Harduse: 275 Adamas vs. 810 Contego

BMCGear

BMCGear

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If I were looking to get one of these not for EDC but for hard use stuff; which would you get?

Would love to hear experience from owners!
 
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I went for the fixed blade Adamas but the Contego for a heavyweight folder. The 810 gets more carry time and honestly, I like folders better.
The Contego would get my vote.
Frank.
 
Helderberg said:
I went for the fixed blade Adamas but the Contego for a heavyweight folder. The 810 gets more carry time and honestly, I like folders better.
The Contego would get my vote.
Frank.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply, Frank. Looking to pick one of these up. I'd like to try M4 and dig the Contego's weight and blade. However, the Adamas looks to be more comfortable of a knife and I like D2 a lot!
 
I have had both and still have 2 Contegos! The Adamas is no doubt a good knife. I found the handle to be disproportionately thick for the size/length of the blade. The handle thickness bugged me so much I never carried it and ended up selling it. YMMV though. If you like the thick handle, the Adamas will be a great knife for you. My beater 810 gets a majority of my pocket time of all my larger EDC folders.

20140509_110819.jpg
 
Both great folders.

275 feels better in the hand. 810, better in pocket. Although, both have great ergo's and can be challenging in pocket, thickness of the 275 and the length of the 810.

Depends on how you define hard use. Two of my favorite steels, BM does a great job on both and two good choices for hard use. High toughness w/ very good edge retention. Id give the nod to the M4, most will.

The thinner stock and higher, flatter gring on the 810 will make it a better slicer than the 275. As well as the thicker stock and grind config on the 275 will produce a more robust blade for lateral stability, for the work that may push a knife beyond just cutting/slicing tasks. Both, good strong tips.

I have both, w/ the 810 in my pocket for the last month or so. I would love a 275 w/ M4 and a higher, flatter grind.
 
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What ^^ he said.. :D

From what I use, I can state from the steel they are using to reflect intended use.

D2 being much tougher than M4, 275 would be rougher in general use. BKC test shows tremendous strength in axis lock. It is even a bit bigger than 810. It is IMO, best folder that comes close to fixed blade.

M4 being really more rear resistant, 810 would be a phenomenal cutter. It is slim and bit lighter. Since it is slightly longer and lighter handle, I would say more "agile" blade.

WP_20140630_006_zpse087dc55.png
 
I think your intended usage will dictate steel (M4, D2, M390) but also hold both in your hands. For me, the most comfortable one is the M390 Contego with the smooth G-10.
 
810 has longer blade, and blade thickness is comparable. So, liner is very close in thickness.

Blade thickness:
810 = .156" / 3.96mm
275 = .160" / 4.06mm

Handle thickness:
810 = .55 / 13.91mm
275 = .73 / 18.54mm
950 = .56 / 14.28mm

So, each G10 handle plates can be ground about 4mm without feeling too thin. I think sanding down would not be too bad.
 
This is a great series of video's from a couple of years back. The guy is active duty and he decided to test the Adamas, Contego, and his Gov't issued survival knife and see how they preformed head to head.

Four parts and kind of long as he tested them over several day's but definitely worth watching. He cut, stabbed, dug, buried them over night and soaked them in salt water. He even disassembles them after to see what was going on inside after all the testing.

It really shows what these knives are capable of and answers many question I've seen posted before. I was surprised several times watching the video's.

Hope you find it useful and informative.


Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq_vXJYm8po

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyFh-r60rN0

Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR_Ni6wdRFM

Part 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNarp7H3kPY
 
^^^ for those of use that don't have the time to spare, what was then end result?

Although I suspect both knives held up just fine.
 
I love the Adamas design, and both folders are super tough knives, but if you are using the knife in a manner in which toughness is absolutely critical, CPM-M4 is MUCH tougher than D2. I really hope KnifeWorks offers a 275 in CPM-M4 soon as that would be a really nice upgrade from D2.
 
Well, CPM-M4 is harder and more wear resistant than D2. Tough ness is close enough, and geometry of 275 has more material than 810. This is tough call (CPM-M4 32 ft-lb, D2 =21 ft-lb, Cru wear 30 ft-lb, CPM 3V = 70 ft-lb) Neither are near S7, 127 ft-lb.

Also M4 has considerably less corrosion resistant than D2.

Depends on what you use for "hard use" Opening a tin can? You can do it with 275. It is very resilient design, and D2 with that thickness do withstand the abuse. Of cause we don't resort to such over abuse of the blade, but you want to have folding knife that is toughest in Benchmade, IMO I'll vote for 275.
 
While I do not think the 275 lacks toughness whatsoever, I find there to be a very big difference between CPM-M4 and D2 in the toughness category. Despite the higher hardness, there are a lot of things I can do to my CPM-M4 Benchmades that I cannot to those in D2, 154CM, or S30V. I especially find CPM-M4 to be a great steel at resisting chipping (and rolling, for that matter) when cutting other metals.

Especially if the knife is going to be frequently cutting other metals, IMO CPM-M4 yields a functional advantage over the other steels that Benchmade (and most companies) use.



On a side note, I'm really not sure why Benchmade hasn't used CPM-M4 more given it was developed to excel in the areas most important to knives. Like Benchmade's former M2 offerings, M4 blades offer performance that benefits users who need to cut materials that tend to be more damaging on blades, and their use of the high-speed tool steels is something I have always equated as a signature Benchmade offering (and IMO the feedback from users of the M2HS and CPM-M4 Benchmade blades shows their importance as part of their product lineup). S90V and M390 are awesome steels, but CPM-M4 offers an alternative that still has very good wear resistance, and with much greater toughness for users who require both.

With all that said, if someone can manage to break a 275, they are a very special person and should probably consider investing in application-specific tools (ex: a pry bar or chisel) given breaking a 275 would mean usage that is far over the line of where usage goes to abusive and abusive goes to plain idiotic.
 
Man, hard choice for hard use! I love my 810-1401 because of the blade shape. I love my wife's 275 because of the handle. Frankly, I find the blade shape of the Contego to be better suited for hard use tasks than the Adamas. If you need lots of belly, the Adamas wins. If you need tip strength, edge retention, and toughness, the Contego wins.

Since Benchmade won't release either one in non-coated M4 or D2, they might as well go all out in the hard use field and make one in CPM-3V with a DLC coating. That would be a knife to take camping!
 
loonybin said:
Man, hard choice for hard use! I love my 810-1401 because of the blade shape. I love my wife's 275 because of the handle. Frankly, I find the blade shape of the Contego to be better suited for hard use tasks than the Adamas. If you need lots of belly, the Adamas wins. If you need tip strength, edge retention, and toughness, the Contego wins.

Since Benchmade won't release either one in non-coated M4 or D2, they might as well go all out in the hard use field and make one in CPM-3V with a DLC coating. That would be a knife to take camping!
Click to expand...

Your wife carries an Adamas?
 
loonybin said:
Man, hard choice for hard use! I love my 810-1401 because of the blade shape. I love my wife's 275 because of the handle. Frankly, I find the blade shape of the Contego to be better suited for hard use tasks than the Adamas. If you need lots of belly, the Adamas wins. If you need tip strength, edge retention, and toughness, the Contego wins.

Since Benchmade won't release either one in non-coated M4 or D2, they might as well go all out in the hard use field and make one in CPM-3V with a DLC coating. That would be a knife to take camping!
Click to expand...

I would really like to see a fixed blade Adamas or Contego, as well as a limited edition folder, in something like 3V. With KAI now using VANADIS 4 Extra on a production knife, and Benchmade's openness to new steels from B.U., I think a VANADIS 4 Extra Adamas would be sweet. (To my understanding, VANADIS 4E is another very tough steel that, like CPM-3V, has excellent wear resistance in addition to the toughness.) While I think that for most folders that those kind of steels are really not worth it, I think on the Contego or Adamas it would be given those knives can withstand abuse that would literally destroy most other folders and hypothetically some users could push those knives to a point in which the added toughness of those steels would give them an advantage.
 
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