M390 Steel & Titanium

Douglas Wever

Douglas Wever

Joined
Mar 23, 2018
Messages
66
I haven't carried a knife since being in state law enforcement in the lower 48. Then, I saw a $400 Benchmade marked down to $329 at Sportsman's Warehouse, Wasilla Alaska, and I bought it since it was ridiculously light being titanium with the seemingly impressive 3.73" M390 steel blade.

Tried to include an Internet picture using drag and drop, got the message "uploads are not available"? So a link is http://www.pbase.com/dwever/image/167202196

Any information you have about this knife or M390 Steel is appreciated.

What I read prior to purchase is that it is sharper and more durable than the D2 on my old duty Benchmade.
 
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I suspect the knife you bought was the Benchmade Anthem? It is a sweet blade! M390 is an incredible steel, and leaps and bounds better than "surgical steel." I do believe one of the applications for M390 is surgical tools, but most knife blades labeled surgical steel use and inexpensive stainless that dulls very quickly. M390 is the cream of the crop for folders and some small fixed blade. It holds an edge forever, is not too tough to sharpen, has decent toughness for what it is, and is very corrosion resistant.
 
Welcome! You made an excellent choice. M390 is considered to be one of if not the best steel on the market right now. It will hold an edge for a long time and is highly corrosion resistant, while still being fairly easy to sharpen.
 
M390 is not similar to what is typically referred to as surgical steel, which is to its benefit. M390 is a powdered metallurgy stainless steel that has been formulated for high wear resistance. It is also known as 20CV and 204P.

Surgical Steel is a generic term that encompasses many different inexpensive steels, and is a marketing term used by knife manufacturers to sell knives by trying to make customers associate a knife with the sharpness of a surgeon’s knife. Surgical steel is usually low-quality, and scalpels are disposable by nature. Scalpel blades are made of comparatively soft metals that take a keen edge but dull very quickly. Most utility razors have better edge retention than scalpels, in my experience.

M390 is a very high-quality cutlery steel that is known to keep a good edge well past what you would experience with any knife that bills itself as having “surgical steel”.

The knife you are describing sounds like the Benchmade 761 Monolock.

ti-monolock_1000x1000_1.jpg
 
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Yes, it is the 761, I found that number below the butterfly logo. The other side of the knife has M390 and a US Patent number engraved.

Thanks for all the great information everyone, I edited out my reference to surgical steel since I see from your comments that was misguided. Feel even more confident now in my purchase. Thank you.
 
^^^ My bad, Comeuppance is correct about it being the 761. I did not look at the link...Great knife too, though!
 
Last question, the M390 fixed blade knives I have found on line tend to run upwards of $700. Is that going to be the price of admission on a larger M390 fixed blade, or are there other great options for less?

Thanks again.

Interestingly, I would not of been able to use this knife in LE. If you wear your gun on your right, then the knife has to come out from the left pocket, blade hinge down, and opening to your inside by your thumb (which my duty benchmade did), in order to defend yourself against someone trying to unholster your gun from in front or behind. I don't know anyone who ever used it for that, but I always kept a very sharp edge in case I needed to cut a seatbelt.
 
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It depends really, I've seen M390(20CV/204P) fixed blades as cheap as $100(on the exchange). Bradford uses M390 in his Guardian series, and while they aren't machete sized his prices are some of the best I've seen for the quality of work.

If you scour the KnifeMakers Market here on BladeForums, you can find some seriously great prices on fixed blades that feature M390.

Here I searched em' quick to find a thread by Jamall, his M390 knives are one heck of deal!

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads...nd-others-kornalski-available-knives.1561576/
 
Douglas Wever said:
Last question, the M390 fixed blade knives I have found on line tend to run upwards of $700. Is that going to be the price of admission on a larger M390 fixed blade, or are there other great options for less?
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$700?
I looked into that and only found custom knives in the ~$700 bracket. I found several production knives under $300. M390 is made in Europe. The domestic equivalents are CPM-20CV and CTS-204P as noted by other posters. Lionsteel and TRC Knives both make M390 fixed blades. Bark River and Spyderco both have CPM-20CV fixed blades.

Plenty of great steels in fixed blades. I would also recommend Elmax, CPM-3V, CPM-4V/Vanadis 4E, and CPM154. I usually look more for the style and shape I want and then look at the steel used.
 
Douglas Wever said:
Last question, the M390 fixed blade knives I have found on line tend to run upwards of $700. Is that going to be the price of admission on a larger M390 fixed blade, or are there other great options for less?
Click to expand...

BladeHQ has a useful filtering feature that allows you to search for knives within certain parameters. HERE is a link to a search I just made for fixed blades with M390/20CV, sorted by increasing price. Also, as others mentioned, custom makers on these boards make knives out of M390 for competitive prices, and you could easily have a M390 knife made to your specifications for much less than $700.
 
Check out Bradford knives and Lionsteel for fixed blades in m390. I have a Bradford and really like it.
 
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Douglas Wever said:
Last question, the M390 fixed blade knives I have found on line tend to run upwards of $700. Is that going to be the price of admission on a larger M390 fixed blade, or are there other great options for less?

Thanks again.

Interestingly, I would not of been able to use this knife in LE. If you wear your gun on your right, then the knife has to come out from the left pocket, blade hinge down, and opening to your inside by your thumb (which my duty benchmade did), in order to defend yourself against someone trying to unholster your gun from in front or behind. I don't know anyone who ever used it for that, but I always kept a very sharp edge in case I needed to cut a seatbelt.
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I would look at Bradford knives.
 
My current EDC is a southard 204p-390 equivalent Amazon has the blacked out version for $189 right now. It's a great knife.
 
Douglas Wever said:
I haven't carried a knife since being in state law enforcement in the lower 48. Then, I saw a $400 Benchmade marked down to $329 at Sportsman's Warehouse, Wasilla Alaska, and I bought it since it was ridiculously light being titanium with the seemingly impressive 3.73" M390 steel blade.

Tried to include an Internet picture using drag and drop, got the message "uploads are not available"? So a link is http://www.pbase.com/dwever/image/167202196

Any information you have about this knife or M390 Steel is appreciated.

What I read prior to purchase is that it is sharper and more durable than the D2 on my old duty Benchmade.
Click to expand...

You’ve got a great knife with premium materials. Stay safe out there.
 
I would not recommend a Benchmade produced in the last 3 years at this point. While they use good materials and typically have been very well made products 1) they are severely overpriced for most models 2) their quality control has often left much to be desired in the recent past, I have personally experienced badly uneven blade grinds, poorly sharpened blades and significant blade play from the factory.
 
Douglas Wever said:
Last question, the M390 fixed blade knives I have found on line tend to run upwards of $700. Is that going to be the price of admission on a larger M390 fixed blade, or are there other great options for less?

Thanks again.

Interestingly, I would not of been able to use this knife in LE. If you wear your gun on your right, then the knife has to come out from the left pocket, blade hinge down, and opening to your inside by your thumb (which my duty benchmade did), in order to defend yourself against someone trying to unholster your gun from in front or behind. I don't know anyone who ever used it for that, but I always kept a very sharp edge in case I needed to cut a seatbelt.
Click to expand...

There's a number of custom makers here on the forum that can make you a fixed blade in m390 for well under that price point.

I have one on order now, in m390 it just so happens, with some material upgrades that's coming out to about $400. I'd bet for a "user" you could come out around $200. Basic g10/micarta handles, no bolsters and a kydex sheath.
 
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