Disappointed in Benchmade M4 edge retention

[BJE]

Same but the freak was in my pocket and readily available

Quoted for posterities sake

 

[jfk1110]

Keep using it and sharpen it a few times.......Probably as said just cooked steel needs to be removed......It happens......... M4 is super stuff....

 

[The Mastiff]

CPM M4 is pretty tough for a steel that has good wear resistance. It's a high speed steel with decent red hardness so I doubt the issue would be burned or "cooked" steel though anything is possible. My guess is it had a burr on it. With the toughness of the steel that burr can hide and not break off until it reaches it's limit and suddenly goes with use like you describe. The burr was your edge in other words. A good sharpening should take care of it.

 

[DMG]

My experience with Benchmade heat treatment has been universally disappointing. With my admittedly tiny sample size of four.

What were they, specifically? I have a couple of M4 Benchmades and the heat treat is great. They screwed up by running 3V too soft in early Bailouts but that is the only issue I have seen.

 

[elevator man]

I have a benchmade freak in m4 and I am really disappointed in the edge retention. I opened a few bags of black mulch yesterday (about 10) and the edge came out dull and rolled in a spot. All it was cutting through was plastic and running against wood mulch. Very surprised how much it degraded after such a simple task. Anyone else have an issue. Possible that I got a soft batch of steel?

I was never impressed with their s30v, but their m4 is supposed to be better. Anyhow I'm suspicious you had a burr, anytime I've had an edge fail on me lately it's a burr folding. Or I cut something just dumb like fiberglass insulation. If you'd said it was just dull I'd think it's possible the mulch had some dirt and just worn the edge down naturally, but a roll on a harder tool steel makes me think a burr

 

[elevator man]

I've found i went from being disappointed in my k390 to very impressed once I figured out I was doing a poor job sharpening and getting rid of the burr. Then I got all the performance I thought would be there

 

[goldie]

You should look at the sellers other auctions see if hes selling clones of anything....

 

[marrenmiller]

Mulch is probably going to have dirt in it, and Benchmade's edges are likely to be obtuse, overheated, and still have a burr on them.

All of these factors will result in disappointing edge retention. I'd bet that your experience is mostly due to issues with Benchmade's edges, though. They have consistently produced the worst edges I've seen on a production knife.