Do you have a Becker System (of knives)?

Lawrence Helm said:
I watched a YouTube video last night where a reviewer held up a BK-9 and yelled, "everybody needs this knife!" Hmmm. I don't have a BK-9 and have no immediate plans to get one, but I do have that size-range covered in case of an Armageddon. I have a Western W49 and a Ka-Bar 1277. Do I really need a BK-9? The former knives aren't getting much use. Shall I add a BK-9 that won't get much use either?

I read an older thread yesterday where someone asked which was the best Becker knife and more recently others have asked which Becker knife (singular) they should get. As often as not they are answered by people who have a bunch of Becker knives. Why do they have them? That is, why do these others have so many?

I have claimed in all my recent threads that I am buying Becker knives for hiking, but is that the whole story, and is it even true? In a sense it is true, sort of. The knives I had been using for hiking (most notably the Buck 639V and Schrade 150T) had become worn and disreputable. If you can be judged by your knives, I would have been assumed to be a bum or a vagrant. However, and here is where my Becker story has some holes in it. I started out looking on Amazon in "Ka-Bar knives." I already had the Ka-Bar USMC fighting knife which I thought a bit long and inconvenient, but I noticed the Ka-Bar 3/4 USMC fighting knife (Ka-Bar should get a better name for this knife). I bought one and liked it so much I bought another, but then I began having doubts. It is such a delicate looking thing and I could find no serious reviews of it on the internet. If I ran into a hiking Armageddon-scenario and my little 3/4 USMC Ka-Bar broke, my dogs and I could be in trouble. So I went back to Amazon.com and kept looking and that is when I discovered Becker knives.

Well, I still wasn't comfortable with the lighter-knife situation, but heck I recall Central Rural Texas saying (if I remember correctly) he carried two BK2s sometimes when he was working on his ranch. Why did he do that, btw? I forgot to ask, but I could carry two little Ka-Bar USMC 3/4 fighting knives and still be under the weight of one BK2. If I broke one I'd have a spare. I could get the BK16, but there was the thread started by the guy who broke the tip off of his. He was nice enough to tell me how that happened, twisting it in a branch trying to pry some wood loose. Would the little 3/4 USMC Ka-Bars break as well? Maybe they are both too small for my Armageddon-hiking scenario.

So yesterday I ordered a BK10. Someone started a thread recently admitted that he was addicted to buying Becker knives. He didn't get may responses, perhaps because (on the Becker knife forum) that hit a little too close to home. Why do we buy multiple Becker knives? I've tried to answer this for myself and am not satisfied with my answer. You who have multiple Becker knives, what is your reason for having so many and do you think of them as a system? And do you ever feel guilty for buying so many? :dispirited:

Angst-ridden in the morning,

Lawrence
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OK - first a correction. The only time I have carried 2 BK2s at the same time is when I had one in each hand while sorting them out. :D

I routinely carry dual Kabar 1232s (smaller, 4" leather stacked handles) or dual Kabar shorties (models 1250 through 1259) while in public.

ON THE FARM, I'll carry the BK9 OR BK4 OR BK6 paired with a BK3, BK15/16/17, Kabar 2221 (USN Repro) or Kabar 1217 (1219C2/USN-MK2 Repro). The combo depends on what the primary task of the day is, and will change as the tasks are completed.

Any knife can break. That's just 1 of the reasons I always carry at least 2. About a knife breaking, the question will then be "How was it being used at the time?" Sometimes it's from abuse. other times, it's just a case of "Stuff Happens".

Why do many of us buy multiple Beckers? For me, it is "Redundancy, redundancy, redundancy". Also, If something works, why change it? I used nothing but 1219C2/USN-MK2/USN-MK1 Repros and equivalents/variants (1281, 1461, etc) around the farm for the last 20 years because they worked for me, were relatively inexpensive. Then I found Beckers. I liked them. I started using them after I acquired some. So I changed. I could do things with them that I instinctively knew were "bad juju" for a 1219C2 and packed around (in the truck/tractor) a machete, a small and large crowbar, a grubbing hoe/mattox, and a hatchet. Now I just have a a large crowbar, a BK2, a BK3 and a machete in every vehicle - I have eliminated the grubbing hoe, small crowbar and hatchet.

I didn't respond to that particular thread because I took it as a joke thread and had nothing to add to it.

System? not really, I just use what works for me and don't try to figure out why I do what I do. My philosophy is "Use what works. If it doesn't work, don't use it. If you find something better, change to it IF YOU FEEL LIKE IT AND CAN AFFORD IT." I don't dive down into all that existential stuff. I've got too many problems that are readily apparent without trying to dig up more. :D

And to steal Big Hoss's line - You can't not have a 9.

Why not? Because if you need one and don't have it then you are up the sporadically running caca waterway without a manual propulsion device.

And because they are cool. :D

Guilty about having multiples???? Hah! Never.
 
for that matter, why do we buy knives at all??? I'm pretty sure that anybody can breeze thru life with just a sak and a fixed blade, but most of us nuts here have piles of sharpened steel. Becker knives are fun, affordable and the best bang for the buck in any aspect you look at.

Just go ahead and order that 9 :D
 
zzyzzogeton said:
OK - first a correction. The only time I have carried 2 BK2s at the same time is when I had one in each hand while sorting them out. :D

I routinely carry dual Kabar 1232s (smaller, 4" leather stacked handles) or dual Kabar shorties (models 1250 through 1259) while in public.

ON THE FARM, I'll carry the BK9 OR BK4 OR BK6 paired with a BK3, BK15/16/17, Kabar 2221 (USN Repro) or Kabar 1217 (1219C2/USN-MK2 Repro). The combo depends on what the primary task of the day is, and will change as the tasks are completed.

Any knife can break. That's just 1 of the reasons I always carry at least 2. About a knife breaking, the question will then be "How was it being used at the time?" Sometimes it's from abuse. other times, it's just a case of "Stuff Happens".

Why do many of us buy multiple Beckers? For me, it is "Redundancy, redundancy, redundancy". Also, If something works, why change it? I used nothing but 1219C2/USN-MK2/USN-MK1 Repros and equivalents/variants (1281, 1461, etc) around the farm for the last 20 years because they worked for me, were relatively inexpensive. Then I found Beckers. I liked them. I started using them after I acquired some. So I changed. I could do things with them that I instinctively knew were "bad juju" for a 1219C2 and packed around (in the truck/tractor) a machete, a small and large crowbar, a grubbing hoe/mattox, and a hatchet. Now I just have a a large crowbar, a BK2, a BK3 and a machete in every vehicle - I have eliminated the grubbing hoe, small crowbar and hatchet.

I didn't respond to that particular thread because I took it as a joke thread and had nothing to add to it.

System? not really, I just use what works for me and don't try to figure out why I do what I do. My philosophy is "Use what works. If it doesn't work, don't use it. If you find something better, change to it IF YOU FEEL LIKE IT AND CAN AFFORD IT." I don't dive down into all that existential stuff. I've got too many problems that are readily apparent without trying to dig up more. :D

And to steal Big Hoss's line - You can't not have a 9.

Why not? Because if you need one and don't have it then you are up the sporadically running caca waterway without a manual propulsion device.

And because they are cool. :D

Guilty about having multiples???? Hah! Never.
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Sorry I misquoted you. It wasn't intentional. I'm not sure I do joke threads, but humor often overcomes me. Yesterday in the dentist's chair he described my options: The first was a bridge. He went on and on about its complications in so much detail I burst out laughing. He took offense. But that was washed away when he described the second option and I agreed to have an implant. His cut for that will be well over $1000. The implant specialists cut will be larger -- a real reason for stop buying Beckers for awhile.

Not laughing now! :grumpy:

Lawrence
 
Yup....There are many Becker Bk 10 ' s like it but this one is mine!
HaHa!
Great knife Lawrence, enjoy & let us know about your next Becker.
Definitely addictive Definitely!
 
Myself, I sort of have a system. It's not a Becker exclusive system. I few hats when it comes to knives. I always have a BK&T in my daily carry pack, today it's my new BK24. On my person, a DPX HEST/F and as always my T.M. Hunt Hornet. I like to have a selection of steel wherever or whatever I'm into a d BK&T is always an important part of that. The reason is simple, Beckers have proven to be solid performers.
 
I'm working toward nine 9's so I can outfit a baseball team in a pinch.

Nines_zpsca12cf2c.jpg
 
Old rampless looks good up there Biscuit.


Lawrence, you are overthinking this buddy. If you just have a big tub full and it's time to hit woods you can say "Hmmmm.....I think I'll take the 15 and the 4 out today".


:D but true.
 
There's something I tell everyone who orders a BK-2. Just save yourself the doubt, angst and wondering if what where and when and order one of everything, you will use them all for different things at some point. You can thank me later.

Get a nine.
 
tradewater said:
Lawrence, you are overthinking this buddy. If you just have a big tub full and it's time to hit woods you can say "Hmmmm.....I think I'll take the 15 and the 4 out today".
Click to expand...

A bag'll work too.

P1050461.jpg
 
lets see i gots a
bk2 - Gift From Ark
bk11 - bought for myself
kabar 1217 - gift from moose
Kabar dozier folding hunter - bought for myself
bk15 - won in ethan's raffle last fall

No 9 :eek:

somehow i managed to survive with just my machete for my big chopper :p


::edit::
ps the 15 is the the bee's knees in my opinion :D
 
You better know I look every time I pitch a hammock now.
 
I have a 7/13 combo that stays in my family bug out bag..and 16 that stays strapped to my edc bag that may be traded for a 10 ot a 2 then i will be getting a 11 for edc someday...thats my bk system
 
my Becker system involves a couple storage trunks :D
 
I have more than 3 Becker knives...so I guess one could say I have a system. Of course, one could also say I'm a hoarder, and that I have a problem. I think "system" sounds better.
 
Skystorm said:
There's something I tell everyone who orders a BK-2. Just save yourself the doubt, angst and wondering if what where and when and order one of everything, you will use them all for different things at some point. You can thank me later.

Get a nine.
Click to expand...

Skystorm,

I took the other guys as merely funny, but now in your case I don't know. If I bought a nine, I'd have to buy one of your sheaths to put it in. ;)

Lawrence
 
hhmoore said:
I have more than 3 Becker knives...so I guess one could say I have a system. Of course, one could also say I'm a hoarder, and that I have a problem. I think "system" sounds better.
Click to expand...

I now have 5 Becker knives counting the Remora. The two 2s, a 7 & a 10, I'm thinking these Beckers are top-of-the-line hiking knives. They fit the size range (if not the weight) of what I've become used to over the years. In the smaller range I've mentioned my 3/4 Ka-bars but I have others. Also I've done a lot of hiking with my smaller knives but the Beckers are still largely untried. I've only had the BK2 out once and then not with an ideal sheath.

And we need to ask "system for what purpose"? The YouTube videos I've watched largely show people chopping and scraping to make fires. But how do they get out into the woods? If they have pickup trucks they could take little camp stoves and save themselves a lot of effort and not risk breaking the tips off their knives by prying out fire wood. I haven't heard a lot of discussion about it but it is a bit of a game: It is fun to get out there in the woods and do what the pioneers and explorers did. To enhance the game you consider Armageddon-type scenarios; so you get knives for all the things you can imagine.

I do the same sort of thing as I hike. I've always liked hiking but didn't always carry a knife. I remember one hike when I was getting to know my second wife, I took her backpacking and don't think I brought a knife, but before I climbed in the tent at night I found something I could use as a weapon. I want to say it was a piece of re-bar about 3-feet long. That doesn't seem right now that I think about it, but it was something like that. When I was growing up I always said I could whip anyone my size and outrun anyone larger, but when you are hiking in the woods with a good-looking woman that no longer works; hence you take along a gun when you can and a knife when you can't. Maybe you take along both.

Which is to say my hiking scenarios are things that "might possibly happen, so I take a gun and knife along because it is better to have them and not need them than need them and not have them." These hiking-scenarios involve a lot of game-like thinking like the Armageddon scenarios, but frankly taking a knife to all the ones I've been reading about is a lot worse than taking a knife to a gun-fight. Have you been reading about the Yellowstone Volcano? Scientists have worked up their own "game-like" scenarios about what might happen. Apparently everyone nearby is going to be neck-deep in ash. They've been rating how much ash you're going to be covered in based on how far you live from the volcano. You live in upstate New York so the ash you see will be hardly worth mentioning (you might have a different Armageddon-type scenario if all the ice-caps melt, the oceans rise and you live at sea-level), but Central Rural Texas (in the note before yours) would be knee-deep in it and out here in California I'd get a bunch as well. Reading about this volcano after reading this forum I couldn't avoid the irrational question, "which knife is going to help with that?"

Lawrence
 
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