Becker BK9 mods.

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sinawalli

Joined
Aug 20, 2003
Messages
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I am thinking of buying a BK9, and was wondering if anyone has done any modifications to the handle? I want to make it more "fighter friendly", by making a handle that doesn't slide (stickier), and has a bigger guard, so your hand doesn't slide onto the blade when stabbing. I would also like to make a sharp false edge to make easier penetration. Does anyone have any ideas/done this before? any help will be greatly appreciated! Thank you.
 
I had one for a while. I removed the grips and sprayed them with spray on bed linner bought in the automotive dept. at Wall-mart This was a well made knife, but more knife than I need for my needs. I would sure like to see some pic's if you put on a finger guard. Good luck
 
Most any competent maker can do such modifications. A rough blast set of micarta handles that are thiner than the factory swiss plastic stuff will do wonders to make it at least user friendly. In my experience, a longer finger guard is not required in the Camillus Becker series. With the thinner handles, finger contact feel with the front end of the guard is amplified. The wide, smooth surface of the originals make it feel inadequate. A follow up checkering job will give the feel a whole different category! I have both a Fisk Camp (soon to be sold :( ) and a Becker 7 with thinner micarta slabs. And are quite happy with them. The big question(s) is thus: how much will the maker charge for his time and materials and are you willing to put that much into the knife? The cost will definitely be more then the original cost of the Becker 9...

N2
 
Thank you gents for the replies! Any work done on the knife, will be done by myself. As I am a machinist, I have access to a milling machine, and was planning to mill the choil in the front a little deeper, and just blend the rest of the handle into it. I might dabble with the micarta handle as a experiment, just because it sounds like a good idea.

JW: How well did the bedliner stick, and what prep did you do?
 
I cleaned the handles with alcohol. I placed the handles on wax papper and then sprayed severel light coats of bed linner spray on them. I liked the effect it gave the knife. more grip and stability in my hand. Spray them in a well ventalated area because this stuff smells untill it is dry. The stuff works great on hand tools and such as well.
 
Bead blasting / sand blasting. $5.00 and 5 minutes at the local shop. Looks great. Creates the grip you're looking for. And, because it removes some material, makes it a more comfortable grip as well. Feels just like Micarta and seems like pretty tough stuff.
As I have said many times - why doesn't Camillus just do this at the factory.
If you can come upon some formula to manufacture some Micarta slabs, there is a ready market for these I think. Camillus has been threatening to do so for awhile but can't seem to come accross with the goods. Beat them to the punch - maybe ther's some money to be made. There are a lot of Becker owners out there and this has been the overriding complaint about this knife.
 
I just had the scales of my BK-5 bead blasted and reckon it's 20%-30% improvement in grip.

Pretty much the cheapest mod bang for buck!
 
averageguy: I work in a electric motor shop, so micarta is fairly easy to come by, in all sizes and thickness. In fact, i have a piece in my toolbox about .250 thick, which i was thinking of using just for that purpose!! :D The only thing with micarta, is that it is nasty to work with, as the dust that comes from machining it goes everywhere, stinks, and makes a real mess! The stuff we use is shiny, so I think I'll try a light bead blast on it before I use it.
 
Grinding in the contours on your micarta will change it alot. The flat face is mostly resin, once you start shaping it you get into whatever the base material is (linen, paper, canvas) and it has a lot different look and feel.
 
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