Help! Becker BK 2 or Esee 4????

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Dienekes 21

Joined
Feb 20, 2011
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Hello all! I need a little help deciding here. This knife will be my primary large knife for carry in the field. Usage is outdoor survival (all climates) and combat/self defense.

To fill you in a little more so you can give me better advice you should know that this will fill a role as my third EDC knife. It will be joining my Strider folder and a Folts Minimalist Tanto. See? Small, medium and large. Price should not be considered a factor because if I choose a BK 2 I will replace the handles with Micarta and be forced to replace the sheath. That pretty much makes them about even in that category.

I like the thumb serrations of the Esee as I am used to that on my Strider and Minimalist. The handles of the BK 2 look a little sketchy to me...

The knife will be carried upside down on the chest.

I truly stake my life on these knives. I went through much research and more than a few knives before settling on my Strider and Minimalist (both of which are truly amazing and trustworthy additions for anyone who depends on a knife). Anyway, I am hoping with some good advice I can save myself some time and money. Thanks to all of you in advance!
 
Dienekes 21 said:
Price should not be considered a factor because if I choose a BK 2 I will replace the handles with Micarta and be forced to replace the sheath.

I like the thumb serrations of the Esee as I am used to that
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Dienekes 21 said:
The knife will be carried upside down on the chest.
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esee knives already have the micarta grips. the becker bk2 weighs 16oz and the esee 4 weighs 7.4oz. i go for the esee 4 out of the two based on what you have said.
 
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Those are two wildly different knives. ESEE 4 is a great small knife that should excel at small / medium knife tasks. BK2 is a medium sized knife that manages to work well for small and large tasks (as well as the medium ones). It's a decent chopper and has become my goto knife for carving and so forth (wouldn't have guessed that) because the handles are so danged comfortable.

As to your mods - nothing wrong with micarta but you ought to use the BK2 for a couple of weeks first before you pull the trigger on that. You might find, like I did, that the grivory is very comfortable, grips better than you would think, and protects you from blisters.

Also, I don't understand why replacing the BK2 sheath is a given. The stock sheath is quiet, easy to rig as you've described, and holds the blade securely. Again, you might give the stock sheath a bit of a try before you spend your hard earned money replacing it.

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Beckerhead #42
 
For what you're talking about, either BK-2 or ESEE-5, not the ESEE-4. ESEE-4, is, IMO, more of a bushcraft knife. Not all-weather combat-survival. It has more finesse. And, it's just plain smaller than the other two.

Oh yeah, IMO, the stock sheath is one of the best ones out there.
 
Thanks for the responses so far guys. As a couple of you pointed out the ESEE 5 and BK 2 are equivalent size wise. I had a brain malfunction and put 4 when I meant 5. lol.

Leaning toward the ESEE 5 at this point. How does the coating hold up? I know the RAT 5 had some problems with that...
 
My favorite is the BK3 as a more or less 90% all around knife as to do about everything I want to do whether camping or hunting plus around the kitchen.!
Just my .02 cents worth.!*
 
A BK2 as a neck knife? Did i read that correctly? Kinda heavy and bulky, unless you are built like an NFL lineman.
 
GingivitisKahn said:
I don't understand why replacing the BK2 sheath is a given. The stock sheath is quiet, easy to rig as you've described, and holds the blade securely. Again, you might give the stock sheath a bit of a try before you spend your hard earned money replacing it.
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+1

The stock sheath that the BK-2 comes with is really good, I'd be confident with the knife upside down in this sheath - I can't see it just falling out.

I have the BK-2, BK-7 & BK-9 and I have thought about buying micarta scales after reading about them on these forums. But after using these knives I really haven't had any negative thoughts about the factory scales and at this stage I'm just not bothered about replacing them. I have used a knife with micarta scales and I like that just fine, but the Grivory scales are good too.

Even if you do replace the scales on the BK-2 it is still noticeably cheaper than the ESEE-5. I can't really think of any shortcomings of the BK-2 + micarta scales vs the ESEE-5, I would think that either would perform as expected.
 
wildernessnerd said:
TAGannon did a awesome comparison on the BK-2 and ESEE 5.

Here's the link http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=813845
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Wow! That is insane. Looks like either would fit the bill. Going with the ESEE 5. Deciding factors for me are the serrations on the back of the 5, the micarta with the indent and the glass breakers (like the 5 better).

As an aside I did not realize that this was kind of an inflammatory post. I am new here and did not realize the debate was one that had raged before. My bad, search function is my friend. Lol.

Tried to go the Strider section of the site and saw that some major shit must have gone down here before! That must have been something... Got to learn the ins and outs here so as not to offend the natives. Thanks everyone.
 
I don't know where you live and the laws within, but will say they are both excellent knives..

however bias aside I'll have to say the 4 its one of my overall favorites by any maker, but that's not what sways my decision, what does it the fact that you plan to EDC this thing.. the bk2beast is an animal...

now if we are talking woods only and only one.. then the bk2 hands down..

but fwiw if you can swing it get both !!!:D
 
Dienekes 21 said:
Wow! That is insane. Looks like either would fit the bill. Going with the ESEE 5. Deciding factors for me are the serrations on the back of the 5, the micarta with the indent and the glass breakers (like the 5 better).

As an aside I did not realize that this was kind of an inflammatory post. I am new here and did not realize the debate was one that had raged before. My bad, search function is my friend. Lol.

Tried to go the Strider section of the site and saw that some major shit must have gone down here before! That must have been something... Got to learn the ins and outs here so as not to offend the natives. Thanks everyone.
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The Strider forum is an archived forum, not active, and yes, some stuff went down.

Welcome to Bladeforums, glad you're here. Feel free to check out the ESEE forum and Becker forum for more information and feelings on both of your choices, either way, you are getting a great blade.

Moose
 
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