Death of a BK9: Resurected

Hey Revolverdodger......

There should be no issue on the warranty side...... Methinks this is a "feces occur" moment...... Like most things the colder steel gets the more brittle it will be and the same is true of the target material..... Knots are very steel unfriendly....... Having said that, the chances are that this happening again are slim...... What happened to your blade is, I believe, in no way your fault....... The info from Badite's post is definitely something to keep in mind..... Be especially wary of knots in hemlock, the warnings in outdoor writings go back to the late 1800's....See Kephart...... I blew up a brand, spanking new Plumb single bit on an effing hemlock knot some decades ago ..... On the fourth swing if memory serves......

I would love to see a close up of the cut proper in order to add to my data base ........ I am always trying to figure things out but, I bet that bad boy is ashes by now.......

I am sorry that this happened to you and we will make it right.......

All best....

Ethan
 
I've missed swinging at a small tree with my 9 and hit some rocks once. Had some d3scent chips in the edge but nothing like that. Agree that knots are a knives enemy and sure the cold didn't help either. IDK. Glad Ethan and Kabar again willing to take care of another Beckerhead.
 
Not being nasty, but why not just use a hatchet, an axe, or a saw?
More appropriate for the job, no?
 
robgmn said:
Not being nasty, but why not just use a hatchet, an axe, or a saw?
More appropriate for the job, no?
Click to expand...

personal preference, pack weight vs multi-use tool, feeling of control, because chopping things up with a knife are fun, etc.... :)
(and yes, I carry a hatchet, chopper, and folding saw on my pack -- each excels at different things, and I don't mind the weight.)
 
This is why I personally prefer 5160 as my steel of choice for choppers, tougher than 1095. Though I am surprised that the Ontario outdid the Becker with non cro-van 1095 steel. Maybe you got a lemon, who knows, what you do know is that it is covered under warranty and you will get a replacement.

I do think it's unfair that stripping a Kabar blade voids the warranty but that's just my personal opinion.

I do love 1095 don't get me wrong especially Kabars cro-van variant, I love it in smaller knives, hell I even have a custom sword in 1095 but as I said for larger knives and choppers I prefer 5160 for it's toughness.
 
Stuff happens, seems like a perfect storm of factors coming together. I have compared the BK9 to the SP8 and they are very different blades. The SP8 almost chops more like a hatchet with it's weight and obtuse grind. Makes for a very tough blade but the tradeoff is more weight which makes the knife less versatile. The BK9 can dang near handle any knife task and faily well, the SP8 chops and splits well but that's about it.
 
Does this ever happen with 5160?

Many people think carbon steels are tougher than stainless but they are not. Failures of this kind in 1095 seem very common, but then it is the most commonly used steels for mid-range big choppers, so hard to say. From all I have seen so far I would avoid 1095...

As to the advice not to chop pine with a knife, even in moderately cold temperatures, the whole point of such a design is to chop with it...

Note how commonly BK-9 handles are wrapped: I found this knife to have very high vibrations: I think there would be a market for a true solid tang version...

Gaston
 
1066vik said:
personal preference, pack weight vs multi-use tool, feeling of control, because chopping things up with a knife are fun, etc.... :)
(and yes, I carry a hatchet, chopper, and folding saw on my pack -- each excels at different things, and I don't mind the weight.)
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was just thinking "you've brought along a woodburning stove with proper chimney, and you're trying to 'bushcraft' by using your knife as an axe".
(But I DO understand the fun of using the knife for all purposes).
 
Of course Gaston has to chime in...the ONLY time ha has something to say...loser...
If you actually used real knives, or any...maybe you wouldn't have such soft hands...

Man, Ka-Bars got this... What's the big deal? Can't make very single one exactly perfect 100% 24/7/365
This applies to the world and life in general. Get over it...its covered...
 
Ethan Becker said:
Hey Revolverdodger......

There should be no issue on the warranty side...... Methinks this is a "feces occur" moment...... Like most things the colder steel gets the more brittle it will be and the same is true of the target material..... Knots are very steel unfriendly....... Having said that, the chances are that this happening again are slim...... What happened to your blade is, I believe, in no way your fault....... The info from Badite's post is definitely something to keep in mind..... Be especially wary of knots in hemlock, the warnings in outdoor writings go back to the late 1800's....See Kephart...... I blew up a brand, spanking new Plumb single bit on an effing hemlock knot some decades ago ..... On the fourth swing if memory serves......

I would love to see a close up of the cut proper in order to add to my data base ........ I am always trying to figure things out but, I bet that bad boy is ashes by now.......

I am sorry that this happened to you and we will make it right.......

All best....

Ethan
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot !
I will get close up pictures as soon as I can
 
Gaston444 said:
Does this ever happen with 5160?
Click to expand...

Yes it does


Gaston444 said:
Many people think carbon steels are tougher than stainless but they are not.
Click to expand...

Depends. As far as knife making goes, commonly used carbon steels are generally tougher than commonly used stainless...



Gaston444 said:
Failures of this kind in 1095 seem very common, but then it is the most commonly used steels for mid-range big choppers, so hard to say. From all I have seen so far I would avoid 1095...
Click to expand...

Well, no 1095 is used in making of Ka-Bar BK-9s, so there's that...
 
We should discuss the knife, not people in the thread.
 
Any knife of any steel of any manufacturer can fail, it's just how it is, perfection in mass produced knives is just impossible but some companies get close. This is why warranty's should always be considered in a purchase. Becker/Kabar, Ontario, Esee are all known for their great warranty service and why they will always have my business.

I agree with bghorn, when it comes to blades toughness common carbon steels > common stainless steels, especially in larger blades.

Ah and smoke for the King, I'm sure he served you well, damn shame, Bk9's are very fine blades.
 
B.Mauser said:
It can. Not always.

We have had people here send in broken knives and KaBar told them the warranty is void because they striped the knife. I dont strip my Beckers anymore because of this.

Pretty unfair policy in my opinion. I just cant see how that can affect anything.

Luckily they are such great knives most people will never need the warranty.
Click to expand...

In the case I was, thinking of, maybe, there were mods and possibly abuse too.
 
Gaston444 said:
Does this ever happen with 5160?
Click to expand...

It'll happen with ANY material. Failures happen....period. This is the Law of Materials Engineering.

Gaston444 said:
Many people think carbon steels are tougher than stainless but they are not. Failures of this kind in 1095 seem very common, but then it is the most commonly used steels for mid-range big choppers, so hard to say. From all I have seen so far I would avoid 1095...
Click to expand...

Avoid them if you want. You're missing out on a VERY high value product, IMO. Though it may seem that these failures are common, I assure you if you actually run the numbers, i.e. number of BK9/BK7/BK4's in use EVERY DAY vs. number of failures you'd end up with a number that's several standard deviations out on the curve, if not close to statistically insignificant. What we don't see are postings of all the times nothing happened while chopping with a BK9. And it isn't just BK&T and Ka-Bar that use 1095. There are a metric shit-ton of 1095 knives out there, in use every day. How many hundreds of thousands of Ka-Bar F/U knives do you think are still in service? You go ahead and avoid 1095; all those men & women in the armed services, law enforcement and first responders must not have gotten the message. [/QUOTE]

Gaston444 said:
As to the advice not to chop pine with a knife, even in moderately cold temperatures, the whole point of such a design is to chop with it...
Click to expand...

I believe the advice was to be careful.......know your tools and their capabilities/limitations. I was using my chainsaw to cut some sugar maple and ruined a chain when I hit some old hardware buried in one of the pieces. Was it the manufacturer's fault? Hell, no. They're not going to replace that chain, and I wouldn't expect them to. Luckily, Ka-Bar will actually look at Revolverrodger's knife and make....whatever decision they make. Likely, from what I have seen, they'll replace it. Lucky for him that it wasn't a SHTF scenario - as if those are common. They're not. This is recreation for 99% of us, and we get to post pics and tell stories, even if something goes wrong. Even if Ka-BAr doesn't replace this bad boy, I don't see a problem. Feces always happen and they always will; adults pull up their big boy/big girl underwear and get on with it. Sometimes you get a speeding ticket. It's a VERY small price to pay for all the times you DON'T get caught speeding. And I've never heard of a single person giving up driving because of a speeding ticket - EVER.

Gaston444 said:
Note how commonly BK-9 handles are wrapped: I found this knife to have very high vibrations: I think there would be a market for a true solid tang version...
Click to expand...

I can only assume you meant warped......and it's not common at all. In most cases the knife (mostly BK2's, from what I've seen) weren't being used correctly (smacked with an ax poll, batonned from the handle side) - and some of them were still replaced. There's nothing structurally unsound about a tang with cutouts, or even a stick tang. Plus, if it really came down to it and I did something stupid, I'd rather have a bent knife than a broken one.....even this BK9 is still serviceable as a "get home" tool, if it came down to it.

@Revolverrodger: I'm sorry for your loss - even though "I'm not dead yet!" (Monty Python) does spring to mind. Good luck with Ka-Bar, though I doubt you'll need it; from what I've seen/experienced their customer service is excellent.
 
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