I just bought my first 710.

BMCGear

BMCGear

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Just ordered a 710, I'll post my thoughts once I receive it. Until then; here's what lead me to the 710:

EDIT:

I received the knife today. It is honestly everything I had hoped for in an EDC; larger knife that carries like a small one. I loved the 950 Rift and if it didn't have that funky handle geometry I would still own one. While the 710 doesn't have the belly of a fat man or the 950 (i'm a BIG guy so I can say that) it does have the curves of a sexy bombshell (i'm married to one of those; I compared the two). I don't think I'll have any trouble with the 710 for my cutting task. Love the ergonomics and design. D2 is a great steel and fine by me. Fit and finish is outstanding. Lockup is solid. I only changed the clip.

Pics:

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When I bought the knife:

In the past few weeks I feel like I've been on a Benchmade roller coaster with trying knives. I've owned the following:

950 Rift - Great knife and I LOVED the blade shape but man I hated the handle. Tried this knife twice but could not do the handle.
550/551 Griptilian - This is a knife I wanted to like. Inexpensive and tough. I did not like the thickness of the handles though or the checkered portion of the handle in my hands.
940/943 - Had both of these and they were both great. Not huge on aluminum handles but really great EDC knives. A little pricey for what you get though.
Bone Collector Lockback - A fine knife. I didn't like the Micarta handles a ton as I was afraid they would mess up with use.

So what have I learned from all of this? I like a knife with a long handle that's pretty straight forward; no humps or bumps. I like a slim/streamlined knife as well. The 710 looks to be the best answer for this in a larger knife so I'm pretty stoked.

Minor concerns:
D2 tool steel being hard to sharpen.
Sharpening the slight recurve.
 
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Congratulations! From what I hear from different reviews you will love it. I have never personally owned one
or a knife with D2 but I am sure you will be able to sharpen it easily with a little trial and error. You will have
to do a review of the knife. I have been contemplating picking one up for a while now as it seems to be a
classic. Just a bit longer blade than I really "need", but that has never stopped me from purchasing
before!;)
 
Congrats.Looks like a good one. I got the Adamas and Contego. I think the 710 D2 will be even easier to sharpen than the Adamas and with diamond stones it takes minutes for me to sharpen my adamas. (i only had to sharpen it twice since i got it besides stroping.Keeps an edge a long time :) ) Both my adamas and a mini grip i bought probably had the dullest edges out of the box i've seen though of almost any knives i've bought. Anyone else had that? Benchmade is my favorite company for folders though. As for sharpening the slight recurve i'd get a Utilitac and practice on that. I forgot that knife had a slight recurve too and although the knife is fairly shaving sharp where the recurve starts on the blade is kinda muffed up. But still works good enough for me. Haven't tried to fix it since i sharpened it but should get the hang of it with practice.
 
I use spyderco's sharpener and it makes it recurve easy. You don't have to do anything differently and the D2 sharpens rather easily.
 
Looking to get one of these myself, found a good deal on one may have to pull the trigger before it's gone..
 
I think you'll like it. By what you are describing, it sounds like this will be a good fit. For those looking for a larger knife with a compact form factor that is comfortable and capable of heavy work, the 710 is a fan-favorite. The shrunken 705 is one of my favorite knives, which is more or less a clone of the 710 at about 3/4 size. If you found the Rift's 3D-textured G10 scales to be a little to sharp or rough on pockets, you'll really like the 710's G10 as it's not quite as aggressive on hands or pants pockets.

Provided you have a decent sharpener, you shouldn't have an issue up-keeping it. Believe me when I say that if I can sharpen it, anyone can. The V designs like the SharpMaker and some Lansky products, and the scientific space-age sharpeners like the WickedEdge and EdgePro can easily handle the sharpening. I'll dare say that most knife forums tend to have the consensus that the SharpMaker is really the industry standard as the best blend of affordable and effective and versatile. I've never used a 710D2 much because I personally despise most D2 steel, but the 710 in general is not terrible to sharpen as the recurve isn't pronounced like on a Kershaw Spec Bump (even the M2HSS and CPM-M4 710's aren't too bad.) It is, however, going to be a slower process than the 154CM from the Rift or Grips, or the S30V from the 940/943. You will probably also find that you have to spend more time on each grit, and that you can't necessarily skip grits as easily as you can with 154CM and CPM-154CM.
 
Looks like it will be delivered today. It was scheduled for tomorrow.
 
pnsxyr said:
Provided you have a decent sharpener, you shouldn't have an issue up-keeping it. Believe me when I say that if I can sharpen it, anyone can. The V designs like the SharpMaker and some Lansky products, and the scientific space-age sharpeners like the WickedEdge and EdgePro can easily handle the sharpening. I'll dare say that most knife forums tend to have the consensus that the SharpMaker is really the industry standard as the best blend of affordable and effective and versatile.


I've never used a 710D2 much because I personally despise most D2 steel, but the 710 in general is not terrible to sharpen as the recurve isn't pronounced like on a Kershaw Spec Bump (even the M2HSS and CPM-M4 710's aren't too bad.) It is, however, going to be a slower process than the 154CM from the Rift or Grips, or the S30V from the 940/943. You will probably also find that you have to spend more time on each grit, and that you can't necessarily skip grits as easily as you can with 154CM and CPM-154CM.
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D2 with diamond stoned takes nothing to sharpen and who doesn't have at least one diamond hone stone these days cause for me it's the only way it go. Espeially with all the super steel these days that are hard to sharpen. All i do is free hand with DMT stones and have no problem sharpening D2 on diamond stones. Had lots of trouble sharpening on some cheap whet stones i bought however. I didn't like my Adamas for a long time cause i couldn't get it sharp enough until i got DMT Dia-Fold fine-extra fine. Now it's shaving sharp.

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And as far as DESPISING D2 I'm feeling as of now the same way about 154cm. Got my mum a Mini-grip for mothers day and it came with a worse edge than my adamas. Sharpened it yesterday and even though also hair popping sharp didn't slice as clean or as well as D2 does. No matter how much stroping i did. So i'm just guessing that is the way it is with 154cm. Good that it's stainless,just don't think it's as clean a cutter /slicer than D2 or M4. D2 is a killer steel i don't care what anyone says.
 
Ulf Krogstad said:
D2 with diamond stoned takes nothing to sharpen and who doesn't have at least one diamond hone stone these days cause for me it's the only way it go. Espeially with all the super steel these days that are hard to sharpen. All i do is free hand with DMT stones and have no problem sharpening D2 on diamond stones. Had lots of trouble sharpening on some cheap whet stones i bought however. I didn't like my Adamas for a long time cause i couldn't get it sharp enough until i got DMT Dia-Fold fine-extra fine. Now it's shaving sharp.

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And as far as DESPISING D2 I'm feeling as of now the same way about 154cm. Got my mum a Mini-grip for mothers day and it came with a worse edge than my adamas. Sharpened it yesterday and even though also hair popping sharp didn't slice as clean or as well as D2 does. No matter how much stroping i did. So i'm just guessing that is the way it is with 154cm. Good that it's stainless,just don't think it's as clean a cutter /slicer than D2 or M4. D2 is a killer steel i don't care what anyone says.
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If you want to hear my full reasoning, it doesn't have that much to do with the sharpening aspect at all. Yes, some steels take more aggressive edges and some steels do better with a toothier or a polished edge versus the other, but are those differences greater than the differences such as technique, materials, and users? As I noted, if I can sharpen a steel, anyone can.

My biggest gripe with D2 on a folder is the lack of corrosion resistance and how it tends to pit rather than surface oxidize. Once it pits, it's not easy to remove. Once it stains, it's not easy to remove. The blade pivot area and area underneath of the removable thumb studs love to corrode. Yes, D2 can be a very aggressive cutter and it really excels with a toothy edge. But there are other options out there such as ELMAX which makes improvements across the board.

For a hard work knife like the 710 with a larger blade, I think steels that have toughness are ideal. So to me, the 710 is really at home with CPM-M4 in which you get wear resistance and toughness that are a few orders of magnitude greater than D2 (so of course they don't make a production M4 model despite people absolutely loving the LE 710M4 models!) If I am going to get a steel more prone to corroding, I'd prefer one with wear resistance and toughness that is notable. M4 brings the house down there! And as mentioned above, ELMAX is a good candidate as well for hard work knives. For edge retention without corrosion, M390 is fantastic (so of course they don't make a production 710 M390!)

Finally, as much as I like Benchmade, my criticism here falls in line with what others have said before me. Benchmade's recent price upgrades took their knives up in price considerably. They make great knives, and they are great with the heat treatments. BUT, at these prices, I want a superior steel all-around, and they do exist. At the price of the 710, I don't think asking for ELMAX would be unreasonable?...heck, just going from D2 to CPM-D2 would probably be a huggggggge improvement. We've seen KAI extensively utilize M390, ELMAX, S35VN, and CPM-154 on their standard ZT production knives (NOT LEs or Sprints). With Benchmade's price increase, many of these knives are priced the almost the same. The above are superior steels to 154CM, S30V, D2, N680, etc., and Benchmade is only using M4 and M390 on a few models and in limited runs. Spyderco just brought out a production-level CPM-S110V knife for about $100. So part of my criticism is price vs. the competition. Now that I am paying more, I expect more, especially after having used M390, ELMAX, S35VN, and CPM-154.

As I am one person with their own opinion in their own value state of mind, take this for what it is: one dude's personal thoughts. YMMV.



Of course this doesn't apply to the D2 custom makers are doing...many people have noted that is a completely different animal, and something like Dozier's D2 redefines the term "supersteel". But we aren't talking about custom makers in this case. Likewise, the same goes for CPM-D2 with it's advertised more uniform carbide distribution; I have read many accounts of owners of the Para 1 in CPM-D2 have noted how different it was from other D2 prods under extensive usage.
 
PNSXYR. I completely agree that there are better steel's to choose from in a folder but i own more D2 knives than any other just cause they are cheaper and a great steel. I'm just saying D2 holds it's own and is nothing to scoff at. I also wish M4 or M390 would be used on Benchmades folder's as the more common steel used but they would also cost more. D2 is a great steel for the price. Cheaper than the more expensive "super steels" but can compete well with most of them for a lesser cost. If they made the 275 or 710 with M390 for same price or even $20-30 more would rather have that instead. D2 will get any job done and then some.
 
Ulf Krogstad said:
PNSXYR. I completely agree that there are better steel's to choose from in a folder but i own more D2 knives than any other just cause they are cheaper and a great steel. I'm just saying D2 holds it's own and is nothing to scoff at. I also wish M4 or M390 would be used on Benchmades folder's as the more common steel used but they would also cost more. D2 is a great steel for the price. Cheaper than the more expensive "super steels" but can compete well with most of them for a lesser cost. If they made the 275 or 710 with M390 for same price or even $20-30 more would rather have that instead. D2 will get any job done and then some.
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My experience with D2 could have always been that the D2 I've used just wasn't as good as what is the general standard. I think that was the case of BD1 steel, which left a bad taste in my mouth. But either way I agree I wish Benchmade would offer M390 and M4 in the 707 as a regular market item instead of a sprint. Sprints just go too crazy on pricing for me personally. There are Paramilitaries I want for example, but I can't swallow the $600 for a S90V Para which is a $100 knife with a slightly different steel and handle. As the 710 is a workhorse more than a beauty queen, I don't think the price of the limited M390 and M4 models make it a possibility for most users; it doesn't for me personally :(
 
Great knife, you'll like it. I have an old model, with ATS 34 steel, the blade was dull, but il less than an hour was razor sharp. Did you notice that the blade it's almost protected by the handle so you can sharp ~ 2 cm from the tip, if you want?:)
 
710 will always remain a "classic" in my mind. What type of key holder do you have in the photo?
 
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