Beckerhead Haul Thread

[GeofS]

Perhaps?

I’d imagine the tang under the rubber is thinner and wouldn’t fill out a standard Becker scale. Maybe you could add to it.

 

[Kentwood33]

I’d imagine the tang under the rubber is thinner and wouldn’t fill out a standard Becker scale. Maybe you could add to it.

Or a new Becker knife with that geometry...just thinking loud

 

[Bladite]

@Crag the Brewer and @Jerry D., I finally got the chance to swing it today; I gotta say I love this knife! Everything about the Bolo is quality: sheath, handle, blade shape and thickness, and steel. This thing hits hard and feels awesome to swing! About the only thing i could find to criticize on this is the orange color; it’s just not my preference.

I was motivated to try this out because I watched three episodes of Meat Eater last night. They were in Guyana and the tour guide carried this exact bolo. He was using it for some serious jungle tasks.

If you’ve been thinking about picking it up, get it! I can’t imagine you’ll be disappointed.

i like mine but have not swung it yet. i figure it's quality based on who made it and materials.

i also just recently (this week) but a Varusteleka Terava Skrama... wonderful

 

[GeofS]

i like mine but have not swung it yet. i figure it's quality based on who made it and materials.

i also just recently (this week) but a Varusteleka Terava Skrama... wonderful

Just checked out the Skrama, looks interesting. Did you go carbon or stainless?

 

[Bladite]

Just checked out the Skrama, looks interesting. Did you go carbon or stainless?

carbon seems to be the only offering for a while, the steel used is favored by many smiths of late, and has good qualities. chopped some seasoned frozen oak today. nothing to it. very nice.

 

[GeofS]

According to its online stats, it’s almost a half inch longer and just a little heavier than the King. Again, interesting.

 

[Bladite]

According to its online stats, it’s almost a half inch longer and just a little heavier than the King. Again, interesting.

i might argue the edge 1/2 to 1/4 near even, it's got the wharncliffeness upswept nature, but the handle is a good 2ish inches longer - more bamf if you leverage it right. arguably a bump up in steel, closer to 5160 properties, but that 80CrV2 at 59 HRC is a tough cookie.

dunno. i'll try it. i like'm all. the rotates and has their places.

 

[Bladite]

i also got a flea market find of one of thos USMC bolos - THICK, convexed like edge. doesn't take a lot of work to get it moving and it cuts stuff. good limber. snap cuts don't really work for me a lot. just slow thick movements, and plow through problems like an ox in a porcelein shoppe.

 

[GeofS]

I thought some of you may be interested in seeing this.

I first discovered the Cutco/Ka-Bar Outdoorsman a few weekends back at a local fair at a Cutco table. I couldn’t help but notice how close the handle looked like a tweener. $200 was far to steep of a price though.

My hunt on EBay led to one for half price. It arrived today...

It’s 440A stainless which in my mind is a bit of a demerit, however, I feel that’s cancelled by Ka-Bar’s exemplary heat treat. Time will tell.

Gotta love the sheath that’s very reminiscent of the Jarosz Turok. Very nice! Btw, tweener scales won’t work, the screw spacing is different.

 

[The Warrior]

Those came out quite some time ago. I remember Moose posting those up when they first came out.

 

[Bladite]

left me cold that one. felt like a prototype gone bad. also, if it was in anyway connected to Ethan, i don't think he'd made a penny.

at $200, i'd be surprised if they sold more than 9

 

[Jonny1280]

I thought some of you may be interested in seeing this.

I first discovered the Cutco/Ka-Bar Outdoorsman a few weekends back at a local fair at a Cutco table. I couldn’t help but notice how close the handle looked like a tweener. $200 was far to steep of a price though.

My hunt on EBay led to one for half price. It arrived today...

It’s 440A stainless which in my mind is a bit of a demerit, however, I feel that’s cancelled by Ka-Bar’s exemplary heat treat. Time will tell.

Gotta love the sheath that’s very reminiscent of the Jarosz Turok. Very nice! Btw, tweener scales won’t work, the screw spacing is different.

Use it hard and post a review.
I’d like to hear thoughts on the Cutco line.
I’ve looked at the kitchen knives, but I’m not convinced their any better than my Esee/Becker kitchen set. And the whole “lifetime sharpening” really doesn’t apeal to me. I can see why it would apeal to some folks obviously. I just wonder if there’s really anything that sets them apart from other SS kitchen knives.

 

[GeofS]

left me cold that one. felt like a prototype gone bad. also, if it was in anyway connected to Ethan, i don't think he'd made a penny.

at $200, i'd be surprised if they sold more than 9

Just wanted to clarify, I liked your comment because I also do not think it is worth $200. That’s all.

 

[knifejunkie1928]

That's a nice score! You might have something special there, yours doesn't have the logo etchings. Proto? Salesman sample?

I got mine secondhand as well. It's very nice blade...but I would never pay the asking price from cutco. However, if you were to compare just the sheath which is made is the USA to a very similar one like the bk2 sheath which is made overseas. The thermoplastic is much nicer, the retention is better, and the nylon is of a much higher denier. That probably adds a lot to the cost.



I thought for awhile that the outdoorsman might be Ethan's work or based on one of the numerous tweener prototypes. Not really sure now. The more I look at the protos the more I think it's not Ethan's. The one most like it is second from the bottom. Maybe if cutco/kabar elongated the design, after all the outdoorsman is the size of a bk2 not a tweener. They would also have to ditch the spear point and add a clip. Kabar/cutco seems to be a decent company and has a good relationship and respect for Ethan. So I would hope if this really was inspired by Ethan he got a piece of the action on it.

 

[GeofS]

That's a nice score! You might have something special there, yours doesn't have the logo etchings. Proto? Salesman sample?

I got mine secondhand as well. It's very nice blade...but I would never pay the asking price from cutco. However, if you were to compare just the sheath which is made is the USA to a very similar one like the bk2 sheath which is made overseas. The thermoplastic is much nicer, the retention is better, and the nylon is of a much higher denier. That probably adds a lot to the cost.

View attachment 1032567

I thought for awhile that the outdoorsman might be Ethan's work or based on one of the numerous tweener prototypes. Not really sure now. The more I look at the protos the more I think it's not Ethan's. The one most like it is second from the bottom. Maybe if cutco/kabar elongated the design, after all the outdoorsman is the size of a bk2 not a tweener. They would also have to ditch the spear point and add a clip. Kabar/cutco seems to be a decent company and has a good relationship and respect for Ethan. So I would hope if this really was inspired by Ethan he got a piece of the action on it.

View attachment 1032568

That’s a wealth of information. Thanks for sharing.

I have no idea why mine doesn’t have the etching. That’s peculiar.

 

[TPVT]

View attachment 981869

wait. what!!? i had no idea that middle knife existed. i am feverishly searching the interwebs as we speak....

thanks!

EDIT: now adding to my *wanted* list.

 

[19-3ben]

I’d imagine the tang under the rubber is thinner and wouldn’t fill out a standard Becker scale. Maybe you could add to it.

Scales on either side of the tang, with some G10 sheet that is sanded/fit to size epoxied in and making up the difference between the tang the scales might be nice.

Use it hard and post a review.
I’d like to hear thoughts on the Cutco line.
I’ve looked at the kitchen knives, but I’m not convinced their any better than my Esee/Becker kitchen set. And the whole “lifetime sharpening” really doesn’t apeal to me. I can see why it would apeal to some folks obviously. I just wonder if there’s really anything that sets them apart from other SS kitchen knives.

I used to sell Cutco knives while I was in college, and to some degree, I think it's what got me into knives. I stopped selling them when i realized i was overcharging my own family by selling them knives that were ok but not worth anywhere near the cost. The value proposition was all out of whack. I also had moral qualms about the sales techniques being used by Vector Marketing, the sales wing of Cutco. Happy to discuss by PM if anyone wants specifics but it's off topic since it's not really about knives at that point.

I still use some of my old Cutco demo knives that I bought as salesman's kit, in part because I already own them. Since i stopped selling for them, 15 years ago, I haven't bought a new Cutco kitchen knife. Most of the kitchen knives I have bought since that time are Spyderco or Victorinox Fibrox, with the exception of a few really nice ones from New West Knifeworks.

That said, my mother, who has never sharpened a knife in her life, loves the Cutco kitchen knives because she can toss them in the dishwasher, abuse them terribly, and when they get dull she sends them in to be sharpened and they always come back sharp. For her, Cutco is the greatest thing since sliced bread... which she can slice on her own... because she has a sharp knife.

TL: DR Cutco is good for those who blindly grab a knife, cut with it, and that's that. If you sharpen and maintain your knives and treat them as we do, you're paying for a service you'll never use.

 

[Jonny1280]

Scales on either side of the tang, with some G10 sheet that is sanded/fit to size epoxied in and making up the difference between the tang the scales might be nice.



I used to sell Cutco knives while I was in college, and to some degree, I think it's what got me into knives. I stopped selling them when i realized i was overcharging my own family by selling them knives that were ok but not worth anywhere near the cost. The value proposition was all out of whack. I also had moral qualms about the sales techniques being used by Vector Marketing, the sales wing of Cutco. Happy to discuss by PM if anyone wants specifics but it's off topic since it's not really about knives at that point.

I still use some of my old Cutco demo knives that I bought as salesman's kit, in part because I already own them. Since i stopped selling for them, 15 years ago, I haven't bought a new Cutco kitchen knife. Most of the kitchen knives I have bought since that time are Spyderco or Victorinox Fibrox, with the exception of a few really nice ones from New West Knifeworks.

That said, my mother, who has never sharpened a knife in her life, loves the Cutco kitchen knives because she can toss them in the dishwasher, abuse them terribly, and when they get dull she sends them in to be sharpened and they always come back sharp. For her, Cutco is the greatest thing since sliced bread... which she can slice on her own... because she has a sharp knife.

TLR Cutco is good for those who blindly grab a knife, cut with it, and that's that. If you sharpen and maintain your knives and treat them as we do, you're paying for a service you'll never use.

Thanks for your honest reply.

 

[19-3ben]

I just got home from spending the day at the New York Renaissance Faire in Tuxedo, New York. It was fun!

My father in law and I each bought a knife from Red Dog Forge out of Texas...

Both are 1095 steel. Mine is on the top with the cocobolo scales; his is beneath with the teak scales.

I have to make sheaths for them.

Have you put those Red Dogs to use yet? We go to the Tuxedo Ren Faire every year, and I have seen Red Dog there many times. The knives felt ok in the hand, but I didn't buy any because I didn't know anything about them and it was too much of an unknown for me to throw down the money. What are your impressions? Do I remember that they said the pattern on the blade was a base patina (i suppose more like blueing) rather than an acid patina?

 

[19-3ben]

Thanks for your honest reply.

You got it. It's my pleasure. As someone who sold them and has used them for 15 years, I figured I might be able to offer an insight. Although, to be frank, Bladite and GeofS got it just right. It's not that their knives are bad. It's that they aren't priced competitively for guys like us.

at $200, i'd be surprised if they sold more than 9

Just wanted to clarify, I liked your comment because I also do not think it is worth $200. That’s all.

On the other hand, for people for whom the knife is nothing more than a tool, and you can send it in for a refurb every 3 years when it won't cut warm butter any more, that service may have some value. Or for the guy who is a hunter and doesn't have ny clue how to sharpen a knife. Maybe he takes this Cutco hunting once a year. It's stainless with a plastic sheath so he doesn't have to worry about corrosion from blood, and then at the end of each season he pops it in the mail to the mothership and gets it returned factory sharpened where it will sit in a drawer until next season.

Of interest, look how similar the recently released Condor Selknam is to the shape of the Cutco Outdoorsman. Blade is about 1/2" shorter, but it's got Condor's excellent 1075, micarta scales, ferro rod, bow drill divot, and that really nice leather sheath. Oh, and it's just a hair over $100.