dogboye
Gold Member
- Joined
- Nov 23, 1999
- Messages
- 7,150
Finally got back out into the woods to do some camping/hiking after a 5-year hiatus (to include a new daughter and waiting for her to get a little older). This past Friday, my wife, our 4 y.o. daugher, and 8 y.o. Rott headed to Crabtree Meadows in George Washington Nat'l Forest for a couple of days of car camping (backpacking in still isn't in the cards for a couple more years). The relevance here is, as alluded by the subject, I had my brand-new BK-2 with me as one of my cutters. It literally had not cut anything more than paper and arm-hair since I got it and outfitted it with K-Bar's micarta scales. BTW, it is a Gen2. I had free-handed the edge a bit on a stone and Spyderco Doublestuff, but wasn't satisfied. So I did some convexing of the primary bevel after watching a couple of virtuovoice's convexing vids. I did not want to do a full convex of the primary and secondary, though, because I watned to keep the coating. I don't especially like coated blades, but it's there for a reason, and K-Bar's isn't overly obtrusive, IMO. The convexing really brought it to life "on paper," and I'm really glad I did. I can still touch it up on stones, but it seems to cut much better. And I pretty much started beating it like a rented mule as soon as we hit the camp site. It was about 40degF, the wind was blowing HARD (IIRC, the forecast for the valley was for 20mph winds, and we were up on a ridge), and it was spitting rain. I started splitting wood with it with a baton to get into some core wood looking for some dry, and then was able to get some nice feathering of the drier "innards" of wood. I was kinda shocked at how well it whittled the shavings considering how thick a chunk o' metal it is. The wind and the rain was so bad that my butane lighter would not stay lit. I had to pull out an LMF Scout Firesteel, which came close to getting the fire started. But I ended up having to cheat and use one of the tinder-blocks from this, which worked like a charm. I didn't have the Strike Force out, and the lighter still wouldn't stay lit at all, so I ended up using the Scout to light the block, best I remember. Got a fire started, and was getting it going, but the rain kept getting more steady, and no one wanted to be out in it anyway. So we got in the vestibule of the tent and cooked our dinner on the Optimus NOVA.
The BK-2 was pretty much my constant companion... err... "Campanion"... for the two days I was there, and it worked well. I used it to chop through numerous downed tree branches, and on one old oak that had been drying in the woods long enough that all that as left was the hard core-wood. I ended up using it on that old oak for only part of the chop, though, and finished with the Gerber Back Paxe that I had, only because the Paxe's handle seemed to work better once I got to the core of the tree (busted my knuckle a couple of times on the tree with the BK-2). But while the handle set-up on the Paxe was better, the BK seemed to chop at least as good, and maybe better. Not sure why; both were sharpened to the point of shaving before we left for the trip. And as for beating, even though I KNOW it is abusive, I even hammered the spine of the BK-2 into the oak a couple of times, kinda lightly. I knew metal on metal would be bad, so I didn't do much with that. But it stood up to it marvelously.
As I mentioned, I put the micarta slabs on it. I like them. They really have a nice texture to them, and look nice on the black blade. BUT.... I'm not sure about them and chopping. I wished I had had the basic scales with me while I was there and could have tried them. The micarta scales were causing some hot spots, and I think I just barely escaped some blisters. The basic plastic scales feel like they would work better, but then I don't know how secure they would have been. I guess I would recommend anyone that gets a Becker try it without the micarta scales first, if you're going to be doing any heavy-duty work like that. I don't regret buying them at all, almost purely for the aesthetics. But thought I should mention it.
Anyway, after a couple of days of this, getting back home, the BK-2 would still scrape arm hair a little, and the coating is still in good shape. After this weekend, the BK-2 has made me a believer in thick, well-designed blades. It will definitely be on more trips with me.
The BK-2 was pretty much my constant companion... err... "Campanion"... for the two days I was there, and it worked well. I used it to chop through numerous downed tree branches, and on one old oak that had been drying in the woods long enough that all that as left was the hard core-wood. I ended up using it on that old oak for only part of the chop, though, and finished with the Gerber Back Paxe that I had, only because the Paxe's handle seemed to work better once I got to the core of the tree (busted my knuckle a couple of times on the tree with the BK-2). But while the handle set-up on the Paxe was better, the BK seemed to chop at least as good, and maybe better. Not sure why; both were sharpened to the point of shaving before we left for the trip. And as for beating, even though I KNOW it is abusive, I even hammered the spine of the BK-2 into the oak a couple of times, kinda lightly. I knew metal on metal would be bad, so I didn't do much with that. But it stood up to it marvelously.
As I mentioned, I put the micarta slabs on it. I like them. They really have a nice texture to them, and look nice on the black blade. BUT.... I'm not sure about them and chopping. I wished I had had the basic scales with me while I was there and could have tried them. The micarta scales were causing some hot spots, and I think I just barely escaped some blisters. The basic plastic scales feel like they would work better, but then I don't know how secure they would have been. I guess I would recommend anyone that gets a Becker try it without the micarta scales first, if you're going to be doing any heavy-duty work like that. I don't regret buying them at all, almost purely for the aesthetics. But thought I should mention it.
Anyway, after a couple of days of this, getting back home, the BK-2 would still scrape arm hair a little, and the coating is still in good shape. After this weekend, the BK-2 has made me a believer in thick, well-designed blades. It will definitely be on more trips with me.
