The M2 high speed tool steel is supposed to hold an edge better than most. I'll have to admit, most of my knife questions are stemming from reading a review of a Benchmade 710 on this website:
http://www.zvis.com/knives/folding/bm710ax.shtml

As always, I appreciate your advice.

Didn't have to look much further than this site to see discussion of the Benchmade 710 <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
http://www.equipped.org/axis.htm