Bushcraft Mods for My Becker BK-17

[IA Woodsman]

I decide to do a quick post on what I did to my BK-17 to make it more used friendly for me.

[video=youtube;NM8sNLcJPWc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM8sNLcJPWc[/video]

I removed one of the snaps and added a little bungee cord.

I like the pouch on the front. It is a great place to keep a firesteel. I added a piece of small diameter inner tube on the handle to make it a little gripier.

I filed the spine flat so it will strike a fire steel very aggressively.

I also filed the pommel round. This lets me comfortably use my palm to hammer on the knife.

I removed the black coating with paint stripper. I also filed the factory secondary bevel back to the angle of the original grind.

So far I have only used it hard for a couple of days but it is holding up well.

 

[Moosez45]

Oh, HELL YEAH!!!

I'm lovin' it. Need to get me some of that inner tube stuff..........

Moose

 

[The Warrior]

Awesome stuff. Looking forward to more impressions as you go.

 

[Stark Knives]

I saw this on BCUSA, very nice job.

I'm excited to hear more opinions on the knife in the future.

 

[52100]

Oh, HELL YEAH!!!

I'm lovin' it. Need to get me some of that inner tube stuff..........

Moose

Me too------------for both the big and little BKs. I think the local bike shop has a sense of humor and will understand.

 

[TwinStick]

That right there, is good stuff !!!

 

[marantz]

Nice mods. And while you're there, if you can get some 2 1/8" inner tube, you've got a grip for your D cell Maglite, 2" for C cell. Oh, and cut an 1/8" sliver out of the inside curve for the switch. Cutting on the outside curve causes pucker when straightened out on the Maglite.

 

[tradewater]

Great mods. I like the more palm friendly pommel.

The bike shops will give you all you can carry. I stopped in one and asked for some old innertubes and they brought me a fifty pound sack full. "We throw them away anyway".

 

[jcl-MD]

Great mods IA!!

The 17 looks like it got a 1000 miles on it all ready!LOL!!

IA BE ROUGH ON GEAR!

THANKS

 

[daizee]

Hey, IA, great mods. And I love that you're gonna use the hell out of it for a big block of time.

I do have a question, however, regarding the sharpening of the spine...
Sharp spines for a firesteel strike me (har har) as being optimized for the less-frequent use. I tend to use my thumbs on the spine a lot, both knife and non-knife hand. Sharp spines are uncomfortable at best, and a cutting hazard at worst. Since you went to the trouble of paracording your firesteel into the pouch (GREAT idea), why not paracord a dedicated striker along with it? That way you either lose neither or both, and you can keep the spine of the knife finger-friendly. I realize spine sharpening is a common mod, but I bring it up here because you so neatly solved the firesteel retention problem at the same time.

-Daizee

 

[daizee]

Me too------------for both the big and little BKs. I think the local bike shop has a sense of humor and will understand.

bike shops throw away dozens of blown tubes a week. *sometimes* they have a recycling arrangement. You should be able to get plenty of material for free, rather than dropping $5 for a tube just to cut it up.

I have a friend who used to have a bike shop 1.5mi down the road here in town. For 6 months or so I would pick up his blown tube bucket. Now we have enough tubular rubber for the apocalypse.

-Daizee

ETA: oops, I see Trade already covered this...

 

[TMHunt]

Hey, IA, great mods. And I love that you're gonna use the hell out of it for a big block of time.

I do have a question, however, regarding the sharpening of the spine...
Sharp spines for a firesteel strike me (har har) as being optimized for the less-frequent use. I tend to use my thumbs on the spine a lot, both knife and non-knife hand. Sharp spines are uncomfortable at best, and a cutting hazard at worst. Since you went to the trouble of paracording your firesteel into the pouch (GREAT idea), why not paracord a dedicated striker along with it? That way you either lose neither or both, and you can keep the spine of the knife finger-friendly. I realize spine sharpening is a common mod, but I bring it up here because you so neatly solved the firesteel retention problem at the same time.

-Daizee

Wow Daizee! first the c-clamp idea and now this! you must of stayed at a holiday inn last night! your a freakin genious! Lol! Seriously, all joking aside. That is great advice!

 

[daizee]

Wow Daizee! first the c-clamp idea and now this! you must of stayed at a holiday inn last night! your a freakin genious! Lol! Seriously, all joking aside. That is a great advice!

hehehe.

I spend more time inside thinking than outside doing, so there's LOTS of room for someone with more knowledge to recalibrate my speculator!

 

[rkmoore]

Nice mods & video IA. I really like the shock cord retention instead of a high snap. Also gotta agree with you on the innertube for grippiness. I've been using old innertubes for ranger bands and sling shots for at least 10 years but never thought of using one as a sleeve.
Somethin' new every day...

 

[IA Woodsman]

Hey, IA, great mods. And I love that you're gonna use the hell out of it for a big block of time.

I do have a question, however, regarding the sharpening of the spine...
Sharp spines for a firesteel strike me (har har) as being optimized for the less-frequent use. I tend to use my thumbs on the spine a lot, both knife and non-knife hand. Sharp spines are uncomfortable at best, and a cutting hazard at worst. Since you went to the trouble of paracording your firesteel into the pouch (GREAT idea), why not paracord a dedicated striker along with it? That way you either lose neither or both, and you can keep the spine of the knife finger-friendly. I realize spine sharpening is a common mod, but I bring it up here because you so neatly solved the firesteel retention problem at the same time.

-Daizee

Good question, here is my rational. I have never had an issue with my thumb being uncomfortable or had any injuries from putting a 90 degree angle on the spine of my knives. As far as carrying an extra striker, I have never had much love for the manufactured scrapers. I prefer being able to have a positive full grip when striking a fire steel.This is especially true when you are wet, tired, and your fingers are cold. For natural and marginal tinders I have found that it takes a large hot spark to get them to ignite. Just my opinion though.

 

[daizee]

Good question, here is my rational. I have never had an issue with my thumb being uncomfortable or had any injuries from putting a 90 degree angle on the spine of my knives. As far as carrying an extra striker, I have never had much love for the manufactured scrapers. I prefer being able to have a positive full grip when striking a fire steel.This is especially true when you are wet, tired, and your fingers are cold. For natural and marginal tinders I have found that it takes a large hot spark to get them to ignite. Just my opinion though.

fair enough!
I think you need a sweet custom firesteel striker to fit with your kit. seems like an under-served market to me!