Benchmade 710

556hunter

556hunter

Joined
Mar 6, 2014
Messages
682
Hi y'all, got some questions for you. I've been looking at the 710 and finally decided I have to have one. My question is, is D2 that much better or worse than M2HS? I use my knife a lot for work and it does get used hard. I don't abuse my knives but I need them to be able to stand up to light prying, drilling holes, and other assorted tasks without breaking while I'm working out here in the in the middle of no where. I also use my pocket knife to clean and skin/quarter lots of deer and hogs, so the edge need to hold up too. I'm not a big fan of mirror polished edge so that's not a concern for me. Nor is corrosion resistance, I carry 1095 slipjoints knives on a daily basis already. Finally, price; I can pick up a plain edge satin blade (would much rather have a black blade, but they seem to be discontinued:() in D2 for about $130 and I've found one in M2HS for $315. So my question is, is the M2 steel worth damn near tripple the cost of the D2? I'm open to other suggestions on steel in the 710 as well.

For reference, I've carried a Benchmade AFO in 154CM for years, so that's kind of the yard stick I'm measuring everything by.

Thanks,
Ryan
 
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I'd go with the 710-1401 in M390 for $180. (Geez that's a lot of numbers in a single sentence.)
 
I think the 710 d2 for your uses is the knife to get,but i prefer the m390 and the m2 as an edc carry ,myself i consider the m2 version bordering on collectible so i wouldn't be abusing it for sure
 
I would also recommend the 710-1401 in M390. Had mine for a few months and that bad boy is super fine!!
I won't use mine as a work knife as my sons bought it for me and had their initials engraved on the blade. Also had S Ketchen whip up a set of custom scales for it.
Excellent steel on a fantastic knife!!
Joe
 
Pic!!! Cause pics are always good!
Joe

8053edbf77f8d706ff3b7aaeaa55c0b7.jpg
 
The 1401 seems to be a catch 22. Great blade steel from what I hear (M390) but hideous g10. I personally hate the look of the blue/black nightmare.

I love and carry my D2 710 all the time. D2 holds a hell of an edge. Plus , nice black g10 and new it costs only $153.

I vote D2 710.
 
Thanks for all the replies guys. I'm definitely not a collector and don't really care about that kind of stuff. If I bought the M2 steel, it'd be used just as hard as anything else.

I'm just trying to find out which steel would be best for me. Which one will hold the best edge, resist lateral pressure and breakage, and over all just be the toughest blade steel for this particular knife.

Secondarily, which ever steel is best; I'd like to try and quantify just how much better it is than say D2. I simply want to know if the increased performance over D2 is worth the increased cost. Oh, I guess o should go ahead and mention that I'm not really a fan of satin blades. If I got a D2 in satin, I'd try and patina it or blue it. All of the other steels would hopefully be in a black coated blade.

Thanks,
Ryan
 
I have benchmades in both D2 and M2. Carried an M2 exclusively for over 15 years and used it for everything.
D2 isn't even in the same ballpark unless all you're cutting is soft materials.
Once you start contacting harder stuff like others metals, stressing the edge by prying or scraping, it's game over for D2.
 
^^ why do you say that? Does D2 chip and break easier than M2? I don't cut much metal but I want the toughest knife possible. I cut a lot of rope, wood, seat belts, sugar sacks, boxes, an extension cord every now and then, and quarter a ton animals. Hogs are rediculusly hard on knifes!
 
I say that because I've used both for the same tasks.
For a tough knife, forget the 710. Get something with a large beefy pivot area.
Forget M2, it's too hard to come by, and now collectable. I suggest M4.
Get an 810 and profile the tip to your liking.

Like this.

IMG_6227e.jpg
 
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I appreciate the advice but I'm pretty well set on wanting a 710. I'm just simply trying to figure out which steel would serve me the best. Pure edge retention isn't all that matters to me, I'm looking for the best all around steel.

Let's see if we can break this down easier. Between D2 and M2:

Which one chips/breaks easier?

Holds an edge longer?

If M2 wins, how MUCH better is it than D2?
 
The M2 would serve you much better than D2.
I had a 710 D2, the edge rolled very easy (to me). I sold it and got a minigrip D2 thinking it might have just been that knife. Nope, same thing.
M2 has much better edge retention and stability. Doing things that trashed the D2 edges barely affected my M2 ones.
They also made the 710 with M4 blade and it would be good too.
 
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Thanks for all the help jpm2! I really appreciate you taking the time to help.

Would you say that there's a big enough difference in performance between d2 and m2 to justify paying almost tripple the cost of a standard d2 knife?
 
556hunter said:
Thanks for all the help jpm2! I really appreciate you taking the time to help.

Would you say that there's a big enough difference in performance between d2 and m2 to justify paying almost tripple the cost of a standard d2 knife?
Click to expand...

You're welcome.
Hard to say - If those were the only 2 choices, yes. But since there's other (better)choices, for me -no.
 
I believe the d2 steel would hold up just fine. Also d2 is easy to sharpen, I've sharpened it on various things and it takes an edge pretty easy, about the same as 154cm I'd say. So I believe with what your doing, d2 is tough enough. I also believe with what you'll be doing you'll be able to dull any knife pretty easily, But with d2 it'll be easy enough to resharpen it.
 
Better choices than a 710-D2 or $300+ M2?
Almost anything in M4, contego, stryker, gayle bradley, etc. All solid, and $200 or less new except maybe the stryker.

If you're dead set on a 710, get it, just saying it was too flimsy for my liking. There's lots of similar (to me) flimsy knives to choose from with better steels than D2.

Edit: I agree with CarterR about D2 and 154cm being about the same performance wise. Of those 2 I'd choose 154.
 
I only have the standard D2 model and the 710-2 in M390. M390 is better than D2 for edge retention, but D2 will serve you well. I haven't found it to be "chippy". The M2 version isn't something I would even consider, especially for the price stated, unless I was a collector.
If the 710 is too flimsy for you, you need a fixed blade knife. The 710 will do anything you need to do with a folding knife.
 
I have quite a few 710's, M2, M4, M390 & D2, all PE.
All are good serviceable steels with none showing any signs of having any kind of chipping issues.

M2 has awesome edge retention.
It is know to be an awesome steel.
Benchmade stopped using M2 years ago because it was so hard on their machinery.
Now that's the kind of steel I'm looking for.
Someday, not so very far away M2 will no longer be around for any of us to enjoy.
I love M2.
I have made great efforts to find the BM models I have in M2.
I have 2-710's, 1-mini Ritter& 1-full size Ritter all in M2.
I use them all.
Don't misunderstand me.
There is nothing wrong with D2, M390 or M4.
M2 is just better (edge retention).



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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deskil said:
If the 710 is too flimsy for you, you need a fixed blade knife. The 710 will do anything you need to do with a folding knife.
Click to expand...
Sorry but, you're not allowed to speak for me.
No, I just need something less flimsy than the 710, like the ones suggested.
 
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