An Initial Sebenza vs 710 Comparison

I have the large Seb, small Seb, 710, 705 and the Aeres. I like them all and have not had any problems with any of them. They see hard outdoor use too.

My favorite is the large Seb. Out of all of them though the Ares has the most comfortable handle feel for me. If I have to use the Seb hard for a length of time I wrap the handle with a bandana or paracord.

Both the small Seb and the 705 are elegant small pocket knives that will stand up to hard use. You can't go wrong with the Seb lock or the Axis lock.

Out of all of them, the large and small Seb have a fixed blade feel that the others lack. Especially the large Seb. It feels smoother and stronger to me.

The 710 looks and performs great.

You're talking my favorite pocket knives here.
 
Buzz,

I told you that you would really like the 710HS. For the price point, it's way up there in today's folder market.

When you start to cut things, you will become rapidly enamoured of the M2 steel.

BTW--Great review. It's always a pleasure to read your posts.:)
 
Careful with the Dremel Tool! The thing with the 710 and other Axis lock knives is that the scales are hollowed out a bit to fit in the springs. I think I read a post buried somewhere in the archives where someone took a Dremel to a 710 to "improve" it and ended up grinding into the hollowed out part of the scales.

The 710 feels quite different from the Ares, especially the opening and closing part. The Ares feels like it has a lot less spring tension on it, and you can open & close it with ease. The 710 is just as smooth once broken it, but what I've noticed is that there's more force holding the blade shut, and you need to push harder to get the blade past the "stiff zone". The first 30 degrees or so of blade opening needs more force than the Ares, but after that it feels the same, and closing it also needs more of a nudge too.

I of course have damaged the edge of my M2 710, but that's because I'm Canadian like Cliff Stamp :) The first time I cut into a large metal packing staple which some deranged box maker decided bury in the middle of a box, and the 2nd time I hacked into a steel bicycle pedal when I was trying to slash an inner tube in mid-air that my buddy had tossed at me. The staple put a few small chips in the edge and rolled about 1.5" of it before I realized what happened, the pedal incident left rolled spots where the edge made contact with no chipping. I was pretty happy with that. For my next test I will try to follow in Cliff's footsteps and attempt to cut braided stainless steel hydraulic lines... :) :D
 
I have the 710HS with the Black Teflon coating and plain blade. I have owned and carried it daily for over a year now. Here are my thoughts...

1. I'm a lefty to switching the clip to the other side was mandatory!!
2. I have found opening it is best accomplished by holding the knife in my hand with my middle, ring, and pinky finger on the clip while pushing on the stud with my thumb parallel to the blade. With a very gently wrist movement it opens perfectly every time.
3. I have voided my warrenty and taken the knife apart, who wasn't. I polished the area that the lock engages on, which made it greatly smoother. I also hand polished the area the knife pivots on, which also smoothed the knife up greatly! The teflon coating just isn't very slick untill it is lightly polished.
4. When I put it back together I tightened the screw to where it JUST would stay closed if I turned it blade down and pulled the lock back.

With the polishing and the adjustments it is a tight, smooth knife that is opened with a single flick of my thumb. As a whole I love the axis lock, I would really like to see a few custom makers use something like it, but I assume there is a patent problem with using it.
 
710-1.jpg


Well..... Here's my bonehead move of the day!!!! Against Aerius’ plea, I tried grooving out the G-10 anyway. Big mistake!!!! The springs on the 710 go A LONG way from the blade pivot. It looks like the 710 will be going back to Benchmade after my Sebenza gets back from Chris Reeve. How embarrassing. Talk about an idiot move. :eek:

I did get a chance to try Joe Talmadge’s blade sharpening tip. It didn’t go perfectly though, as my 710 came with a 30 degree angle on one side of the blade, and a 40 degree angle on the other. The initial bevels looked reasonably even, so one side of the blade must be a little more hollowly ground than the other. I ended up backbeveling just the 40 degree side, and followed the rest of the steps. It did improve the cutting efficiency. I’m not sure about 700% in my case, but a definite improvement. I must say that the M2 provided a very easy sharpening experience. M2 isn’t one of those nasty to hone steels like 440V. Burrs come off easily, and the steel grinds down relatively quickly. I’d definitely called it one of the better quality steels for field sharpening on a quick stone or hone.

I did some initial cutting tests, and the 710 faired very well. It doesn’t cut quite as well as the very thinly ground Sebenza, but almost as good. I’d definitely put it very high on my list of folding cutters. My mother will soon be moving from her house and needs me to cut up all of the old cardboard boxes in her basement tomorrow. There are a huge number of boxes, so I’ll have an excellent idea of the steel’s durability by the end of the weekend.

Seeing as I have to send the knife back to Benchmade for a new scale, I promise it test the knife as vigorously as possible over the course of the next month. :D
 
Buzz: I have a BM 705 (baby 710) and love the knife. It's satin smooth action, firm lock-up, scary sharpness and feel are everything a person should want in a knife. Think I paid less than $150 for the tool. I also own a Small Sebenza. It's probably the best knife I own. However, it cost me $350. The fit, finish and quality of workmanship are top-notch. I've not used either knife in an abusive application, so can't comment on which one is tougher. I can say however, for everyday applications, I've had excellent service from my BM 705. I haven't used the Sebenza much, because it's so expensive I worry about losing it!
 
Buzzbait: Perhaps I should try some reverse psychology. When you get your Sebenza back from CRK, feel free to Dremel the handle to your heart's content in order to make it more comfortable and fit your hand better. :D

The M2 710 takes a nice crisp edge, it feels much nicer than my ats-34 710. One thing I've found though is that if I strop it too much the edge will get polished too much and not slice say, nylon zipties too well. But it'll do fun stuff like splitting hairs lengthwise and push cutting cigarette papers (I bought several packs of papers for the specific purpose of testing knife edges). If it makes clean cuts in cig papers it'll shave, I got sick of having patchy arms. I of course encourage you to keep thinning the edge out until it takes damage too much and then backing it off a tad, I think you'll be surprised what it can do.
 
Buzzbait,
excellent review I have been very pleased with my 710
definatly a great blade for the money.
 
Aerius - Yah. You get to bust on me for life now. I win the a$$ of the day award.

But on a better note. I really am blown away by the M2. It takes a positively wicked edge. I've been playing around with the differences between a fine and coarse beveled edge tonight, and its simply amazing what this stuff can do with when polished. If M2 has decent edge retension, I'm gonna' be one happy guy. It makes me wonder why Benchmade even bothered going to D2 on the Axis AFCK.

My only problem, other the one I created for myself, is closing the knife. The lock button still sticks when unlocking the 710. I often have to jiggle the button a little to get it to slide downwards. And get this.... It only happens when releasing the lock with my right hand. Only one side of the axis mechanism sticks. If I was a lefty, it would be silky smooth. Oh well. I can have Benchmade work on that when I have the scale replaced.

And did I mention before how much I love the shape of the blade? The tip is AWESOME!!!
 
Originally posted by Buzzbait
It makes me wonder why Benchmade even bothered going to D2 on the Axis AFCK.
Click to expand...

Me too. Any advantage that D2 may have had was negated by the use of BT2. I can't see why they decided on D2 for the axis AFCK.

I also want to thank you for making the sacrifice of the g-10 scale. I had considered this and now I know not too. ;)
 
I am actually able to "thumbnail-flick" my 710 open(thumbnail flicking open the stud). This is pretty remarkable for a large knife. I think it speaks well for the overall balance of the knife.

Sorry you had a bad experience with the homemade "mods", Buzz. A painful learning experience. I've generally used a straight forward push with the thumb rather than trying to swing the blade out and if that method is used, additional relief for the thumb is not as important. Perhaps you might practice that technique as you prepare for the shipment back to BM.

Good luck.
 
The experiment was an unequivocal "unsucess". It isn't hurting me too much though. I just have to get the scale replaced, and the knife is still usable for the time being. The only real pain was the blunt force trauma to my head, banging it against my workbench afterward. :barf:
 
Buzzbait,
Thanks for the great review/comparison. I share your appreciation of and enthusiasm for the BM710HS. My Sebenza also lost some carry time to it.

Your comments about using the Joe Talmadge sharpening method are of great interest as I want to try it when resharpening becomes necessary. Do the 30 and 40 degree angles you mentioned refer to the included angle? I am also a bit confused about how the difference in the angles on each side occurred. After reading your description I took a close look and the blade on my 710 does not appear to be a hollow grind. I would appreciate any enlightenment that you can provide.
 
WrayH - You are correct. My bad. No hollow grind here.

My problem with the oddly sharpened angle appears to be due to the grind just being slightly off. Lets put it this way. If you imagined that the there was no beveled edge on the blade, the edge itself would be slight off to one side. If you were to cut a perfect center cross section of the blade, 90 degrees down from the center of the spine, the edge would actually be on only one side of the cross section. Does that make any sense? This is just a guess of course. The problem wasn't really a big one, and was easily compensated for.

As for the angles in Joe Talmadge's article, 30 and 40 degrees would be included angles. They are basically the angles inscribed on a SharpMaker 204. Individually, they would be 15 and 20 degrees, which I believe Joe wrote them as.
 
Enlightenment requested; enlightenment received. Very clear and complete. Thanks.
 
Kewl. I was worried that my explanation sounded like the ramblings of a madman!!!

I'm glad you were fooled into thinking I'm a sane and rational person. ;)
 
All this talk about how good the 710 is made me put in an order today for a second one. I don't use my first one because it holds a very special sentimental value to me. So I had to get another one to carry and use. I got the 154CM blade steel because I don't really like blade coatings and if I can get a knife without it, I always do.
 
Though the large and small Sebenzas are my favorite folders, the 710 gets a lot of carry time. I like recurce blades and the 710 seems to have just the right amount. Gotta love the bladeshape and tip. Now if only they could put that blade on a framelock ala 750.
 
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