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 designed with the ability to cut up to 1/2″ diameter rope, seat belts, nylon straps, webbing or just about any other material that might be in the way when you are trying to rescue someone or release something. Just to show the fun side of this rescue tool, there is a built in bottle opener so that you can crack open a cold one after a tough day. In all seriousness any outdoors guy or emergency response professional would do well to have one of these clicked on to a piece of gear, or their belt loop, for one of those just-in-case moments.
Benchmade 9CB Hook Safety Cutter Features
The Benchmade 9CB Hook Safety Cutter is part of the “Black Class” of knives from Benchmade. The Black
Class products are designed and developed for extreme duty and 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 the black slip case box was how light the knife was. The biggest reason for the lack of weight is that the entire tool, other then the blade and the spring gate to the carabiner is make of Grivory. Grivory is a brand name for a type of thermoplastic synthetic resin of the nylon family that is highly heat resistant, extremely tough, and nearly impervious to most chemicals. The blade is recessed into the handle 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
Since the 9CB Hook Safety Cutter is a pretty specialized tool, testing was easy. The claim was that it could cut up to 1/2″ diameter rope so that’s 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 and some heavy tie down strapping. The blade proved lethal against all these. With the deeply recess blade, there is a much less of a chance of harming someone when cutting their seat belt away. The handle angle worked well to put the pressure of the blade at just the right point to leverage though the tougher materials we tried it on. Of course, at the end of the day we used the “other” function of the 9CB 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 that’s by design. And we have to say that, after we played around with it for a while, we think it is one of those types of tools that is actually quite handy for anyone to have around. You never know what emergency might arise and it is better to be prepared then to be without. While we are not in the emergency response field, we are avid outdoorsmen that enjoy activities like climbing, hiking, off shore fishing and base jumping off national monuments (OK we made that last part up). In all of these areas, there are opportunities that have come up where having a tool like this would have definitely been good. For our Performance rating we gave this knife a 9/10 since it quite simply works and does exactly what it was designed to do. For our value rating, we gave it an 8/10 given that it has a lifetime warranty and comes at a very reasonable price compared to most of the other offerings from this company.
