BK 2 & BK 7 sheath problems, etc

L

Lawrence Helm

Joined
Jul 24, 2014
Messages
328
I've watched a ton of YouTube comments on the BK7 & BK2 and everyone seems to like the sheaths. I don't happen to like them and that is no doubt because I am a hiker and not a camper. I saw one YouTube commentator say that he frankly doesn't wear his BK7 on his belt but carries it in his knapsack. He can't imagine having that big long thing hanging from his belt and frankly neither can I. In my case a knife is either going on my belt or I'm leaving it home; so I ordered a leather sheath from Skystorm and sent for a BK2 thinking I might be able to hike with the smaller BK2-sheath setup. But alas I had a devil of a time snapping the dang thing around the handle (didn't have any problem with the BK7 sheath, but this one is different -- couldn't attach it at all btw when I tried it for left-handed carry). I did eventually get it snapped but am not willing to take this setup on a hike; because if I was on a hike and had to use the BK2 I wouldn't be able to get it resnapped without taking it off my belt.

What to do? I found someone on eBay, probably a fledgling sheath-maker, selling a sheath intended to fit the Schrade SCHF10 and the BK2 for $38 plus shipping; so I sent for that; still, I had my doubts that a sheath made to fit two different knives is going to be satisfying in the long run so I kept looking and found someone else selling a new BK2 with three home-made leather sheaths; so I put in a bid. I could theoretically end up with two BK2s and no sheath I'm really happy with, and if that's the case I will eventually ask Skystorm to make me one for the BK2.

Lawrence
 
Grizzly Outdoors makes them and some really nice sheaths. Made in WI. Same town as St. Croix fishing poles.
 
If you are talking about the factory sheaths snap for the BK-2 not fitting either contact Kabar and ask for a replacement or snap the sheath closed and leave it for a few days. Let the webbing stretch and break in. In the past I have sprayed the webbing with a bit of water to help stretch the webbing and then let it dry closed. This will help break in the webbing as well.

There are many options for sheaths out there. But this may help you fix your issue without spending more money.

As for carrying either knife on your belt while hiking. I would chalk that up to personal preference. I do not like anything on my belt when I hike. Depending on the pack I am using sometimes I don't even like wearing a belt. Usually while I am hiking my knife is in my pack. If you need to have your knife handy while traveling on the trail, there are ways to attach your knife to your pack straps so the knife sits on your chest. Or maybe get a smaller neck knife and use that for any knife tasks while hiking and keep your larger knife in your pack.

Also, welcome to the forums.

Jeremy
 
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I'm not a fan of the BK2 sheath either, My simple fix was order a canvas one for the BK22. Virtually the same as the 7 but shorter to fit the BK2. The straps were tight as all of the factory sheath are but they break in fine after a week of being snapped.
 
You can also do what I did for the BK-2

10527573_1461517570768138_7222019274250552954_n.jpg


Took off the back of it and put on an Esee 5/6 Molle back.
 
dresnor said:
If you are talking about the factory sheaths snap for the BK-2 not fitting either contact Kabar and ask for a replacement or snap the sheath closed and leave it for a few days. Let the webbing stretch and break in. In the past I have sprayed the webbing with a bit of water to help stretch the webbing and then let it dry closed. This will help break in the webbing as well.

There are many options for sheaths out there. But this may help you fix your issue without spending more money.

As for carrying either knife on your belt while hiking. I would chalk that up to personal preference. I do not like anything on my belt when I hike. Depending on the pack I am using sometimes I don't even like wearing a belt. Usually while I am hiking my knife is in my pack. If you need to have your knife handy while traveling on the trail, there are ways to attach your knife to your pack straps so the knife sits on your chest. Or maybe get a smaller neck knife and use that for any knife tasks while hiking and keep your larger knife in your pack.

Also, welcome to the forums.

Jeremy
Click to expand...

I made a mistake in my original note. I have a BK22 and not a BK2 (at least so far), but I understand they are the same except for the sheath. The original BK2 sheath is suspected of wearing down the edge. In case you might think the hard sheath might be an option for me, I don't find them comfortable on a hike.

Probably you are in the majority regarding packs and carrying things on the belt. In my case I have a bit of a neck problem and have over time moved as much as possible (in regard to what I carry on a hike) from my neck and shoulders to my belt. On my left side I have a camera pack (currently using an Olympus EPm2 & 14-42mm lens), forward of that I have a knife, in the past such as a Ka-Bar USMC fighting knife, and the Buck 639V, but I have been rethinking what I carry on a hike and finally got around to the knife-question. On the left side I clip a handgun, recently my smallest, the Walther 22. I've been carrying a lot of different knifes recently to experiment and discovered I can handle more belt-weight, hence my recent move into the Becker world.

Thanks for your comments.

Lawrence
 
If you are a hiker, doesn't your backpack have a hipbelt? Wouldn't that get in the way (and be uncomfortable to boot) having a knife hanging off that, or your belt underneath the hipbelt? I generally dislike having stuff hanging off my belt (possibly because at work it happens daily) and if I've got a backpack on, the knife is on the pack. There were some really great carry options presented in this thread: How do you carry...; I particularly like the one rokclmb set up for his 9 shoulder strap mounted. I think that the factory sheath for the 2 or the 7 would work well this way.

edit: sorry, didn't read carefully through dresnor's post and also just saw your clarification....maybe what you need is a pack that places the load on the hipbelt and not the straps (and your neck). Still some good ideas in the above thread, IMO.
 
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Lawrence Helm said:
I made a mistake in my original note. I have a BK22 and not a BK2 (at least so far), but I understand they are the same except for the sheath. The original BK2 sheath is suspected of wearing down the edge. In case you might think the hard sheath might be an option for me, I don't find them comfortable on a hike.

Probably you are in the majority regarding packs and carrying things on the belt. In my case I have a bit of a neck problem and have over time moved as much as possible (in regard to what I carry on a hike) from my neck and shoulders to my belt. On my left side I have a camera pack (currently using an Olympus EPm2 & 14-42mm lens), forward of that I have a knife, in the past such as a Ka-Bar USMC fighting knife, and the Buck 639V, but I have been rethinking what I carry on a hike and finally got around to the knife-question. On the left side I clip a handgun, recently my smallest, the Walther 22. I've been carrying a lot of different knifes recently to experiment and discovered I can handle more belt-weight, hence my recent move into the Becker world.

Thanks for your comments.

Lawrence
Click to expand...

I don't know when you got the sheath, but to my knowledge, any perceived problems with the sheaths has been corrected quite a while ago. I have had no problems with any of the ones I've acquired since last October.
 
zzyzzogeton said:
I don't know when you got the sheath, but to my knowledge, any perceived problems with the sheaths has been corrected quite a while ago. I have had no problems with any of the ones I've acquired since last October.
Click to expand...

I got delivery 2 or 3 days ago from an Amazon.com order.
 
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Here s my answer to that,light,compact,scout carry or not,on belt or backpack.......best for the money if you ask me
 
Welcome Lawrence!
A good leather sheath such as a Skystorm should work quite well for you.
And if you wanted to upgrade your nylon sheath, the short SpecOps works very well. It's a nice sheath.
As others have mentioned, the factory webbing will stretch out over time and should remedy your situation.
Hook and loop might be an option too if that snap won't loosen up for you.
Lot's of options out there!
 
Jonny1280 said:
Welcome Lawrence!
A good leather sheath such as a Skystorm should work quite well for you.
And if you wanted to upgrade your nylon sheath, the short SpecOps works very well. It's a nice sheath.
As others have mentioned, the factory webbing will stretch out over time and should remedy your situation.
Hook and loop might be an option too if that snap won't loosen up for you.
Lot's of options out there!
Click to expand...

As of now I've ordered a Skystorm sheath only for my BK7; which incidentally will probably end up a better hiking option for me than the BK22. I couldn't really tell from Amazon that the smaller 5-inch BK22 was actually heavier than the BK7 (15 ounces to the BK7's 13.5 ounces). I do have at least one "custom" sheath for the BK22 on order. Whether it turns out to be "good" or not remains to be seen. And as I mentioned earlier I did put in a bid on a BK2 with three what look like home-made leather sheaths. Whether the seller accepts my offer remains to be seen.

Perhaps every year about this time, when it is too hot to do a lot of hiking, I review my gear and just like some of the YouTube commentators always find something else to buy. I have been very impressed by what I've read about the BK7 and BK9, but after getting the BK7 decided that that I wasn't likely to want to take the BK9 on a hike (which doesn't mean I don't want one at some point) and so got a BK22. But like some YouTube commentator also said, I won't get a knife (or gun) unless I can think of a use for it. So why do I "need" a BK7, and this will also explain why I need to have it (or whatever knife I'm carrying) on my belt:

I retired to the foothills of the San Jacinto Mountains in Southern California, because one of my main hobbies was hiking. I wanted a nearby hiking area but also access to good hiking trails further away. The nearby area is the usually dry San Jacinto River bed. I hike with a Rhodesian Ridgeback (Ben) and my wife's Schnoodle (Duffy). We've pretty much gotten used to the coyotes that we see almost everytime we go down there. Virtually no one else goes down in the brush where we hike -- except the coyotes. Do I anticipate having to fight off coyotes with a knife? Almost certainly not. They have gotten used to us and we them, but things could change. We are in drought conditions now. If that affected the coyotes they might be tempted try and drag off Duffy. Some state people checking for an infectious disease a couple of years ago told me of a mountain lion that came down from the mountain and there are bear up there so animals might come down to cross the (dry) river to drink from the little reservoirs on the other side. I'm not worried about these hypothetical situations, but at the same time I don't want to be caught unprepared if something does happen.

When I was trying to go as light as possible a few months back I pulled out my old Kershaw 1010BK. It is amazingly light, 8 ounces counting the sheath, and while that might seem to be an ideal knife for a hiker that wants to go light, I had no confidence in it. I've never heard of one breaking, but holding it didn't inspire me with confidence. Maybe it would be okay, but why trust myself (and my dogs) to it if I didn't need to. I've got other knives and while I don't really want to discuss them all, I found several people (on YouTube) waxing eloquently over the BK7 and BK9 and as I said I ended up buying the BK7 and BK22. The knives themselves do inspire confidence, the BK7 more than the BK22, perhaps, but I'd be happier taking either one into any of the hypothetical situations I've considered, than most of my other knives -- as soon as I can get some suitable sheaths.

I hate to get into all this detail because my interests are neither "survival" (at least not "survival" as its portrayed in the YouTube videos I've watched) or bushcraft. I have a wide selection of knives I can take hiking and now (in the BK7) I have one to take if I am imagining a really really really serious (hypothetical) threat. The BK7 will be my uberknife.

I have tried a number of the Spec Ops sheaths over the years, for guns and knives, and have never cared for them. I prefer soft material on my belt. One of the reasons is noise. A Marine was (probably still is) trained not to carry gear that is going to rattle and alert the enemy he is approaching. I don't expect to encounter "enemies" on my hike, but I do like to hear other hikers before they hear me (especially if they have dogs, so I can put Ben on a leash); so the elimination of distracting noises enables me to hear what's out there a little better. What would bang into a Spec Ops sheath? I carry a few things that might, cameras, hiking sticks, branches that we brush by. Also, I don't like the feel or operation of the Spec Ops sheaths -- this is just personal preference.

I did think the straps on the BK22 "might" stretch out over time, but bear in mind that I don't particularly like that sort of sheath to begin with. If it functioned perfectly I would have used it until I got the custom sheath for the BK7, but since it didn't work I'm going to set the BK22 aside and take one of my older knives hiking. I have plenty of them; so I am not in trouble.

Thanks,

Lawrence
 
The seller of the "like new" BK2 plus three "custom" sheaths accepted my offer; so I'm soon to have two BK2s (I've been calling mine a BK22 since that is what I thought I purchased but it says BK2 on the blade). I keep a kit in the back of my Jeep for emergency-type (survivalist?) things. I'll probably put one of my BK2s in that kit in lieu of the knife I presently have back there.

The knife I took on this morning's hike was a Knife King Damascus with a 7-inch blade and a micarta handle. I mention this for two reasons. The first is that it has a minimalist nylon sheath (as opposed to the mini-knapsack sheaths that come with the BK7 & BK22). The knife by itself weighs 13 ounces. With sheath the total weight is 15 ounces. One would be excused for jumping to the conclusion that that would make me happy, but not so. It has no plastic insert and has already been cutting into the nylon -- as little as I've used it. The BK2 & 7 sheaths are much better made. The BK2 sheath however weighs 4 1/2 ounces.

The second reason is that while I knew the Knife King Damascus wasn't ideal I at least thought it would do a defensive job in a chopping role. After watching a bunch of videos which included chopping and batoning on Youtube I decided to try the Damascus blade on some dried wood down at the river. I was surprised that the metal at the bottom of the knife designed to hold a lanyard dug into the heel of my hand. I'm going to grind it down a bit, but it probably still won't be very good as a chopper. On the other hand if Chris from Prepared Minds can wrap the handles of his BK2 & BK7 with hockey-stick tape, I could probably wrap the butt of my Knife King Damascus with the same thing -- assuming I was going to use it a lot, which I almost certainly am not.

Since there are a ton of videos reviewing and testing the BK2 & BK7 I'm not going to need to wonder about whether mine will stand up to a lot of heavy use; which among other things means that I intend to leave the heavy coating (elephant snot Ethan Becker called it) on the blades. I don't think it looks bad and am not really clear on why Chris of Prepared Minds and others remove it.

Lawrence
 
There are reasons to keep the coating for sure but my reasons for removing include these:

Slices cleaner.

Easier for me to clean up after heavy use. Just sand, sharpen and oil. Then looks as new.

If I use the coated knife hard, then use it for food prep, I worry about the little coating flakes coming off in my beans :)

I also just like the look of a clean knife with clean steel, rather than a knife that has the coating scratching off.

Thats just my reasoning for it.

For my knives that sit a lot in between use... i leave the coating on to prevent rust.
 
knifeleather said:
Lawrence, I sent you a pm. No handle snaps here!
Mark

Click to expand...

I got your PM and your sheath looks exactly like what I was looking for (including the mods you mention in your PM); however as you can see from my above posts I already have 4 leather sheaths on order; so I'm going to wait and see how those turn out before I take any further action.

Thanks,
Lawrence
 
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