This is in reference to an old thread moose started where he asked for comparison reviews between BKT's and other knives. When the thread was first posted, I was asking around for a large chopper comparison, but none really got posted, and the thread kind of faded in to the background. The whole time though I had my eye on the BK9. It was out of my budget though, so I didn't worry about getting it anytime soon...
I won a BK9 in Maethors contest a few weeks ago, and it just arrived last night (BIG thanks to Maethor for this). The ZK War Sword I ordered a few weeks before that to be used as a large camp knife (chopping, batoning, etc) was just begging to be compared to its more famous (and less flashy) relative. The BK9 is obviously designed for the same style of use (and is up for the challenge), so I'm going to do a comparison review between the two.
Moose specified in the thread, that each review should roughly cover these categories. So I'll do my best to cover them, albeit not in that order.
So, here we go.
Here are the combatants. The BK9 is the solid black one, the war sword is the toxic green one (for those that might not know).
Price:
Becker BK9 = Roughly $70-75 plus shipping.
KaBar ZK War Sword = Roughly $45 plus shipping
The specs are quite similar in most respects, so this should be a good comparison. The blades are within a 1/2in of being the same length, and are almost the same thickness. The main difference is that the War Sword is a FFG with a drop point, while the BK9 is a saber grind, and has a clip point.
You can see how similar they are in thickness here.
First up, Chopping: The part everyone seems to like best, so I'll start off with this.
I took both of the combatants out to the yard, and found the biggest pieces of wood I could find. I brought along my 14in 1 1/4lb generic hatchet and BK2 for comparison in this test.
The test: 20 strokes on the first side, then flip the piece over and count the strokes until it is chopped in half.
Here they are, lined up for the beginning of the test. The piece of wood is pretty green (landlord cut a tree down last week), and is roughly 5-6in thick.
I forgot to take photos of the first half of the test, but I do have the ones from the second half.
Here is the BK9 on its first try on the second side. Check out how deep it bites. Speaking of that, because the wood was green, and a bit wet, it had a tendency to stick a bit. Also, the BK9 has a pronounced forward weight bias. The balance point is roughly underneath the middle of the thumb ramp.
Total number of strokes for the BK9: 20 on first side, 6 on second side.
Sweet photo for the ZK War Sword as well (so it doesn't feel left out and try to bite anyone). The War Swords balance point is much farther back than the BK9, and the balance point is roughly where the handle scales end.
Total number of strokes for the ZK War Sword: 20 on first side, 13 on second side.
Victory Shot
All together now
Total number of strokes for generic lowes hatchet: 20 on first side, 27 on second. (thats right, it was worse at chopping that BOTH the War Sword, and the BK9)
Total number of strokes for BK2: 20 on first side, 24 on second side. (yep, that actually happened. At least with this sample of wood, the BK2 outchopped my hatchet).
General feelings about chopping:
I had the worse accuracy with the hatchet, and it also didn't bite near as deep. That said, it never got stuck in the wood like the knives did. I would say I had best accuracy with the BK9 (other than one big chunk I took out when my wife came out and started talking to me mid swing
, then a tie between the War Sword and the BK2 (had the BK2 still had its lanyard, I think it would have leaped ahead of the War Sword).
Of the combatants, I would choose the BK9 every time for chopping. It bites a bit deeper, chops a bit faster, and I prefer the handle. That said, the handle bolts came a bit loose doing this, while the War Swords are still on there tight. The War sword is not a bad chopper, and the sweet spot is a bit easier to find (just this side of the recurve), but the handle is less comfortable, and its not as efficient of a chopper.
Batoning: Contriversial, yes. Good for testing, also yes
.
Ok, I got the War Sword because it was a relatively thick full width full length tang knife that I could beat on a bit. I have mentioned before that for a large knife... it feels a bit small. It is thin vertically (viewed from side, like in the first photo of the thread), and because of that I have felt that it is a bit prone to theoretical bending while batoning. I can actually make the knife deflect with my hands if I put some force on it.
Well, that is no longer a theoretical thing. I tried the War Sword against about a 5in thick piece of wood with a wicked knot in it at the end where I started. I figure, if I think it could happen, why not try it in my backyard when I'm not depending on it. Check this out.
NOTE: This is actually after I'd worked it loose a bit, and the bend was lessened. I would say it was bent roughly twice this far after three or four solid smacks with the baton. You could actually see the edge of the knife sticking to the side farther than the spine. Meaning, it was bent both to the right, but also counterclockwise. I was horrified that I had abused my knife, that it would never bend back, and that I wouldn't be able to use the warranty to get a new one. The knife was bent roughly 30 degrees at the worst part of this.
I've got to hand it to Toooj's heat treat, because as soon as it was out of the wood, it was as straight as an arrow. Disaster averted. That said, I wasn't about to tempt fate.
So, if you have a knife stuck in a log like this, what do you do? Me, I use my BK2 to get it out. Once I got the War Sword out, I decided to see how the BK2 would do against that wicked knot in the wood.
I shouldn't have worried. Other than the fact that only like 3/4in of knife stuck out the other side, the BK2 breezed through it, and didn't even show signs of bending.
The tag team that took out the knot.
The BK9 did pretty well also. I didn't have any massive knots left, but I still had some decent pieces of wood to split, and it did just fine. The one time I saw the blade deflect, it was by a few measly degrees. The clip point wasn't as annoying as I thought it would be when batoning.
For batoning, out of the two combatants, I would for sure pick up the BK9 ever time. The saber grind, and the larger size vertically means that the blade is much more resistant to bending. I also noticed that the BK9 would track straighter through the wood than the War Sword because of that vertical height. The War Sword was more prone to following the grain of the wood.
That wraps it up for the big part of the test. Here they are after their workout.
Checking sharpness after the workout:
Both were still very sharp, which was pretty impressive. Check out the newspaper they shredded. It was boring reading anyway.
The BK9 was using its factory edge (sharpest KaBar knife I've gotten from the factory so far), and the ZK War Sword was using a 20 degree relieve cut with a 25 degree microbevel that I put on it.
For ease of sharpening, I'll choose the BK9. It doesn't have that recurve, so its easy to sharpen up.
The small stuff:
After eating some paper, they decided to bring the fight back to wood.
Making fuzz sticks, both did pretty well. I'm not the best at this yet, but I would say they both perform just fine. I think any issues with them is actually with me, so I won't really blame either of the blades here.
And carving some notches, and some points on some thumb sized wood. This should tell me which one would make traps and tent stakes better.
For the small work, I think I'll actually give the edge to the War Sword. The blade is smaller vertically, and your hands sit closer to the work. Like I said before, it feels like a very small large knife, and that pays off for it here. The BK9 wasn't bad at this, and can easily work for the kind of stuff I was doing. But if I was headed out with the expectation that I would be doing more smaller work, I would choose the War Sword. The only thing that I would mention to this is that in the reverse grip, its handle is much less comfortable than the Becker handle of the BK9.
Firesteel Striking:
This one is actually pretty easy to determine the winner. The ZK War Sword has an amazingly sharp spine, the FFG means that the angle that strikes the firesteel is actually more acute than what you can get with a saber grind. It is currently the best knife I own for striking firesteels.
The win here goes easily to the War Sword.
Handle and grip ergos:
Photos will be coming soon for this portion.
The handles on these knives are very different, so it I'll take some time to describe some of the differences.
The Becker handles are excellent for large work. The handle has a great palm swell, effectively guard your hand from moving forward onto the blade, and from slipping rearward off of the end of the handle. I know that some people dislike the grivory, but personally I like it. I used this knife for about an hour and a half, and was very comfortable the whole time. That said, I have no experience with micarta. I like the size of the handles, but I like the grip on the BK2 better. I guess I'll start figuring out some liners for the 9.
This is also my first Becker with a thumb ramp. I didn't feel like it got in the way at all, but I also don't feel like it added tons. When I tried to choke up on the front of the knife for detail work, I actually put my thumb on the other side of the ramp, and it worked just fine.
The War Sword has a very different handle. The grip is more narrow, with a smaller palm swell. It is also a longer handle, so you have more grip options. There is a lower guard, but that is a much thinner than on the Becker handle. This means that my hand was much closer to the action. This helped out in the detail work that you saw up above. For the larger work and with a rearward grip the handle could use some work. I would like it more if I had some sort of a rearward swell, or pommel, or something to help hold your hand on the knife.
The thumb ramp on the War Sword is very pronounced, and the jimping is very good (square jimping with lots of grip). This doesn't really get in the way either, and it actually helps quite a bit when you are choked up close to the beginning of the blade. Also, if I was to choose a blade to use for stabbing or thrusting type movement, the war sword would be the one for sure. The jimping provides actual traction, and a much more pronounced edge to push your thumb up against.
Of the two handles, I prefer the Beckers for most work. I find the palm swell fits my hand better, and like how secure my hand is when on the knife.
CONCLUSION:
Overall, I'm going to give the win to the BK9 for my large knife chores. For the important stuff (chopping and batoning), its just better, and its not very far behind in the small stuff either. Most of the time, I have more than one knife on my anyway, so that isn't as much of an issue. That said, the War Sword is not a bad budget knife. You look at it, and its just over half of the price of the BK9, and it gives you a ton of knife for the money. It seems better suited not as a explicit chopper, but as more of a small machete with a great point. Its surprisingly light for its size, and I think it would work well for a backpacking knife when strapped to a pack.
There you go, hope you guys enjoyed this. I know that personally, I would have LOVED something like this when I was researching what large knife to buy, and I hope this brings some new guys in.
I won a BK9 in Maethors contest a few weeks ago, and it just arrived last night (BIG thanks to Maethor for this). The ZK War Sword I ordered a few weeks before that to be used as a large camp knife (chopping, batoning, etc) was just begging to be compared to its more famous (and less flashy) relative. The BK9 is obviously designed for the same style of use (and is up for the challenge), so I'm going to do a comparison review between the two.
Moose specified in the thread, that each review should roughly cover these categories. So I'll do my best to cover them, albeit not in that order.
So, here we go.
Here are the combatants. The BK9 is the solid black one, the war sword is the toxic green one (for those that might not know).
Price:
Becker BK9 = Roughly $70-75 plus shipping.
KaBar ZK War Sword = Roughly $45 plus shipping
The specs are quite similar in most respects, so this should be a good comparison. The blades are within a 1/2in of being the same length, and are almost the same thickness. The main difference is that the War Sword is a FFG with a drop point, while the BK9 is a saber grind, and has a clip point.
You can see how similar they are in thickness here.
First up, Chopping: The part everyone seems to like best, so I'll start off with this.
I took both of the combatants out to the yard, and found the biggest pieces of wood I could find. I brought along my 14in 1 1/4lb generic hatchet and BK2 for comparison in this test.
The test: 20 strokes on the first side, then flip the piece over and count the strokes until it is chopped in half.
Here they are, lined up for the beginning of the test. The piece of wood is pretty green (landlord cut a tree down last week), and is roughly 5-6in thick.
I forgot to take photos of the first half of the test, but I do have the ones from the second half.
Here is the BK9 on its first try on the second side. Check out how deep it bites. Speaking of that, because the wood was green, and a bit wet, it had a tendency to stick a bit. Also, the BK9 has a pronounced forward weight bias. The balance point is roughly underneath the middle of the thumb ramp.
Total number of strokes for the BK9: 20 on first side, 6 on second side.
Sweet photo for the ZK War Sword as well (so it doesn't feel left out and try to bite anyone). The War Swords balance point is much farther back than the BK9, and the balance point is roughly where the handle scales end.
Total number of strokes for the ZK War Sword: 20 on first side, 13 on second side.
Victory Shot
All together now
Total number of strokes for generic lowes hatchet: 20 on first side, 27 on second. (thats right, it was worse at chopping that BOTH the War Sword, and the BK9)
Total number of strokes for BK2: 20 on first side, 24 on second side. (yep, that actually happened. At least with this sample of wood, the BK2 outchopped my hatchet).
General feelings about chopping:
I had the worse accuracy with the hatchet, and it also didn't bite near as deep. That said, it never got stuck in the wood like the knives did. I would say I had best accuracy with the BK9 (other than one big chunk I took out when my wife came out and started talking to me mid swing
, then a tie between the War Sword and the BK2 (had the BK2 still had its lanyard, I think it would have leaped ahead of the War Sword).Of the combatants, I would choose the BK9 every time for chopping. It bites a bit deeper, chops a bit faster, and I prefer the handle. That said, the handle bolts came a bit loose doing this, while the War Swords are still on there tight. The War sword is not a bad chopper, and the sweet spot is a bit easier to find (just this side of the recurve), but the handle is less comfortable, and its not as efficient of a chopper.
Batoning: Contriversial, yes. Good for testing, also yes
.Ok, I got the War Sword because it was a relatively thick full width full length tang knife that I could beat on a bit. I have mentioned before that for a large knife... it feels a bit small. It is thin vertically (viewed from side, like in the first photo of the thread), and because of that I have felt that it is a bit prone to theoretical bending while batoning. I can actually make the knife deflect with my hands if I put some force on it.
Well, that is no longer a theoretical thing. I tried the War Sword against about a 5in thick piece of wood with a wicked knot in it at the end where I started. I figure, if I think it could happen, why not try it in my backyard when I'm not depending on it. Check this out.
NOTE: This is actually after I'd worked it loose a bit, and the bend was lessened. I would say it was bent roughly twice this far after three or four solid smacks with the baton. You could actually see the edge of the knife sticking to the side farther than the spine. Meaning, it was bent both to the right, but also counterclockwise. I was horrified that I had abused my knife, that it would never bend back, and that I wouldn't be able to use the warranty to get a new one. The knife was bent roughly 30 degrees at the worst part of this.
I've got to hand it to Toooj's heat treat, because as soon as it was out of the wood, it was as straight as an arrow. Disaster averted. That said, I wasn't about to tempt fate.
So, if you have a knife stuck in a log like this, what do you do? Me, I use my BK2 to get it out
. Once I got the War Sword out, I decided to see how the BK2 would do against that wicked knot in the wood.
I shouldn't have worried. Other than the fact that only like 3/4in of knife stuck out the other side, the BK2 breezed through it, and didn't even show signs of bending.
The tag team that took out the knot.
The BK9 did pretty well also. I didn't have any massive knots left, but I still had some decent pieces of wood to split, and it did just fine. The one time I saw the blade deflect, it was by a few measly degrees. The clip point wasn't as annoying as I thought it would be when batoning.
For batoning, out of the two combatants, I would for sure pick up the BK9 ever time. The saber grind, and the larger size vertically means that the blade is much more resistant to bending. I also noticed that the BK9 would track straighter through the wood than the War Sword because of that vertical height. The War Sword was more prone to following the grain of the wood.
That wraps it up for the big part of the test. Here they are after their workout.
Checking sharpness after the workout:
Both were still very sharp, which was pretty impressive. Check out the newspaper they shredded. It was boring reading anyway.
The BK9 was using its factory edge (sharpest KaBar knife I've gotten from the factory so far), and the ZK War Sword was using a 20 degree relieve cut with a 25 degree microbevel that I put on it.
For ease of sharpening, I'll choose the BK9. It doesn't have that recurve, so its easy to sharpen up.
The small stuff:
After eating some paper, they decided to bring the fight back to wood.
Making fuzz sticks, both did pretty well. I'm not the best at this yet, but I would say they both perform just fine. I think any issues with them is actually with me, so I won't really blame either of the blades here.
And carving some notches, and some points on some thumb sized wood. This should tell me which one would make traps and tent stakes better.
For the small work, I think I'll actually give the edge to the War Sword. The blade is smaller vertically, and your hands sit closer to the work. Like I said before, it feels like a very small large knife, and that pays off for it here. The BK9 wasn't bad at this, and can easily work for the kind of stuff I was doing. But if I was headed out with the expectation that I would be doing more smaller work, I would choose the War Sword. The only thing that I would mention to this is that in the reverse grip, its handle is much less comfortable than the Becker handle of the BK9.
Firesteel Striking:
This one is actually pretty easy to determine the winner. The ZK War Sword has an amazingly sharp spine, the FFG means that the angle that strikes the firesteel is actually more acute than what you can get with a saber grind. It is currently the best knife I own for striking firesteels.
The win here goes easily to the War Sword.
Handle and grip ergos:
Photos will be coming soon for this portion.
The handles on these knives are very different, so it I'll take some time to describe some of the differences.
The Becker handles are excellent for large work. The handle has a great palm swell, effectively guard your hand from moving forward onto the blade, and from slipping rearward off of the end of the handle. I know that some people dislike the grivory, but personally I like it. I used this knife for about an hour and a half, and was very comfortable the whole time. That said, I have no experience with micarta. I like the size of the handles, but I like the grip on the BK2 better. I guess I'll start figuring out some liners for the 9.
This is also my first Becker with a thumb ramp. I didn't feel like it got in the way at all, but I also don't feel like it added tons. When I tried to choke up on the front of the knife for detail work, I actually put my thumb on the other side of the ramp, and it worked just fine.
The War Sword has a very different handle. The grip is more narrow, with a smaller palm swell. It is also a longer handle, so you have more grip options. There is a lower guard, but that is a much thinner than on the Becker handle. This means that my hand was much closer to the action. This helped out in the detail work that you saw up above. For the larger work and with a rearward grip the handle could use some work. I would like it more if I had some sort of a rearward swell, or pommel, or something to help hold your hand on the knife.
The thumb ramp on the War Sword is very pronounced, and the jimping is very good (square jimping with lots of grip). This doesn't really get in the way either, and it actually helps quite a bit when you are choked up close to the beginning of the blade. Also, if I was to choose a blade to use for stabbing or thrusting type movement, the war sword would be the one for sure. The jimping provides actual traction, and a much more pronounced edge to push your thumb up against.
Of the two handles, I prefer the Beckers for most work. I find the palm swell fits my hand better, and like how secure my hand is when on the knife.
CONCLUSION:
Overall, I'm going to give the win to the BK9 for my large knife chores. For the important stuff (chopping and batoning), its just better, and its not very far behind in the small stuff either. Most of the time, I have more than one knife on my anyway, so that isn't as much of an issue. That said, the War Sword is not a bad budget knife. You look at it, and its just over half of the price of the BK9, and it gives you a ton of knife for the money. It seems better suited not as a explicit chopper, but as more of a small machete with a great point. Its surprisingly light for its size, and I think it would work well for a backpacking knife when strapped to a pack.
There you go, hope you guys enjoyed this. I know that personally, I would have LOVED something like this when I was researching what large knife to buy, and I hope this brings some new guys in.
Last edited:
when i get going with a decent axe, giant chips go flying.
. I sharpened it up from a like 1/16 flat edge, to something that can almost cut newspaper. Maybe I need someone to learn me how to use a hatchet better 
?
