How many of you have had a becker fail on you?

B

Beckerhead83

Joined
Nov 1, 2011
Messages
558
how many of you guys (n gals) have had a Becker fail on you. i'm talking regular to heavy use, just not any battoning concrete stuff. Im guessing not many but just curious the same.
And by the way is there anyway to change my name on here? when i first checked out the site and saw all the beckerheads out there i decided to make my name beckerhead83 but then found out you have to earn the status and now feel like a poser lol. Love my beckers but want to earn the title not just self entitle myself.
 
there is a guy named 'beckerhead' on here and he's no poser for sure as he had the name before we even established beckerheads here.. :D

not many knives will fail in medium use, not even a butter knife!!! my preferred survival knife btw.. :)

but to me it sounds like you're mentioning Noss' destruction test where the 9 failed almost immediately batoning through a concrete paver, when I seen that I just suspect a heat treat issue which may be an isolated incident, who knows as these test are not 100% repeatable therefore realistically not scientific..

to be honest I was very surprised to see it fail the test, there used to be a $10 knife on cheaper-then-dirt he tested and that thing made it to the weight test IIRC..

also a $13 Cold Steel kukuri could not be broken !! call it a fluke, I'd like to see 2 of the same knives used side by side in these destruction tests to make it more repeatable..
 
I would too. I have seen both destruction tests and I can't hold much weight when I see a knife being abused to that extent. It just doesn't simulate real world use to me.
 
I know moose has broken at least a BK14, but I don't know what he was doing, as he just mentioned it in passing.

Other than the 9 that noss broke, the only one I know of was that BK2 that someone broke throwing hundreds of times.
 
You read correctly. The CTD knife blade survived to the weight test, handle got torn up pretty quick though.
 
I have always thought that abuse to failure tests should be done simulating tasks that you might actually be forced to do under extreme circumstances.
So like if you were busting concrete with your knife at least make it that you are trying to get into or out of someplace lol.
Like they did with the BK 3 they tore a car apart, simulating a rescue. Realistic use at the far extreme end of the knife. It did fail, but at the same time it didnt.
Good things to know if you ever got in a situation like that, How it failed and why, and that it was still a usable tool afterwards and it still got the job done.

Just my 2 cents
 
I agree 100%. Test the knife to the extreme for what it is intended to do. Reminds me off all the posts crying about their folders breaking trying to hammer thorough a 4x4.
 
I've broken a 7 , 14, 11, and a 5.

They did not fail, they were being tested, under comtrolled circumstances. I have not been able to break a 2, 10, or 9 to date.

The 7 broke while wedged into a tree stump with my body weight on it. Not a fail, it was the only way I could generate enough force to get it to snap.

To answer the OP, no I have not had a BKT fail or break on me during normal to hard use.

Moose
 
Moose, i've been idly wondering this for a while.

From the photos (I've been eyeing the 7 for a while now, and will likely get one for my old man for christmas.... so then I can play with it before I own it ;)), it seems like the vertical thickness of the 7 might be less than that of the 9, although I can't seem to find that measurement online (checked the blade database and tomars, so I didn't do tons of searching). Do you think thats why the 7 broke, but not the 9?
 
Kabars 7 and 9 are the same.

Kabars new website has detailed specs on each knife. They list both the 7 and 9 as the same thickness, .188 or 3/16.
 
ocnLogan said:
Moose, i've been idly wondering this for a while.

From the photos (I've been eyeing the 7 for a while now, and will likely get one for my old man for christmas.... so then I can play with it before I own it ;)), it seems like the vertical thickness of the 7 might be less than that of the 9, although I can't seem to find that measurement online (checked the blade database and tomars, so I didn't do tons of searching). Do you think thats why the 7 broke, but not the 9?
Click to expand...

The extra length allowed it to flex further and rebound. The 7 took more force too. I wanted to see if it would hold my weight. It did. I was bouncing on it when it broke. Oh and it was turned parallel to the ground, not vertical.

Moose
 
Battle Creek Knives said:
there is a guy named 'beckerhead' on here and he's no poser for sure as he had the name before we even established beckerheads here.. :D

not many knives will fail in medium use, not even a butter knife!!! my preferred survival knife btw.. :)

but to me it sounds like you're mentioning Noss' destruction test where the 9 failed almost immediately batoning through a concrete paver, when I seen that I just suspect a heat treat issue which may be an isolated incident, who knows as these test are not 100% repeatable therefore realistically not scientific..

to be honest I was very surprised to see it fail the test, there used to be a $10 knife on cheaper-then-dirt he tested and that thing made it to the weight test IIRC..

also a $13 Cold Steel kukuri could not be broken !! call it a fluke, I'd like to see 2 of the same knives used side by side in these destruction tests to make it more repeatable..
Click to expand...







I think it was a Camillus BK-9 that he "tested" (if that matters)

also I think you gotta take steel types into this, the cold steel kukri machete may not have broken when beaten into concrete, but I bet in a non abusive edge holding test, the bk-9 would win.





I broke my bk-11 but it was on purpose, Its for sure a seriously tough little knife, I hammered it into an oak stump, and used a breaker bar to snap the blade. I wanted to see how the steel held up to prying, before I bought a Tac Tool
 
there's a comprehensive list SOMEWHERE on this forum :)

well, probably needs updating...

so, breakage, not done in a test situation? rare. there have been several instances of abuse (throwing, batoning with a hammer or something metal, etc)

what's left? we had a handful of people across a decade or TWO with big chip outs from attempting to chop and/or baton through frozen wood, in particular, hitting rock hard knots in evergreen type materials (silicated knots == rocks). imho, that's user error.

it probably needs to be said more often, but don't chop frozen xmas trees, or at least, do not chop the knots (which includes where the branches join the trunk). use a hammer ;) or loppers ;> or a saw.

ever see a chain saw throw arcs of sparks when sawing up stuff like that? wonder where those sparks are coming from? that's burning metal. from your chain. mmm, now what could be making the metal do that? embedded materials, nails, dirt/sand, and KNOTS :)

what else? as above, with embedded materials, we've had some knives go through nails, and such by mistake. the edges usually held up well. there have been a couple chip out fractures (just like flint).

in almost every case KaBar has warranted these blades. happy enough customers. even some of the abuse cases, but that's their call. they don't HAVE to. esp if you say, cut into your knife with an angle grinder, and then smacked it around with a hammer/vise combo. short form: if you chuck your knife in a vise, and break it, that's abuse imho :)

what's left? gosh. i'm failing to come up with examples. must not have enough coffee.

it's really hard to break a good piece of heat treated steel just by using it. the stuff is not glass, it doesn't shatter, and most people aren't strong enough to bend even a BK14 in half with their hands, not easily anyway, and a BK3? very unlikely.

if you goto the ESEE hall of fame, they have pictures of buckets of their broken knives. many of them at the hands of abuse, trying to get a free, new knife. some failed doing extreme things. there might have been a couple that failed as the result of manufacturing defects, but that's super rare. everything can be broken if you try.

so, to the OP, if this was a serious question, there you go. if not, there you go.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top