I am holding a US made BK13 in my hand

Hey Everybody....

The China 13's will continue to come with the 7s and 9s at least until they run out....after that who knows at this juncture ?....The root canal has turned into an extraction soooo...I get to anticipate that cheery prospect over the weekend......

The good news is that the preliminary asessment of the Olean made REMORA is really frigging impressive.....I cut a pencil sized willow branch just outside my office and had a small figure 4 trigger in just a couple of minutes...It seemed awfully sharp but I figured hey it is willow after all , no big deal and then I cut myself...just a nick but very, very clean....no ragged edges....

On the evening Gator ride with the dogs I harvested several roughly 1/2 in poplar saplings and cleaned them up, again soft green wood but a step up from willow...Then a 5/8 oak sapling....same wow this thing really cuts quick !!! and CLEAN the cuts have a MACHINED look.....What has impressed me so far is the scalpel like and very aggressive character this little guy presents...I also fuzzed a 5/8 seasoned hickory stick and the ease with which I was able to get real thin fuzzies was really cool....

Until a blade actually makes it to production proto you never REALLY know what you are gonna get in terms of performance....I have used a flat ground TALONITE Proto Darrel Ralph cranked out for me for years and thought it had real potential and the China model is OK, but this iteration is really amazing Tooge got the blade geometry absolutely perfect for a knife this size....I will do some more field crafty stuff and do the batonning tomorrow and give an update tomorrow evening....BTW I have been carrying it in my pocket (and yes it has a sheath cleverly designed by Tooge) and I LOST it IN my pocket.....Granted I carry a lot of stuff in the left hand side but, even after removing a lot of it I STILL thought I had lost it !!!!!.....Susan laughed a lot....

I think we got us a WINNER.....

All Best....

ethan
 
Yay, Ethan! I was hoping that there would be a sheath for these. As soon as they are available, I'm buying.
 
Ethan Becker said:
... and I LOST it IN my pocket.....Granted I carry a lot of stuff in the left hand side but, even after removing a lot of it I STILL thought I had lost it !!!!!.....Susan laughed a lot....
I think we got us a WINNER.....
Click to expand...

stealth sheath? nice! good for airports ;)

ah, that Wife of yours :) hee hee.

sounds like a really nifty thing this new model


Bladite
 
Ethan,
NICE decision! Love your knife designs. LOVE the fact they are built HERE! No matter what some manufacturers say about Chinese products and how great they are (ack), I continue to try to avoid them. I have a friend who just sent back two brand new replacement batteries for Makita power tools. Neither of them would hold a charge for more than 5 minutes!

Regarding knives, I would never put my life in the hands of Chinese steel. The first thing I did when my 7 arrived was sold the 13. I will gladly buy a US made 13 to take it's place!

Keep building them here, and puuleeease build the 10 again. (That was said with puppydog eyes. It's not very masculine and I'm not very proud, so please don't make me beg like that any more.)

Take care,
Greg
 
Ethan,

Thanks for the kudos but it really starts from a great blade shape...Your blade shape. I just matched a grind to Your Blade shape.
Glad you are having fun. (Except for the cut and the tooth problem )

Best Regards,


Paul Tsujimoto
Sr Eng.
Product Dev and quality
KA-BAR Knives
 
Last edited:
Ethan has asked me to post some pics of the US BK-13.
If we mess up, please bear with us while we learn how to do this.:o









Paul Tsujimoto
Sr Eng.
Product Dev. & Quality
KA-BAR Knives
 
Last edited:
Fine, Paul, just fine. Go ahead and make us want what we can't have yet. The anticipation builds. Any idea when these will be available? Could you show us a picture of the sheath, too?
 
Hey Everybody...

The first pic is a leetle knife porn, a 77 and a US BK13 on the laurel lane here on Half Moon Ridge......

And now to the more serious stuff....Bladite wants to know....Does the US 13 baton???...

The answer is yes and no...This little guy is a scalpel and the next two pics show what you CAN baton..ie, the smaller stuff and probably any reasonably soft green wood of any size...But I deformed the edge going for a large square notch in wrist thick seasoned maple... The good news is that it neither chipped nor broke...Still usable and it still shaves....But I was definitely pushing the envelope!!!!.... You can see the deformation in the third photo---it is the the yellowish arc....

I split a bunch of small stuff by piercing the mid size splits with the point and twisting to separate.....The point appears to be plenty strong for this kind of work and should be plenty good for doing holes and etc.....In a very real sense you can see one of the basic tradeoffs in any knife design... thin edges cut like dammit but they will not withstand a whole bunch of abuse, and the more cold chisel-like the edge the more abuse it will take and the less slicability you get....This little guy is doing just what I designed it to do--- cut like a screaming bitch!!!...If you treat it the way you would your Swiss Army Knives you should have quite a performance margin to play with....

I plan to have Susan take some acton pics with the 77 over the weekend and also continue the test regime for the 13 and get some actual action shots of the testing in the shop (it will be 94 here tomorrow and the shop has air conditioning) soooo....after harvesting the test media I am gonna wuss it and leave the great outdoors--outdoors.....

Hopefully, I will get the hang of posting pics and I will do a bunch more of this, it be fun... But, I am old and new tricks come SLOOOW.....

Have a GREAT weekend....

All Best...

ethan
 
Hey, Ethan, could you get some pictures of the sheath, too? I'll buy a coupe of these little gems anyway, but it would be nice to see what the sheath looks like in advance.

Thanks,

Bob
 
Hey Bob...

You can see it in the middle photo....Will post some better pics for sure on monday and if Susan and I can figure this photo thing ou tommorrow then sooner....

All Best...

ethan
 
Duh! (smacks self in the head for not being observant). Thanks, Ethan. I'll look forward to your next set of pics. Have a good weekend, and thanks.

Best,

Bob
 
That looks really impressive with the sheath, I might have to pick up an extra as a neck knife or something. Those are very handsome. I've been sharpening the one that came with my BK9, and it's really shaving like a champ now!
 
SpookyPistolero said:
That looks really impressive with the sheath, I might have to pick up an extra as a neck knife or something. Those are very handsome. I've been sharpening the one that came with my BK9, and it's really shaving like a champ now!
Click to expand...

Hey Spooky, I plan on getting a few of he US Made BK13's, But the China Made BK13 that came with my BK7 "It Came Shaving Sharp" I was suprised ! Yep these New US Made BK13's with a Small Kydex Neck Sheath Is going to be a Great little Custon Necker !

Maybe the'll come with a Neck Sheath from Ka-Bar :thumbup:
 
Does the prototype have a finish on it. Looks kind of OD colored in the photos. I'd like that even though it isn't serving the same protective function perhaps as the finishes do on the high carbon blades.
 
Hey Shearwater...

The "finish" is bad lighting....They will be a tumble polish....Very nice actually...

Thanks for the interest...

All Best...

ethan
 
hmm why the negative stigma on the china made bk13? it seems like a sturdy companion to a bk7 or 9 that in the bush can handle alot of campside chores...plus the awesome price and the fact kabar practically gives it to you...just sounds win win to me. Mr. becker thank you for making knives that make me feel at home in any enviroment, I have a bk11 and my wife grudgingly agreed to a 7 and a 9 for my birthday, so....im holding my breath. thanks alot for giving a becker lover a place to hang.
 
Thanks, Toooj. Those in-hand shots give a good idea of the size, too. Nice little blade.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top