Benchmade has some work to do on their M390

J

jdowell

Joined
Aug 15, 2007
Messages
171
I bought a small Ritter Grip in M390, earlier this year. It's a nice little knife. I love the size, weight, lock & blade shape.
I've owned a number of Benchmades over the years.

I use my knives hard. I work in a custom cabinet shop and do a lot of different construction work in the field. I don't baby my users and I bought this one to be a user.
I don't pry with them (much;)) or use them inappropriately, as I have quick access to any tool I want, but I do use them hard and cut, scrape, poke a large variety of materials. Not just cardboard and rope!
The point is, I quickly know the pros, cons and over-all quality of a knife, in real world, hard use situations.

I've been going between the Ritter Grip and a Spyderco Paramilitary 2, with cpm s30v steel. The Para 2 has a more acute bevel than the Ritter. It's the factory edge. The Ritter was re-profiled at 20 a side and polished. I maintain both on a Sharpmaker & strops. Based on this info alone, the Para should dull quicker than the Ritter, right? The Para remains sharp twice as long as the Ritter.. Twice as long! The m390 scratches much more easily too. I think it's too soft.
 
Both threads seem to show a failure to address it, which is disturbing. I thought Benchmade a better company than that.
 
The Ritter in S30V is no more, the only ones available at this point are available from private owners. That might be your best bet.It can be tough getting a response via the forums on anything from Benchmade, that is a sad thing too.
 
jdowell said:
Both threads seem to show a failure to address it, which is disturbing. I thought Benchmade a better company than that.
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Benchmade is no different it seems then most companies that hike their prices. The quality slips.
 
This is still disappointing to me. I was planning on buying a Ritter Griptilian, but this recurrent theme has put that on hold indefinitely.
 
I bought one yesterday at Blade to put in some Wilkins scales and was told it is now great steel. The early ones had problems as it took a while to really figure out the steel.
 
I bought one recently, and the blade cuts ok. It behaves more like 154CM than M390. The AFCK in M390 I have works perfectly. Strange how they had it down, then lost their mojo somewhere along the line.
 
strange. My M390 710 is damn near indestructible and holds a crazy edge like it were some ultra tough tool steel. There is always the KW exclusive ZT 0350 with M390 Ive got that one as well and it also seems damn near indestructible
 
Probably so. There was a bad batch of O springs in early 580's (probably other models, and this was a few years ago) which caused some anxiety.
 
Bad HT batch is OK. Understandable. It happens. What I want to know is this. Will Benchmade replace my blade with a properly heat treated blade?
 
They don't come round very often, best advice is to call them at 800-800-7427, ask for customer service. ...and I'm sure many of us will be interested in what they have to say.
 
u812 said:
I bought one yesterday at Blade to put in some Wilkins scales and was told it is now great steel. The early ones had problems as it took a while to really figure out the steel.
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Who did you hear this from? Someone at the Benchmade booth?
 
u812 said:
I believe it was the owner of eknifeworks.
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Cool cool, I'll call Benchmade tomorrow and see if they have anything to say. I bought one the day they were released and was rather surprised when the edge went from shaving sharp to visibly deformed after one long cut on a piece of hardwood.
 
My M390 keeps an edge equal to 154CM. I am not impressed with it and have over a dozen other brand new Benchmades to choose from for EDC, but I'm addicted to the darn spring assist. Watching TV I constantly open and close it. And for that I like it. The M390 on my 580 is not a super steel, it is a joke!
 
think your PM2 hasnt chipped or snapped because its just a larger knife than a mini Grip with much more cutting surface thus you dont have to use as much force as you do on the Mini. The PM2 comes with a 15 dps(or as close to it as possible) from the factory of course its gonna cut better. S30V is still no joke either Spydercos treatment for it must be world class. As for M390 knives. Try a Knifeworks M390 Contego or KW M390 ZT 0350. Have whichever knife re profiled and sharpened to say 17 or 18 dps and either knife should be able to hold its edge better than near any other steel you will ever use. Both KW knives are nice big thick slabs of perfectly treated M390. This "oh it must have been a batch with bad HT" stuff is BS I believe. If BM screws up a batch of blade steel I dont believe they would allow said steel to continue in process and would eat the costs of wasted steel vs. gaining a reputation for selling expensive knives with defective high end steel. Hell BM's 154cm is some of the best blade steel Ive ever used. Who actually does the heat treat/quench process Benchmade or Boehler? Maybe big slabs of M390 are all treated before shipment all BM has to do is cut blades out of said sheets Idk. Their D2 sucks when it comes to rust and corrosion though. Idk what the treatment process for it is but uncoated BM D2 will start showing rust spots in a single day of hard work in some cases. It sure is tough though. Sharpening D2 esp BM's D2 I leave to pro's. D2 is originally meant to cut other steels so Im not gonna spend hours upon hours with DMT diamond stones just to barely have an effect. Ive heard M390 is almost as tough to sharpen as well so Ill leave that to pro's with Wicked Edge and Edge Pros.

But to the OP I believe the M390 in your mini Grip is fine its just a small knife being used for tasks much better suited to bigger blades.
 
CelticCross74 said:
think your PM2 hasnt chipped or snapped because its just a larger knife than a mini Grip with much more cutting surface thus you dont have to use as much force as you do on the Mini. The PM2 comes with a 15 dps(or as close to it as possible) from the factory of course its gonna cut better. S30V is still no joke either Spydercos treatment for it must be world class. As for M390 knives. Try a Knifeworks M390 Contego or KW M390 ZT 0350. Have whichever knife re profiled and sharpened to say 17 or 18 dps and either knife should be able to hold its edge better than near any other steel you will ever use. Both KW knives are nice big thick slabs of perfectly treated M390. This "oh it must have been a batch with bad HT" stuff is BS I believe. If BM screws up a batch of blade steel I dont believe they would allow said steel to continue in process and would eat the costs of wasted steel vs. gaining a reputation for selling expensive knives with defective high end steel. Hell BM's 154cm is some of the best blade steel Ive ever used. Who actually does the heat treat/quench process Benchmade or Boehler? Maybe big slabs of M390 are all treated before shipment all BM has to do is cut blades out of said sheets Idk. Their D2 sucks when it comes to rust and corrosion though. Idk what the treatment process for it is but uncoated BM D2 will start showing rust spots in a single day of hard work in some cases. It sure is tough though. Sharpening D2 esp BM's D2 I leave to pro's. D2 is originally meant to cut other steels so Im not gonna spend hours upon hours with DMT diamond stones just to barely have an effect. Ive heard M390 is almost as tough to sharpen as well so Ill leave that to pro's with Wicked Edge and Edge Pros.

But to the OP I believe the M390 in your mini Grip is fine its just a small knife being used for tasks much better suited to bigger blades.
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Nope, I cannot buy that one. I have an Edge Pro and I can sharpen S110V in the almost same time I can sharpen S30V. It will eat the stone quickly, but I wouldn't say there is a huge difference in time maybe 5 minutes at best. I've sharpened D2 as well and it was a lengthy process compared to others. M390 should not be a hassle to sharpen on the EP at all. I don't believe the implication that a smaller knife with the same steel as a larger knife is going to make a considerable difference in cutting, especially when they are made from the same steel. The cutting performance should be the same based on what you are working with, but saying "wrong tool for the job" on this one doesn't make much sense. YMMV
 
One day I hope to have an Edge Pro. Guess I just suck at sharpening, been trying to learn for a long time just get frustrated with moderns steels. Trying to sharpen D2 on DMT diamond stones drove me up the wall and beyond. Was just looking at the size of my Mini Grips and trying to picture myself using them for the type of work the OP stated and all that "need a bigger knife" stuff came to my mind. When it comes to edges RedDevil you are obviously more knowledgeable than I am. I have the nasty habit of trying to be super accurate on every sweep of the stone and end up screwing it up anyways. I hereby declare myself overruled lol
 
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