I bought a BK16... now what?

I

IbrahimSS

Joined
Oct 18, 2013
Messages
39
Hello

I bough my first true bushcraft/hunting knife. With some help from folks I know and those on this forum, I chose a BK16.

I noticed from reading around that folks seem to make a bunch of customizations to these knives, starting anywhere from micarta handles to changing the grind to changing the shape of the belly of the blade. Plus I noticed people strip the black coating off of it and replace the sheath quite commonly.

I'm pretty much new to bushcraft and as I said this is my first "real" knife. Is there anything you guys recommend I do off the bat?

Thanks
Sam
 
Strip the blade, not the tang underneath the handles. Unless you like to take the handles off every so often to clean off the rust spots ;).
Stripping it really made it cut more smoothly, imo. All the other aspects are more cosmetic, I think. As for changing the grind: I wouldn't. It's a great knife. Keeping the V-ground edge or convexing is up to you, but I'd keep that limited to the edge. Handles that come with the blade are definitely good enough. More easily cleaned than micarta, but maybe you like the feel of micarta more? That one's up to you. For putting the knife in my backpack while hiking, the standard sheath is more than enough. If you insist on carrying it on your belt, I'd suggest checking for another option like kydex.
 
fondle and ogle...cut some food and other stuff...baton some wood...take some pictures
:D
 
I'm planning on trying that BushClass USA course on Bushcraft USA to get me going batoning wood etc. Pictures are required to "pass" and get "certified" (I put those in quotes on purpose).
 
what's the big thing around taking off the coating? What do people hate it so much? Doesn't it protect it from rust?
 
bigghoss said:
First thing you should do is use it.
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YES! A lot of guys do these mods because they have used the blade and they decided to make it perform better FOR THEM they modded it specifically. Take it out as is, use it, see if the coating bugs you, if it does its an easy fix. Does the edge work out for you? How do they handles feel while you are carving and cutting? Does the sheath fit your needs? etc etc. I suggest go out and use the blade before you modify then figure out if there is anything you might change to make it better for yourself.
 
IbrahimSS said:
what's the big thing around taking off the coating? What do people hate it so much? Doesn't it protect it from rust?
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Yes, but a knife that gets a lot of use usually doesn't get a lot of time to rest. Maintenance is key with a carbon steel blade that is unprotected. Oil it, store it dry etc. I chose to get rid of the coating on the blade itself because I found it somewhat sticky and I didn't really like small flakes of paint in my food. Regular cleaning and oiling the blade with a natural oil (so that you don't get toxins in your food as you would when you'd use WD40 as protection and use it afterwards to prep a meal) will do wonders. Regular doesn't even mean every day or every week. Depends on where you live, really.
 
IbrahimSS said:
what's the big thing around taking off the coating? What do people hate it so much? Doesn't it protect it from rust?
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Yes it protects from rust but there are a couple reasons people get rid of the coating,

The dont like the black blade
They like patinas
They are not afraid of the extra maintenance necessary
They intend on using it for food prep and there is some thought that the coating could come off in food.
They have found the coating restricts the cutting co-efficiency so on and so forth.

Its all a matter of personal preference some of it breaks down to performance, and some reasons break down to cosmetic preferences. Just get out and use it and see what you think before you strip it off. I have stripped my 2, my 14, and my 5. The 2 and 14 was because the coating was so beat up, stripped, and scratched out it really was not giving a good benefit, and I wanted them to develop their own look. The 5 was because I knew what the coating was going to do, I wanted it to develop its own patina, and I use it for food prep.

However, the 9, 11, and 15 have their coatings still on, primarily for rust prevention. So it all breaks down to what you want to do!
 
Is there a good article or post here on knife maintenance? Maybe that's actually where I should start :)
 
I've been around here for a bit, and some knives had the coating stripped, others didn't. As has been said it comes down to personal choice, but ultimately your knife is going to get used, so it is going to look beat up and dirty no matter what you do to it. The key is deciding just what all you want to do with the knife. Personally, I like my knives (especially ones being used for "bushcraft" or outdoorsy things) to have a squared spine, which creates an edge that isn't the knife edge that I can use to make shavings from wood or spark a firesteel. The coating covers the spine, so you can either do a small part and have only a bit uncovered, or you can strip the whole thing. Personally I like to strip just the blade since I am going to lose coating squaring the spine anyways, and it might as well be uniform in look. Once that is done, I will then force a patina using some sort of acidic fluid ranging from lemon juice to vinegar to PCB Etchant, just to get a patina going. With use though, the knife will develop a patina all on it's own over time, so don't get used to any designs or uniformity in color, it changes constantly due to use.

To be honest though, the absolute first thing I do with any knife is to sharpen it to my standards of sharp, and then try to use it a little to see what all needs changed. Once sharp, you can then see if you need liners to make the handles a bit beefier (just a mm or two can completely change the way your knife feels in hand) or if I need a more grippy handle (which can be done by a multitude of methods, anything from sandblasting [my personal choice with the stock zytel handles] to replacement with micarta) and also if I want a different sheath (to which my answer is almost always yes, and kydex).

So get it sharp, use it, then decide what you want to change. I can say that I have some that have had little in the way of modifications done to them and they work just fine (my BK2 for instance has had little done to it at all, and still retains quite a bit of the coating). Good luck, and take lots of pics!
 
Galeocerdoshark said:
Are you sure? I thought he oughtta get a 9 first.
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Well if he doesn't already have one then he should have got it before the 16. But he's already got the 16 so he can play with that to distract him while the 9 ships.


IbrahimSS said:
what's the big thing around taking off the coating? What do people hate it so much? Doesn't it protect it from rust?
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It looks cooler, slivers of wood get stuck in it, it creates a bit of drag when trying to slice, it looks cooler. And it just looks cooler. I have found that the knives aren't as prone to rust as people think, but I don't live in a humid climate.


iwouldhurtafly said:
YES! A lot of guys do these mods because they have used the blade and they decided to make it perform better FOR THEM they modded it specifically. Take it out as is, use it, see if the coating bugs you, if it does its an easy fix. Does the edge work out for you? How do they handles feel while you are carving and cutting? Does the sheath fit your needs? etc etc. I suggest go out and use the blade before you modify then figure out if there is anything you might change to make it better for yourself.
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Precisely. How do you know if you really want micharta scales or a better sheath if you have no experience with the knife? Same thing I tell people when they get a new gun and they ask that question. The thing is designed to be good to go right out of the box. Can it be improved? That's subjective and only you can answer that.
 
That coating won't last long once you start using it. I keep mine on until most of its worn off, and then strip and patina- I always leave the coating on under the scales though. Like others have said, get some use out of it and then decide how you want to customize it. I personally have micarta on my 16, but not any other Beckers. If I were going to use it to clean game however, I would probably stick with the grivory as I have heard that blood and micarta do not mix.
 
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