I got my first Bob Lum knife by accident. I saw Spyderco’s Chinese Folder and fell for
the leaf-shaped blade and green handle and bought it.
I’m not a big collector of Lums. I like the functionality and graceful lines
but it’s difficult to justify custom knife prices, so I settle for selling the
factory versions of them. You might
uncharitably call me a knife pimp - I make a little money from the transaction,
but I thoroughly enjoy getting quality knives into appreciative hands.
I’m quite excited about Benchmade’s Mini-Onslaught that just
arrived today. It’s a Bob Lum design and
it’s quite a little charmer. One side of
the blade has the Benchmade butterfly logo and the other side has Bob’s chop.
The 3.45-inch blade is sharpened from 154CM steel with a
Rockwell C hardness of 58-61. The curved
grip is black G-10 which is reinforced by stainless steel liners. I looked at the handle and I would swear it’s
micarta. Of course, G10 has changed over
the years from short chopped fibers in resin into glass fabric.
I really like the Axis lock Benchmade uses. The modified clip point blade simply glides
open and the thumb hole (licensed from Spyderco, I understand) is 0.43 inches
in diameter. That’s large enough to
easily capture your thumb for opening. Benchmade
says the Mini-Onslaught weighs in at 3.9 ounces.
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| The left side showing the famous Benchmade butterfly. |
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This is the right side of the knife with Bob's chop. I always thought it would be cool to have a family/personal stamp.
The knife is set up for tip-up carry, my preferred method.
The Mini-Onslaught’s curved handle helps
anchor the knife in your hand during a slash and presses the handle into your
palm during a stab, but doesn’t allow for a reversible clip. That's the one drawback.
I saw a Cold Steel knife with a similar problem, but Cold Steel solved that by drilling and tapping both sides and included a second clip.
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Benchmade retails the knife for $170 on their website. I suspect I’ll be able to do better.
Sadly, Bob Lum passed away Dec 2007. In his thirty years of knife making, some of
his designs were never released to the commercial market. It’s kind of
nice knowing that even after he’s gone, we’ll still see a few new Lums
in the future.
