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The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Ffg bk17 passaround! UPDATE!! New knife made to continue passaround!
- Thread starter K9-Handler
- Start date
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- Jan 27, 2012
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Got cha.
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2012
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Sure! I have to give you a bottle of mead for the NE Beckerhead gathering as well. Not sure how mobile I'll be this weekend, but if you are down New Gloucester way (just south of Lewiston/Auburn) let me know and we can set up a meeting time. Otherwise we can try meeting somewhere early next week? I want to send it on to the next person in the next few days....
dresnor, if daytime is better for you, we could work out a time for you to come down. I work from home and take a 1-hour break during my day, maybe around 2pm. Let me know.
K9, tell me about these scales, they feel great! What material is it? Did you grind it yourself?
K9, tell me about these scales, they feel great! What material is it? Did you grind it yourself?
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2012
- Messages
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The (dirty) white ones are a white epoxy that was media blasted. I made silicone moulds for Tweener and Full-Sized scales. The backs still need to be ground flat on a belt sander when the come out of the mould, holes drilled, flashing ground off, etc. Because they are thicker than stock (equivalent to running .040" spacers) they use longer stainless hardware. The black scales are stock Becker that have only been media blasted. They have the stock black hardware.
I just wanted to check in on this thread.... no I'm not gonna disappear. I just met up with dresnor and showed him K9's work, much impressed as was I.
I'll get this into the mail and off to the next person on the list in the next day or two, and will do a full-on writeup with photos over the weekend.
Thanks again, K9-Handler, your work is great!
I'll get this into the mail and off to the next person on the list in the next day or two, and will do a full-on writeup with photos over the weekend.
Thanks again, K9-Handler, your work is great!
OK, finally I have a moment to spend the time on this that K9's generosity deserves. I've had his customized BK16/17 in my possession now for the better part of two weeks, and the blade is now packed up and will go to Wasatchdan early next week. Also, when dresnor stopped by the other day he had a chance to check it out. During the time I've had the blade, I've used it mostly for woodcarving, just testing how the knife goes through wood. I'd post pictures but I wasn't actually going for sculpture or art, I was literally just sharpening sticks, etc., simulating things I might do in basic bushcrafting, just getting a feel for the knife.
Overall, I'm very impressed with K9's handiwork, particularly given that (as he said) it is a rush job. I have a BK15 tweener, so that's the blade I compared it against. First, a shot of the two blades in question:
My BK15 is pretty close to stock, except that I put a convexed/Fisked edge on my knife. As K9 has detailed above, his knife is extensively modified. What I will do for this mini-review is post about the specific differences between the knives, and my impressions of them.
COATINGS
I can't say I'm a fan of the new coatings Kabar is using. All the concerns that have been extensively listed on this site apply to me as well; while it does appear to be tough, it is too thick with too much texture, and it increases friction during the cutting action. K9's knife is the first stripped Becker I've encountered and I really like it a lot. Particularly the mirror-ish finish he sanded in looks fantastic. There are still some sandmarks visible (again, it was a rush job for K9), but the appearance of the stripped, sanded knife is definitely an upgrade over my Fisked BK15. ADVANTAGE: K9.
SCALES
I am absolutely in love with K9's media-blasted, white epoxy scales. They feel pretty much the same as the stock scales (which are really good in themselves), but they have a very nice texture to them, and they are thicker which fits my hands better. The scales might be my favorite aspect of his custom job. Very, very well done. I'd buy these scales in a heartbeat, if they were made from a natural material (wood, bone, etc). ADVANTAGE: K9.
CHOIL
K9 enlarged the choil from stock. However, as you can see in the above photo, it is about half the size of the stock BK15 choil, which for me is too small to get my finger into to be useful. I'm personally not convinced that a BK16/17 needs a choil, so in this case I have to say: ADVANTAGE: STOCK.
JIMPING
It's difficult to see in my photo above, but easier to see in K9's original photos he posted, he customized the jimping, giving it a very nice curve. I love this! It feels great in the hand, and is a definite upgrade over the stock knife in terms of feel/ergonomics. I might have some concern over whether this weakens the knife in any way; I just don't know enough about knife physics to give a good answer to this. But: ADVANTAGE: K9.
EDGE and CUTTING
Another thing I was eager to check out was out the sharp stock edge, which has a full flat grind primary with a V-grind secondary edge bevel, similar to how they come stock. Whereas my BK15 has the convex, Fisked edge. My BK15 is a bit sharper than the BK16/17. I didn't want to try to sharpen it because I don't have a lot of practice sharpening flat bevels and I didn't want to screw it up. Besides the blade was still quite sharp so it didn't really need more work there. Both edges are quite usable, but I definitely prefer the convex edge. It seems to "bite" deeper into the wood, and once a cut is started it seems to proceed more easily. Though in some ways starting a cut seems a bit easier with the flat edge bevel. This is totally a matter of preference, but in my book: ADVANTAGE: CONVEX.
SHEATH
K9 also included a custom kydex sheath he made, with a Tek-Lok attached for the belt, shown here next to my stock tweener sheath for comparison:
As you can see, the custom sheath is much smaller than the stock sheath, which for me is a big win. I do like the tweener sheaths, they have a lot of useful features (pouch, double strap, MOLLE compatible, nice velcro beltloop with the safety snap, plenty of attachment points, etc) but in my opinion they are simply too large for the size of the knife. I do see a new custom sheath in my future for my BK15 (and BK4, since these 2 are my most-used knives apart from my EDC folder), but I will most likely opt for leather over Kydex. Nothing against kydex, but in general I prefer natural materials over synthetic; I will probably make some wood scales for these knives for similar reasons. If I may be blunt, this is where the "rush job" K9 did showed the most, the sheath wasn't a great fit for the knife, and when I look at commercial Kydex sheaths (Azwelke and others) the fit/finish looks to be an upgrade. That said, K9's rush job was certainly functional and if it's all I had available to me I could get by. ADVANTAGE: STOCK.
CONCLUSIONS
As you can see, K9's work stacks up quite favorably. I love his scales, I was tempted to ask how much for them, and send the modded knife off with the backup scales he sent (I didn't have the right sized allen wrench handy so I didn't try swapping out the scales. Hopefully one of the future reviewers will comment more about his modified stock scales that are included in the package).
In short, HATS OFF TO K9-Handler! Both your generosity in this passaround, and your skill evident in this "rush job" are a testament to yourself. Thanks for spreading your work around!
Overall, I'm very impressed with K9's handiwork, particularly given that (as he said) it is a rush job. I have a BK15 tweener, so that's the blade I compared it against. First, a shot of the two blades in question:
My BK15 is pretty close to stock, except that I put a convexed/Fisked edge on my knife. As K9 has detailed above, his knife is extensively modified. What I will do for this mini-review is post about the specific differences between the knives, and my impressions of them.
COATINGS
I can't say I'm a fan of the new coatings Kabar is using. All the concerns that have been extensively listed on this site apply to me as well; while it does appear to be tough, it is too thick with too much texture, and it increases friction during the cutting action. K9's knife is the first stripped Becker I've encountered and I really like it a lot. Particularly the mirror-ish finish he sanded in looks fantastic. There are still some sandmarks visible (again, it was a rush job for K9), but the appearance of the stripped, sanded knife is definitely an upgrade over my Fisked BK15. ADVANTAGE: K9.
SCALES
I am absolutely in love with K9's media-blasted, white epoxy scales. They feel pretty much the same as the stock scales (which are really good in themselves), but they have a very nice texture to them, and they are thicker which fits my hands better. The scales might be my favorite aspect of his custom job. Very, very well done. I'd buy these scales in a heartbeat, if they were made from a natural material (wood, bone, etc). ADVANTAGE: K9.
CHOIL
K9 enlarged the choil from stock. However, as you can see in the above photo, it is about half the size of the stock BK15 choil, which for me is too small to get my finger into to be useful. I'm personally not convinced that a BK16/17 needs a choil, so in this case I have to say: ADVANTAGE: STOCK.
JIMPING
It's difficult to see in my photo above, but easier to see in K9's original photos he posted, he customized the jimping, giving it a very nice curve. I love this! It feels great in the hand, and is a definite upgrade over the stock knife in terms of feel/ergonomics. I might have some concern over whether this weakens the knife in any way; I just don't know enough about knife physics to give a good answer to this. But: ADVANTAGE: K9.
EDGE and CUTTING
Another thing I was eager to check out was out the sharp stock edge, which has a full flat grind primary with a V-grind secondary edge bevel, similar to how they come stock. Whereas my BK15 has the convex, Fisked edge. My BK15 is a bit sharper than the BK16/17. I didn't want to try to sharpen it because I don't have a lot of practice sharpening flat bevels and I didn't want to screw it up. Besides the blade was still quite sharp so it didn't really need more work there. Both edges are quite usable, but I definitely prefer the convex edge. It seems to "bite" deeper into the wood, and once a cut is started it seems to proceed more easily. Though in some ways starting a cut seems a bit easier with the flat edge bevel. This is totally a matter of preference, but in my book: ADVANTAGE: CONVEX.
SHEATH
K9 also included a custom kydex sheath he made, with a Tek-Lok attached for the belt, shown here next to my stock tweener sheath for comparison:
As you can see, the custom sheath is much smaller than the stock sheath, which for me is a big win. I do like the tweener sheaths, they have a lot of useful features (pouch, double strap, MOLLE compatible, nice velcro beltloop with the safety snap, plenty of attachment points, etc) but in my opinion they are simply too large for the size of the knife. I do see a new custom sheath in my future for my BK15 (and BK4, since these 2 are my most-used knives apart from my EDC folder), but I will most likely opt for leather over Kydex. Nothing against kydex, but in general I prefer natural materials over synthetic; I will probably make some wood scales for these knives for similar reasons. If I may be blunt, this is where the "rush job" K9 did showed the most, the sheath wasn't a great fit for the knife, and when I look at commercial Kydex sheaths (Azwelke and others) the fit/finish looks to be an upgrade. That said, K9's rush job was certainly functional and if it's all I had available to me I could get by. ADVANTAGE: STOCK.
CONCLUSIONS
As you can see, K9's work stacks up quite favorably. I love his scales, I was tempted to ask how much for them, and send the modded knife off with the backup scales he sent (I didn't have the right sized allen wrench handy so I didn't try swapping out the scales. Hopefully one of the future reviewers will comment more about his modified stock scales that are included in the package).
In short, HATS OFF TO K9-Handler! Both your generosity in this passaround, and your skill evident in this "rush job" are a testament to yourself. Thanks for spreading your work around!
Last edited:
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- Jan 27, 2012
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Nicely done, JWL.
I agree with most of your findings. I just don't remember making the choil any bigger than stock! Given the rush in getting it ready to send out doesn't seem like I'd waste the time to do that -- but it might have happened!
The edge was done on a Worksharp after the polishing, so it has somewhat of a convex edge on it, but approximately 20*. I use the Worksharp freehand these days, so the angle may be blunter than your Fisked knife edge.
As far as the sheath goes, I think I mentioned that I was knocking one out more for the purpose of preventing the blade from punching a hole in the shipping box than as an example of my best carry sheath work.
Glad you enjoyed the trial.
I agree with most of your findings. I just don't remember making the choil any bigger than stock! Given the rush in getting it ready to send out doesn't seem like I'd waste the time to do that -- but it might have happened!
The edge was done on a Worksharp after the polishing, so it has somewhat of a convex edge on it, but approximately 20*. I use the Worksharp freehand these days, so the angle may be blunter than your Fisked knife edge.
As far as the sheath goes, I think I mentioned that I was knocking one out more for the purpose of preventing the blade from punching a hole in the shipping box than as an example of my best carry sheath work.
Glad you enjoyed the trial.
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Very nice review, JWL. It looks like a great blade.
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Awesome. USPS says it should be here in a few days. I can't wait.
- Joined
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I got to see this knife while JWL had it. I didn't get to do any work with it because I was pressed for time. But I do know that K9 has some serious skill. The new scales seemed a little thicker and quite a bit more grippy and still fit in the stock sheath. I was really impressed by the quality of the mods and the overall finish of the knife since he churned this out in such a short period of time. Very very nice K9!
While at the gathering I got to see some of K9's duracoat work. Trailbum got 2 BK-16s from the Captain for his friends that moved to Africa. The duracoat came out great and make the knives one of a kind. I am sure the recipients will be very pleased!
Thanks K9!
Jeremy
While at the gathering I got to see some of K9's duracoat work. Trailbum got 2 BK-16s from the Captain for his friends that moved to Africa. The duracoat came out great and make the knives one of a kind. I am sure the recipients will be very pleased!
Thanks K9!
Jeremy
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2007
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- 1,379
Hey now, the FFG17 arrived in my mailbox this afternoon, along with a Condor Scout hatchet from the river store. I played around with it this afternoon. Gonna do some other stuff tomorrow.
This thing is beautifully done, K-9. I love the jimping. Love it!
I'll have some fun pics up tomorrow night.
This thing is beautifully done, K-9. I love the jimping. Love it!
I'll have some fun pics up tomorrow night.