How likely are Becker knives to break in a survival situation?

I'mSoSharp said:
YouTube tests are strange things & nothing to do with real life.

Some years ago I was interested in buying a Cold Steel Pocket Bushman, now I'm not necessarily a Cold Steel fanboy but I appreciated this knife's ram lock, it appealed to my techy engineering side as a rock solid idea.

So looking on YouTube I came across what I can only describe as an idiot hell bent on breaking it like he had something against it, this person is famous & I didn't know at the time, I commented in the replies that I thought he was misusing the knife & it really was unfair, my comment was deleted & I then found any comment that didn't praise this person went the same way...

I bought the knife 😄.........to me it actually demonstrated how well made & tough the knife was.
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I'mSoSharp said:
YouTube tests are strange things & nothing to do with real life.

Some years ago I was interested in buying a Cold Steel Pocket Bushman, now I'm not necessarily a Cold Steel fanboy but I appreciated this knife's ram lock, it appealed to my techy engineering side as a rock solid idea.

So looking on YouTube I came across what I can only describe as an idiot hell bent on breaking it like he had something against it, this person is famous & I didn't know at the time, I commented in the replies that I thought he was misusing the knife & it really was unfair, my comment was deleted & I then found any comment that didn't praise this person went the same way...

I bought the knife 😄.........to me it actually demonstrated how well made & tough the knife was.
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Shows that you think for yourself. One should never just buy into a narrative without asking questions and thinking about it, bro. Good on you.
Oh, and yeah, I'm not what I'd call a fanboy either, but I think CS has some decent stuff. Love their tomahawks. With just a little work put into them, you get a great looking, high quality product that would cost 3 times the price if you bought it that way
 
Steely_Gunz said:
If you are turned upside-down in a small airplane with your gear and need to get out of a twisted fuselage that is on fire, then yes you are going to bag and smack and chop to get the hell out of dodge.
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Ok so to be fair, while Joe did hit the knife with the brick, what appeared to actually break the knife was him putting his entire weight into a bending/prying motion.

Also he said if you are in a survival situation “where you need to pry yourself out of a door or something” that this knife might break.

Having watched the video I’d agree.

The BK-7 is a thinner field knife, not a “pry knife”. Some folks want a knife that can support their entire weight while prying for certain tasks - and this one isn’t it.

It’s all about the TYPE of survival situation you happen to be in.

I’d be perfectly happy with a BK-7/9 in a wilderness survival situation, but I wouldn’t choose one for a war zone/shtf scenario. For that (or in Steely’s situation above) I’d prefer a knife designed to pry as well as cut/chop (like my Scrapper 6 in S7).
 
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NG VI said:
In a survival situation, you should not be hammering on your edged tool. It's a marginal benefit with inherent risks of breakage or degradation of your cutting tool. You won't need to plane out boards, it would be more helpful to still have a blade to make poles or do whatever other tasks you need than to have a broken blade because you were trying to make a cabin during a survival situation.
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Agree completely!
 
It’s not just the destruction videos, but the ”bushcraft” tests too. You barely see the knife actually used for anything outdoors or practical. Every test starts with batoning and chopping even with three finger neck knives. It’s all so tiresome. Knives have become such a meme.
 
scdub said:
Ok so to be fair, while Joe did hit the knife with the brick, what appeared to actually break the knife was him putting his entire weight into a bending/prying motion.

Also he said if you are in a survival situation “where you need to pry yourself out of a door or something” that this knife might break.

Having watched the video I’d agree.

The BK-7 is a thinner field knife, not a “pry knife”. Some folks want a knife that can support their entire weight while prying for certain knives - and this one isn’t it.

It’s all about the TYPE of survival situation you happen to be in.

I’d be perfectly happy with a BK-7/9 in a wilderness survival situation, but I wouldn’t choose one for a war zone. For that (or in Steely’s situation above) I’d prefer a knife designed to pry as well as cut/chop (like my Scrapper 6 in S7).
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It's possible that the rock (brick? Was it a brick?) or brick damaged it beforehand. But maybe not. I don't know if I'd ever want to trust a knife to support my own weight. A little prying, maybe, but probably not if it has a clip point like the Bk-7. I mean, it is a combat/utility, not specifically labeled as a survival knife.l, and I think one should remember that when considering if they want that knife or a different one. I think, and this might be just me, the combat moniker means like a fighting knife, like the Ka-bar USMC. Even that knife helped a lot of people. Oh, and they broke, too. I understand that they kept replacements for the troops, which is a good policy. If you really wanted something guaranteed to be bomb proof, maybe go with a Strider or a knife of that caliber.
 
A.L. said:
It’s not just the destruction videos, but the ”bushcraft” tests too. You barely see the knife actually used for anything outdoors or practical. Every test starts with batoning and chopping even with three finger neck knives. It’s all so tiresome. Knives have become such a meme.
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Exactly! Where is the "knife test?" You don't not do a test on the things you want the knife to be able to do, then declare it a bad knife! Bizarre thinking! Right on, bro.
 
These "test" will always favour thick blade stock and narrow design, which structurally more solid. You could sharpen one corner of a rail spike, heat treat it a little bit more, then give it to all of these torture test YouTube channels, it will likely survive. It is also funny when people doing these test recommend what the military or other type of activities should use, while ignoring the criteria of each job.

And no, you wouldn't want a heavy knife to pry or chop wood in a warzone. No soldier can be Rambo in this day and age. Saving weight for ammunition and communication devices are way more important.
 
As much as I dislike that style of testing, it's full of surprises especially in the toughness department..

A break is a failure can't deny that, & everything can break.. but seeing some big ass blades break early in his testing is disappointing to me, can't help it.
 
I enjoy those videos as a curiosity of what certain knives can actually take before snapping but as any indication of quality of a cutting tool they are no help. I have used a Becker BK9 for many hours cutting brush and chopping wrist size branches in below zero and then in freezing rain with no want for a different tool. There are makers that I would like to see tested by him out of morbid curiosity but would also be a crying shame when if he couldn't break it with his body he will just shoot it with guns until it is garbage.
 
His assessment of the results is poor but it does show how stupid you actually have to be with the knives to break them. Most of the knives, you have to actually try to break them to break them. That's not using a knife. So even under what most knife users consider abusive use, most quality knives will survive just fine. Maybe you break a tip here or there but that can be reground and the knife still useable.

The one about the buck 119 was a bit surprising, it survived a lot of abuse and it's not what I would consider a heavy duty knife by any stretch.
 
thebrain said:
I enjoy those videos as a curiosity of what certain knives can actually take before snapping but as any indication of quality of a cutting tool they are no help. I have used a Becker BK9 for many hours cutting brush and chopping wrist size branches in below zero and then in freezing rain with no want for a different tool. There are makers that I would like to see tested by him out of morbid curiosity but would also be a crying shame when if he couldn't break it with his body he will just shoot it with guns until it is garbage.
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Lol, so true! I think the next step is to break out the heavy munitions! 🤯
 
I'mSoSharp said:
It's all about parameters, what should we actually expect?

If I got a new car to "test" & drove it flat out into a wall would that be a fail if it crumpled up?
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Right! I mean, there is a reason manufacturers tell us what constitutes both abuse and negligence. And who knows, maybe another Bk-7 would survive further abuse. They can't test every single knife.
Cold Steel does some crazy things to their knives, but I don't recall them using the "bash it with a giant rock" test yet!
 
I beat the F out of some of my Becker's.

They were my "first love" here on BF.

I am Still known for taking them out on dates, all these years later,
even though I got Prettier options........
 
TheArab said:
As much as I dislike that style of testing, it's full of surprises especially in the toughness department..

A break is a failure can't deny that, & everything can break.. but seeing some big ass blades break early in his testing is disappointing to me, can't help it.
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I can't help but want to examine that knife for an air pocket or something. They do get through sometimes. But it might just be that it happened to break at that point, but what I can't discount is all of the abuse it took before that. Big ass, heavy rocks will eff up stuff. Can almost guarantee it put cracks through the knife. I kind of doubt the prying alone caused it to break. Could be wrong, though. A lot of people have used and even abused Beckers with no ill effects, though.
 
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