How tough is the Becker/Reinhardt BK21

noviomagus said:
Yes, that was quite entertaining.
Though in all fairness, many machetes will go through that "Ivan" skull without too much problems. Even the ones that are prone to breakage like one Schrade kukri.

The guy wielding the BK21 , said that he's "never really been a big fan of kukri's because the blades are usually too thick, they don't go through so much, there's alot of displacement to those wider blades"(exact words). And the other guy mentions the thick blades/kukri's 'bludgeon'. The thinner blades go through more easily. The Schrade Schkm1 did well in the zombie chop test. But when going at wood there seems to be quite a lot of failures. An inch or two above the handle.. Might be the 3Cr13 Stainless Steel they used. And/or the heat treat as well.
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Granted the format isn't the best, or most scientific, despite what they may claim, but it's entertaining to watch and see how stuff might perform. The fact that KA-BAR is apparently working with them as well is pretty cool. Although pretty soon the BK21 is probably going to be on back order at most sites.
 
Charlie_K said:
Granted the format isn't the best, or most scientific, despite what they may claim, but it's entertaining to watch and see how stuff might perform. The fact that KA-BAR is apparently working with them as well is pretty cool. Although pretty soon the BK21 is probably going to be on back order at most sites.
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Yeah, and I also wonder about their claim that their Ivan heads have the same toughness as a real skull.
I doubt they are 'parallel'.
They also chop off heads too easy for my taste. 1 swing and off it goes. Even the relative short CS kukri machete does this, with relative ease. Which is a very light 'kukri'.
Same for the synthetic zombie skulls they use. They all have half the heads chopped off with relative ease.
Don't think this was the case in Rwanda or CAR...
Then again... when looking at the Cold Steel pig and cow skull videos...
:eek:


It's entertainment that's for sure , ZombieGoBoom.
Better a fantasy, than the real stuff.

In the Netherlands the BK21 is 220 euro.
Don't see the BK21 go in backorder real soon...
 
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SALTY said:
In all reality there are certain factors that allow one to use the daylights out of a Becker knife with confidence:

1095 CroVan;
Design and testing before "BK&T" name goes on it;
Company behind it is KaBar;
Uncle E.
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and the unsaid part - "it's a current knife as made by KaBar", so unless you obviously abuse it (ridiculous batoning (like with a hammer/rebar), chopping pipes, extreme prying, and other nonsense...) there is this thing called a warranty, which KaBar is pretty generous about. Ethan too. he's been known to make it right.

manufacturing defects are way down, stress fractures as well since "lazer etching now"...

random heat treat issues happen. warranty.
 
Bladite said:
and the unsaid part - "it's a current knife as made by KaBar", so unless you obviously abuse it (ridiculous batoning (like with a hammer/rebar), chopping pipes, extreme prying, and other nonsense...) there is this thing called a warranty, which KaBar is pretty generous about. Ethan too. he's been known to make it right.

manufacturing defects are way down, stress fractures as well since "lazer etching now"...

random heat treat issues happen. warranty.
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Reassuring stuff.

Thanks.
:)

Is the tang on the BK21 hollowed out as on the BK 9 and BK 2 ?
 
Bladite said:
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Yeah, That video was brilliant. I really love these video's.

The BK21 did really well, given the fact that the front part is the hardest/thickest part of the zombie skull.

Would be nice to see that Becker/Reinhardt chopper back into The Walking Dead, or Fear of The Walking Dead.
Zombie movies/series are always fun to watch.
 
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noviomagus said:
Yeah, and I also wonder about their claim that their Ivan heads have the same toughness as a real skull.
I doubt they are 'parallel'.
They also chop off heads too easy for my taste. 1 swing and off it goes. Even the relative short CS kukri machete does this, with relative ease. Which is a very light 'kukri'.
Same for the synthetic zombie skulls they use. They all have half the heads chopped off with relative ease.
Don't think this was the case in Rwanda or CAR...
Then again... when looking at the Cold Steel pig and cow skull videos...
:eek:


It's entertainment that's for sure , ZombieGoBoom.
Better a fantasy, than the real stuff.

In the Netherlands the BK21 is 220 euro.
Don't see the BK21 go in backorder real soon...
Click to expand...

All granted, although those Ivan heads have broken some expandable batons, or otherwise taken very little damage from impacts from such.

And then there are the test videos by Skallagrim to see how various weapons work against the heads.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=skallagrim+ivan+head
 
Charlie_K said:
All granted, although those Ivan heads have broken some expandable batons, or otherwise taken very little damage from impacts from such.

And then there are the test videos by Skallagrim to see how various weapons work against the heads.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=skallagrim+ivan+head
Click to expand...
Agreed, those Ivan Heads are pretty tough stuff .
I was amazed/surprised about the fact that these batons had quite a bend on impact(making them useless) . They showed up not be the best choice to take on a 'herd' of Walkers/Biters (understatement).

Thanks for the link.
Always nice to see that kind of action.
Interesting also to see the swords in the first video not being as effective compared to the Chinese Pudao or the Long Sword.
The first swords were more of stabbing swords, with relative weak impact when chopping opposed to the other swords which split the Ivan Head's really well.
Machetes are also very good at this 'task'. Not that strange, when their main task is chopping away branches. And thick ones they take on as well.

That's where the Kukri comes in as well.
Powerful chopping .
 
there's the guys that test with frozen real pig/hog heads. that breaks a few things.
 
Where can one see that. On YouTube?
BK21 also?
Or in general, with all kinds of knives/machetes/axes/hatchets.

Like ZombieGoBoom.

Like to see that. Always nice/entertaining to see how these tools fare in those tests.
 
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Ok, so I’m not a beckerhead, in fact I, sort of the opposite, think the bk9 is ugly as hell and would never own one, but the bk21 is different, I like khukuri and have had several, kept my HI but for got rid of the rest as junk, thought the Reinhardt had the pedigree to try, price was ok, shipping hurt, then customs took more time processing it than the entire shipping from USA to here, plus they took some of the paint off...never mind strpped it, added some g10 liners (plastic handles not good but strangely comfortable if a little thin), then sharpened it.
Sheath sucks, made a kydex one, much better.
Tried it on some light (2-3 inch) stuff, o problem, so then tried it on some 60 year old hard wood fence post we had removed to replace with new electric lines and metal posts...batoned these these into kindling, if the bk21 was going to be breakable this would be it...well it was fine, had to resharpen it afterwards to paper slicing without tearing but it was not blunt by any stretch of the imagination!

I have now traced the bk21 onto a big piece of O1 tool steel I had lying around to try and make my own version. Could you break it with chopping? No, maybe if you pounded on it with metal but not with regular use.

Final point to remember is that the Nepalese respect their tools, they can’t afford to abuse them then break them, this is a copy of the broadleaf versions with more modern steel, should do all normal chopping fine!
 
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