Best(?) for camping food prep?

neffarious

neffarious

Joined
Jun 23, 2012
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Camping season is approaching again. We do car camping because wife, kids and sleep apnea. Maybe once I get a battery powered cpap machine I'll be able to rough it more, but until then I need power.

Now that the groundwork is laid... I usually bring a 15 and a 4 or 9. I've done some aquisitions in the off season and I now have a 5 and a 24. My 5 is a new laser etched rough finish model. It it was smooth I probably wouldn't even ask. My 5 is stamped smooth. It's going to be the new meat slicer. Possibly long veggies too. Who knows. Anyway, for dicing and such I don't like the 15 much because of the "guard" in front of the handle. The 5 appears to be a lot more flush as does the 24. Would the 5 and the 24 be better suited for the cooking roles? Kind of like a pairing and chefs knife? The rough finish in the 15 kinda makes it not as good of a slicer and a pain to clean up at a camp site compared to the others. Thoughts and experiences are welcomed and desired. Thanks!

Yep, that just happened.
 
The 24 almost doesn't count as you can put it on your neck and forget about it ... though it's always there. It's like pants and a shirt - you don't think about it or count it.

The 5 is, as you know, is a great food processing tool. It's certainly a capable all-arounder but it really shines when there's slicing to be done.

As for the 15, you can strip it or perhaps try sanding down the coating so as to leave it on there but make it smoother. Then, if that's not to your liking, go ahead and strip it with paint remover/stripper. Some and and polish the knife and make them look great. I'm more of a utilitarian type and simply stripped it.

There are various methods for protecting the end of the knife where the handle is and under the handle. After i stripped my 15, I carefully cleaned and dried it then masked off the blade leaving only the handle half of the knife exposed. Shake-a-can clear coat was then sprayed into the exposed are and, after drying, the handle slabs were re-installed. Seems to be holding up well.

A 5, 15 and 24 should have you covered for food prep and general camping chores. Having the 4 and the 9 in the car with you as well could never hurt.
 
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The 5 is by far the best Becker for food prep. Either sand down or strip the coating and you'll be good to go. You can even do rocking motions with the knife on a cutting board :)
 
Imma say strip the 15 and go with that. None of the Beckers will rival a decent kitchen knife (with the notable exception of the Becker/ESEE set - which ARE kitchen knives), but the 15 really hits the sweet spot for me in general use. Thinner and lighter than the 5 and, with a steep "Fisking", will slice onions see-through thin. Would I carve a 12 lb. pork loin with it? Guess I'd rather have the 5 for that.....for most everything else of outdoor food prep, I find the 15 to be less fatiguing and nearly as capable as the 5. Prolly why I have 3 of 'em....EDC bag, fishing pack and my most-used daypack each have their own. One of the very few Beckers I purchased multiples of.
 
I thought it was the same blade thickness as the 5? Also, the little "guard piece" drives me nuts when i try to slice all the way to rock cut something. The 5 is similar in size to my Gyuto. How is it fatiguing? I'm not trying to be a pain, I just haven;t used it yet for that capacity. i guess i know what i am going to try soon. that should be a fun time LOL
 
neffarious said:
I thought it was the same blade thickness as the 5? Also, the little "guard piece" drives me nuts when i try to slice all the way to rock cut something. The 5 is similar in size to my Gyuto. How is it fatiguing? I'm not trying to be a pain, I just haven;t used it yet for that capacity. i guess i know what i am going to try soon. that should be a fun time LOL
Click to expand...

Have you ever seen a kitchen knife with scales like a full size Becker handle? Not likely. The 5, though quite capable, is still a LOT of steel with a very big handle to wield for an extended period, IMO. Yeah, you can't cut with a 15 on a cutting board without a little technique change....but then again, you can't cut with a 5, either, without some technique changes. As for the blade thickness, the 15 is .165" stock and is .125" thick midway; the 5 is .190" stock and about .150" mid-blade. Neither one has the handle canted nor the finger clearance for kitchen use. I love Ethan's designs (and Jerry Fisk's as well) but neither of these blades is really a dedicated kitchen knife. I have a 15 that I put a pretty steep convex on, and that is by far my favorite Becker for camp kitchen use. I prefer nearly all of my dedicated kitchen knives for food prep, TBH....but that 15 slices like no other.

Lunch today, courtesy of the 15:

27629754364_f4a0271c6f_b.jpg


Side note: If I really want a dedicated kitchen knife, I have a cheapy Farberware Santoku that gets it done when travelling. Less than $20, holds an edge OK (I bring my DMT kit along) and looks, feels and acts like a kitchen knife.
That being said, The 15 goes pretty much everywhere with me....and has cut everything from cake at a birthday party to a whole lot of stuff at the Spring Northeast Gathering:

26919922530_cb34cee951_c.jpg


All the veg prep was done with the 15 - sweet potatoes, onions, rutabagas, Idaho potatoes....and even the bacon that went into the veggies (can't have enough bacon now, can we?):

27125937141_058ecc932c_c.jpg


The one caveat is I wouldn't want to do a lot of kitchen prep with any coated Becker.....The smooth coated 5 does alright slicing pork loin, but.....easier to strip them and maintain them for food prep, IMO. I had a couple Sabatiers that honed my skill with that, some time ago.....those things were sharp as hell but rusted at the drop of a hat. Put great patinas on both of them, then passed them on to friends after I got the Wusthofs.
 
So as much as I don't want to I kinda need to strip the 15 for the use I plan. The rough coat won't cut it. What are those handles made of.
?

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If you are really against stripping your 15, you could try sanding the coating smoother.
 
Lightly sand the 15 to remove the rough coating. Much more slicier.

I might stand alone but unless you really thin out the blade the 15 doesnt do as well as the 16. The higher grind of the 16 does very well cutting hard root veggies such as carrots potatoes and others. An onion doesnt stand a chance either. The 15 will slice the hell out of any steak though!
 
I'm with GSOM, get an inexpensive Santoku.

Of the BK's, the smooth-coat 5 works best for me.

BUT, as much as I luv my 5/15/24, in the kitchen, they can't match my Santoku.

You can get good inexpensive commercial kitchen knives online from places like Webstaurantstore.
 
But then I lose the excuse to have the becker lol. I get the point but I really want to use these. I'll just have to use them in the kitchen and see

Yep, that just happened.
 
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