Broke my BK2

F

Fritz

Joined
Dec 7, 2002
Messages
9
Broke my BK2! I still can't believe this happened.
This is my go to knife for processing small wood under 5" to break down for my Bush Buddy wood stove.

I have used this knife since October and battoned lot's of wood without any problems. Yesterday I was battoning a piece of cedar with the knot. I was also using a wood baton. The second hit the knife snapped in two. The break was around 1/2" down from the 1st bolster. Just past the edge radius to flat transition on the cut out / skeletonized area in the blade under the scales. Not sure who to contact about this. Hoping it was just a bad heat treat. Really bummed.

I tried to post a pic, but don't have any images at a URL to link. Can't see how I can just cut and past these images.

Any help with this anyone?


Thanks in advance. I really like this knife and need to restore my confidence with this brand.


Fritz
 
Batoning is knife abuse, allegedly.

Pics would be great, photobucket is good one to use.
 
Not a bad heat treat; just the result of repeated excessive stress on a weaker area.
I like the BK series - a lot - but I've never been a fan of skeletonized tangs on "hard use" knives. I understand that many people want the weight reduction, and that under "normal use" the cutouts won't be a problem; but, especially with a heavy duty 1/4" thick blade, it just doesn't make sense to me.
 
Kabar is pretty good about warranty replacement even on Batoning, IF they feel that the break doesnt make sense to the use. If its a stamped version and it broke at or near the stamp, they might want it to see what happened.
It cant hurt to shoot them an email. The BK-2 has battoned lawn mowers and refrigerators so I am pretty sure it should be able to handle some wood. Now if you were striking the handle or the spine back past the grind, thats a different story, but they have on occasion replaced knives that broke during battoning.
 
Pix or it didn't happen!
I think they issue a merit badge for this.
 
Seems like we were just having a discussion about the skeletonized handles. :eek: Seems like the consensus is that people do not think they are a problem, however I would prefer they didn't cut them out. A stronger knife is more important to me then a tiny amount of weight loss. But hey, I am in the minority on this issue. :D

Sorry to hear it broke on you. I don't think this would have happened with the Gen1 without cutouts.
 
Thanks for the comments everyone. I did not realize that their was a Gen. 1 without cutouts. I think that would make a better knife for sure. I joined Photobucket to I could share the image of the break. See attached image.. Hopefully this works.

I don't see battoning as above for this knife. A knife made from this steel and in this thickness with the proper heat treat and geometry should be able to be battoned. Otherwise what are you going to use such a thick blade for. A blade this thick will never have the cutting performance of a thinner blade. The knife it touted as being super strong and I think that it's reputation has been built on this strength. I love this knife, just can't trust the design anymore.
library


Fritz said:
Broke my BK2! I still can't believe this happened.
This is my go to knife for processing small wood under 5" to break down for my Bush Buddy wood stove.

I have used this knife since October and battoned lot's of wood without any problems. Yesterday I was battoning a piece of cedar with the knot. I was also using a wood baton. The second hit the knife snapped in two. The break was around 1/2" down from the 1st bolster. Just past the edge radius to flat transition on the cut out / skeletonized area in the blade under the scales. Not sure who to contact about this. Hoping it was just a bad heat treat. Really bummed.

I tried to post a pic, but don't have any images at a URL to link. Can't see how I can just cut and past these images.

Any help with this anyone?


Thanks in advance. I really like this knife and need to restore my confidence with this brand.


Fritz
Click to expand...
 
OK, one more time. Typo above. I meant to say that I don't consider battoning with a knife like this abuse. If we can't batton with this knife, then their is no reason for this design to exist. If should be able to take battoning through a cedar knot without breaking in two. My Barkies do this all the time as do my Mora's. Never broke one of these. The pic did not seem to attach. So here is a link of the broken BK2 blade. http://s1371.photobucket.com/user/fritzjohnm/library/

Thanks everyone for your comments. I really want to understand where this knife failed and if their have been any design or manufacturing changes to help prevent this in the future.
library
 
IMG_4362_zpscc5c05ae.jpg


Seams to be the place they break, when they do break, that is.
 
I agree with you, if this knife cannot handle batoning it kind of defeats the purpose. It is a cool knife for sure and the reason people like them is for the reported abuse they can take. That is why people buy these is to be able to abuse them with batoning and all sorts of crazy things you see people doing. That is what makes them cool. This knife in particular I think they should leave the handle solid and forgo the cutouts. It just makes sense what a 1/4" thick knife.
 
Thanks for posting my pic. Yes, the area where it broke seems like a weak area. I wish they would just leave this area solid.
 
Maybe we can get Ethan to take a look and comment. I would like to hear his thinking about what happened. When I battoned this knife, I was holding the handle with my left hand and hit the top of the spine with another piece of wood. I hit the knife around 2.0" from the tip and I was holding the knife correctly, i.e. not at an angle. Also look close at the photo. It looks like the break started on the lower part of the steel where the break is clean. I small tear off or rounded edge peeled off at the top of the break. Interesting.
 
I wonder if they just leave it solid an inch or 2 farther back, if that would help, since that seems to be the area that bears the brunt of the strain when using a knife this way.
 
I think that would help. My guess is the knot became a fulcrum point. So when I battoned the spine towards the front, I had my hand stabilizing the back. The break happened at the weakest link per the photo. Leaving the steel solid would not make this any weaker. So just keep it solid as it's already so heavy and less prone to breaking.
 
Hmm.... I'd rather have the blade on BK2 be a bit thinner if they make the tang solid (vs. skeleton). Cool to see a broken BK2, though - this is the first example I've come across. Maybe this will prompt consideration of a design change?
 
That sucks.
BTW, it's a fairly substantial weight reduction - I've got the gen-1 and it's a beast.
 
The only other one I've seen break was from someone beating it with the hammer poll of an axe. It was in the same place though.
 
Mine is solid ;)

And you guys are nuts , skelonizing a knife does not make it weak, having a stick tang does not make it weak. It's about how the tang is transitioned that makes it strong. How it Carries stress throughout the knife. When it hit it and it vibrates, how that vibration is distributed.

Yours just had a problem, maybe because that's an area of the blade that had been cut on it had a little micro crack or something that when hardened spread further; idk? Just an uneducated guess
 
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