Customizing a 710HS

[Flask28]

As a proud Oregonian and big Benchmade fan, it was with some faux sadness that I ordered my BM 710HS from Long Island, NY today. Lol. I was just down in Oregon City dropping off my BM42 on Monday, and I’m getting my 710 from the other side of the country.

I did find it local, I have to admit, but it was $190 – far more than that $124.95 I got it for in NY, even with shipping. I wish I was rich enough not to care!

I’ve taken the time to search the threads on the 710HS, and am thinking about sending it to Reese Weiland to get that M2 beat into shape – I’m far to clumsy to want to try my lame sharpening skills on this knife. Resse is a pretty talented guy I understand, and he said no problem on the sharpening – but asked specifically if there was anything else I wanted done.

To be honest, I’m a quality knife novice, and can’t really think of anything custom to ask for – that’s a G-10 handle, not too much to do there. Sharpening/reprofiling, ok….

So I thought I’d toss the idea out to the forum, home of MANY 710s, and see if there were any modifications anyone thought was worth doing. I did read that great article where the author got the aluminum handles and the Carbon treatment to replace the BT2. Pretty slick…

Thanks – Have a great weekend,

AdamK

 

[WadeF]

I don't think I'd want to change anything on my 710. It's a tough knife and great for EDC. If you got and put fancy handles on it they could be at risk of being scratched up. If you don't care fine, but I know that would prevent me from carring it as much as I currently carry my 710. Those G-10 handles can rub against my keys all day long and you'd never see any marks. It's just get it sharpened up nicely. I just did a 30 degree included back bevel, and a 40 degree included edge. That way I can touch it up on the Sharpmaker.

 

[cpirtle]

I have one of the original LE 710's with black aluminum scales. I swapped the ATS34 blade for an M2 one.

I have also added a Micarta back spacer to one.

I think I have 7 or 8 BM 705/710 variants which is one of the reasons I have not felt the need to customize them as much.

The Axis locks are notoriously hard to customize without a milling machine because of the channel the Omega spring rides in. I'm not sure even Reese will do custom scales on an Axis, at least I've never seen one.

 

[fishface5]

you could have him drill some holes in the liners to reduce weight. If he does do scales, carbon fiber scales or Silver G10 or micarta could all be cool but durable synthetic options. He could even insert some materials into the existing scales, like an angled slash of silver G10 through the black G10. If you don't like the black blade, you could have him satin or mirror-finish it. You could have him engrave your initials in the scales, perhaps, or contour them in some neato unique design. Just a few ideas.