Hi all,
Joined your forum a while ago and this is my first post after gleening info quietly for a while
Thanks to you I made the correct choice, choices in fact!
I decided to buy firstly the Benchmade 710 HS, found one here in the the UK, the only one I think!
Then, as you do, I got tempted by the LoneWolf Ranger T2 with cocobolo scales, so I bought that too
Anyways, I've had them both for a while now and thought I would post my thoughts, by way of a thank you for the info.
I'm no expert by the way. So I can only give my impressions as a user.
The 710 HS is an extremely well built knife, so well built infact that it rings if I tap the handle on my nuckle, that prooves to me, as an ex-engineer, it is well mated / put together.
The blade after some use cutting and wittling wood, rope, some plastics etc. ( I'm not one of those types that has to try and cut the hardest thing you can find, ramming it through steel cans etc. etc. to prove a blades worth, because lets face it you ain't going to do that in real life if your kitted out well... hey, I'll leave that to the real reviewers :yawn: ) And it has kept a very keen edge.
I removed the shoulders a little using the sharp maker @ 30 degrees, it improved cutting ability some and refined the factory edge to shaving sharp. As I said it retains it, well, better than I thought.
The handle design is perfect for me, giving plenty of comfortable hand possitions for many tasks. The G10 scales are good and grippy.
My only thought is concerning the spring on the locking sysytem, just wondering, after time, whether it may loose strength. It's never under prolonged stress as it's only taking higher compression for a short time during the transition from close to open and visa versa, so it should last if the spring steel is good, I suspect it is!
You guys will no doubt be able to answer that one ?
To the Ranger T2 :
It's blade is amasing, in fact, sharper than the HS steel on the 710 after giving it the same treatment. That CPM S30V steel is excellent! However, in the field the differance between the two can't really be noticed.
It holds an egde as well, if not marginally better, than the HS steel.
The build quality is also execellent but IMHO not quite as good/durable as the 710HS.
The Cocobolo handles are nice, it's grip is good but not as versatile as the 710. It feels good to hold a nice bit of wood in your hands, even it's not quite as durable!!
It's blade shape is deeper and more refined/controlable for skining and other tasks I noticed, but what, can't remember at the mo.
The 710's more agressive blade tends to dig in if not carefull.
The more basic liner lockup is solid but can be a little tough/stiky to release ( that might be because I'm not using the best of lubricants ( tried to get Militec, I think it's called, but no joy here in the UK as yet.... Anyone know where I can buy in the UK ? Please let me know, cheers )
My only concern, other than knocking the prety handles, is if any foriegn body gets trapped between the scale and the liner lock when open, if you don't notice while trying to release, the least that could happen, is you can't release it, or worse, you may crack the nice Cocobolo scale
So to sum up this rather long post:
I carry the 710HS .... and use that as my main, instantly acessible, 'do most things' knife.
The Ranger T2 is kept for finer work and kept perfectly sharp.
I now have the perfect knives idealy suited to different tasks ... and both a joy to own.
Hope my none technical findings will prove of some use to someone.... I'll post more findings / thoughts / observations as they come up.
All I need now is a good Parang for heavy camp work ... or a good camp axe I can get in my backpack!.... any sugestions??
Thanks all for making this forum a great source of info.
Cheers,
Stiks.
Joined your forum a while ago and this is my first post after gleening info quietly for a while
Thanks to you I made the correct choice, choices in fact!
I decided to buy firstly the Benchmade 710 HS, found one here in the the UK, the only one I think!
Then, as you do, I got tempted by the LoneWolf Ranger T2 with cocobolo scales, so I bought that too
Anyways, I've had them both for a while now and thought I would post my thoughts, by way of a thank you for the info.
I'm no expert by the way. So I can only give my impressions as a user.
The 710 HS is an extremely well built knife, so well built infact that it rings if I tap the handle on my nuckle, that prooves to me, as an ex-engineer, it is well mated / put together.
The blade after some use cutting and wittling wood, rope, some plastics etc. ( I'm not one of those types that has to try and cut the hardest thing you can find, ramming it through steel cans etc. etc. to prove a blades worth, because lets face it you ain't going to do that in real life if your kitted out well... hey, I'll leave that to the real reviewers :yawn: ) And it has kept a very keen edge.
I removed the shoulders a little using the sharp maker @ 30 degrees, it improved cutting ability some and refined the factory edge to shaving sharp. As I said it retains it, well, better than I thought.
The handle design is perfect for me, giving plenty of comfortable hand possitions for many tasks. The G10 scales are good and grippy.
My only thought is concerning the spring on the locking sysytem, just wondering, after time, whether it may loose strength. It's never under prolonged stress as it's only taking higher compression for a short time during the transition from close to open and visa versa, so it should last if the spring steel is good, I suspect it is!
You guys will no doubt be able to answer that one ?
To the Ranger T2 :
It's blade is amasing, in fact, sharper than the HS steel on the 710 after giving it the same treatment. That CPM S30V steel is excellent! However, in the field the differance between the two can't really be noticed.
It holds an egde as well, if not marginally better, than the HS steel.
The build quality is also execellent but IMHO not quite as good/durable as the 710HS.
The Cocobolo handles are nice, it's grip is good but not as versatile as the 710. It feels good to hold a nice bit of wood in your hands, even it's not quite as durable!!
It's blade shape is deeper and more refined/controlable for skining and other tasks I noticed, but what, can't remember at the mo.
The 710's more agressive blade tends to dig in if not carefull.The more basic liner lockup is solid but can be a little tough/stiky to release ( that might be because I'm not using the best of lubricants ( tried to get Militec, I think it's called, but no joy here in the UK as yet.... Anyone know where I can buy in the UK ? Please let me know, cheers )
My only concern, other than knocking the prety handles, is if any foriegn body gets trapped between the scale and the liner lock when open, if you don't notice while trying to release, the least that could happen, is you can't release it, or worse, you may crack the nice Cocobolo scale
So to sum up this rather long post:
I carry the 710HS .... and use that as my main, instantly acessible, 'do most things' knife.
The Ranger T2 is kept for finer work and kept perfectly sharp.
I now have the perfect knives idealy suited to different tasks ... and both a joy to own.
Hope my none technical findings will prove of some use to someone.... I'll post more findings / thoughts / observations as they come up.
All I need now is a good Parang for heavy camp work ... or a good camp axe I can get in my backpack!.... any sugestions??
Thanks all for making this forum a great source of info.
Cheers,
Stiks.
