Budding Becker-ite BK-14 Questions

J

Jayelled

Joined
Sep 24, 2011
Messages
54
Hi guys,

So I've been lurking BF.com dedicatedly for a few weeks now, though I've browsed through in the past.. Brought here through the magic of Google from an Equip2Endure video on Youtube. Anyways, after reading around a lot, I've found myself drawn to the BK&T Sub-forums well, pretty much every day. Having been drawn to blades ever since I was just a tiny thing, it's only recently that I've been able to indulge my fancy for them. Initially I was poised to pull the trigger on a BK2, specially after I spent some time around here.

But after much consideration and soul searching as to my potential usage I decided to order a BK-14 instead. At least until I have the time to indulge in the more outdoorsy areas of my fascination, seeing as I'm currently stuck in more urban areas. So while waiting for my new toy to arrive, thought I'd throw up a post to introduce myself. That being said, I'm the type of guy who over-researches pretty much any purchase he's going to make so I've spent the better part of the last three days scrolling video after video and thread after thread to find out all I need to know. In the end, I've come up with a list of (hopefully short, though knowing my incredibly long-winded-ness I'm sorry if they get a tad long) questions that I haven't been able to quite find the answers to yet. Hope you guys can help me out?

1 - Watching a video review on the BK-14 from gerboy0100 on Youtube. He mentioned that the first thing he did was that send his factory edge for reprofiling from it's original 30 degree inclusive angle to a 40 degree one. Has anyone else found this at all necessary, or just done it for the hell of it and found they liked it better?

2 - Sheath dulling, as Malaysia is hopeless at knife products, a new sheath will be out of the question for a good while yet. So the factory sheath. I've read countless complaints of it dulling the blade's edge. One fix was to draw the blade a few dozen times to wear out the spot, this done, does the sheath perform without undue dulling of the blade? Rather an important point to me as I'm still new to the realm of sharpening.

3 - My last question. For those who own a BK-14. How often do you use stones to sharpen the edge, if at all? Do you find that stropping regularly is enough to keep the edge as sharp as you like it? I've more questions on sharpening in general, but I may move that to the general forum. I've been practicing freehand sharpening on an old whetstone of my fathers with a cheap AFD Boker that I got for 50 bucks. That's about $14.95 in US Dollars. Hahaha. I still need a lot of work with that. So, would regular stropping be enough? Would I need to touch up the factory edge at all?

So I hope that wasn't all too TL;DR for you guys.

Cliff's Note's Version: Hi! I'm new! Those up there are my questions! I like Beckers, I just ordered a BK-14. And I suck at sharpening. :D

I'm gonna be around for awhile yet, eyeing that BH#.
All responses appreciated!

First Malaysian on the Becker forums? :3

Cheers guys,
Jared
 
Hey welcome and congrats on the first Becker, there will be more.

On to your questions.

The bk14 is factory ground at 15 degrees not 30, so if that guy took it to 40 I feel he is attempting to make more a shoulder on the edge. Could be wrong but I know that when batoning or slicing I like a shoulder (be it on a saber grind or a convex) that pushes the material away from each other, where as full flat let's the material rest on the blade up to the spine, creating friction. I don't see the need to regrind a factory angle unless your going to convex the edge, which I do pretty often. The 14 is a good slicer as is


Sheath dulling. Well I hate to say it but the ball was dropped with them. It was an effort to add glass to make the sheaths super strong (which they are) but it ended up having the negative effect by being TOO hard and dulling the edges. Yes there are 3 fixes for it. One sheath, unsheathe, sheath, unsheathe........until it doesn't dull it anymore (but you already knew that) two call Kabar and ask for a replacement, and wait for ages to have it reach you. Or 3, spend 25 bucks on a custom kydex, or 40 on leather plus a ton of shipping id imagine, and have a great accessory in a while. The choice is yours, for now id just rub it out

Sharpening and general upkeep are different from user to user. are you going to EDC it and need to super sharp for letters/cardboard/packaging opening? Is it going to gut or field dress game? Are you just going to use it as a bushcrafter and only use it in the brush? I use a 1000 whetstone for general upkeep when I without my beltsander and it puts an edge back on pretty easy. Now if you beat the hell out of it then you will need to sharpen more often with a coarser stone. Like I said before I put a micro convex on mine and can sharpen it on my jeans if need be.
 
I re-profiled mine to 20 degrees and touch it up whenever I've used it, with stones and a strop and it's always shaving sharp.

I didn't like the sheath at all! Not only because of it dulling my blade but it's just too damned big!

I spent $20 on a beautiful sheath by Azwelke and he ships internationally too!!

Learning to sharpen a knife is part of using a knife.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. :) My bad on the grind. The site lists the edge angle as 15 degrees so I just assumed that the included angle was 30 degrees and so when the video guy said he'd had his reprofiled to 20 degrees I assumed 40 degrees included.

clich - Thanks for the well thought out answers. :) I'll most probably just wear in the sheath until dulling isn't such a problem. I may order something custom later on, I think I'll leave the contacting KaBar option as a last resort. As awesome as I hear their customer service is to the States and Canada, pretty much everything turns to crap in the country I'm in. Just one of the downsides of living in a "developing" nation I suppose.

As for sharpening, I am planning to EDC it for use on packages and letters and such. I'm not quite sure how sharp is sharp. I was reading a thread on that last night where everyone was discussing what they consider sharp, and I can safely say I've never handled a knife that's as sharp as most on these forums would consider adequate. I don't plan to beat too heavily on it at the moment, in such a case would a 1000 grit stone in itself, with maybe a good homemade strop be adequate to upkeep it do you think?

LECTER - Do you use more than one stone? Different stones of different grits? At the moment I own a whetstone with a coarse side and a finer grained side. I'm not sure of the grit of either. -.- I may need to get a new one anyways as it's chipped around the edges and catching my blade as it passes. (It's an old stone.) What made you choose to get it reprofiled rather than sticking with the factory edge? More durability?

From what I've seen of the sheath, it doesn't bug me terribly. Maybe I'll feel different once it arrives. Hopefully not! Accessories for blades out here are a massive pain to get a hold of.

And yup. Hence the forum scrolling and trolling Youtube for videos on how to sharpen knives better.

Flexxx - The site says the edge angle is 15 degress. A search on Wiki says that the edge angle is one side, so unless it's a chisel grind, the included angle would be double the edge angle. So I assumed the included angle on the BK14 would be 30 degrees. Wiki has failed me before though. ^_^;;
 
Use the saw on a SAK to relieve the sheath where the edge contacts it. You can also use a piece of 220 sandpaper wrapped around a nail file or similar, just takes a bit longer.
I would sharpen it at whatever angle suits your intended use best. Great little knife, you'll enjoy it.
 
Use the saw on a SAK to relieve the sheath where the edge contacts it. You can also use a piece of 220 sandpaper wrapped around a nail file or similar, just takes a bit longer.
I would sharpen it at whatever angle suits your intended use best. Great little knife, you'll enjoy it.
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot tradewater. I'll definitely give that a try once it arrives. Did you find that filing away the extra material like that affected the sheath's retention at all? :)
I'm sure I will, can't wait for it to arrive!
 
Jayelled said:
LECTER - Do you use more than one stone? Different stones of different grits? At the moment I own a whetstone with a coarse side and a finer grained side. I'm not sure of the grit of either. -.- I may need to get a new one anyways as it's chipped around the edges and catching my blade as it passes. (It's an old stone.) What made you choose to get it reprofiled rather than sticking with the factory edge? More durability?

From what I've seen of the sheath, it doesn't bug me terribly. Maybe I'll feel different once it arrives. Hopefully not! Accessories for blades out here are a massive pain to get a hold of.
Click to expand...

I EDC as a neck carry so the sheath was a pain.

I know where you're coming from, ordering things from the States is a hassle when you don't live there.

I re-profiled because it wasn't cutting as easily as it should, out of the box. I use a 1000 grit and 6000 grit Japanese wet stone.
 
Jayelled said:
Thanks a lot tradewater. I'll definitely give that a try once it arrives. Did you find that filing away the extra material like that affected the sheath's retention at all? :)
I'm sure I will, can't wait for it to arrive!
Click to expand...

Doesn't affect retention at all. You don't need to go wild with it, just enough to give the edge some clearance.
 
LECTER said:
I EDC as a neck carry so the sheath was a pain.

I know where you're coming from, ordering things from the States is a hassle when you don't live there.

I re-profiled because it wasn't cutting as easily as it should, out of the box. I use a 1000 grit and 6000 grit Japanese wet stone.
Click to expand...

Mm, I can see how it would be. I plan to EDC it as belt carry so it shouldn't be too cumbersome.

Yup. Stuff gets "lost in the mail" on it's way over pretty often over here. It doesn't get "lost" until it's already landed here though, mysteriously enough. -.-

I'll try it out once I get it out of the box and see how it suits my needs. I have been reading about quite a few people who don't always like the factory grind of their blade.
 
Welcome to the forum man. You sound very similar to me (I think I researched the BK2 for like 3 weeks before I pulled the trigger on it), and I feel like I'm fitting in...

And remember... we need PHOTOS of the new blade, and any mods you do to the sheath. This question gets asked a lot (sheath dulling), so it would be cool to have some photos of the "clearance-d" sheath.

:).
 
ocnLogan said:
Welcome to the forum man. You sound very similar to me (I think I researched the BK2 for like 3 weeks before I pulled the trigger on it), and I feel like I'm fitting in...

And remember... we need PHOTOS of the new blade, and any mods you do to the sheath. This question gets asked a lot (sheath dulling), so it would be cool to have some photos of the "clearance-d" sheath.

:).
Click to expand...

I was literally | | that close to pulling the trigger on my BK2. I had my supplier emailing me asking if I wanted to place the order. But for the moment the poor thing would just sit on my desk and pine to be used. So I felt it'd be unfair to do that to the little thing, so I decided on the 14 for my EDC. Still gonna get the 2 once I'm less busy though. Oh yeah. Oh? Do you like to TL;DR too? :p

Oh I've been around long enough to know that. Plus I've been drooling over all your Beckers for a few weeks now. It's only fair to share mine, or I'll feel like a voyeur. ;) I shall throw them up once all is done!
 
ocnLogan said:
Welcome to the forum man. You sound very similar to me (I think I researched the BK2 for like 3 weeks before I pulled the trigger on it), and I feel like I'm fitting in...

And remember... we need PHOTOS of the new blade, and any mods you do to the sheath. This question gets asked a lot (sheath dulling), so it would be cool to have some photos of the "clearance-d" sheath.

:).
Click to expand...

Basically, you're just cutting a channel for the edge to ride in. I've tried to take a pic of it, but it looks the same as the stock sheath. It's a one minute cure for the dulling issue and I've posted it before a few times.
 
Makes sense, I've just not run across this fix before (must have missed it somehow trade).

Either way though, a budding BH needs to appease the rest of us with pics of the new blade :).
 
ocnLogan said:
Either way though, a budding BH needs to appease the rest of us with pics of the new blade :).
Click to expand...

Totally. Welcome aboard Jayelled and we feed off of those knife pics, so post em up when she gets there! You guys got durians there?
 
ocnLogan said:
Makes sense, I've just not run across this fix before (must have missed it somehow trade).

Either way though, a budding BH needs to appease the rest of us with pics of the new blade :).
Click to expand...

tradewater said:
Totally. Welcome aboard Jayelled and we feed off of those knife pics, so post em up when she gets there! You guys got durians there?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't want to incur your wrath! At least not before I get my BH#. ;P To that effect, I shall positively inundate you in pictures. It'll give me a reason to pick up my poor, neglected cameras again. Oh, the joys of working life. -.-

We do! I'm not a big fan of them though. Malaysian though I may be. I was brought up in England during my formative years, so though my passport and citizenship is Malaysian, if people ask I usually just go, "Yeah, I'm British. We don't do the durian thing." Hahaha~
 
Welcome to the Becker forum, and Bladeforums, Jay, its good to have you around.

First Malaysian? Yeah, I think so. We do have us a Borneoean (:D), but not Malaysian.

BK14, solid knife, good choice.

As for the sheath dulling, I put a piece of paracord in my sheath, and it makes the blade real snug, and doesn't dull the blade. The para gets cut up, but it can be replaced easily. There are a few ways to get around it, as most I do believe have been stated.

Here is some BK14 Pron, to hold you over until it gets here,

[youtube]QlJ3wLwxIm8[/youtube]

100_1803.jpg


100_1451.jpg


100_1438.jpg


100_1439.jpg


100_1706.jpg


Let us know when you get it.

Moose
 
Also, viz sharpening, if, like me, you kinda suck at sharpening, you may want to consider investing in a Sharpmaker. Quite easy to use, and once you stop sucking quite as much, you can use the rods to hand sharpen. Plus you can sharpen serrations. I've got up to the UF rods, which generally puts a shaving edge or better. Haven't figured out how people get the mirror finishes. Paper wheels might also be a good investment. Talk to richard j about those.
 
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