Benchmade Knives and M390 Super Steel

Benchmade Knives Company has been producing knives with M390 for several years now.  Back in 2010, they released the 755 MPR.  A monolock knife with a titanium and a G10 scale, this great Blue Class folder knife took the knife market by storm.  Released during the 2010 SHOT Show, this knife even got mentioned in the June 2010 Knives Illustrated magazine.  Called a mini pocket rocket, in reality it is a mid-sized tactical folder that is built for heavy-duty use in tough environments.  And because of the expectation that it would perform in tactically demanding circumstances, Benchmade used M390 super steel for the blade.

What is M390 super steel?  It is a high performance blade steel produced by Bohler.  With a higher than usual concentration of vanadium and chromium carbides it has superior cutting abilities and its wear resistance is unbelievable.  A unique powder metallurgical process is used to produce this super steel–and the process gets a uniform carbide distribution throughout the steel.  It also gives a very clean steel.  This uniformity allows it to perform at an extremely high level as well as making it dependable–you don’t have any miniscule pockets of weakness.  Because of these attributes, it is often used in surgical cutting instruments.  And Benchmade has introduced it on a limited basis in several knives–because of the very things that make it so great–its uniformity, wear resistance, superior cutting abilities, as well as its corrosion resistance (which comes from the high level of Chromium).

What other Benchmade Knives are available with M390?  Aside from the 755 already mentioned, you can also get the following Blue Class knives with M390–the 581 Barrage, the 586 Mini Barrage as well as the 480-1 Shoki.  Several Gold Class knives were also produced with M390 super steel including the 7505-131 and 7505-132 Dual Action knives and the 480-131 Shoki.  I personally have carried the Mini Barrage for several months now and can attest to the fact that the blade performs like a beast. Check out these spectacular knives on our website at the links listed above.  With the high level of success that Benchmade has had with M390, it is quite certain that many more knives will be released in future years with M390 Super Steel.