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- Dec 27, 2010
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Hey Folks. Thought this might be a good place to post up a mini-review of my new Ka-Bar BK11 Becker Necker, carbon steel san mai variant. I've also been working on doing a bit of customization, so I'll include some of my WIP pics for that.
I first got started carrying an EDC fixed blade with the CRKT A.G. Russell Sting. It's a nice little blade, and the sheath (still one of my favorite sheaths, in fact), includes a variety of ways to carry, from vertical or horizontal, to velcro straps to attach to your leg or forearm. However, it wasn't the most comfortable knife, and it was very heavy and FAR from being razor sharp, as advertised. So I went looking for another good EDC fixed blade, which had to be 3.5" blade length or shorter.
With lots of helpful input from the good folks here on BladeForums, I ended up with 3 knives to try, the Ka-Bar Becker Necker BK11, the Bark River Bravo Necker 2, and the Cold Steel Counter Tac II, which is very different from the other two, so I won't discuss it here.
So, without further ado, lets talk about the BK11 Becker Necker!
Introduction
The main reason I chose the Ka-Bar Becker Necker is, to be honest, the bottle opener. I am strangely addicted to the glass bottles of Coca Cola made in Mexico with real sugar instead of corn syrup, and since I don't drink alcohol very often, I almost never carry a bottle opener. I thought it would be nice to have one on an EDC knife, especially one with Ka-Bar's quality. I went for the carbon steel san-mai version, both for aesthetics, and because I have had a good experience with Cold Steel's version of San Mai. I ordered it from ManVenture Outpost (partially because I love the name, and partially because they have great pricing), for 69.91 USD. It arrived within 3 days of ordering, as is usual for MVO, and I used my CRKT for one last cardboard opening task.
I really like the way the carbon steel san mai looks. The middle part is supposedly Hitachi White Steel 2, which is kind of amusing because it's been given a very dark gray hue, making for an attractive, stylized appearance. The White Steel is sandwiched between 2 sheets of 410 stainless, which provides good rust resistance and bending. For those who are unfamiliar with the concept behind san mai forging, I understand it to provide a balance between edge retention, cutting ability, and overall toughness.
Cutting ability and edge retention is dependent on hardness; harder steels make better edges. However, the harder the steel, the more brittle it is, so such a knife would be vulnerable to breaking more easily. That's where the more flexible, softer 410 stainless comes in. By leaving only the cutting edge exposed, the softer steel helps keep the whole knife more resistant to breaking, while retaining the harder steel for the edge. It's really a very cool concept, and seems to hold up quite well in practice, at least from the two examples I have (CS Peace Keeper 1, and this blade).
Regardless, it makes for an attractive blade:
The Sheath
The sheath is a injection-molded plastic sheath, which is nice and durable, and has a small hole on the bottom to drain water. The opening flares out for easier access, which makes it very useful for carry like I do (horizontally along the back of my belt). It's quite easy to sheath without looking.
The sheath also has the requisite holes for lashing the sheath to your belt, leg, forearm, or web gear, and the knife actually conveniently comes with some black nylon cord, which, while not as durable as paracord, still does just fine at creating a lashing. I set mine up for horizontal carry.
The one thing that I really don't like about the sheath is that the retention is not very good. It's definitely possible to shake the blade loose, and while I haven't lost it yet, the possibility certainly exists. I'm currently having another BladeForums member make me a leather sheath for the knife with a horizontal carry belt loop, and will let you all know how that goes. The plastic sheath is currently spending some time with the knife clamped inside; I'm hoping to improve retention so I can carry it.
Okay, so back to the knife.
The Handle
So I'm going to be lame and recycle a picture. Oh well, it's good enough for you to see what I'm talking about.
The handle is skeletonized with two different cutouts, which I'm not too fond of, because in the pictures that I've seen of the BK11 with a cord wrapped handle, it just doesn't look very good. However, it does come with the aforementioned bottle opener/wire stripper, and both features work great. It's very handy to have, and the handle is actually pretty comfortable without any wrapping at all. If you DO want to cord-wrap your handle, this thread may help:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/712843-Becker-Necker-Cord-Wrap-picture
The shape of the handle gives very good control between thumb and forefinger, although I'd really love to see some jimping on the back of the blade to provide a bit of grippiness for the thumb, and may have to do some file work to accomplish that end. The Bark River Bravo Necker 2 has jimping, but without cord wrapping, it's handle is just not as comfortable as the BK11.
The Blade
The blade came reasonably sharp, although not shaving sharp, and had some issues with tearing paper when I tried the paper cut test. So, I spent some time with the Sharpmaker, and touched up the edge. I was pleasantly surprised to find a 15 degree bevel on each side, rather than the usual 20 degree. The blade is 3.25" long, with the whole knife being 6.75", and has a nicely shaped drop point. I will remark that mine came with a little chip out of the blade, which I'm sure ManVentureOutpost would have replaced, but I didn't really care enough to be without my new knife for another week. After sharpening, it's now shaving sharp and ready to rock and roll.
I like to test my EDC knives by cutting the things that they're likely to cut for me on a regular basis, and see how well they perform. Cardboard whittling is one of my favorites, because if a knife isn't sharp enough, it won't cut cardboard easily enough to whittle small strips, and if the edge retention is poor, it won't hold up for a long time. I shredded an entire box into tiny strips before I got bored. This is where the handle comfort really comes in, because even on the bare handle, my hand didn't get sore or anything. It's still a pretty small handle, and if you have large hands, you won't be able to fit all of your fingers. But it's still pretty comfortable. The edge remained nice and sharp after all that cutting, although it was no longer shaving sharp (but still able to cut neat strips of paper). A few strokes on the Sharpmaker touched that up nicely. It's not the sharpest knife, and the grind isn't quite as suited to cutting as a full flat or high flat grind, but it's still pretty good at processing paper.
I also opened up a ton of junk mail envelopes, and was pleased to find it able to accomplish that task without tearing. It's actually surprising how hard that can be for some knives. Some of my blades just can't handle it. No loss of edge retention. Finally, I did some whittling on a piece of hardwood (cocobolo), which I was shaping to make some custom handle scales for said knife. It did a fine job of removing good sized chips with very little in the way of edge damage. Performance has been very good, and it's certainly a fine little knife. It weighs only .15 pounds (2.4 ounces), and carries very discreetly and unnoticeably on your belt. I can even sleep on my back on top of the knife and I don't even really notice that it's there, which really makes it perfect for what I was looking for.
Custom Handle
However, as comfortable as the handle might be, it's still not as comfortable as a cord-wrapped knife, let alone one with a handle. Now, there are machined Micarta scales for this bad boy, but I wanted something a bit more aesthetically pleasing. So, I picked up some scraps of Cocobolo, and using a hand scroll saw, a portable belt sander, and a hand drill, I set out to make myself some handle scales. I still wanted the bottle opener to work, so I had to cut out a U-shaped indent into the bottom. This is the first time I have ever made a knife handle, so you'll have to bear with my amateur attempts. Even so, it was surprisingly easy. I started by cutting out the rough shape that I wanted after tracing the handle on the wood, then used the scroll saw to do a little bit more fine detail.
The wood that I had was far too thick for scales, so I used the belt sander to shape it and thin it out, until it was approximately the shape that I wanted, as above, and did a little bit of contouring. Then I went to work a bit with some coarse sandpaper by hand, and got it into the rough 3D shape I needed to fit my hand comfortably. I whittled the ends down until the knife would fit into the sheath still.
As you can see, with the U-shape indent, the bottle opener is still accessible.
The next step was to get the knife attached. I bought some small 6x32 metric Allen bolts and matching nuts at the hardware store for around 45 cents. The wood cost me 3 dollars, so I'm feeling pretty good about cost here. Then I traced the holes in the knife on the outside of the handle so I'd have an idea of where to put them. I clamped the two handle slabs together and then used a brad-bit to do an initial hole, and then used another larger drill bit to make a shaft large enough to fit the bolt through. Then I used a larger brad bit to counter sink the nuts and bolt head:
You can see here that I accidentally grabbed the wrong bit for one of the holes for the nuts, and so it's a bit too large.
Then I attached the handles to the knife. The screws were a bit too large, and too heavy duty, being stainless steel, for my bolt cutters, so I had to use the belt sander to slowly grind them down. I didn't want to go too fast, because then the steel gets discolored and burns. They were sticking out about a third of an inch, so it took a bit of doing. Here's the handle attached, with the bottle opener still accessible:
I really like the way the Cocobolo looks with the two-tone san mai blade.
I'm now working on finishing it with progressively finer grits of sandpaper, and will probably do some lacquer to bring out the luster in the wood. I probably should put something in the middle, but friction seems to hold those scales on quite nicely for now, so I'm satisfied for now. The scales are removable, but you can't take them off and on repeatedly, because over time it will damage the wood. I'm thinking about ways to mitigate that issue, but for now, they're probably a permanent fixture.
Anyways, please feel free to ask questions, comment, and share some insight on how else you have improved your BK11! It's been a fun project so far, and I'm looking forward to finishing and having a pretty customized EDC fixed blade on the back of my belt! Cheers all,
TCF
I first got started carrying an EDC fixed blade with the CRKT A.G. Russell Sting. It's a nice little blade, and the sheath (still one of my favorite sheaths, in fact), includes a variety of ways to carry, from vertical or horizontal, to velcro straps to attach to your leg or forearm. However, it wasn't the most comfortable knife, and it was very heavy and FAR from being razor sharp, as advertised. So I went looking for another good EDC fixed blade, which had to be 3.5" blade length or shorter.
With lots of helpful input from the good folks here on BladeForums, I ended up with 3 knives to try, the Ka-Bar Becker Necker BK11, the Bark River Bravo Necker 2, and the Cold Steel Counter Tac II, which is very different from the other two, so I won't discuss it here.
So, without further ado, lets talk about the BK11 Becker Necker!
Introduction
The main reason I chose the Ka-Bar Becker Necker is, to be honest, the bottle opener. I am strangely addicted to the glass bottles of Coca Cola made in Mexico with real sugar instead of corn syrup, and since I don't drink alcohol very often, I almost never carry a bottle opener. I thought it would be nice to have one on an EDC knife, especially one with Ka-Bar's quality. I went for the carbon steel san-mai version, both for aesthetics, and because I have had a good experience with Cold Steel's version of San Mai. I ordered it from ManVenture Outpost (partially because I love the name, and partially because they have great pricing), for 69.91 USD. It arrived within 3 days of ordering, as is usual for MVO, and I used my CRKT for one last cardboard opening task.
I really like the way the carbon steel san mai looks. The middle part is supposedly Hitachi White Steel 2, which is kind of amusing because it's been given a very dark gray hue, making for an attractive, stylized appearance. The White Steel is sandwiched between 2 sheets of 410 stainless, which provides good rust resistance and bending. For those who are unfamiliar with the concept behind san mai forging, I understand it to provide a balance between edge retention, cutting ability, and overall toughness.
Cutting ability and edge retention is dependent on hardness; harder steels make better edges. However, the harder the steel, the more brittle it is, so such a knife would be vulnerable to breaking more easily. That's where the more flexible, softer 410 stainless comes in. By leaving only the cutting edge exposed, the softer steel helps keep the whole knife more resistant to breaking, while retaining the harder steel for the edge. It's really a very cool concept, and seems to hold up quite well in practice, at least from the two examples I have (CS Peace Keeper 1, and this blade).
Regardless, it makes for an attractive blade:
The Sheath
The sheath is a injection-molded plastic sheath, which is nice and durable, and has a small hole on the bottom to drain water. The opening flares out for easier access, which makes it very useful for carry like I do (horizontally along the back of my belt). It's quite easy to sheath without looking.
The sheath also has the requisite holes for lashing the sheath to your belt, leg, forearm, or web gear, and the knife actually conveniently comes with some black nylon cord, which, while not as durable as paracord, still does just fine at creating a lashing. I set mine up for horizontal carry.
The one thing that I really don't like about the sheath is that the retention is not very good. It's definitely possible to shake the blade loose, and while I haven't lost it yet, the possibility certainly exists. I'm currently having another BladeForums member make me a leather sheath for the knife with a horizontal carry belt loop, and will let you all know how that goes. The plastic sheath is currently spending some time with the knife clamped inside; I'm hoping to improve retention so I can carry it.
Okay, so back to the knife.
The Handle
So I'm going to be lame and recycle a picture. Oh well, it's good enough for you to see what I'm talking about.
The handle is skeletonized with two different cutouts, which I'm not too fond of, because in the pictures that I've seen of the BK11 with a cord wrapped handle, it just doesn't look very good. However, it does come with the aforementioned bottle opener/wire stripper, and both features work great. It's very handy to have, and the handle is actually pretty comfortable without any wrapping at all. If you DO want to cord-wrap your handle, this thread may help:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/712843-Becker-Necker-Cord-Wrap-picture
The shape of the handle gives very good control between thumb and forefinger, although I'd really love to see some jimping on the back of the blade to provide a bit of grippiness for the thumb, and may have to do some file work to accomplish that end. The Bark River Bravo Necker 2 has jimping, but without cord wrapping, it's handle is just not as comfortable as the BK11.
The Blade
The blade came reasonably sharp, although not shaving sharp, and had some issues with tearing paper when I tried the paper cut test. So, I spent some time with the Sharpmaker, and touched up the edge. I was pleasantly surprised to find a 15 degree bevel on each side, rather than the usual 20 degree. The blade is 3.25" long, with the whole knife being 6.75", and has a nicely shaped drop point. I will remark that mine came with a little chip out of the blade, which I'm sure ManVentureOutpost would have replaced, but I didn't really care enough to be without my new knife for another week. After sharpening, it's now shaving sharp and ready to rock and roll.
I like to test my EDC knives by cutting the things that they're likely to cut for me on a regular basis, and see how well they perform. Cardboard whittling is one of my favorites, because if a knife isn't sharp enough, it won't cut cardboard easily enough to whittle small strips, and if the edge retention is poor, it won't hold up for a long time. I shredded an entire box into tiny strips before I got bored. This is where the handle comfort really comes in, because even on the bare handle, my hand didn't get sore or anything. It's still a pretty small handle, and if you have large hands, you won't be able to fit all of your fingers. But it's still pretty comfortable. The edge remained nice and sharp after all that cutting, although it was no longer shaving sharp (but still able to cut neat strips of paper). A few strokes on the Sharpmaker touched that up nicely. It's not the sharpest knife, and the grind isn't quite as suited to cutting as a full flat or high flat grind, but it's still pretty good at processing paper.
I also opened up a ton of junk mail envelopes, and was pleased to find it able to accomplish that task without tearing. It's actually surprising how hard that can be for some knives. Some of my blades just can't handle it. No loss of edge retention. Finally, I did some whittling on a piece of hardwood (cocobolo), which I was shaping to make some custom handle scales for said knife. It did a fine job of removing good sized chips with very little in the way of edge damage. Performance has been very good, and it's certainly a fine little knife. It weighs only .15 pounds (2.4 ounces), and carries very discreetly and unnoticeably on your belt. I can even sleep on my back on top of the knife and I don't even really notice that it's there, which really makes it perfect for what I was looking for.
Custom Handle
However, as comfortable as the handle might be, it's still not as comfortable as a cord-wrapped knife, let alone one with a handle. Now, there are machined Micarta scales for this bad boy, but I wanted something a bit more aesthetically pleasing. So, I picked up some scraps of Cocobolo, and using a hand scroll saw, a portable belt sander, and a hand drill, I set out to make myself some handle scales. I still wanted the bottle opener to work, so I had to cut out a U-shaped indent into the bottom. This is the first time I have ever made a knife handle, so you'll have to bear with my amateur attempts. Even so, it was surprisingly easy. I started by cutting out the rough shape that I wanted after tracing the handle on the wood, then used the scroll saw to do a little bit more fine detail.
The wood that I had was far too thick for scales, so I used the belt sander to shape it and thin it out, until it was approximately the shape that I wanted, as above, and did a little bit of contouring. Then I went to work a bit with some coarse sandpaper by hand, and got it into the rough 3D shape I needed to fit my hand comfortably. I whittled the ends down until the knife would fit into the sheath still.
As you can see, with the U-shape indent, the bottle opener is still accessible.
The next step was to get the knife attached. I bought some small 6x32 metric Allen bolts and matching nuts at the hardware store for around 45 cents. The wood cost me 3 dollars, so I'm feeling pretty good about cost here. Then I traced the holes in the knife on the outside of the handle so I'd have an idea of where to put them. I clamped the two handle slabs together and then used a brad-bit to do an initial hole, and then used another larger drill bit to make a shaft large enough to fit the bolt through. Then I used a larger brad bit to counter sink the nuts and bolt head:
You can see here that I accidentally grabbed the wrong bit for one of the holes for the nuts, and so it's a bit too large.
Then I attached the handles to the knife. The screws were a bit too large, and too heavy duty, being stainless steel, for my bolt cutters, so I had to use the belt sander to slowly grind them down. I didn't want to go too fast, because then the steel gets discolored and burns. They were sticking out about a third of an inch, so it took a bit of doing. Here's the handle attached, with the bottle opener still accessible:
I really like the way the Cocobolo looks with the two-tone san mai blade.
I'm now working on finishing it with progressively finer grits of sandpaper, and will probably do some lacquer to bring out the luster in the wood. I probably should put something in the middle, but friction seems to hold those scales on quite nicely for now, so I'm satisfied for now. The scales are removable, but you can't take them off and on repeatedly, because over time it will damage the wood. I'm thinking about ways to mitigate that issue, but for now, they're probably a permanent fixture.
Anyways, please feel free to ask questions, comment, and share some insight on how else you have improved your BK11! It's been a fun project so far, and I'm looking forward to finishing and having a pretty customized EDC fixed blade on the back of my belt! Cheers all,
TCF
