Where are all the plain edge black blade 710s?

00ChevyScott

00ChevyScott

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These things have been OOS all over the internet for months now. Did they give up on these and decide to only produce combo edge blades from now on?
 
They may have been discontinued. Black PE was always hard to find, going back a decade and more.
 
You can always send in a knife and have them swap the blade for $35 + shipping. I'd imagine they would tune the knife up and replace anything needing it as well as a good scrubbing. Benchmade is good about that kind of thing.
 
I may have to do that Rev. That is unless they're not making that configuration anymore. I'll keep a lookout for one for a bit before I go that route though.
 
OldandNew710.jpg
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The black blade is of the first run of 710's 15 years ago, but the plain D2 was bought about two months ago. That said I have not come across any black blade 710's, plain or combo, in recent memory. The Black blade 710 above is an M2 blade and has never been used or sharpened.
Good luck, Frank.
 
Helderberg said:
The black blade is of the first run of 710's 15 years ago, but the plain D2 was bought about two months ago. That said I have not come across any black blade 710's, plain or combo, in recent memory. The Black blade 710 above is an M2 blade and has never been used or sharpened.
Good luck, Frank.
Click to expand...

You wanna sell that one? ;)
 
Helderberg said:
OldandNew710.jpg
[/URL][/IMG]

The black blade is of the first run of 710's 15 years ago, but the plain D2 was bought about two months ago. That said I have not come across any black blade 710's, plain or combo, in recent memory. The Black blade 710 above is an M2 blade and has never been used or sharpened.
Good luck, Frank.
Click to expand...

Are you sure about that being one of the first? - the blade is marked M2HS, and that was a few years later, I think. The first were ATS-34...I have one of those - just missed the "first production" 710s. I have a bunch of other 710s, but that one stays with me. :thumbup: I also have one of the M2HS 710s, and those are possibly the best 710s made.
 
I have a pair of ATS-34 710 knives, both plain edge, one BK one satin. I missed the M2 run as I was uber broke at the time
 
I apologize for my ignorance. I was told it was part of the first run, but I have nothing to substantiate this other than the store managers remark. I do remember that the thing that got my attention back in the day was it was named knife of the year and the Axis lock was a big deal. I do know that the knife was offered with two blade steels and the M2 was a 15 or so dollar up-grade. I am sorry for not having an accurate date of birth for the knife and thank you people for the correct info. I have enjoyed the knife for years and bought the D2 model so I could have one to use and not mess up the M2. At this time I have no intentions of selling it but as I go deeper into retirement, 97 days from now, and I need to buy food or pay the electric bill, this may change. ;)
Thanks all, Frank.
 
Please, no problem and no apologies needed. I have all sorts of 710s and the M2HS is possibly the overall the nicest of them all, even compared to the M390 version! :thumbup:
 
Well I snagged a satin one off the exchange. Gonna see if I like it, and if not I'll see about sending it off for a blade swap. Got a good enough price on it that I'd about break even with a brand new one with the shipping and blade swap fee.
 
I think you will like the satin. I've always found coated blades to be a PITA because of how badly they show markings and how they can't be touched up with anything once they sustain damage. In some cases I also find them to increase the resistance when cutting (and in other cases, the polar opposite depending on the coating itself.) I'm actually about to stonewash a 710 for a friend of mine for a more durable finish that hides usage markings unlike most finishes. I'm not sure what the current 710 coating is, but the coatings I have had on 154CM and M2 710s really marked up badly with usage.
 
That's actually a big reason why I want the coated blade. I've got a Griptilian with their blade coating and I think it looks better and better with use.
 
Interesting!

I find most of my coated knives I use a lot to ultimately look like this, but often wear in a fashion in which the area closer to the tip wears much more than the base.
image-40.jpg


I never thought that as a plus but I see what you are saying. Especially with extensive wear, I could see it being kind of a cool backwash finish like what Kershaw has been doing.
 
I bought a Grip Sheepsfoot combo blade that was black and I ended up striping it. I like the natural steel better than the coating as it shows the machine work. I have a mixed group of guns, two black, one stainless and two stainless and coated so I have no problem with a coating just like a natural blade. pnxsyr, that does look good on that knife, a true tool not just a show piece.
Frank.
 
pnsxyr said:
I think you will like the satin. I've always found coated blades to be a PITA because of how badly they show markings and how they can't be touched up with anything once they sustain damage. In some cases I also find them to increase the resistance when cutting (and in other cases, the polar opposite depending on the coating itself.) I'm actually about to stonewash a 710 for a friend of mine for a more durable finish that hides usage markings unlike most finishes. I'm not sure what the current 710 coating is, but the coatings I have had on 154CM and M2 710s really marked up badly with usage.
Click to expand...

A lot of the black BM blades are treated with what is basically black paint, and it wears badly, as your photo below shows.
 
Thats what the Benchmade BK coating seems to be, a paint. It's not the same as the coating on Kershaw or Spyderco, it's thicker and scratches easily. I like the look of black blades but I wish their coating was more durable. One thing I found is the BK coating hates vinyl of any sort it slices the finish to hell.

_20140505_094344_zpsoflc9bzk.jpg
 
JNewell said:
A lot of the black BM blades are treated with what is basically black paint, and it wears badly, as your photo below shows.
Click to expand...

That's why I hate coated, at least with the standard BK1 or whatever it is. One run through a piece of wood and the coating is wrecked. Even on knives with "DLC coatings", I find there to be a lot of variety in the quality and ultimately heavy usage damages them and they cannot be easily repaired. In sum, my biggest gripe here is that coatings that get popular with firearms and other tools are not necessarily coatings well-suited to edged tools.

On the flip side, a fiberglass scratch pen or silicone block can touch up a stonewashed finish in 20 seconds or less. BM's Cerakote is nicer and I find it better performs its duties with rust-probable steels as it wears, but we're still a far cry from a serious W-DLC or boron-based coating. I find that stonewashing a blade gives it a pretty good boost in corrosion resistance in itself and reduce the friction of certain longer cuts.

On a side note, I'd just prefer makers wanting to do coatings on higher end knives just front the bill on something like boron nitride or boron carbide or a true W-DLC and pass it to us, with boron nitride being preferred given its hardness and binding is pretty insane. However, price would probably be pretty serious and BC/BN facilities aren't generally configured for knife blades to my understanding.
 
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