Alrighty! While no production knife is capable of having the same...feeling...same sense of identity that a custom knife does, every once in a while one of the big companies will put a little twist on something that is... "exciting".

Such is the case with my new Benchmade. This knife is a limited edition release; the 15020-1 "Bone Collector Axis". This is a collaboration with Michael Wassell. In fact, this lucky enthusiast had the good fortune to get a First Production Run; #74 of 500.

So what have we here? Well, if you take a good look at the photo, it'll be readily apparent to Benchmade fans that this is sort of a hybridization of the very successful Griptilian and Presidio platforms. If you know your Grip-history reasonably well, you'll see the 550-HG in the blade shape. Likewise, Presidio fans will see that concept's handle shape in the Bone Collector! In essence, Benchmade mixed some of the best qualities of both knife designs into this single blade!

One of the things that I've always liked about the Presidio series was that it's handles actually fit my hand. While having a slim handle helps carryability (a new word?), unless you have smaller-palmed hands, slim-handles knives can be a little hard to hang on to! In that regard, Benchmade did a stellar job! This knife fits even my mongo-mits very well. Also, with the handle scales being sculpted G10, they actually kind of "stick" to the hand. Dig that color/pattern on the handle! Pretty cool...

Obviously, the blade shape gets it's inspiration from the 550-HG grip...though they modified it just a bit...and frankly, I think that I like this version a little "better". The blade is D2...and a beefy 1/8" thick too! I'm a fan of thick blades...so this rings my bell. While D2 has a reputation for being a little "brittle", I've never had that kind of experience with my D2 blades. So, yes, I'm a D2 fan.

Also...the packaging is cool too! In case you think that this was inspired by some horror movie; think again. The back of the package reads:

"The culture I stand for is sometimes lost in today's society, when in fact society was built on the culture of The Hunter. A hunter is more than a predator; a hunter is a provider...a caretaker...a leader. I will never make excuses for who I am. It's the way I was born. I'm a hunter...a Bone Collector."

This is really Benchmade celebrating the culture of the hunter...the sportsmen. So...don't let the spooky looking package give you the..."weird" impression.

By the way, for all you hunters out there...I've got a very important message for you; respect and honor the animals you hunt. Their lives matter. God gave them meaning and we should all recognize the importance laid at our feet...by the ultimate Provider.