Old 710

H

Helderberg

Joined
Dec 8, 2013
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Many years ago I saw, what was a new type of lock to me, a BM 710. It was offered in two blade steels one of witch was I believe D2 and for a few dollars more M2HS. I ordered the M2 and now see that the knife is only offered in D2. My question is why did they drop the M2? Is there something about the M2 that is less desirable for knife blades than the D2 and should I be treating the blade differently?
Thank you in advance, Frank.
 
Helderberg said:
Many years ago I saw, what was a new type of lock to me, a BM 710. It was offered in two blade steels one of witch was I believe D2 and for a few dollars more M2HS. I ordered the M2 and now see that the knife is only offered in D2. My question is why did they drop the M2? Is there something about the M2 that is less desirable for knife blades than the D2 and should I be treating the blade differently?
Thank you in advance, Frank.
Click to expand...

Well, it's not all that old...the old ones were ATS-34... :D Those were followed by 154CM, which is basically the same steel, but produced in the US rather than Japan. I don't remember exactly when BM introduced D2 for the 710 - they have old catalogs archived on their website, which would probably help you figure that out. M2, which is a high speed tool steel, was introduced, if I recall correctly, some time in the early 2000s and phased out around 2005/2006 or so. Many of us consider the M2 knives to be among the best performers BM has ever offered, to include M4 and M390. M2 is not stainless, but neither is D2 (although D2 is more corrosion resistant). A little something (Tuff-Glide, CLP, Blue Lube, mineral oil, whatever) on the sharpened edge will help keep rust away. The M2 knives are pretty desirable - far more so than the D2 knives. :thumbup:
 
Benchmade catalogs only go back to 2005 online. I have paper copies going way back, but... ;)

2005: 154CM and M2
2006: D2 only

So the last year for M2 was 2005 in the 710. It's a keeper.
 
Hi Frank, Benchmade dropped M2 from it's choice of blade steels on the 710 because it was so hard a high-carbon tool steel that it damaged grinding equipment on the production side, and ate through sanding belts on the LifeSharp side. 154CM was also available as an option, but many of us wanted the new M2 blades. Sharpened to specs it outperforms just about anything, but that came at a high cost so it was discontinued.
 
I bought my 710 HS M2 back in late 2002 or early 2003 from New Graham. You wouldn't believe the price that's still on the like-new box. ;)
 
Thank you all for the great information. I thought I bought it before the 2000's, but I was wrong. I think I will keep it. ;)
Frank.
 
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