My Camillus BK2 not 1/4" thick like the Ka-bar BK2?

Jonny1280

Jonny1280

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I don't have a micrometer, but my Camillus BK2 is noticably thinner than my brothers Ka-bar BK2.
Information in the data base seems to indicate that the Camillus versions were supposed to be 1/4" thick.
The only thinner versions were Blackjack era BK2's.

Does anyone have any thoughts or information to share?
Has anyone noticed this before?


Here's the Camillus on the left, Ka-bar on the right:







Again, the Camillus is on the left, Ka-bar on the right:



 
My Camillus 2 isn't ¼" either. But I did see somewhere (data base? BH comment?) that they're not supposed to be, either.....I'm actually OK with that; between the already too-large-for-for-my-hands scales and the non-skeletonized handle, it's beefy enough. I'm pretty sure that I could use it for a tree stand and not break it. Plus, I've convexed the primary bevel and it actually slices OK. Probably couldn't do that with the ¼" Ka-Bar.

The other weird thing is that there weren't any grind marks under the coating, almost as if the knife were forged or something...I know very little about knife manufacturing, but I thought all those little pits and stuff were odd. The other thing is that my 2 is the only one of my (stripped) Beckers that doesn't seem to rust, or even patina much.
 
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The Camillus ones are thinner, or at least all the ones I've seen were. Did a thread comparing the two back in the day, same thing.

6327794136_3c37400fa4_b.jpg


http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...BK2-vs-Camillus-BK2-(Serrated)-Picture-Thread
 
I really like mine. It was fairly easy to get on the big auction site and plenty strong for my uses. I still like my Kabar BK2 but the Camillus version is well worth it. The BK2 is such a great design that it would be nice if Kabar made a thinner version too.
 
Thanks for the link D.



Guyon said:
They are thinner. I still have a couple of the Camillus plain-edge BK-2's, plus one of the serrated versions shown above.
But the grinds aren't as good/symmetrical. On all of my Camillus versions, the sabre grind is uneven when you compare one side of the knife with the other.
Note too how, in the spine shots, the Camillus tang seems to be rounded off instead of nice and squared off. That lack of finish is common with the Camillus knives as well.
Click to expand...

I found this to be true about the grinds on my knife as well.
 
My two Camillus BK2s are O.203 and 0.209.
I thought the Blackjack BK2s were 1/4 and the Camillus's were 3/16ths?
 
tholiver said:
My two Camillus BK2s are O.203 and 0.209.
I thought the Blackjack BK2s were 1/4 and the Camillus's were 3/16ths?
Click to expand...

I think you're right. It seems the second set of Blackjack specs are actually supposed to be the Camillus specs. Perhaps Bladite can verify this.



ooo Blackjack, and variants

oooo Second from right is an original 1st gen hard-chrome BK0-2
oooo Second from left is a 2nd gen powder coat "sterile" model; they are unmarked due to the powder coat being "tricky"

Factory sheaths were both leather, and a very fine Eagle Industries cordura sheath

o Blackjack era (hard chrome specs)
oo Shape: drop point
oo Edge Angle: ? degrees
oo Grind: flat
oo Steel: 0170-6 or 1095 (depends on literature/generation?)
oo Rc hardness: 56
oo Blade length: 5.25 inches
oo Overall length: 10.625 inches
oo Blade thickness: 0.25 inches
oo Knife Weight: 14.7 ounces
oo Handle: Esta-Loc or Grivory-GV-6H
oo Sheath: Black nylon with "leather" liner, very heavy duty
oo Origins: knife made in USA, sheath made in USA by Eagle Industries
oo MSRP: US$100.00-110.00

There were also some leather sheaths, and some alternate kydex sheaths seen for these. Major knife variant on the last runs included some with a sterile epoxy coating.


ooo Camillus, and variants (serrated)

oooo Left most in above picture, is a factory made serrated BK-02, military requested model
oooo Third to the left in above picture, a standard BK-02 wearing the original Camillus micarta!
oooo Right most in above picture, a standard BK-02 with the normal jammies

o Blackjack era (hard chrome specs)
oo Shape: drop point
oo Edge Angle: ? degrees
oo Grind: flat
oo Steel: 0170-6C
oo Rc hardness: 58-59
oo Blade length: 5.25 inches
oo Overall length: 10.625 inches
oo Blade thickness: 0.188 to 0.210 it seems! not a fulll 0.250
oo Knife Weight: 14.7 ounces
oo Handle: Esta-Loc or Grivory-GV-6H
oo Sheath: Kydex
oo Origins: knife made in USA
oo MSRP: US$100.00

From the Camillus literature: '''Exclusive high carbon steel (0170-6C) flat ground blade, 58-59 RC blade hardness, black epoxy coating, Becker trademark GV6H ergonomic handles, Kydex multi-carry sheath system, Proudly made in the USA''' and '''10-5/8 inch overall length, 4.5 inch length blade, .250 inch thick blade'''
 
Maybe there's a clue as to why Camillus is just a Chi-com consortium. If they couldn't get their specs lined up with reality....or maybe steel availability changed after the spec was written? Dunno. I'd love to know the differences in manufacturing processes, though, as my Cam BK-2 two looks so different naked than my Ka-Bar blades. One thing I do like better about the Cam 2 is that the blade has a little belly to it that I don't see on the KB version. At least mine seems to....I don't think I could have taken off that much steel on my water stones (or done such a good job of it)!
 
Camillus wasn't always a ChiCom. now that they are, they have no rights to making anything Becker anyway.

the official camillus specs are .25 inches, so i went with that. iirc.

actual seems to vary over time a bit. i've seen 3 different camillus with different specs. was very disappointed in them, as i already had several blackjack or earlier models that are like .249 (some without coatings ;) i seem to recall asking people to measure what they got, but never got numbers; so :)

i'm thinking camillus had a thick coating at one point, and reduced it, but who knows.
 
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