BK-7 Survivor Handle

[kgd]

Okay, I removed the scales on my BK-7 and am flirting with the idea of shaping my own wood scales. This is going to be a long project for me, because I'm inherently slow. Rather than have my BK-7 sit there naked, I decided to fool around with it a bit.

I got to thinking, hollow handles, we don't need no frigg'n hollow handles. Inspired by some of Christof's PSK knives and his ingenuous use of ranger bands I decided to try a quick little experiment with the BK-7 Survival wrap.

So Fire is the theme. Yes, I know there is a pouch on the sheath for this kind of stuff. But I'm going to have that full of other goodies. I wanted more stuff in my kit. So the handle is where its going to go.

So in the one side I have a little ferro-rod/mag bar stuck under the ranger bands as well as a chunk of fatwood.

On the other side another piece of fatwood and I also slipped in some fire straws sealed with PJCB. I could stick a little piece of hack saw in there also, but for now the knife edge is good enough.

Then I wrapped the handle with 550 paracord and there you go, the survival handle BK-7! If I actually end up liking this than I would put some more effort into actually shaping bigger fatwood chunks to fit my needs. It would also be improved to cover the end pieces of fatwood over with the ranger bands, just to smoothen the transition point. Even shaping the fatwood ends for some curvature would be good. The wrap does help even out the transition pretty good.

So we have a spark source, a water proof tinder, the ranger bands for more fuel and the fatwood for longer term kindling.

Doesn't feel too bad in the hands, less bulky than the original handles. Again, I need to shape those fatwood pieces a little bit better. There was about 6' of paracord on the wrapping. Good for other uses if needed.

Well, it was all just a little fun experiment. The great thing about the BK-7 is that if I change my mind, I'm three screws away from reverting back to its original.

 

[Joezilla]

Love the paracord use and color. Wasn't there a contest about hollowing out the bomb-proof grivory handles for your stash? Pretty cool KGD

 

[Joezilla]

Hey is that a camillus?

 

[kgd]

Yes I do believe I've seen mods where the ribs under the scales are cut into to put stuff in the handles. The screw configuration makes that pretty tight though. Glad you liked it, I'm just goofing for now. Obviously this can be done with any knife with removable slabs like the Rat Cutlery blades. However, I like those RC-slabs too much to remove them

Yep its a camillus - obtained from Doc Canada

 

[Joezilla]

Aww man, Now I'm thinking of a superlite rc-3

 

[Bushman5]

try filling the stock scales with buckshot, adds a nice damping effect

 

[TheGame]

That is a neat idea. Adding extra kit to the kit. Very cool :thumbup:

 

[Mistwalker]

Nice kit Ken, looks really good. I much prefer the para cord wrap idea to having stuff inside the scales...I'd hate for my fire starting ability to depend on my keeping up with a hex key.

 

[kgd]

Okay, improvements. I re-wrapped the knife in a little more organized way. The final version is now thicker, with a bit more ranger band material to provide some insulation and give. This will be a good knife for winter given the wrap insulation around the tang as well as the little fire kit inside the handle.

So first, I started the knife by placing two full sized layers of bicycle tube around the tang. This provides the function of bulking up the handle a touch and also provided some shock cushion around the tang itself. A third layer of separate, thinner bands was then added to hold the kit contents in place. The advantage of this triple layer of rubber bands is that if I have to use my kit contents for an emergency, my knife is still pretty usable with the rubber layers. At least a little more comfortable than just using the tang itself.

This time I shaped the fatwood at the ends to provide a bit of ramp curvature instead of having a ridge at the two ends of the pieces. The fatwood are about 3/16" thick. They were inserted under the ranger bands. I made sure in the final wrapping that the ends of the fatwood were covered with rubber before wrapping.

Below are the additional kit contents. A small mag bar/ferro rod supplied with the Rat Izula, two fire straws containing PJCB. I also added in a small hacksaw piece that can serve as a dedicated stricker and magnesium scrapper should I choose not to use the knife edge.

I added another ranger band around the pieces to remove any gaps between the kit contents out rubber layer. This provides a little bit more protection to the kit contents and also for visuals so you do not see it under the wrapping.

Final product. The contours on the handle are much nicer than my first version. The last little strand of the wrap was fixed in place with a little bit of crazy glue. I crazy glued the last two rows together of the wrapping. My experience is that this holds quite well under rigorous conditions, yet it doesn't take too much effort to pull those strands apart if you need to unwrap the handle and access the kit contents. I also often pack a tube of crazy glue in my kit for emergency stitches and it can be used to repair the wrap job if need be.

The new improved version feels much better in the hand. I think I'm going to keep the BK-7 in this format for a couple of months and see how I like it. I think it looks pretty spiffy too!

 

[j williams]

I like that!!!!

Looks cool, and functional. Nice Ken!

 

[MArathonman]

awesome !

 

[TheGame]

I like the re-do. Is it comfortable to use like that?

 

[kgd]

I like the re-do. Is it comfortable to use like that?

The grip feels excellent. However, I have to do something about the guard. It produces a bit of a hotspot on my index finger. The guard edge is a bit sharp but usually covered by the slabs. I'm thinking about just putting a little dollop of epoxy on the sides to smooth out that edge and make it feel nicer. Besides that the grip is great!

 

[Mark J]

Very nice job. I think that the paracord would be a definite improvement over the standard scales, plus the added supplies underneath are always a plus.

- Mark

 

[sicily02]

Great job Ken. That is the one thing I really like about full tangs you can still use it, if for some reason something happens to the handle scales. you just never know.

Keep us up todate with how it goes over the next few months

Bryan

 

[kgd]

The little bubble of 5 minute epoxy on the guard has cured the hot spot issue rather nicely. Of course, now if I go back to the original grips I'll have to knock off the epoxy but that usually isn't too difficult to do.

 

[Mistwalker]

I like the "new improved" version Ken. It looks comfortable. Do you feel any movement of the kit beneath the cordage when you chop with it or is it pretty tight?

 

[kgd]

I like the "new improved" version Ken. It looks comfortable. Do you feel any movement of the kit beneath the cordage when you chop with it or is it pretty tight?

It is very tight and secure mistwalker. If I didn't tell somebody about the kit underneath I don't think they would know about it. I do like the effect of the barrel shaped handle the kit + wrapping provide. I also like the insulative properties of the wrapping over the tang top and bottom producing a hidden-tang like effect. In this case, the warping of width contributed by embedding the kit contents does not produce an accessory extension of the height that that multiple wrappings would produce.

Right now, I'm liking where it is at. Now it is time to start getting out and using it!

 

[Mistwalker]

It is very tight and secure mistwalker. If I didn't tell somebody about the kit underneath I don't think they would know about it. I do like the effect of the barrel shaped handle the kit + wrapping provide. I also like the insulative properties of the wrapping over the tang top and bottom producing a hidden-tang like effect. In this case, the warping of width contributed by embedding the kit contents does not produce an accessory extension of the height that that multiple wrappings would produce.

Right now, I'm liking where it is at. Now it is time to start getting out and using it!

Cool, thanks for replying.

Now get out there...and take a camera !

 

[pict]

I love that paracord, good looking stuff.

I put a fishing kit in my BK-7 scales. I just removed them and filled the cavities with hooks, coiled cable leaders, splitshot, a supply of line etc. I then just melted wax and poured it in on top of everything (except the line) to harden up and seal it in. Over time it seems a split shot has broken out of the wax so I have a little rattle in there. Mac