Is the BK2 right for me?

S

shmoe

Joined
Apr 10, 2013
Messages
43
Hi guys, first post here and its a big one - so please don't flame me too bad!

I've read so much about knives that I have analysis paralysis. I spend many days in the mountains of Utah hunting, fishing, and camping with nothing more than a pack strapped to my back - much of this is for 3-14 days and off trail. I need a good bushcraft/survival/heavy-use knife or knife combo to go with me. I currently have a Schrade extreme survival SCHF1 with a 1070 5.5" blade on it that I take. I have been very unimpressed with it. Maybe the heat treat was off, but the schrade has been tough to sharpen, won't hold its edge well, doesn't chop well, and seems to do nothing well except hold some fish hooks in the handle. It does however take a good beating and the blade shape would be good for self defense against some of the problem animals we have in utah (I've been chased by a blackbear and each year we have maulings). So based on the lack of performance from the Schrade I'm looking to ditch it for a new blade.

So I've come up with 3 options:

Becker BK2 as my sole knife. I really like the price/performance aspect of this knife. If my concerns were addressed, I think its the best option. I'm concerned about the hollowed/cutout tang and the reduction in strength that comes with it. Also I'm concerned with the warranty since kabar says they won't cover "chisel, pry bar, screwdriver, digging tool, or for any heavy work for which the knife was not designed."..I can see some heavy work on wood while building a shelter or splitting wood for a fire etc getting designated as chiseling, prying, or heavy work by their customer service. I've also heard of the handles coming loose and problems with the grind, but these seem to be very few and far between. The blade seems to be a great size shape for processing most tasks and could be used in self defense. Can the handles be remove to lash it to a branch for spear fishing? (might sound silly but i watched my little brother do this with his cold steel GI tanto and over the course of an hour got several fish..quite nice when you have been eating oatmeal and dehydrated food for 5 days straight)

Esee 5 as my sole knife. i really like everything about this knife except for the price and the pointed glass breaker. I think the knife should have a flat bottom for pounding things if you need to - sure you could use a rock, but sometimes you need something with a bit more finess and flat bottom like on the bk2. Again, what about lashing it to a branch for fishing or getting other small game? I've only heard good things about quality and warranty of Esee

Kabar Kukri combined with my Buck Vantage Pro folder (a 3.5 inch s30v blade). I think this just might be the best option for a base camp type situation where you might be processing a lot of wood and can use the small folder for cooking and processing game. It leave a lot to be desired on space saving and overall weight though. On a 5+ day trip, fitting in the folder in the pack might mean giving up something else that is important like an extra lighter, or a steri-pen (my backup water purifier since I've had 3 pumps break on me). Also neither blade is good for stabbing with if a large predator were to decide to start chewing on me in my sleep (yes, that has happened several times in Utah over the last few years with black bears)..also niether would be good for fetching fish or small game.

I guess there is a final option which is to suck it up and keep the Schrade..but thats not as fun as getting a new knife! :D Help me spend my hard earned money guys!
 
What about the 9? It's the king. It processes wood like a $2 hooker.

I don't know if that is a good analogy or not.

But seriously, you should check it out. The blade is longer than the two which gives you more room to chop with, along with more room to baton, it may be slightly lighter actually than the 2 as well. It can handle like a small knife if you use a lanyard, you can put the remora in the sheath with it which gives you an ACTUAL small knife too.
 
BK2 seems like a safe bet. However, I think you may need a BK9 with an 11 or 14 as a backup. Although, in fairness, all the knives you mentioned are quality knives and deserve at least some research. Esee makes great stuff, but I have no experience with them, so.....
Speaking as a 2 owner I can tell you, it is very tough to find fault with this knife, but for some others, its too short or too thick. The 9 has the length and thickness which makes it extremely well suited for the tasks you have mentioned except....maybe the fishing. In the self defense role? Hey, bigger and scarier is better I think.

The handles can be removed on the BK's for lashing to something, however, I have never done this and have no working knowledge of knives being lashed to create spears. Also, the BKs are not marketed as being good for spear fishing, so.....you'll have to just use good judgement on that, I think. The 2 and the 9 may be too big/long and thick for spear fishing. I think you might cut the fish in half, LOL. (hell get a trident point/frog gig and call it good)

As for the Grivory scales; unless you replace the hex screws with traditional screws then you will need to carry somewhere on you an Allen wrench to remove the scales in the field. If you're concerned with scale movement then I would suggest using blue loctite to cinch down the hardware. Also, after market companies make scales in different materials. For what you have indicated your use, I might suggest Micarta. But the Grivory, while slick to some are very tough and reliable. Don't count out the stock scales just because of what you read. I have the Grivory and I like it. Test them yourself then decide.

I wouldn't worry too much about the warranty, Kabar is pretty good (I have heard). Besides, they like a good story surrounding the use of their knives, so if it's damaged tell them what happened. Customer satisfaction and customer feedback is a top priority with Kabar. Just take a look at their website and you will see, they really like stories, LOL.

All the BKs available from Kabar these days, except the 13 and 24, are made from 1095 Cro-van high carbon and sharpen and maintain an edge really well. My 2 however, was/is slightly off in the V angle. I have yet to fix this because I'm just lazy like that and I have no totally awesome sharpening skills. I have screwed up some blades (cheap ones) in the past. LOL.

I recommend once you get a BK, to strip the paint from blade and get some stainless steel hardware/screws. Once the paint is stripped you'll need to oil it or keep it clean or a patina (some like this) will form over the blade. All in all, the BKs are very tough, very reliable and are made to be modded and adapted to the user.

Hope this helped. There are tons of threads in this forum which discuss the questions you have. Explore the forum and all your doubts will be laid to rest.
 
As the happy owner of a bk2, a bk9, and a handful of other similar knives, my suggestion for what it's worth would be to take a really hard look at The Swamp Rat Ratmandu. The blade length is in the same Catagory as the bk2 and esee 5, but the knife is much easier to handle than my bk2. The warranty is awesome, just like the bk and esee knives. The handle, which is the most comfortable of all of my knives, is attached with hollow pins so you could lash it to a stick without removing anything. Bombproof steel that you can still field sharpen, I beat the living daylights out of mine at camp and all I could manage was scuffing the coating. More expensive than the Beckers, about the same as the esee. Don't get me wrong, I love my Becker and ESEE knives, but if I was planning a multi day adventure into the woods, I wouldn't even think twice about which knife to bring.
 
Hmmmmmmm......

So much to say here.......

Let me sum it up as quickly as I can......

Send me your address along with a current, functioning phone number......and I'll send you a BK 2 to play with for a little while. Better to judge a knife in your hand than on monitor.

Don't worry, I have a few. But this ain't a keep it deal, its a try it deal.

Moose
 
Welcome to the forum.

BK2.
020-2.jpg
 
You may also consider the BK10, that's getting ready to be released again. That said, the BK2 is a hell of a blade.
 
Honestly the BK2 is so heavy that IMO you'd be better off with a Gerber hatchet and pocket knife. If you HAVE to have a new knife I would be more inclined to suggest a more useful knife like one of the tweeners paired with a Silky or Laplander saw. Both pairs will be a lot more useful and will give you a back up blade in case one gets lost or damaged.
 
There's an old saying, "The further back you go in the woods, the bigger the knife you need." I agree if you are only going to carry one knife.
My suggestion, carry a small axe or hatchet and a multi-tool.
When you can afford it, buy the BK2 and you will be a happy camper.
 
As far as the warranty and the strength of the handle goes, you'd be hard pressed to break a Bk2 but if you did Ka-Bar would replace it, unless you're intentionally abusing the knife. Same goes to the rest of the beckers and Ka-Bars in general.

For a multi-day do everything one and only knife I'm not sure the BK2 would be my first pick. Might be good if you also had something like a saw or tomahawk to take care of the large cutting chores. Personally I'm a big advocate for multi-blade systems. For me it would be something like a BK4 or 9, a BK16 or mora, and a multi-tool.

For defense carry a gun.

Another good option would be a Ka-Bar Heavy Warthog. It's a better chopper than the BK2 and I don't think there's a huge weight difference, but I can't recall for certain. Throw in a mora companion which weighs hardly anything and you're pretty well covered.
 
You should have no issue with the the BK-2 being weak. There is a thread around here somewhere in which someone hammers a BK-2 through a lawn mower.

On the spear issue, keep your knife safe on your belt and just use a stick for a spear.

FishSpear4.jpg


If you want a medium length, thick, overbuilt knife the BK-2 will serve you well. As will the ESEE 5.

Now, having said that, I prefer to carry a small knife, like the BK-14, and a chopper of some kind, like the BK-9 or an axe.
 
SaturatedShadow said:
You should have no issue with the the BK-2 being weak. There is a thread around here somewhere in which someone hammers a BK-2 through a lawn mower.

On the spear issue, keep your knife safe on your belt and just use a stick for a spear.

FishSpear4.jpg


If you want a medium length, thick, overbuilt knife the BK-2 will serve you well. As will the ESEE 5.

Now, having said that, I prefer to carry a small knife, like the BK-14, and a chopper of some kind, like the BK-9 or an axe.
Click to expand...

Holy sh*t that's a badass spear. Where did you learn to do that?
 
The bk2 is one bad a mama jama. I think it gets a lot of bad press due to misinterpretations on the interwebs, and then other people regurgitate that info like they actually know what they are talking about. You see the same things over and over again. Sometimes though the bk2 is not everyone's cup o'tea and they actually support that dislike with factual hands on experience so they cannot be faulted for that. Once you understand the blade and have realistic expectations the bk2 is a knife you could have with you to depend on for whatever you need it. I think it is amazing that Moose is willing to loan you his blade... that action deserves some respect.

Also I am with the guys who say a multi-blade system is the way to go. A bk-9 paired up with a bk14 or a mora is a killer combo. Throw in a sak or a leatherman and your very well rounded and covered. Not to mention it wont break the bank. Even pairing a bk2 with a smaller blade or an MT will function just fine.

Whatever you do the Kabar/Becker line will not disappoint. All of my Beckers have surpassed my expectations. I believe they will do the same for you.
 
Moosez45 said:
Hmmmmmmm......

So much to say here.......

Let me sum it up as quickly as I can......

Send me your address along with a current, functioning phone number......and I'll send you a BK 2 to play with for a little while. Better to judge a knife in your hand than on monitor.

Don't worry, I have a few. But this ain't a keep it deal, its a try it deal.

Moose
Click to expand...

This you cannot beat.

I love my BK2. It'll do anything I need and it's reassuring to know it's there. If you're of the "carry one knife to do it all" mentality, the BK2 will serve you very, very well. But I'll support the multi-blade carry method almost all the time. I've found that rarely do I have to limit myself to carrying just one blade, hell, I even prefer not to. A large blade such as the BK9/hatchet/khukuri, then a medium blade with a 3.5-5 inch blade, and a smaller blade like a multitool/SAK/traditional folder will do, and has done everything I've ever needed. You could even drop the medium blade and just carry the larger and smaller combo and be just fine. So get what appeals to you and have fun.
 
If you can successfully fend of a bear with a BK-2, you really didn't need the knife to begin with.
 
I carry the Becker BK-16 and a Silky Pocketboy when backpacking. I am somewhat of a lightweight backpacker and weigh everything. I also discovered Silky saws long before I knew what a Becker Knife was.

The BK-2 by itself without a sheath weighs 14.7 Oz. The weight of the BK-16 without a sheath and the Silky Pocketboy with the clear plastic carrying case/sheath is 13.8 Oz.

The Silky Pocketboy is a small lightweight folding saw, made in Japan. The blade is replaceable. They are not cheap...I would not set foot in the woods without it and my BK-16. I do carry the BK-2 sometimes on dayhikes, I really like it but prefer the smaller size of the BK-16. I always have the 2 when car camping.

Just another way of doing things, knife+saw!

Anyway, here is a pic of all three of them:


8483213337_3c0de4b634_b.jpg
 
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Moosez45 said:
Hmmmmmmm......

So much to say here.......

Let me sum it up as quickly as I can......

Send me your address along with a current, functioning phone number......and I'll send you a BK 2 to play with for a little while. Better to judge a knife in your hand than on monitor.

Don't worry, I have a few. But this ain't a keep it deal, its a try it deal.




Moose
Click to expand...

Unrequested offers of kindness and generosity turn a crappy day into something a whole lot better. It's sometimes too easy to get jaded these days and forget random acts of kindness. Nicely done. I hope some good karma heads your way soon Moose.
 
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