Becker blade care

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Charlie_K

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Jul 16, 2012
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So Becker knives are regarded as being some of the toughest and the strongest production knives on the market, and for very good reason. Lots of people talk about how tough they are and how much of a beating they can take without the risk of being accidentally broken.

That's all well and good but what about the edge? All my experience with knives for the longest time has been cheap ones that dull relatively quickly and need constant sharpening. How much chopping, hacking and cutting through hard wood and other mediums does it take for a Becker to get really dull? How well do they hold their edge?
 
Here is some work I have done with my 9... all with the same edge that was not freshly sharpened before these two threads...

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1080754-BK9-Doing-what-it-does-best

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1081594-The-BK9-Still-doing-what-it-was-meant-to-do

1095cv will stay shaving sharp relatively well... after awhile though you will loose that keeness... The good thing is though they stay working sharp for a long time as long as you are not cutting barbed wire or something. The HT on the blades is aimed at toughness more than edge retention, and the steel itself lends itself to take a razors edge easily, and keep it a relatively long time. Its a favorite of A LOT of outdoorsmen and enthusiasts. As far as "simple" carbon steel goes 1095cv from KA-BAR is the bees knees... Cheap, easy to maintain, and tough. Its one of the reasons why the Beckers work so well. You can take any steel and dull it eventually, its more about the big picture and edge geometry too.
 
A few weeks ago I decided to make a Kochanski Try stick (google it) to improve my knifecraft. I decided to use my BK-15 to do the job, since it fits more or less within Mors Kochanski's ideal bush knife parameters, and I needed a stabby point to do some of the tougher notches.

I was curious how durable the 15's edge really is, so I decided to test it after every three notches. Well, after every three notches the 15 would still cleanly slice through notebook paper and then I would strop it five times a side and keep going. I did this for two hours or so and finished up by cross-batoning through a three inch thick piece of seasoned wood. it would still slice paper after that, and once I stropped it a final time, would still shave the hair off my leg. To say that I was impressed would be an understatement. The one Becker model I thought would be the least robust not only stayed razor sharp with a little maintenance, but took a solid beating with a club and kept going strong.

This is not the only time when I've been amazed at the Becker edge retention. I'm always surprised how well they stay sharp, especially the convexed ones. My 15 is unique by being a dual grind. I convexed it first to make the edge nice and thin and to smooth out the powdercoating, and after a couple of months of bushcraft use, decided to put a 40 degree inclusive v-grind on it with my KME sharpener so that the edge would bite into wood better than a convex edge will. This has turned out to be a phenomenal set up for the 15, giving it a perfect v-grind combined with a high relief edge. Slicey as hell.





 
And even when areas of the blade got severely dulled from contact with the early glass filled sheaths the edge is easy to get sharp again with a fine India stone and a few minutes work.Hard enough for good edge retention yet soft enough to easily fix dings and dull spots without expensive diamond stones or lots of elbow grease, good qualities for a knife to have
 
Alright so yesterday my Becker finally got the chance to be used for what it was designed for and it did just great. However the finish isn't all it's cracked up to be and the rough texture wore smooth rather quickly after hacking through relatively light shrubbery. Is that normal for the rough textured part to rub smooth? Is the blade going to have exposed places soon?
 
Charlie_K said:
Alright so yesterday my Becker finally got the chance to be used for what it was designed for and it did just great. However the finish isn't all it's cracked up to be and the rough texture wore smooth rather quickly after hacking through relatively light shrubbery. Is that normal for the rough textured part to rub smooth? Is the blade going to have exposed places soon?
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That is odd. I have an older BK9 with the roll stamped lettering and the older smooth finish. My finish on that wears pretty easy. My son's have the newer Beckers with the rough finish and the laser etched lettering. They have done quite a bit of batoning and a ton of chopping and I don't think they even have any wear marks on the newer rough finish.
 
Well it hasn't worn off yet but it's definitely wearing smooth where it experienced the most traffic yesterday.
 
Charlie_K said:
Well it hasn't worn off yet but it's definitely wearing smooth where it experienced the most traffic yesterday.
Click to expand...

It will rub smooth after a decent amount of use. This is not necessarily a bad thing, since it'll go through wood easier than it did with the "traction" coating fully intact. All coated knives do this, btw. Some quicker than others. The old-style Beckers lost their finish very quickly if you batoned with them. The new powdercoat is much more robust.
 
The coating will wear smooth, but it takes a lot to wear the rest off. The new coating is pretty tough stuff, so even if it smooths, you will still have a lot of life left in it. You are good to go no worries.
 
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