Becker Brute VS Kershaw Outcast.

[ERINT]

The Outcast sure is a nice looking knife. Love the lines.

But Becker has proven that thier camp knives are a great buy for the money. Get the becker and then set aside cash for a month or two and order the outcast as a S&Gs knife.

 

[knifetester]

These knives are similiar in chopping ability on sapling size soft wood, like 1-2" alder and willow.

Note, with wood of this class all you are really seeing is the performance of a well sharpened edge, which the Kershaw certainly has.

I will be working with elm, oak, maple and lotus in a couple weeks which should be more interesting. Thicker, harder woods.

I did a little more work with the Outcast today. The handle is too narrow and thin for my hand. Also, the rubber irratates bare hands much faster than micarta. No problem when wearing gloves. I will have to hockey tape the handle to thicken it.

A thick handle is nice because it helps with shock (spreads it out over a bigger surface), as well is less tiring to grip for extended periods of time.

Most production companies make their knife handles far too thin for my hands.

 

[knifetester]

After reading reading Mathew's Aki/RCM review again, I realized the Outcast is very similiar in scope to the RCM. The handle, steel, grind are probably more of a cohesive design on the RCM, but it is more $$$ and hard to get.

 

[Stormdrane]

Go for the Becker, plus you can remove the handles and make a survival kit to go in them:


http://www.survival.com/sass.htm

 

[STR]

I guess I'd go for the Becker myself unless I just wanted to grab one of the last few D2 Kershaw Outcasts available before they all sell out. From that view point you can always buy the Becker later but once the D2 Outcasts are gone I guess they will only be available in a different steel.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

The Outcast would be less prone to binding in thicker wood.

Can you work effectively in thicker woods with the blade curvature, unless you restrict chopping to the tip swell you are presenting a very odd profile to the wood.

It would be very interesting if Onion/ Kershaw would warrant their knives for this scope of work.

Rebar is really soft, I have not cut I-Beams, but in general when chopping soft metals you get little penetration so there is no significant chance of rippling and they deform readily so you don't get hard snaps like you can on bone, and they are not hard enough to dent the steel directly.

It can be difficult to chisel through as if the knife gets in deep and a sloppy impact does torque it, you can lose a huge piece of the knife on brittle steels like D2. Of course a lot of it depends on how hard you are swinging it and how many times you impact it.

I would be more impressed if it could sweep limb low light trees and baton through ring knotted spruce. Those two tasks will mangle a lot of knives and reviews would be a lot shorter if I did them first. The Kershaw doesn't have the edge thickness for the batoning, especially with the lower hardness, I would be curious if the edge would ripple or just blow.

The handle, steel, grind are probably more of a cohesive design on the RCM ...

His updated design on the AK looked interesting, it is too bad there are not a lot of people working in that class of blade (large bush knives) which upper end production values.

...once the D2 Outcasts are gone I guess they will only be available in a different steel.

That is probably a good thing.

-Cliff

 

[knifetester]

when chopping soft metals you get little penetration so there is no significant chance of rippling and they deform readily so you don't get hard snaps like you can on bone, and they are not hard enough to dent the steel directly.

I would think with D2, even at 56RC, it would just blow chunks out of the edge with full power swings.

I would be more impressed if it could sweep limb low light trees and baton through ring knotted spruce. Those two tasks will mangle a lot of knives and reviews would be a lot shorter if I did them first.

Yes, many people fail to realize how stressful limbing small hard branches can be. They way it concentrates the blow (small point of impact) on a small piece of the edge really puts a lot of stress on the knife.

The Kershaw doesn't have the edge thickness for the batoning, especially with the lower hardness, I would be curious if the edge would ripple or just blow.

I will be doing more baton work with the Kershaw. If it fails, I will document its mode of failure.

That thin edge works really well on soft vegetation though. Kershaw puts out knives with very good initial edges, this one is no exception. My Leek and Double Cross came with scalpel sharp edges.

 

[coyotebc]

I will be buying one of these two knives this week.
Has anybody on this site done a side by side comparison?
I am leaning towards the Outcast (the knife is a present from ym two daughters and they like the look of the kershaw better)
I've seen opinions from people but no side by side comparisions

Thanks

 

[s201]

Thank you very much for the great reviews and suggestions. I ended up getting the Outcast last week, I haven't done any hard usage on it yet, so can't comment on the performance. All I can say that is the condition it came out of the box is great, there are no flaws visually on the knife and sheath.

I have one cosmetic question for the owners of the Outcast though, I don’t know if it’s a defect or not. There are two the millings on the spine near the tip of the blade, for mine the ‘cut’ on both sides are different, the side with the writings is deeper and ends up blunt, and the other side with “KAI” on it is shallower and ends gradually. Do yours look different on both sides?

Oh by the way, although I got this one for now, I’m seeing myself going to get the Brute in the future… hm… addictive...

 

[sopmodm4]

If the choice is close, always go for the American made (Becker) over the Chinese made.

The Kershaw is US made if I am not mistaken.I spoke with their shop just a few days ago and they inferred that they ground them at their facility.

 

[spyken]

outcast's handles don't fit my hand. too slim for a machete - it's shaped more like a knife. Wasn't impressed with the design whilst doing field trials but the shape is sexy and the sheath is well-made. And for $50+++ for that hunk of D2, it's quite a bargain if you can reprofile the edge bevel a little.

 

[s201]

After a few months passed by, I finally bought both of them. Here are the side by side shots on them:

I haven't done any heavy testing on it, nor do I have enough expertise to comment on them. But so far I have used it for chopping on branches that got knock down by a snow plow in front of my house this winter, both showed more than enough performance for me on 'attacking' the branches. With winter gloves on, both handles provided secure grip even with snow around in the process.

What I have notice is the coating on the Outcast switched from TiN to Teflon somewhere within these few months. I had a chance to look at the Teflon coating also, it have a more matte surface compare to the metallic flake surface that my older Outcast have.

Cheers!

 

[Hattie]

Quick note:

Plus: the chopper cuts like blazes - chopped arm thick limbs easily. Design is perfect - light fast and easy on the hand.

Minus: it busted on me a few days ago. Awaiting comments from Kai Cutlery (Europe).

Will try to keep posted after reply from Kershaw and possibly Ken.

Hattie

 

[Ken C.]

My review of the Outcast.

 

[TOB9595]

And my review of the Outcast is here

I found the outcast to be a splendid blade for all the tasks I set for it.
A fine garden/camp knife.

How did the Outcast noted above break?
Tom

 

[Ken C.]

How did the Outcast noted above break?
Tom

Who's Outcast broke?

 

[Joe Dirt]

If the choice is close, always go for the American made (Becker) over the Chinese made.

I thought Kershaw stuff was Made in Japan (some of their stuff).

I don't think anything is made in China.

 

[Thomas W]

Hi all

To answer a few questions on country of origin, the Outcast is made at our Kai facility in China. We do make a handful of other products at that facility as well. I do feel very comfortable with our products made at our facility in China, as it is just that, our facilty. We have complete control of all aspects of production, and most knives that are imported from China do not have that advantage.

The Outcast is interesting, as the D2 is from here in the U.S., the Santoprene handle material as well.

Just a little FYI for you all.

Thomas
Kershaw Knives

 

[TOB9595]

Quick note:

Plus: the chopper cuts like blazes - chopped arm thick limbs easily. Design is perfect - light fast and easy on the hand.

Minus: it busted on me a few days ago. Awaiting comments from Kai Cutlery (Europe).

Will try to keep posted after reply from Kershaw and possibly Ken.

Hattie

Here in the "minus" column it is noted...I think.
Tom

 

[Joe Dirt]

Thanks for clearing that up Thomas!