KW 710-1401 review and discussion

GB940Rookie

GB940Rookie

Gold Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2016
Messages
3,385
I have been researching 3 3/4 - 4 inch blades for approximately three months. I was looking for a folder that was larger than my Gayle Bradley for farm and outdoor use. I have XXL hands and larger knives are always welcome when working. Plus, I had some knife money laying around that needed to be spent :D. I decided on the Knifeworks exclusive Benchmade 710–1401.

image_zps6t8luyce.jpeg
[/URL][/IMG]

For regular EDC, I prefer much smaller knives, e.g., BM 707, Spyderco Chaparral, Rookie g10 and Techno.
image_zpsefdzg8lc.jpeg
[/URL][/IMG]

Now onto the knife.
BLADE:
Sleek, sexy and aggressive. The recurve combined with the swedge and nice finish is quite attractive. Grind lines were very acceptable. I immediately noticed how the blade shape feeds the material to the belly of the recurve for very aggressive cutting. I'm no steel expert, but the M390 seems to work well. With edge holding equal to M4 and better corrosion resistance, what's not to like? The blade was scary sharp out of the box and still is after use.
image_zpsdutof6jm.jpeg
[/URL][/IMG]

HANDLE:
I wasn't sure about the blue/black combo but have been pleasantly surprised. The blue is darker than I expected. This combo combined with the bright hardware, polished pocket clip and blue standoffs make for a stunning look. The contoured g10 scales are very comfortable in hand and in pocket. This knife carries small for its size. The g10 could have been machined more aggressively but grip is still adequate. The liner jimping is standard BM fare, nothing to write home about. The liners are fairly thick and add a little heft. This is a workhorse knife. IMO, the flow-through body not only makes for easier cleaning but also looks better than the backspacer found on the standard 710.
The pocket clip is the split arrow design and works well. The split arrow is my favorite BM clip for their larger knives. It holds the knife well and allows for easy insertion and retrieval from pocket.

So far I have been very happy with this purchase and can't imagine changing my mind. The looks, the steel and the fact that it carries smaller than its size, makes this knife a winner.

Looking forward to hearing comments from both new owners and folks who have had theirs for a while.

Thanks,
Matt
 
Last edited:
Had 2 of them for ages, carried and used for a long time. Dyed my scales black tho because i don't like the blue/black. One of my all time favourite knives along with my 940 and 943. Enjoy it mate.
 
The contoured g10 scales are very comfortable in hand and in pocket. This knife carries small for its size. The g10 could have been machined more aggressively but grip is still adequate. The liner jimping is standard BM fare, nothing to write home about. The liners are fairly thick and add a little heft. This is a workhorse knife.
Click to expand...

I agree with all you say.

One thing I have been battling is the action is not near as smooth as my Ritter Grip. The Grip I release the lock and the blade drops free. Roll the knife over and release it again and the blade drops closed.

The 710 even with the pivot way loose with significant play in the pivot side to side still will not drop closed when rolled over and . . . this kind of baffles me . . . when I release the lock with the knife edge down and horizontal some times the blade drops and sometimes it just hangs there until I wave my wrist.

Opening is always quite easy and fast so that is the main thing.
Tonight I set the pivot too tight and swung the blade open and closed a bunch to wear in the washers. This, in the end, made little or no difference.

The edge grind is such that it is going to take significant reprofiling on one side and especially in the third of the blade at the tip to be able to use my Edge Pro. To night I set it up to sharpen all of one side and two thirds of the other side and then had to hand sharpen the final third of the edge on one side near the tip with the Shapton stones for the Edge Pro. The stones seem to cut the steel just fine and is easy to sharpen but the edge wasn't dull I was just refining and polishing it.

As far as dying the handle that was one thought that came to mind early on once I received the 710. The knife is attractive and just fine as it is but I would rather have a lot of black and a little blue rather than the very much blue that I have and only hints of black here and there .

And finally the thing I wanted to discuss with you GB . . . do you find the springs make the lock more difficult to hold open than a Griptillian ? If there was a "hot spot" with use I would say the axis lock. The buttons ride more recessed than my Griptillian and the springs seem to be significantly more firm.

I may disassemble my 710 and take some of the force off the springs and smooth out the pivot components. I'll give it a little more time though to see how it goes. That and the fact that I have to work on my normal day off so no time this week.

I bought this knife rather than the Spyderco Sprig. There were a number of areas of the Sprig that I was on the fence about : The S90V blade alloy ( I would much rather have this M390), the area right were the handle scales on the sprig end and the blade begins . . . the scales are too thin for my liking; I would have wanted more handle width / thickness under my thumb and index finger, I couldn't get an answer to my question about the sheath and whether it tends to dull the blade like my two Cold Steel Pendleton Hunter sheaths do but I suspect it does and I am fed up battling that for now.

So I think I am OVER the Sprig for good. I like the blade shape and the shape of the handle at the heel but there were too many negatives or questionable areas for me to . . . in the end . . . buy that knife.

I wanted a large blade with good super steel that carried in the pocket well and had a good size grip but not too tall and slab sided and this 710 is pretty darned great for all that.
 
Last edited:
Mick,

I really like the dark navy blue dye job that you did. That is just great !
 
Hey guys,
Didn't mean to post and run like that, I've just been real busy the last two days.

Mick,
Really like those navy blue scales😎😎
 
Last edited:
Bagger,
I don't have a Grip to compare it to. My 940s have crazy good action and I've read many posts where guys say their Grip has the best action of all their BMs so your experience on that level doesn't surprise me.

Like yours, my 710 flies open when adjusted for no blade play but takes a little wrist action to close. I did a little experimenting with the pivot just now. If I loosen mine to point of blade play, mine does drop freely like my 940s. I don't like blade play so the action, while not perfect, is acceptable for my use. Sounds like yours is a little stiffer than mine. I'm thinking a thorough cleaning and a little polishing might help some. I will definitely do this to mine when I get a chance.

While my blade grind is very acceptable, the edge grind has slightly different heights on each side but are consistent for the length of the blade. Although a little toothy, mine is screaming sharp. I don't expect much from BM on edge grinds. As long as it's fixable I can live with it.

I had planned on dying my scales black when when I ordered it but I like it better than expected.

My springs may be a little more stiff than my 940s but not by much. I don't find the lock especially hard to keep open. Again, I don't have a grip to compare it too. On a work knife like this, the last thing I want is to accidentally release the lock. I actually prefer a lock that is a little harder to release but not stupid hard. I love my Gayle Bradley's lock which is harder to release than standard liner locks. I think you're on the right track with lightening the spring tension if it bothers you.

I don't know much about the Sprig but I will check it out.
 
Sounds like yours is a little stiffer than mine. I'm thinking a thorough cleaning and a little polishing might help some.
Click to expand...

Yes. I won't be surprised if I find bubble gum in mine.

With play mine won't drop at all now. It's kind of the antiSebenza. For the price I could still send it off to a pro to tune up and still be ahead price wise. I won't thought; too much "fun" to do it myself.
I hope.

Cool knife though.
 
I love mine, but there are a few issues which usually means it gets left in the drawer at home. It's a shame, as I like soooo many things about the knife...

First, finicky assembly. Yes, I like to take the knife apart when new, clean, oil, and "massage" with wet-sanding some areas I think need it. However, the standoffs are not shouldered, and if you don't line up the scales properly when tightening everything down, they can rub against the release button, which can keep the knife from closing all the way. Even now, I can rub my finger across the end of the handle belly, and the point catches my finger. Maybe I need to readjust/realign it again, but the Axis-lock mechanism is not rubbing the scales.

Second, if I'm not careful, and try to close the blade one handed using my pointer finger, sometimes it accidentally flies off and swings back onto the bottom of the blade (I don't really know how to describe this event, but I've cut into my finger pretty deeply now more than once). Between that and wanting no wiggle in my blade when locked open, I mostly restrict this knife to slow close and opening.

Third, I love the 1401's slight curve to the scales and scalloping around the edge. However, I really find myself wishing there was more traction on the side... especially with the thinness (spine to handle belly) and my gangly fingers/hand.

That being said, I like the knife soo much I keep thinking about purchasing a second, but I'd rather figure out what I want to do with this one. I had contacted Keyman with some ideas about custom scales, but I'm not sure yet of what I want to do. Also, every month I find myself trying out a different model/brand which means my "customizing" budget gets pushed back. I've been EDC'ing the aluminum scaled BM Presidio for awhile, and have been experimenting with alternatives but keep going through Presidio withdrawal.
 
I really dig that dark navy blue above. Ive had my 1401 since KW first released them and they were $200. Its about everything I ever wanted in a 710. All I would change is the clip to a deep carry one. The M390 blade is amazing. Stuff so far has performed like tool steel its so tough. It looks like BM is switching from M390 to that 20CV stuff that is the American version of M390 essentially so Idk how much longer KW will have these.
 
all i have to say is that this knife is quite a useful tool esp with M390 with no concern of rust. and I agree with several others above that I would like to do two things at least:
- need a Ti deep carry clip to replace the shinning stainless steel clip.
- need to replace the blue G10 scales to something else, please - only b/c this light blue color with bright stainless steel combo really gets people's attention and I don't want that on my pocket knife - but anyone know where do i get a good pair of scales?
 
I thought you ought to know :

The blade was not dropping or swinging freely (as I said before; see previous comments). I was inspired . . . I noticed that when I picked up the knife off the table it did swing and close freely but after it had been in my pocket an hour or so it was sluggish.

The obvious next step was put it in the refrigerator. Right ? Right.
I left it in there a half hour or so; took it out and it was swinging and dropping like crazy every try for like ten tries. Unheard of before; even off the table.

I put it back in my pocket and after it warmed up to normal pocket temp . . . sluggish again.

Some part of the knife was expanding and contracting enough to matter.

To night I loosened both screws at the blue spacers. Now it was dropping and swinging nearly as good as when it came out of the fridge. Moral of story : have your knife valet keep your EDCs in a portable fridge unit until you call for one.
Kidding, I'm kidding

So next I tightened down the screw nearest the lanyard hole all the way to tight. The blade was still free. I tightened the other screw going through the blue spacer and the blade bound up again. Loosened that screw a little . . . annnnnnnnnd . . .
viola
the blade drops and closes pretty darned nice. I tried tightening the blade pivot screw but that was not good. I may have been able to close it up a little but not significantly. When the blade is locked open there is a bit of side to side play (more than a trace) (none up and down). When half closed there is zero play.

Well that is all the news that is fit to print.
This is Bowerick Wowbagger reporting to you from some where deep in the jungle . . . signing off for now.
 
Last edited:
Whenever my Benchmade Axis knives get sticky, I pull the washers and polish the blade side of each washer with a Spyderco extra fine triangular prism (an aftermarket accessory for the Sharpmaker). There will be high spots on the washer. Polish until about 50% of the washer has a mirror finish. No need to polish 100% because 50% is adequate to support the blade, and at the 50% level there is less surface area (less friction).
 
Bagger,
Very interesting.

Something that came to mind just now, you might want to check to see if the blade stop pin will spin when knife is closed and properly tightened. If it does not spin, it may possibly be a tad too long which in turn would prevent the liners and washers from closing squarely on to the blade. This would create a V from the rear of the handle up to the pivot area instead of being square, effectively pinching the back of the blade. I have read where this happens on BMs from time to time.

I will try to mess with mine tonight. Keep us posted and I will do the same.

Also, I checked out the Sprig. I agree, S90v seems a little bit of overkill for this design. M390 or even something like cts-xhp would be better. Easier to sharpen in the field. I prefer more belly for processing game also. For a street knife, whatever, but they are touting it as an outdoor blade. I do think it would make a nice little around the camp life though, again with a different steel.
 
Last edited:
Along these lines, S90v has been in the offering for many years. At least it's a consistently durable blade steel; the only problem is it's very hard to sharpen once gone dull. One of the few blades I would send in to Benchmade for tuning, it makes M390 and even D2 look like the better deal. I love my 710's, wouldn't have a decent collection without at least a couple of them. :thumbup:
 
I tried loosening the standoff screws. One of the screws is factory stripped. Loosened the other 3 but couldn't tell any difference in the action. Hard to tell anything with one of the screw being stripped. Typical BM
 
Wowbagger, do you have the KW's exclusive or the stock version?

On my KW's version (as mentioned previously), it was easy to foul up the positioning of the scales to liners, which had an effect on the action.

Wow & GB40, when the knife is closed, how far is the blade tip from the handle opening? This is a separate question for me, not necessarily related to your issue. If I rub my finger over the area where the blade tip is housed (when closed) I can catch the tip on my finger. Is this normal?

This is a pic of what I'm talking about:

20161019_051918.jpg
 
Last edited:
Scott,
The tip on mine is seated lower than yours. If I cram the tip of my pinky in there I can reach it but it's acceptable.

I read where some of the early batches had your problem but BM remedied this with the later ones. I believe BM will correct this if you send it in.

Here's mine
image_zps0fgljffe.jpeg
[/URL][/IMG]
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top