Pros: None
Cons: None
Benchmade Bailout AXIS Folding Knife
Another nice design and execution from Benchmade! Thin and tough as nails, nice blade tanto profile. Extra sharp and an incredible slicer I give it 5 stars!!
Reviews and Ratings for Benchmade Bailout AXIS Folding Knife 3.38" CPM-M4 Gray Cerakote Tanto Plain Blade, Woodland Green Aluminum Handles - 537GY-1
(11 reviews) 4.5 out of 5 stars
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Customer Reviews
Christopher
Aiken, ScFeb 23, 2023
Cam
, Jan 21, 2020
Pros: Weight, Handle Material, Pocket Clip, Blade Material, Overall Quality, Blade Sharpness
Cons: None
Great Knife
The feel is great. It looks amazing. Love the aluminum scales.
Frank
Baltimore MDSep 27, 2020
Pros: Weight, Blade Material, Overall Quality
Cons: None
Unbelievable Knife!
It’s unbelievable a knife of this quality weighs next to nothing. Very impressive in the hand, and the pocket. Better than a bevy of $250 knives
Matthew
Bartlett, IlAug 19, 2022
Pros: Handle Material, Blade Material
Cons: None
Fantastic
This knife is balanced very well. It deploys easily and folding it with the axis bar is one of the easiest out of my Benchmade knives. The M4 steel is great, I assume the added strength allows them to make the blade very thin towards the tip, great for slicing. The knife is a great weight and size for EDC, it feels great in the hand. I am afraid to carry half of my Benchmade knives, but I decided to carry this one, I am looking forward to having a patina on it as the aluminum and blade coating get a little beat up. FYI: it has a deep carry clip but the lanyard loop and carbide tip will stick out a little bit, I know some people want nothing sticking out of their pocket. I don't have a problem with it, I like the knife to stick out a little bit for easier grabbing.
Knife Nut
U.S.Nov 14, 2021
Pros: Weight, Ease of Opening, Handle Material, Pocket Clip, Blade Material, Overall Quality, Blade Sharpness
Cons: None
Very Nice
This just came in today, and I just ordered it three days ago, and I'm across the country from Knife Center! I love everything about this knife: the Tanto blade, the M4 steel, the blade coating, the green scales, the feel of the green scales - I even love the glass breaker. I don't know what I'll ever use the glass breaker for, but I love it anyway. The fit and finish is perfect. The blade is centered, the action is smooth, the blade is sharp, and evenly ground, and the knife is quite thin. I missed the last run so when this knife popped up again at Knife Center I jumped on it. So glad I did. A big Thank You to Benchmade, Knife Center, and the U.S. Postal service for the unbelievably fast delivery!
Doitnow00
New ZealandJan 16, 2021
Pros: Weight, Ease of Opening, Handle Material, Pocket Clip, Blade Material, Overall Quality, Blade Sharpness
Cons: None
What was good now got even better!
Very impressive, the previous bailout was my favorite and now the aluminum alloy handle Makes it even better! The edge is very sharp seems that Benchmade is doing better job with sharpening their knives than their older years. It has a smooth edge instead of their toothy edge in their older days. Solid build knife with super light weight. Use it like you should with a knife it will last you a life time. Check out my close up review of the knife on my YouTube channel doitnow00.
Dan-O
NJ, USADec 17, 2020
Pros: Ease of Opening, Handle Material, Pocket Clip, Overall Quality
Cons: None
Great EDC!
This knife is great to carry on an everyday basis. It’s slim and light, but the aluminum scales make it feel nice and solid. They also have a kind of chalky feel which create a sure grip. I’ve only needed to do some light stropping to get the edge back to shaving sharp. The blade length to handle ratio is also very good. The only downside might be the thumb stud being a little tricky to get to with gloves on; but I’m comparing that to the Spyderco thumb hole so maybe not a totally fair comparison. Overall a great knife and I’m happy I bought one!
Stabby Slicerman
MichiganJan 31, 2022
Pros: Weight, Ease of Opening, Handle Material, Pocket Clip, Blade Material, Overall Quality, Blade Sharpness
Cons: None
Amazing carry. Steep price.
First, I've been a Knifecenter loyalist for an easy ten years now. This purchase was my most recent and my most recent reminder why I stick with KC. I ordered my in-stock items, picked basic shipping, and I received the order two business days later. That's great service. This knife provides an amazing amount of edge for how light and slim it is. The handle has a similar "powdery" texture to an OG (green) Osborne, but with the aluminum in a diamond pattern for extra grip. I'm not big on coated blades, but the this-better-be-worth-it steel requires some treatment and the grey color looks better than tacticool. The clip carries very well, just like the rest of the Benchmade "Out" lines. The clip does create a hot spot for me, so this isn't an extended-use folder. I also find the glass breaker and lanyard loop is maybe slightly oversized for the knife. It is cool that there's a dedicated glass breaker and no I don't plan on using it. For me, this is a daily carry item. It delivers a lot of blade in slim and light package. It is, of course, crazy sharp out of the box, which it well better be for the amount they're asking for.... a supersteel-bladed, perfectly-designed daily carry. Checkmate, Benchmade. My wallet will try again another time.
Walrus
IowaOct 15, 2021
Pros: Weight, Blade Material, Blade Sharpness
Cons: None
Interesting knife
This is my first benchmade and I was curious to see what all the rave was about with the bailout and bugout series of knives. If you know what these knives are designed and intended for, they make perfect sense in most aspects of their overall design. The knife itself is extremely lightweight. The scales do have an odd feel out of the box, which I had researched ahead of time with various models that came with aluminum scales. After some use it feels more like what you would expect from an aluminum handled knife. The texturing offers plenty of grip and fits the hand very well, the pocket clip is unobtrusive while in the hand and overall it feels very sturdy despite its feather like weight. The blade is evenly ground, came super sharp out of the box. Centering was also very good in the scales. This blade is rather thin and should make for an excellent slicing knife. This is my first experience with the axis lock, it took a little playing around with to get used to but overall now I'm pleased with its function. I can operate from either side, provides solid lock up and is a nice alternative to frame lock or liner lock methods. Now for my gripes. I'm not sure why they went with a tanto design for the blade shape, giving how they executed it. The blade is thin to begin with and tapers completely to the tip, most tantos retain a good bulk of thickness before beveling to the tip to offer a stronger tip. This has the look and shape of a tanto blade, but for all purposes that is all it has in common with most traditional tanto blades. The use of T6 torx screws is a bit annoying as well. And the amount of them present on the knife. Also, the use of loctite on some of the screws. Granted, it wasn't the worst I've ever experienced and was easy enough to disassemble in my case, but the choice in where it was used and not was a little odd. For those that are fans of thread locker, I would look for Loctite 222 purple, which is low strength and considering the size of these screws, much more appropriate than the common blue medium strength. Lastly, the axis lock itself. While it may not be super common, one look at the omega spring immediately made my eyebrow raise a little. The overall design of the lock is good, but I question how reliable/strong it is. Will or when can it break? The knife is easy to open, not the smoothest or fastest, but easily flicked open with the thumbstuds. It does ride on bronze washers which I cleaned and applied a little of my favorite grease to. I had played with the pivot tension and was able to get it to drop shut, then immediately decided against it and put it back to a more controlled shut. With a blade this thin and sharp, having a drop shut blade seems like a very bad idea. Overall, I think its a great knife for its intended use and am very happy with the purchase.
Armen
CAApr 11, 2025
Pros: Blade Material, Blade Sharpness, Ease of Opening, Handle Material, Lock Ease of Use, Lock Type, Overall Quality, Pocket Clip, Weight
Cons: Handle Feel
Love it
Bought this knife a few years ago, absolutely love it. I got the M4 insanely sharp, lightweight, robust, looks great, cuts extremely well, just a great knife overall and the more I carried it the more I began to love it. Wish the handle provided more index finger protection.
El Chapo
CaliforniaDec 27, 2024
Pros: Blade Material, Ease of Opening, Lock Ease of Use, Lock Type, Weight
Cons: Blade Sharpness, Handle Feel, Handle Material
2+ years of ownership
The handle is very slippery, no finger protection unless you dig your thumb into the thumb ramp and really put pressure into your index finger to remain in the forward groove of the handle. The are a few sharp edges in between both handle scales where the blade pockets. So getting a tight grip on the handle makes it very uncomfortable as these edges bite into my hand and no to mention the handle is so small my hand cramps. Free carry (not using the pocket clip) the knife has opened up MANY times on its own in my pocket and cut me and my pants as I was trying to close it. The factory edge was horrible, it was like waves on the edge of the blade, not even remotely close to a hogue, cold steel, spyderco factory edge, My springs broker after about 1 year of ownership. Thankfully BM replaced those for free. For the price I cannot recommend this knife. All in all out of the 50 knives I own this is by far one of the worst in my collection. Looks great though.
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Close-up of hand holding knife, opening or unsheathing knife, and then closing or sheathing knife.