Benchmade 710-1 M390 steel

M390 is excellent steel. :)

I have one of these coming next week. :)
 
Ankerson said:
M390 is excellent steel. :)

... :)
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On what experience do you base this? I haven't read any tests or comparisons of M390 with any extended cutting.

BTW - I have one each of the M390 versions of the 710 and I think they are good to go. As well made as any 710, with a bit of difference, e.g. the rounded spine of the blade.
 
orthogonal1 said:
On what experience do you base this? I haven't read any tests or comparisons of M390 with any extended cutting.

BTW - I have one each of the M390 versions of the 710 and I think they are good to go. As well made as any 710, with a bit of difference, e.g. the rounded spine of the blade.
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I have tested it before. :)

It will be tested again once I get this knife, but it will be done on video.

I also tested 20CV which is basically the same steel, and that was on video.
 
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Ankerson, can you post a link to the 20CV test? I'd like to see it.

orthogonal1, I should have my hands on #30 tomorrow as well as the standard D2 version. This will be my first time to put my hands on 710. The guys on forums and youtube persuaded me to go 710 way.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcCtjXpxGFw

Performance of 20CV seems amazing in terms of wear resistance(which I assume you would need for cardboard). At least on the video.

I'm thinking the increased carbon and chromium leads to a higher carbide volume. Tempting, but I feel like leaning towards the ZT 0350CB for hard use, at least until Ankerson does a hard use testing of the 710.

Still, looking at the numbers, I would assume that there is a tradeoff of toughness when compared to D2, M2, or M4. It's just logical that stainless steel will never be as tough as tool steel.
 
I've got one, just came in today. About what I expected frankly... a 710 which is ergonomically just fine... cool blade, great steel not that there was anything wrong with D2 or HSS
 
Noctis3880: thank you for the link, it looks impressive.

Sick or Sane: enjoy it. Mine was supposed to come last week (as well as 710 in D2), than today, but the person bringing it is sick so I hope it'll be on Saturday.
Are you planing to use your 710-1 or it'll be a collector's piece. I'm planing to keep mine as collectors piece. I'm sure 710 in D2 will complete all my cutting needs with flying colors.
 
My 710-1 arrived two days ago (together with regular D2 version). The biggest difference between the two (apart from the steel and the #30 of 250 written on the blade:) is that the spine of the blade is nicely rounded and it really improves the comfort of handling the knife when it's closed. 710-1 just want's to be in your hands instead riding in your pocket ;-) It's such a nice touch that I wonder why Benchmade doesn't offer it in their standard models.
Everybody talks about G10 scales of 710 being to slick. My feeling is that they have more grip than my Benchmade 913 (Nitrous Stryker). Both 710-1 and the standard version have same black G10 scales.
In terms of size, it's a big knife!!! I like it, it's comfortable in the pocket, not heavy at all, but when I take it out I get surprised by how big it is, and I get the same response from anyone who sees it.
 
orthogonal1 said:
On what experience do you base this? I haven't read any tests or comparisons of M390 with any extended cutting.

BTW - I have one each of the M390 versions of the 710 and I think they are good to go. As well made as any 710, with a bit of difference, e.g. the rounded spine of the blade.
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I tested M390 on cardboard and it rated very high IMO. :thumbup:
 
Noctis3880 said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcCtjXpxGFw

Performance of 20CV seems amazing in terms of wear resistance(which I assume you would need for cardboard). At least on the video.

I'm thinking the increased carbon and chromium leads to a higher carbide volume. Tempting, but I feel like leaning towards the ZT 0350CB for hard use, at least until Ankerson does a hard use testing of the 710.

Still, looking at the numbers, I would assume that there is a tradeoff of toughness when compared to D2, M2, or M4. It's just logical that stainless steel will never be as tough as tool steel.
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I found that Bohler M390 rated higher than 20CV in my testing and a noticable difference in sharpness after my cardboard cutting.

The M390 BM 710-1 would still slice phonebook paper clean after my cardboard cutting and if you watched the video I cut a lot of cardboard with it. :eek:

Bohler M390 and 20CV aren't really exactly the same steel from what I have been reading.
 
Ankerson said:
I found that Bohler M390 rated higher than 20CV in my testing and a noticable difference in sharpness after my cardboard cutting.

The M390 BM 710-1 would still slice phonebook paper clean after my cardboard cutting and if you watched the video I cut a lot of cardboard with it. :eek:

Bohler M390 and 20CV aren't really exactly the same steel from what I have been reading.
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Interesting. However, I've been very bad on buying knives lately, and I don't think anything will pry any more money out of my wallet for a while short of some sort of fantastic adamantium steel with over 10% vanadium content, a hardness higher than Rc 65, toughness of D2, and better stain resistance than D2.

At a glance at the steel chart, I would say it blows S30V out of the water in all categories, but can't hold a candle to S90V(which admittedly is becoming a rare commodity nowadays).

Still, I think the real question is:
What types of cutting is this knife good for?

In the 710 model, I'm really curious as to how it would hold up in hard use. I typically feel that high carbide stainless steels are best suited for light to medium use, preferably with food to make use of the stainless feature. Though people still like CPM 3V over 1095 for their choppers, so perhaps carbides are good for other tasks as well.
 
Noctis3880 said:
Interesting. However, I've been very bad on buying knives lately, and I don't think anything will pry any more money out of my wallet for a while short of some sort of fantastic adamantium steel with over 10% vanadium content, a hardness higher than Rc 65, toughness of D2, and better stain resistance than D2.

At a glance at the steel chart, I would say it blows S30V out of the water in all categories, but can't hold a candle to S90V(which admittedly is becoming a rare commodity nowadays).

Still, I think the real question is:
What types of cutting is this knife good for?

In the 710 model, I'm really curious as to how it would hold up in hard use. I typically feel that high carbide stainless steels are best suited for light to medium use, preferably with food to make use of the stainless feature. Though people still like CPM 3V over 1095 for their choppers, so perhaps carbides are good for other tasks as well.
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The blade is a little on the thin side, more of a slicer IMO, but it's thick enough to do some real work. :)

But then I am not going to test a Limited Edition knife risking snapping off the tip. ;)

It's in my EDC lineup and I use it for cardboard mostly so far, it excels at that, one of the best steels I have ever used for that task, I like it better than ZDP for cardboard.

It is notable that Hinderer uses 20CV that is very close to M390 in the XM-18 so it's a strong steel.
 
Ankerson said:
The blade is a little on the thin side, more of a slicer IMO, but it's thick enough to do some real work. :)

But then I am not going to test a Limited Edition knife risking snapping off the tip. ;)

It's in my EDC lineup and I use it for cardboard mostly so far, it excels at that, one of the best steels I have ever used for that task, I like it better than ZDP for cardboard.

It is notable that Hinderer uses 20CV that is very close to M390 in the XM-18 so it's a strong steel.
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Yes, but isn't it also true that he replaced the 20CV steel with the newer CTS-XHP?

My experience with that steel(CTS-XHP) is that it is a low carbide steel with very little wear resistance, though it might have more toughness which you would want in a hard use knife.
 
Noctis3880 said:
Yes, but isn't it also true that he replaced the 20CV steel with the newer CTS-XHP?

My experience with that steel(CTS-XHP) is that it is a low carbide steel with very little wear resistance, though it might have more toughness which you would want in a hard use knife.
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Yes, he just changed over not that long ago. :)

Not sure why he changed as I have read anything on it.
 
Was so impressed by the results of Jim's tests on the BM 710-01 that I had to get one. #136 just came in yesterday - at my door when I got home from a tough week at work. What a great knife. I really like my SOG Team Leader in 20CV, which is why I got the M390. Shaving sharp out of the box, strong lock up, solid knife. I can hardly wait to get it into the field. Here's some mediocre pictures, as I'm not much of a photographer.

IMG_1772.jpg


IMG_1774.jpg


IMG_1775.jpg
 
Looks very nice!!! How's the clip on yours? On mine, I must say I'm a bit disappointed as there are clear marks where it was broken off from the rest of the material after, what I presume, was a press cut. The edges are rough but not sharp. It’s not a big deal but it would be nice to have a better finish on the LE knife. The rest is great.
 
After reading some feedback on others, I feel lucky that the fit and finish on mine were very good. The only thing is that the blade hit the inside of the plastic back spacer when closed, as I could clearly see a slice line on it. Other than that, everything was well machined, precise, and worked great. The pocket clip was perfect, too. And shaving sharp out of the box. I have an email into BM regarding getting some stainless barrel spacers to replace the plastic back piece.
 
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