BK5: An all round woods blade, or not?

Wood Splitter

Wood Splitter

Joined
Jul 16, 2011
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I have been hearing a lot about the BK5 lately, and I cant seem to see what all the hype is about?
It looks like a great knife, but the only use I see people putting it to is food prep.
I have nothing wrong with that, but is it as good of an all rounder as say the BK7 or BK2?

I have modified my BK7 a good bit by grinding the ramp down, grinding a choil, as well as rounding the area on the spine that the webbing in between your index finger, and thumb would sit while chocked up on the blade. And just in front of that, I squared the spine so I am able to scrape tinder or strike my ferro rod(s). I have also convexed it.
Now that I have done those mods, it has become a real good all rounder.

I was thinking of getting some micarta scales for my Beckers, but the price of scales is pretty much half of a BK5.

I have very little use for a food prep blade and so I want to know, would you take your BK5 into the woods over any other Becker? Is it really that good:confused:
 
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i was sorta wondering the same thing, do get me wrong it looks like an excellent blade and i want one but what about the woods? will it perform as well as a 7 or something similar in size? i know the upsweep will make it quicker but less of a chopper, or so says most of the other tests with knives
 
BK5: An all round woods blade, or not?

not not

who's there

BK5

BK5 who?

chop chop chop chop chop

as the Beckerhead gathering PROVED. on video. in pictures. in person, the BK5 is a wonderful all-around medium duty knife.

it was used to chop, split, cut, slice, and sever all manner of things. it's stabby. it's tough. they dented concrete a few times.

i've batoned one through oak. a more square spine would be handy... but beyond that? good knife.

with all those BK7 mods (pix please), sounds like you came close to a BK5 already :)

same thickness too at 0.188

or said another way: most likely, if the BK7 can do it, so can the BK5, and vice versa.
 
It's lighter in hand, so is not as good a chopper as a BK9 - but it will chop.
more point, so uses a slightly different technique to make the hearth and bearing block for a bowdrill.
whittles and shaves just fine.
would it be my first pick for a "one and only" knife to take into the woods for a week? no
am I confident that it would do the job anyway if that's what I had? yes.
 
Wood Splitter said:
I have been hearing a lot about the BK5 lately, and I cant seem to see what all the hype is about?
It looks like a great knife, but the only use I see people putting it to is food prep.
I have nothing wrong with that, but is it as good of an all rounder as say the BK7 or BK2?

I have modified my BK7 a good bit by grinding the ramp down, grinding a choil, as well as rounding the area on the spine that the webbing in between your index finger, and thumb would sit while chocked up on the blade. And just in front of that, I squared the spine so I am able to scrape tinder or strike my ferro rod(s). I have also convexed it.
Now that I have done those mods, it has become a real good all rounder.

I was thinking of getting some micarta scales for my Beckers, but the price of scales is pretty much half of a BK5.

I have very little use for a food prep blade and so I want to know, would you take your BK5 into the woods over any other Becker? Is it really that good:confused:
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Bladite said:
the BK5 is a wonderful all-around medium duty knife.
Click to expand...

Yes, as medium duty. I'd take along a hawk\axe for the heavier wood processing with the 5. With that said, the 5 has unique attributes that make it different and a stand out worth having. For general utility I feel fine with it, for heavier applications, no I don't. I would not carry the 5 only if I knew that I had extreme wood processing ahead. Some may not like this answer but it's straight talk as I see it.
 
Good question. The 5 has always been an enigma to me. And reading around hasn't helped; some dudes use 'em in the woods, some dudes use 'em on food, some dudes say they're fighting knives. I think they awful pritty but am not sure what I'd use it for. Not that that matters, as I want one anyway and will be getting one anyway!
 
BRL said:
Good question. The 5 has always been an enigma to me. And reading around hasn't helped; some dudes use 'em in the woods, some dudes use 'em on food, some dudes say they're fighting knives. I think they awful pritty but am not sure what I'd use it for. Not that that matters, as I want one anyway and will be getting one anyway!
Click to expand...


Sounds like an all arounder to me.....
 
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Here is a pic of my feather sticking with the BK5.

The above video was a review that I did on the 5 when I first got it.

Then I used my 5 for a chopping contest at our fall gathering (BeckerWest) I was chopping a pretty dense 4x4 and it surprised the hell out o everyone there :D :thumbup: :thumbup:
 
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As you can see here, the batoning stick took a beating. This was the 2nd one cause i broke the first one. Beckers CAN take a beating---even the lighter duty ones.

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Here is the family together at the campfire, just hanging out.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCEEuk3-N94

Here is the vid that was just posted in another thread.
 
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I have to agree, the BK5 is a good all around, medium duty knife. Light on weight, but not on performance.
I'd say, it's worth to get one and add to the collection. I really like mine.

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if one goes to look at the round one passaround for the BK5, one will note that almost all of that was done with the factory edge.

now that i have two convexed models, and a video camera, perhaps a little further testing :)

paper slicing sharp to batoning for fire and camp and stabbing hogs, not a bad knife. not bad at all.
 
Bladite said:
if one goes to look at the round one passaround for the BK5, one will note that almost all of that was done with the factory edge.

now that i have two convexed models, and a video camera, perhaps a little further testing :)

paper slicing sharp to batoning for fire and camp and stabbing hogs, not a bad knife. not bad at all.
Click to expand...

That was a factory edge? I thought someone put some work into it! I was really impressed how sharp the passaround BK5 was! I think I even commented on it in my review.
 
Well, from what I have seen so far, (thanks to you all) the BK5 will be my 2nd next Becker. After I get me a Machax! :thumbup:
 
I'm kinda stuck here to, I'm about to pull the trigger on a Bk5 or Bk7 today. I need a mid sized fixed blade knife (6-8") that's primarily a cutter. I need it to chop and baton but that's secondary To cutting. I do carry a Hatchet which this knife will play backup/secondary to and I do have other knifes like a piggyback, Mora, Wave ect. I have also been considering the OKC RAT-7 Ranger RD-7 and Esee RC-6 and Ritter RSK MKII but I think I'm perty much down to a BK5 and BK7.

Any suggestions? I really want to hear from people that have handled both the 5 and the 7.
 
Major_Mayhem said:
I'm kinda stuck here to, I'm about to pull the trigger on a Bk5 or Bk7 today. I need a mid sized fixed blade knife (6-8") that's primarily a cutter. I need it to chop and baton but that's secondary To cutting. I do carry a Hatchet which this knife will play backup/secondary to and I do have other knifes like a piggyback, Mora, Wave ect. I have also been considering the OKC RAT-7 Ranger RD-7 and Esee RC-6 and Ritter RSK MKII but I think I'm perty much down to a BK5 and BK7.

Any suggestions? I really want to hear from people that have handled both the 5 and the 7.
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what are you going to cut?

we've handled them all :)
 
Meat, tomatoes, wood, beer cans. 8)

I want it do everything but be best at food prep, game prep, wood whittling. I still need it to be a good back up to hatchet specially when I'm away from my Pack/Camp. My next best cutter would most likely be my Mora 612 but its not a large cutter and not very good at buttoning and chopping. I've read the pass arounds and seen the vids. How much better is a BK5 at cutting specially in the kitchen and how much better is the bk7 at chopping and batonning (specially with a clip point I would imagine it would have some of the same issues as a bk5 when it comes to batonning). I need this to be primary general purpose woods/camp knife. Is the choil on the bk5 an issue with batoninng?
 
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