the knife when closed.

It'll fit well in the 5th pocket of a pair of pants, but is best in a pocket on its own. That said, the texture on the handle is just a little too aggressive to comfortably reach into a tight pocket – it's so aggressive, in fact, that it could easily scratch up soft materials like on a wallet.

It's also not a deep-carry design, so a full 3/4" of the handle sticks out while pocketed. That, combined with its tactical style, doesn't make it the most friendly-looking knife if you're planning on carrying it around an office setting.

Grip

As the name suggests, a good grip is the primary design driver behind the Griptilian line. Even for a mini knife, the rounded handle fills an average-sized hand, and the gentle forefinger cutout helps your grip feel secure.

Where the handle texture is too abrasive on the full-sized knife, shrunk down a bit on the Mini Griptilian, it feels much more proper. The thumb rest is the star of the show, though. A textured rest anchors your thumb, with just enough of an upward angle to ensure your thumb doesn't slip when you're putting a lot of pressure into a cut.

However, the plasticky, fiberglass composite grip feels a bit cheap. While more expensive knives often have specialty handles, even at this price point, it's common to find composite handle materials. We can't quite help but feel a bit slighted by the quality of the handle on the Mini Griptillian, even if it is utilitarian.

Sharpening & Cleaning

It took about 7-10 minutes to sharpen the Mini Griptilian, and it appeared like all was well – the edge felt secure on the stone, and it was easy to keep the angle of the blade consistent. However, a follow-up paper test proved worse than before we dulled the blade. Only after sharpening the blade a second time did it perform about the same as new.

The S30V stainless steel blade is known to be tough, which makes sense that sharpening would be more difficult compared to other knives we tested. In our opinion, this would be a good knife to send to Benchmade through their LifeSharp program.

Cleaning a soiled Mini Griptillian is a challenge. The spine of the handle is closed front to back, so washing it takes time. The lock is also slightly more complex than other lock types, including a delicate spring, so grit like sand or dirt can get lodged in it if you're not careful.

Should You Buy the Benchmade Mini Griptilian?

The Mini Griptilian is a utilitarian pocket knife that's actually comfortable enough to carry around in your pocket. While it could catch some side-eye glances in more formal company, the styling isn't egregiously aggressive. As a high-quality knife from a name brand, it's also one of the better values among the premium pocket knives we tested.

What Other Pocket Knives Should You Consider?