The Benchmade 9CB Hook Safety Cutter is super lightweight and has a handy carabiner carry clip, built-in bottle opener, and a retractable cover that protects the blade when not in use. This little tool is designedย with the ability to cut up to 1/2โณ diameter rope, seat belts,ย nylon straps, webbing, or just about any other material that might beย in the way when you are trying to rescue someone or releaseย something. Just to show the fun side of this rescue tool, there is aย built-in bottle opener so that you can crack open a cold one after aย tough day. In all seriousness, any outdoors guy or emergency response professional would do well to have one of these clipped to a piece of gear or their belt loop for one of those just-in-case moments.
Benchmade 9CB Hook Safety Cutter Features
Theย Benchmade 9CB Hook Safety Cutter is part of the โBlack Classโย of knives from Benchmade. The Black Class products are designed and developed for extreme duty andย special purposes. Typically, they are marketed towards law enforcement, public safety, and military troops, which is a good place for this tool. One of the first things we noticed when we opened theย black slip case box was how light the knife was. The biggest reason for the lack of weight is that the entire tool, other than the blade and the spring gate to the carabiner, is made of Grivory.
Grivory is aย brand name for a type of thermoplastic synthetic resin of the nylonย family that is highly heat resistant, extremely tough, and nearlyย impervious to most chemicals. The blade is recessed into the handleย and is made of a premium stainless steel. The black blade cover slides on grooves, and it clicks in both the open and closed positions, so it does not move until you flick it with your finger.
Testing and use
Sinceย the 9CB Hook Safety Cutter is a pretty specialized tool, testing wasย easy. The claim was that it could cut up to 1/2โณ diameter rope so thatโs where we started. While we were at it, we also tried our hand at slicing bungee cords, a few different types and sizes of rope, and some heavy tie-down strapping. The blade proved lethalย against all these.
With the deeply recessed blade, there is a much lower chance of harming someone when cutting their seat belt away. Theย handle angle worked well to put the pressure of the blade at just theย right point to leverage through the tougher materials we tried it on. Of course, at the end of the day, we used the 9CBโs โotherโ function and popped the tops off a few cold ones.
Conclusion
At first glance, the market might be kind of limited for the Benchmade 9CB Hook Safety Cutter, but thatโs by design. And we have to say that, ย after we played around with it for a while, we think it is one ofย those types of tools that is actually quite handy for anyone to haveย around. You never know what emergency might arise, and it is better to be prepared than to be without. While we are not in the emergency response field, we are avid outdoorsmen who enjoy activities like climbing, hiking, offshore fishing, and base jumping off national monuments (OK, we made that last part up).
In all of these areas,ย there are opportunities that have come up where having a tool likeย this would have definitely been good. For our Performance rating weย gave this knife a 9/10 since it quite simply works and does exactlyย what it was designed to do. For our value rating, we gave it an 8/10,ย given that it has a lifetime warranty and comes at a very reasonableย price compared to most of the other offerings from this company.
