One of my favorite folders! Mine has an optional ATS-34 steel blade with partial serrations. I prefer ATS-34 and 154CM for their ability to take a better finish than D-2 and their more stainless qualities.
It's very smooth in use and I'm quite taken with it. So far, the Axis lock has been reliable, although I don't really trust it as much as a conventional rocker lock like on the Buck Model 110 and equivalent Puma models. But I've had that knife for almost 15 years, and it is the one that I most carry in public. (I'm concerned that the Gerber Applegate-Fairbairn folders may upset a cop if one ever checks the knife, which has never happened. Gerber made an error in putting Combat Folder on the blade, I think. It probably appeals to the macho - minded men who often buy "tactical" knives, but how does that look to a prosecutor in a defense case?)
The Benchmade 710 is effective as a defense knife, against men or dogs. But the blade isn't so dagger-like.
I've told here before about my son using his Benchmade folder to rip open a big feral canid (probably a very large coyote or coydog) that went for him in his own backyard one dark night. It was probably eying an aged horse in an adjacent pasture. My son likely got between it and its intended escape route, and his own Rhodesian ridgeback dog was penned in its shelter nearby and couldn't help. But, for whatever reason, that (bleeping) dog didn't even sound an alarm!
My offspring said that if he hadn't been able to open the Benchmade knife with one hand, he might have been killed. It was all he could do to keep teeth from his throat until he had the knife open and struck back. Fortunately, all of the blood that ruined his expensive leather jacket that night was the mutt's. Badly ripped along the lower side, it howled and ran off, probably to die. It was not found, but maybe someone unfamiliar with the situation found it and didn't know who to tell about it.
This ability to open the knife one-handed can obviously be vital. I interviewed a man who was attacked by a cougar on Vancouver Island. He saved himself with a Schrade LB-7, their version of the famous Buck Model 110. He told me that the single hardest part was keeping the cat from killing him while he got out the knife and opened it with two hands! He then cut the female cat's throat. I think she was small for a cougar, only some 80-85 pounds. But she literally scalped that poor man and took out one of his eyes and virtually turned him into hamburger. He spent considerable time in hospital, but surgeons were able to reattach his scalp.
Some of you probably later saw him on a Discovery TV show, where he and several other survivors of cougar attacks told their stories. I believe his name is Anderson. I wrote up this event for a cutlery title, and was, I think, the only writer at the time allowed an interview, as he was leery of how the mass media would "spin" the attack. Reporters had been hassling him and his wife, who finally agreed to hand him the phone after being assured that I was "trade press" for outdoor publications, and that the article was for a knife title, and that I was fully supportive of his having saved his life with a knife.
That attack was most assuredly NOT provoked. No young cougar kittens were nearby and the first Anderson knew was that the cat was on his back! This was a stealthy approach intended to result in human predation. BTW, the RCMP seized his knife as evidence, first responders thinking that he'd been in a knife fight with other men. They found the dead cat and finally believed him. I called Schrade's then PR lady and suggested that they send a replacement for that bloody knife that had been held for some time in a plastic bag without cleaning. I believe they did replace it. Some custom makers also offered knives, but I don't know what became of their offers.
Point here is, if he had had a Benchmade 710 instead of a knife that needed two hands to open and had had it on his belt instead of in his pocket, his chances of killing the cat sooner would have improved. (I'm going by memory of something that happened maybe 15 or more years ago, and can't recall if Mr. Anderson told me that he had a belt pouch or not. I'm thinking the knife was in his pocket.)
Anyway, the Axis lock held okay in my son's case and he treasures that knife all the more for its having saved his life.
I have many knives, none cheap or flimsy. But I wear that Benchmade 710 more than most. Every time I open it, I reflect on how smooth it is and how well made. It's good to see it honored here in this topic.
