BK-16 (and Sheath) Paracord + Mods

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PirateMetalTroy

Joined
Sep 8, 2013
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7
I've been messing with my BK-16 and the last of my paracord, and honestly I think the results are kind of cool, so I thought I'd share what I came up with. You're REALLY gonna have to forgive the pics tho. The good camera was dead so I took the best shots I could with the webcam and TERRIBLE lighting. They're bad.





This is the wrap I had previously done for my BK-16, and posted in the bk-16 thread. It came out pretty good, and there's 5.5 - 6ft of paracord on there. I achieved this my using a broken hacksaw blade to remove the center piece from the knife, and inserting a cut length of black pen. I used the ben because if the slightly thinner butt end which goes down by the first finger. The cord was bunching up there badly and needed a little extra space. The pen was the perfect fit. Cutting tthat chunk of steel out of the knife may be a Little dangerous for hard users, but I don't see myself beating the hell out of this knife at all any time soon.



Here's a pic of the pen inserted into the knife where I cut out the steel.







This is the second wrap I did. It's definitely not much to look at, but it's a vast improvement as far as comfort is concerned. I used the same pen and wrapped paracord around the pen, then around the outside of the handle for a more hand filling grip. It's not pretty, but it feels nice. There's also 9ft of paracord in this wrap as opposed to the 5.5ft in the previous wrap.





This right here is the REAL money though. It's a the plastic liner from the bk-16's original sheath, which I removed and came up with this sweet paracord wrap for. I also found out if you take the plastic liner out, and turn it upside down, the bk-16 will friction fit into the sheath and not fall out. I shook it violently and swung it through the air pretty hard and it it never came loose. This is only valid if you've paracord wrapped your handle, or modify the liner slightly, since the scales don't let the friction points touch at all.



Here's a pic of it hanging by the lanyard/belt/thigh strap. All friction baby. In this pic you can also see the multi purpose belt loop/retaining strap hanging down. This sheath actually has like, unlimited carry options. It's ambidextrous, neck carry, shoulder carry, cross draw, scout carry...everything. The pics below should be proof enough.





Belt loop + thigh strap



Cross draw, if you use the neck lanyard as a belt, and feed it through the belt loop.



Same deal with the scout carry. The cross draw and scout carry with the lanyard as a belt is a nifty idea, but it's not ver comfy, and not really secure. It'll work in a pinch, but it's not a full time option. I'd like to fix this, but the weave is SUPER tight and I don't have a fancy paracord needle or anything to add parts to this. The belt things works, but barely.



Low-slung should strap style.



Short shoulder strap style. Good for cross draw.



Neck knife too! Though it's a little bulky and awkward.

If I missed something, or you feel there are improvements I could make, then let me know. I'm super stoked that I came up with this design, but I know there are areas where it could be improved. Don't even ask me how I came up with the retaining strap button and weave though....just kinda happened. I can take more detailed pictures once my camera is charged if you gents would like to see more.

Cheers kids!

EDIT: I forgot to mention this, but with all parts combined, there's over 30ft of paracord in this knife and sheath right now. Just thought I'd throw that out there.
 
That LOOKS really really good, but I'd slap the factory handles back on and give that same treatment to a BK14/BK24 instead.
 
I would, if I had a 14 or 24 to modify. The 16 is my only Becker at the moment. Hell. it's my only fixed blade knife. PERIOD. If I had something else to chop on, I might have done that. Might have to get a late xmas present for myself :P I had the factory scales on it for a couple hours, but decided I wanted to mess with the paracord some more. I'll have to make some slight modification to the liner to make the scales able to friction fit. I'll post pics when that happens.
 
Looks pretty cool. You could swap the black pin for a fire steel and be all set should you need a fire. :)
 
Neat mods! You sure eeked a lot of versatility out of what you had on hand and some 550.

Is the top (first) mod "weaving over threes"? I used that weave for my watchband and love it. It would be quite nice to fit a pen barrel or dowel in a 14 of 24 and do that pattern on it. You could even adjust the grip thickness by changing the dowel size.

Always remember to only use your paracord weaving superpowers for good :D
 
I really dig the ideas and the weave on the sheath insert. Really nice job there.

I'm not too keen on the mods to the 16 handle though, I think (my opinion mind you) you went too far removing the center portion, but to each their own I suppose.

Good job!
 
Great job on the sheath! How does the paracord handle feel on the 16?
I have only handled much smaller knives with wrapped handles.
 
zpstl321 said:
Looks pretty cool. You could swap the black pin for a fire steel and be all set should you need a fire. :)
Click to expand...

That was part of the plan back when I first modded the handle, but I didn't have a firesteel on hand, much less one that was the proper thickness and length. The pen is a decent fill in until then. I could still put a needle and thread, or fishing line and hooks in it or something until such time.

Don W said:
Great job on the sheath! How does the paracord handle feel on the 16?
I have only handled much smaller knives with wrapped handles.
Click to expand...

It's a lot like the wraps on smaller knives, but you got some versatility as far as which wraps you can use and how thick you can get them. My biggest beef with paracord wraps is most of them don't fill up your hand very well, and it makes the knife uncomfortable to hang on to for certain grips. Most are just too thin, and don't fill the hand. The plain old spiral wrap that's on there now is boring as hell, but it's comfy, and I can deploy the paracord in seconds, instead of painstakingly picking it out for 5 or 6 minutes if I needed it in an emergency.

Tdhurl1103 said:
I'm not too keen on the mods to the 16 handle though, I think (my opinion mind you) you went too far removing the center portion, but to each their own I suppose.
Click to expand...

Before I even did the photoshop mockups I definitely considered that this could compromise the strength of the handle, and that it would invariably void the shit out of my warranty. In the end I felt that I'd never be using this knife as hard as some of you guys seem to, and as such turning it into a modding platform suited to my uses was "safe enough". If it breaks, it's my own damn fault, and I'll have to go buy another one.
 
Great looking wrap! I've always liked the look, but never felt that para alone gave the width I wanted in a handle, but it looks like you may have solved that.
 
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