becker/kabar heat treat quality?

D

DREW78

Joined
Feb 23, 2006
Messages
755
Hello everyone.

I own knives in 1095 from 2 makers. ESEE and BKnT. There seems to be much talk about the very high qualityy of Rowens heat treat in the www. I did some searching for threads regarding the qulity of Kabars HT but didn't come up w much.

I'm just curious how the BKnT heat treat is. The heat treat is the soul of a blade IMO.

Thx-
Drew
 
I would say if its not as good,.its. darn close. the only difference is the warranty esee offers (although kabar has some.excellent.customer.service too)
 
Thanks for the rely! I'm an OH guy myself btw.

You know I already have BK 16, 2, 24, and multiple 11's and really enjoy them all. I was just curious re the HT, I don't want anyone to think I was trying to be negative.

Drew
 
Not at all. The heat treat is really good. If it isn't as good as Rowen's then it is only short of it by a small amount. Not to say there aren't flukes, it happens with anything, but I've yet to have a knife do anything to indicate it wasn't treated properly.
 
IIRC, Kabar HT is slightly harder than Rowen's, (58-59 vs 57-58) but they're also using a modified 1095, so the blades aren't really more prone to chipping.
I've only had an issue with one Kabar knife and that was due to a combination of really thin flat grind and REALLY weird wood grain that caused a tearout -- and Kabar traded me for a new one with no hassles.
 
To me the Rowen HT is better but only better by this comparison. The Rowen shop is very small when compared to Ka-bar so it is expected that they would be able to maintain tighter tolerances.

The Ka-bar HT isn't bad but its not at the level of the Rowen HT, who imo does 1095 better than ANY other production company if you want 1095 heat treated to a higher level than what Rowen does get ready to go custom.
 
PatrickKnight said:
To me the Rowen HT is better but only better by this comparison. The Rowen shop is very small when compared to Ka-bar so it is expected that they would be able to maintain tighter tolerances.

The Ka-bar HT isn't bad but its not at the level of the Rowen HT, who imo does 1095 better than ANY other production company if you want 1095 heat treated to a higher level than what Rowen does get ready to go custom.
Click to expand...

Rowen does a bang up job indeed, but I'm curious what you base this on. I'm honestly curious how folks compare heat treat from one maker to the next. I own quite a few of each and use them fairly often. I'll be damned if I've ever had an "ah-ha" moment where there was a clear difference.
 
tradewater said:
Rowen does a bang up job indeed, but I'm curious what you base this on. I'm honestly curious how folks compare heat treat from one maker to the next. I own quite a few of each and use them fairly often. I'll be damned if I've ever had an "ah-ha" moment where there was a clear difference.
Click to expand...
I'd be curious to know as well.
I've used both companies knives and can't tell a difference.
Any time someone says, "Rowens heat treat edges out Kabar.", they never offer an explanation as to why they believe it.
I like both companies. They both make great knives.
If Someone thinks one heat treat is better than the other, I'd like an explanation as to why you feel that way.
 
Get the best of both worlds: The Ritter/Becker collaboration knife (MK2 or Bk-12). Becker/Ritter design, made by Rowen:D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top