Benchmade 10500 Rant Bowie. What is its steel like?

[sharpmaker]

I am thinking of buying this knife. I love the way it look but I dont know about its steel. What is the quality of this steel N690 stainless ?

What quality does it have?
I would love this knife in D2 or VG10 or s30v. I dont know anything about this steel.


Benchmade 10500 Rant Bowie
Blade steel: N690 stainless steel hardened to 58-60 HRC

10505 Rant Bowie MSRP
Blade steel:N690 stainless steel hardened to 58-60 HRC

 

[JDBLADE]

N690 is a good steel and closer to VG10 then 440c which it has often been compared to. Have a look at the steel charts and you will find that N690 has similar characterists to VG10 except the former has a bit more chromium about 2 percent. The Benchmade Rants are good knives but be careful when buying esp., off the net as you may end up with the 440C version although there is nothing wrong with it but if you are after N690 make sure you ask for it.

 

[Jeff Clark]

I like the N690 alloy. It is very similar to VG-10. It takes an extremely sharp edge. The Rant is hollow ground and cuts very well. It makes an excellent hunting knife. Even in a store you need to look carefully at the knife blade to see if you are getting one with a 440C or N690 blade, since both have been made. I think that they may be obsoleting the N690, but I can't get the Benchmade website to work well enough today to confirm.

 

[JD Mandrell]

I believe only the first production run was N690, then they switched to 440C.

The newest issue of Tactical Knives has a write up of Benchmades red class knives, they give the Rant boiwie pretty high marks.

 

[guy g]

Gave one to my FIL and he loves it. The 440c perfoms as advertised and the grip is real comfy.