Alrighty boys and ghouls! Better late than never? Well, probably not the case, but here's some thoughts & pics anyway.
As stated elsewhere, when I picked up this blade for the first time all I could think of was how fitting it would be to have in hand whilst hoisting the Jolly Roger. It handles a bit like a fighter! What I mean by that is it's a real featherweight in-hand. The point of balance is just at the first screw, and it balances like a much shorter blade. The yin to this yang (yang to this yin? whatever...) is that it's not at all a chopper. Sure it will make snap cuts like a machete, but not much else. But no bother, that's not at all what this knife was designed for.
This knife prepared a couple of meals in the kitchen, and did so with the grace of a ballet dancer. Lunch was slicing some bread and cheese and fruit. It quite honestly performed better than any of my normal kitchen knives. The BK5 really did slice more than 'split', the way some thicker knives will do to fruit or cheese. After studying the blade I think at least one factor is that the BK5 has a constant curve to the edge, an elliptical shape. Fantastique!
This pic does a good job showing how thin the knife gets, if you look past the swedge.
Being me, I couldn't help but take it outside to prep my firewood. I batoned the Magnum Camp through some reasonably sized chunks of wood and there wasn't a bit of trouble. It was, in fact, still amply sharp enough to make fuzzies of the leftovers.
This knife is totally capable of any camp/woods duties, but will also perform ideally on food prep. It'd be great to see this blade used to dress and deer or something. I don't love choils, but on a blade for food prep it's a bit more useful.
I'd really, really dig this same blade but at about ~5" and without a choil. Lordy that would make for a great belt knife....
