Benchmade D2 vs M2?

ehhh

ehhh

Joined
Feb 4, 2006
Messages
562
Has anyone ever actually tested Benchmade's D2 and M2 against each other? I've been seeing a few threads around that wonder if the change from M2 to D2 in their 710 is an upgrade or not. IIRC someone said a BM rep said D2 outperformed M2 in their tests, and I have even seen some steel charts that rate D2 above M2 in both toughness and wear resistance (see: http://www.timken.com/products/spec...r_melt/ColdWorkToolSteels/DuraTech Xtreme.pdf)

The general consensus around here seems to be that M2 is above D2 in terms of edgeholding, but has anyone ever actually tested a new 710D2 against a 710HS? I personally own a 710HS and I love it so much I am thinking about getting a 710D2 in the future, so I would love to see a test like that.
 
I would DEFINATELY rate M2 above D2 in edge holding. Check it out: http://www3.telus.net/BrentBeach/Sharpen/bladetest.html

It is not a massive difference, but depending on heat treat and such the M2 can probably outperform D2 by 10-30 percent. Sorry I can't be more specific, it really does depend on the individual blade.

In addition, M2 is much easier to sharpen to a fine point at an acute angle. With D2 this can be virtually impossible due to the large carbides present in the steel. In a production knife it probably won't matter though.

D2 sells better though, in some part probably because some of the first custom makers used it, and still do. And honestly how often do you see M2 in knife blades? Its not because its not a great steel though!
 
I'm not really interested in the selling performance at all, just edge retention and toughness. I realize that it probably costs more for Benchmade to have to heat treat a steel like M2 and D2 simply outperforms it in cost effectiveness, but I'm mainly just interested in actual performance differences in D2 and M2 (as heat treated by Benchmade).

Perhaps Benchmade's D2 does in fact outperform their M2. Has anyone ever tested this, had experience with BM M2 and D2 or seen tests of it?
 
Well, steel does vary greatly from maker to maker... I suppose the website I listed did only have two examples of D2 plane blades. D2 technically has more vanadium and chromium and should be able to form more carbides, which in turn should lead to greater wear resistance.

According to the results on that website, M2 had about 20 percent greater wear resistance then D2. So in any case, realistically it won't matter a whole lot. To see those results he had to make 2 or 4 hundred passes on a multiple foot long piece of pine. Can you honestly tell me that you're going to be doing that much cutting with a recurved folder?

What kind of edge angles are you sharpening it at per side? What kind of cutting/slicing do you do with your knife?
 
Well, I haven't sharpened my knife yet, and I use my knives to open mail, cut cardboard and open some plastic packages. I'm really just curious how Benchmades D2 compares with their M2. I think it would make an interesting comparison because the heat treat should be of similar quality.
Can't say I'll be cutting up pine trees or anything, and I probably wouldn't notice much of a difference, but I am just sort of curious as to how the two compare.
 
I understand, and honestly, it really depends. Overall M2 comes at as the winner to me because it has smaller carbides and can take a much finer and acute edge. It also is more wear resistant, although I may be wrong (but I doubt it :) )

Toughness wise I assume they are practically the same. Both poor choices for a hard use chopping blade (unless of course Busse or Swamp Rat treats them LOL.)
 
ghost squire said:
Both poor choices for a hard use chopping blade (unless of course Busse or Swamp Rat treats them LOL.)
Click to expand...

Still, actually, though the Swamp did impressive things with D2. SRKW strongly recommends against using their D2 knives for the more "hard use" tasks of the main line, both because of the nature of the material and also because of the blade/edge geometries the D2 knives were built with. Wide, full-height flat grinds with 1/8" spines around 60RC don't do well in chopping and twisting no matter what they're made of.

I'm pretty sure you were joking, so am just pointing this out to any uninformed out there who might take the wrong idea away with them.

M2 can, if I'm remembering right, be taken to a higher HRC than D2 without becoming (even more) brittle, though very few makers take either past 60 or 61. Cliff stamp had an M2 blade run at 65RC, focusing purely on maximizing its long term cutting and was very impressed with the results. D2 has more corrosion resistance in my experience. I have got D2 edges very acute, both toothy and high polished, so I can't personally speak to M2 being more capable in this area, but that is something I've seen a number of people swear to.
 
"M2 can, if I'm remembering right, be taken to a higher HRC than D2 without becoming (even more) brittle, though very few makers take either past 60 or 61"

That's one of my pet peeves - not hardening a steel to its maximum hardness potential (espescially 4-inch and below knives).

But, I can empathize as to why companies don't. A heavy twist or lateral load and "snap."
 
I can compare a Cabelas' Griptilian (551ODBTD2) to 710HS - if You mind edge retention and toughness... there is no comparison.

D2 is better than 154CM in this terms, I like it - but M2 takes finer edge and holds it much longer. Regardless of what You cut - M2 beats D2.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top