Benchmade 710-3 CPM-M4 review/thoughts

Dang, I'm sorry that happened to you. Wish it happened a week earlier though... I just received mine in the mail and it seems to have the same issue. Definitely the blade hitting the standoff. It's hard to get a good picture of it but you can see the light shining through the chip/roll.
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I've never sent a knife back before but this seems like an issue that will continue and progressively get worse. Back she goes I suppose.
 
Wow. I checked mine real well. I guess my blade must be cut at a slightly different angle or something. I can see the blade clearly while its closed and it probably has at least an 1/8th of an inch clearance from both standoffs. Seems real strange that a long time successful model would have this issue. I'd sure love to hear what Benchmade finds when you guys send your knives in.
 
I wonder if the screw holes in your stand offs may be slightly off center or the stand off slightly out of round, or both. That may explain why the blade is hitting it. I wonder if you loosened the stand off screws and rotated it some if that would solve the problem of the blade hitting it. You guys got me curious now.
 
What a bummer on the standoff bumping.
Now with the smooth operation:
I got an M4 525 a while back and it got stiff after I had it a little while, took it apart and found some thick goo in the washer area. I cleaned it and all was well. I think it was the fact I cut a lot of apples and that was the cause. M4 is not stainless.
I have to be careful not to cut fruit. great knife!
 
Hard to tell if the standoffs are out of round unless the blade is resharpened before testing that. I can say that the blade of my closed 710-3 can be pushed toward the standoff when with little pressure. Although it won't touch the the standoff with the light pressure I am willing to use, if does get closer. I would bet that Lenny's can be moved too.
To make it clear, I am not one to complain for the sake of it. I really the design of the 710, the axis lock, and the fact that this one is in M4. Not trying to pile on the dealer or benchmade, but if multiple people are having this problem it should be known.
 
Oddly enough mine seems to have the same dent issue, however the edge is no where near the standoff in the closed position.
 
My edge is no where near the standoff as well. If you push light pressure on the blade, it goes closer, if you put heavy pressure, even more so. If you flip it shut quickly, it's going to deflect even more than heavy pressure. I definitely think flipping it shut can cause it to make contact.

I'm surprised M4 chipped though, I would expect it to roll as I thought it was extremely chip resistant.
 
I had the same problem with the standoff in my M390 710. Benchmade fixed it right up, and I got it back in less than two weeks. Plus, per my request, they removed the plastic backspacer and put some nice barrel spacers in for me. The knife's great now. Been thinking of the M4 version, as I've been wanting a knife with an M4 blade, BUT I can almost get two of the D2 versions for the prices of the M4 version. What to do?? :)
 
So I got my replacement M390 version in today and have to say, it's perfect. It is butter smooth, more so than any knife I've had. I do like the barrel spacer look over the backspacer though, so I may do the same as the above poster.
 
I'd put money on it hitting the spacer. Mine both have the g10 backspacer and you can see where it makes contact even on those.
 
I've had tons of 710's and some have hit the back spacer and standoff's when closed and some haven't. The one I have right now (D2) has a nice, deep line in the center of the backspacer from the blade hitting it when closed. It does it everytime it closes. I hate having to send stuff in so I am dealing with it. I may replace it with standoffs and see if that makes any difference. If it doesn't, I may just sand the inside of the backspacer down until it doesn't hit anymore.

I am not sure what the blades look like before Benchmade grinds in the secondary bevels, but I imagine there is some variance in how tall the blades end up when finished (different people grinding them in, different wheels/equipment, etc.)

If I didn't like the knife so much I'd get rid of it and pick up something else. They should have tweaked the design a long time ago to fix this because it's been an issue since the 710 came out years back (I know because I had a very early one which did this also).
 
I came to the 710 party late, I picked up my M390 version a couple of months ago and love it. Especially after I sent it back to Benchmade and had a centered blade put in it. They rocked and it came back friggin' perfect. It's my 10th or so Benchmade and probably my favorite. I really like my Reflex 2550 and my Nitrous Blitz, my first Benchmade. When I get buried it's going with me in the box as I don't have any kids.

On impulse I bought the M4 version (710-3) online Monday evening, and it was delivered today. I was concerned about chips on the blade after reading this thread but I can tell you mine came in perfect.

Arrived centered, no play at all and the blade no where close to the spacers. My M390 never hit the plastic backspacer, either.

So I can absolutely recommend the 710-3! Yep, it's still stiff, but I'll work it in to where it's butter-smooth like the rest of them.
 
so anyhow if you go to benchmade site and look at the 710 they offer a special through knife works i call knife works to order the blade made for them and they had returned the whole entire shipment for this same issue a little closer look at my knife and lo and behold i had chipping i sent it to benchmade and they fixed it right away however i am not happy with there answer for fixing it it was hitting the back spacer and that was Causing dulling and chiping along with the blade not having the correct rockwell hardness mine wad 34 and it is suposed to be 31-32 the guy told me it was to hard anyhow they replaced the blade witch i was happy with but then in order to to stop it from hitting the back spacer they had to reprofile the blade i was told that once they make a new production run and corrorect the known issues with this last run i would be able to trade it up no questions asked and they offerd free shiping both ways and even free laser engraving for the future like i said even though they could not "fix it right away" benchmade is awsome in that they will take care of you and your knife it took some pushing but in the end i got the right person on the phone and they took good care of me idk why they don just add a dip in the back spacer like my wife's emissary it has a thin cut out right where the blade sits so it doesn't hit any how hope this helps i deff might send it back new blade with the back spacer removed
 
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