Benchmade`s best steel

I have used Benchmade's N680, 154CM and their S30V. Out of those three, I've had the most experience with 154CM. Great steel for the money. My latest knife is a Volli in S30V and it seems to be a good steel but time will tell.
 
I love bm s90v people say it is hard to sharpen. I use diamond stones.it holds an edge forever.
 
My favorite Benchmade model is the 913 Stryker- D2 steel.
My second favorite is the 581 Barrage- M390 steel.
My favorite steel is M4 as in my 760.
 
M4 without a doubt, I removed the coating on my 950-(1301?) Yes, the steel will rust, but for edge holding, it's friggin great.
Some of the early ATS-34 was very tough and I think superior to the current 154CM.
Some of the D2 has been very hard and cuts very well while some is too soft.
S30V is an okay steel, performs wonderfully on soft things like meat, veggies and green wood, to the point that sharpening is almost not needed, coarser media tends to wreck the fine cutting edge and leaves a "working" edge for quite a while.
The early 440C was run soft, no chipping, but the edges would roll, good for rough use pocket knives.
N680 is trash steel in my opinion, it dulls too quickly, and while sharpening it you can feel its gummy, malleable nature. Better to get a H2 blade from Spyderco at that point.
I can't speak for their 1095, M390, S90V, M2.
I just remembered some earlier red class knives had some alphabet steel, it was on par with the same offerings with other companies using the same steels.
 
My favorite is D2 and I believe a lot of people pass it up because its not the "new hot thing", as for 154cm and s30v the daily use performance is very close and the m390 seems slightly better in all ways but I don't want to pay extra for such a small perf. increase. M4 is great but like bigfoot its hard to find.
 
dalefuller said:
154CM for me. It's relatively tough and corrosion resistant (good for an everyday blade that sees a variety of uses & conditions), and it's easy to sharpen with different sharpening tools & techniques. Their S30V is also a good performer, but I'd still take 154CM first, given a choice.
Click to expand...

Ditto.
 
My favorite Benchmade steel? That is an easy question to answer. M2 steel is the obvious answer. A very hard heat treat from Benchmade with M2 being a very fine grained carbon tool steel. Great stuff.



 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top