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Ffg bk16

L

LG&M

Joined
Dec 19, 2005
Messages
3,784
Very glad to hear the BK16 will be full flat grind. The last time I looked forward to a knife this much was my custom Dozer years ago. I was thinking of having a new knife commissioned. Not now I will wait for the Becker!
What do you think of the sheath? I like it. I hope the pouch will hold a small sharpener, a ferro rod and some braided Dacron line.
Thanks Ethan, I haven't been waiting as long as you for this knife but it's been long enough.
 
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i for one am disappointed with the ffg. I dont like em, not on anything bigger than an edc. I like shoulders on my knives. The bk17 clip point, with its saber grind, will be my favorite.
 
I'd rather have it be Full flat than Saber/flat. It'll still be tough as nails. Should be slicy'er this way. Saberwould be alright though too.
 
I don't like the friction you get with a ffg. I like the material ti be pushed away from the blade with the shoulders of a saber, or even better a convex saber.
 
i really appreciate the decision for a ffg. a knife that size doesn't need a sabre grind imo. and like clich said: the "bowie" version offers a sabre grind...so i guess almost everybody will be satisfied. i believe i will be :). can't wait for them.
 
clich said:
i for one am disappointed with the ffg. I dont like em, not on anything bigger than an edc. I like shoulders on my knives. The bk17 clip point, with its saber grind, will be my favorite.
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I agree with you 100% man. I was having a hard time deciding which one of the two I liked more... Now that I hear that the BK16 is FFG, then it made it a lot easier on me to decide. Its going to be the BK17 for sure.

I think its mostly because I was thinking the BK16 was the mini BK2, and it was originally going to be made out of 3/16 stock. They then made the blade stock thinner (.165) to make it slicier... and I guess it makes sense for them to make it a FFG instead of a saber grind since they had already done some design changes to make it slicier. So now instead of a mini BK2, its a huge Necker or Eskabar (same blade thickness and blade shape, just different handle).

Eh, oh well, at least they left the BK17 as it was. Now I'm just wondering what is going to happen to the now "incorrect" BK16 they've produced, and if any of them can be salvaged and be given away here or something like that :).
 
I think it's funny as shit you guys are writing it off already having never even held one (most of you), let alone used one. I get conceptual though because I've bought many a blade I thought i'd love only to sell it 2 months later.
 
Not writing it off, ill still buy one. Just less excited for the ffg.
 
I think I'm mostly just trying to wrap my head around the idea of it no longer being a mini-BK2, since that is what I've been getting excited about for all this time, only to find out now (after the official protos and things like that), that that really isn't going to be it.

I mean I said before that it will be like a big necker... I like my necker, so it should be fine. Just not what I was expecting, you know? And who knows, maybe I'll start seeing new photos of it before they come out in March and it will start to grow on me.

I know Ethan knows whats up, and that they'll all be great :).
 
The BK-16 still going to be a "mini BK 2"-....just with a full flat grind.:)

BTW, I have never understood the whole "friction" theory about saber ground blades.. When you batton a large enough peice of wood ,it hugs the blade sides pretty tight no matter what the grind.

The blade spine above the blade grind is where the material grabs. On a Saber ground blade there is a flat sided area above the grind for material to grab onto. On a full flat grind ,there is NONE. The clear advantage goes to the full height grind as long as the blade is not too tall.

As a pure cutter ,the edge geometry of a full flat grind is mechanically superior. The only advantage of a saber ground blade is a stronger blade spine and blade edge which matters little on any knife not built for heavy chopping. The Saber grind is a cooler looking blade grind.

There is a reason why Bob loveless insisted on grinding most of his hollow ground blades all the way to the spine. Ethan is simply following the Master's superior logic(and his own positive experiences with his BK11 and 14 blades) by making the BK-16 the best cutter possible.

If you look at it another way, the BK16 is the BK11/14 blades x 2 ..

And that will make it a darn useful knife.
 
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We all know what they say about opinions and mine is no different. more often then not I will go ffg but the grind is only one aspect of a knife. you need the whole package to make it work. I think the BK16 will have it Flat or saber.
I have small hands, from what I have seen the new Tweeners should feel better in my hands then some other knives. Now how to make the slabs orange?
 
jim62 said:
The BK-16 still going to be a "mini BK 2"-....just with a full flat grind.:)

BTW, I have never understood the whole "friction" theory about saber ground blades.. When you batton a large enough peice of wood ,it hugs the blade sides pretty tight no matter what the grind.

The blade spine above the blade grind is where the material grabs. On a Saber ground blade there is a flat sided area above the grind for material to grab onto. On a full flat grind ,there is NONE. The clear advantage goes to the full height grind as long as the blade is not too tall.

As a pure cutter ,the edge geometry of a full flat grind is mechanically superior. The only advantage of a saber ground blade is a stronger blade spine and blade edge which matters little on any knife not built for heavy chopping. The Saber grind is a cooler looking blade grind.

There is a reason why Bob loveless insisted on grinding most of his hollow ground blades all the way to the spine. Ethan is simply following the Master's superior logic(and his own positive experiences with his BK11 and 14 blades) by making the BK-16 the best cutter possible.

If you look at it another way, the BK16 is the BK11/14 blades x 2 ..

And that will make it a darn useful knife.
Click to expand...

I actually disagree with you on the saber grind thing. The lower part of the grind splits the wood and the upper part stays relatively out of contact with it. I have battoned quite a bit with my BK2, and the coating on the flat part of the saber grind is still in great condition, while the lower part was quickly worn away. If you think about it, the same thing that makes the FFG a better slicer mechanically, is the same thing that makes it a worse "wedge" for splitting. The lower shoulders on the saber grind force the wood apart faster. Or at least thats my opinion :D.

I do know that I prefer my BK9 over my War Sword for splitting wood, but thats really my only blades that are similar enough in most respects other than grind to allow a good comparison.

And I totally agree that they'll be great knives, like I said there isnt anything wrong with the Neckers blade shape or profile. I'm just adjusting my expectations now. I'll likely end up with more than one tweener, its just that now I'm pretty sure my first one will be a BK17 is all :).

I've also yet to try a BK5 (or BK15), so I'm still up in the air about that blade shape. But if Clich is anything to go by, I'll likely love it, and then tell everyone I know to get one (or two :p).
 
O,

I think it is interesting that a long time proponent of large chopping knives like Ethan Becker is now gravitting toward a thinner,full height ground blade for what he admits may be his ultimate using knife. That alone should make anyone rethink their opinion about the value of "wedging effect" in a knife (as opposed to an Axe).

Since you mentioned owning the BK-9 and it's splitting performance ,take a look at it and note it's blade thickness. Then measure the grind height.

Now consider the blade thickness and height of a fully ground BK-16 blade which will probably be no taller than 1.25" .
I bet it will be within 1/8" of the height of the BK9 grind height . If full height ground, it will also have nothing above it's blade grind to grab material being cut.

The actual cutting geometry of those to blades will in effect, be very close. Only the weight of the blade and the spine mass above the grind will be different. That will only matter for heavy chopping /splitting which none of the tweeners are large enough to do well any way.
 
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I can agree with you on that, and I also think it is really interesting that ethan has somewhat gravitated away from the larger knives in terms of his new designs. I would actually like to see some more hollow grinds on some of his knives as well.

Like I've said before, I think of a BK9 as more of a hatchet with many uses (it outchops my hatchet, but can also make fuzz sticks for instance), so I'm ok with the saber grind and its more "wedge shape", since its more of a wood processing knife.
 
O,

I think it will be interesting to see the final BK-16 in use. I plan on buying all three Tweener models no matter what, and spend the next few years experimenting with them..;)
 
I have been wanting an esee 4 for a long time, but I wanted a bk9 first which is my next purchase coming very soon. Now that the bk16 has the sexy FFG of the esee 4 and the comfy handle and price point of a BKT, I am sold. I have a bk2, and I like the looks of the FFG on the bk16. It's win-win for me. I also prefer the drop point, so it's pretty much the perfect knife I think. Put on some fresh micarta and some kydex pants and it will be the esee slayer! I also hope the jimping on the prototype will be on the production model too.
 
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