benchmade m2 or d2?

O

orange1872003

Joined
Oct 25, 2004
Messages
74
Hi,

Will you guys please help me decide between benchmades M2 or D2 steels? What are the pros and cons?

Thanks.
 
M2 holds a better edge but can rust very easily. D2 holds a great edge and is close to a stainless steel. Mainly it depends on which knife you like better, because they don't offer D2 and M2 on the same model.
 
Excelletn choice!
You cannot go wrong with either, it would boil down to a personal preference between those two.
My preference would be M2.
Love the stuff, cannot get enough of it (scared they may discontinue). :D
Either way, you have an excellent knife! :eek:
 
For pocket carry D2 would be the way to go. For belt sheath carry it does not really matter. M2 is a better steel from all the comments I have heard here. :)
 
Lil Timmy said:
M2 holds a better edge but can rust very easily.
Click to expand...

It does? I've had a BM710HSSR with M2 for over 4 years and never saw a speck of rust on it. I tried and keep my knives clean and dry and occasionally wipe them down with a Tuff Cloth. Just don't let it sit in a puddle of water and you should be fine.

I have enjoyed working with M2, it takes a very sharp edge and seems to hold it very well. I have some D2 stuff but I haven't played with it enough to form an opinion on it.
 
M2- A very tough, tool grade high-speed steel used primarily as a cutting steel in the industrial area. It offers excellent strength and wear resistance. Due to its make up, it is highly susceptible to corrosion, so we always apply our BT2® coating for corrosion resistance. An excellent choice for hard use environments.

D2- An air-hardened tool steel, which offers good corrosion resistance and excellent mileage in wear resistance. A good choice for hard use environments.

http://www.benchmade.com/about_knives/our_blades.asp
 
M2 will work out just fine, just dont subject it to a lot of humidity. A light coat of Mineral oil or other anti rust application might help. The D2 I carry always has a light coat of mineral oil on it..no rust after one year of pocket carry in very humid sweaty enviroments. :)
 
How easy is it to get the coating off BMs M2 blades? I hate coated blades, but would buy one if I could easily get the coating off without marking up the steel underneath.
 
It looks fine to me. I used fine-grit sandpaper to remove the BT2 from my M2 mini-AFCK. Now the blade has a dark satiny look, which I prefer to the stone-wash finish on the regular mini I gave to my brother. Taking off the coating w/sandpaper results in polishing. One could bring it to a mirror-polish if one wanted to expend the effort.
 
M2 is tougher, finer grained, easier to sharpen, and easier to rust. D2 is difficult to sharpen (takes a long time), larger grained, and not very impact resistant. D2 has 12% Chromium, and normally "stainless" steels have at least 13% (154CM and S30V, both premium steels have 14%). Compare to this to M2 which has about 4%. D2's large grain structure means that it won't sharpen as finely as some other steels, but will give a nice toothy edge that's great as a working blade, especially for plants or cardboard.

All mumbo-jumbo aside, what it mostly comes down to between D2 and M2 is stain resistance vs ease of sharpening. Unless you're working in extremes or doing scientific testing, you're probably not going to notice much difference in the performance between the two,
 
Orange Number!

Which knife do you want.

No matter the steel, if you don´t like the knife or if it is uncomfort to you, it is the wrong knife.

But if both are fine i would tend to the M2 and set se bevel back if it is the 710HS for better cutting.

If just one is fine, forget the other.
 
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