New bk-16 arrived today - bent tip/grind issue

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Aug 1, 2012
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Well my first becker arrived today from amazon. Very impressive knife, but the grind on the tip is lobsided pretty bad. At first it didnt seem too bad until i took it outside in the sunshine to get a better look at it.
It's way off.

Right side of the blade is ground out too much, and making it appear as if the tip is bent to one side.
I tried to get a good pic but it was difficult.

Should i figure out how to send this back to amazon, or send it directly to ka-bar??

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At this angle, I don't see much wrong with your knife at all. Strip the blade and use the snot out of it! :D
 
I tried getting a good picture but it didnt work out too well lol.
Ill evaluate the knife more tomorrow once i find my glasses.
I just need to make sure the tip strength isn't compromised and sharpening wont be a problem.
 
My BK2 was like that, but way worse. You know what I did?

I stripped that bitch and used it. It was my first Becker, aint no way I was gonna part with it.


I love it and its.....personality
 
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I would just exchange it to amazon for another one. All production knives have the occasional irregulars. Not a big deal but I like my knives to start perfect then use em and add the personality.
 
I dunno...mine was similar to that from the factory as well. I just used it as is, and after a few sharpening sessions, the tip looks much better. It doesn't affect the performance of the knife, and if it bugs you, you can get the grind bevels to where you want them with any sharpening system. Just my 2 cents.
 
Had that on a few knives in the past as well. One of 'em might have been a Becker, can't remember. 15 minutes on some sand paper and they were perfectly symmetrical again.
 
I'm failing to see any signs of the tip being bent. You must be using a microscope or something.

But if it's slightly flawed compared to others, then all the more reason to use it hard since it's not of much value as a collector's item.
 
I see it. It's fairly obvious, albeit miniscule. But I wouldn't be that concerned. It's a production blade, not a custom, and easily within specs. If you really want a perfect blade with perfectly even grinds, buy one that costs two or 3 times as much, or go custom, IMO. Give Nathan the Machinist a try, or NickWheeler.

IMHO, if you're buying a Becker for fit and finish, you're doing it wrong. You buy Becker because they're affordable, tough, comfortable, and get the job done, and they're one of the easiest production blades to make your own. Also because, if anything serious happens to the blade, you get great CS from Ka-bar.

No offense to you, but I've seen far too many of these lately, and this sort of "complaint" will only ruin CS for everyone else. When you send in an inexpensive blade like this for minor cosmetic issues, if the company pays for shipping, you cost the company probably a third of the cost of the blade in shipping costs, and more to pay the customer service folks. And it's ultimately within specs. Too much of that, and they're going to crack down, and that can only hurt people with more realistic concerns, such as a legitimate factory defect.

That? That's not a defect. You can get a blade to look like that just by sharpening it yourself, or fix it if you are good at it. And it's a lot easier for you, because you only have ONE blade to deal with, than it is for someone who does hundreds a day or week or whatever.

Beckers are dirt cheap. I have a lot more appreciation for how inexpensive they are after I started making blades myself, and I often think that people who expect perfection out of a cheap knife like a Becker should try making one themselves just for that perspective. Most of my blades cost me almost as much (or sometimes more) to make as it would to just buy a Becker. And sometimes I do just buy the Becker, because they're great value. Because they're so cheap, they have to cut corners somewhere, or else you're just insisting on taking food out of someone's mouth (or their kids' mouths) because of something like this. That's the end result of this type of thinking for a blade at this price point, IMO. If you don't like it, you have the right to take your money elsewhere. But I'll be frank. I personally, think that complaining about this sort of thing is detrimental to everyone else who wants to buy knives at this price point. Do you complain about this when you buy Condor? Or a handmade piece from Himalayan Imports that probably costs twice as much? I don't see much of that going on in either of those places. Why Beckers seem to get the bulk of the people expecting $200 fit and finish out of a $60 knife, I don't know. But I don't like it.

This is nothing against Douglas Thor in particular. I just had to rant a little bit about the phenomenon. I hope Douglas Thor doesn't take this as a personal strike against him, since it's not intended as such, but rather more as a critique of the global issue. I understand the desire to get a perfect product from your money. I wasn't particularly happy about the level of fit and finish I got out of a $400 custom order once. But I do think that it might be worth thinking realistically about what's a fair expectation for quality in fit and finish from a sub-$100 knife. I figure, you get good quality, good fit and finish, or inexpensive. Pick 2 (or 1, in many cases).
 
Very well said Crimson. I agree with you. I had a 14 come to my door that looks a bit like an Izula and after my issue with the 2, I did what DT did here. One thing though, I don't recall wanting or posting I wanted to send the 14 back. I was assured it was within specs and that was it. Reasoning just like yours is what changed my tune. My son has that 14 now and loves it!!
 
I had/have the same problem with my BK2. Didn't sharpen correctly because of it. I sent an email to KA-BAR and they said they'd replace it with a "hand inspected replacement." I still have yet to send it in though....I've been lazy :p.
 
Like i said, i had trouble getting a good picture of the problem. The grind is worse if i had actually lined the camera up with the knife properly.

Crimson im not buying a becker for fit and finish. If you read one of my early posts, im buying the knife for one of my combat training classes (non-military). It needs to be less than 5 inches, be able to stab and cannot have a bent or deformed tip.
And since i can't afford two expensive knives, it also has to be used as a camping/bushcraft knife.

I don't get it. Woodsplitter and others have had problems, people jumped to help.
I get spit on. Is it because im new here?
 
It's not at all cause you're new here. I'll be perfectly honest, I don't see an issue. The tip isn't bent it just isn't a PERFECTLY even grind but you need to remember this is ground by hand so there are little variances and that little bit of a variance isn't going to make a difference when using the knife.

No one is spitting on you, I can promise you that. It's just lately there has been a rash of "my knife isn't 100% perfect" threads and while they aren't 100% perfect they are still perfectly usable functional and great knives. The thing to remember is you aren't buying a $1500 custom made artisan blade. You are getting a mass produced, yet still high quality, tool. Would you go to Home Depot and buy a hammer then take it back and complain that there was a nick in the head? Use the knife and you will fall in love with it.
 
It's not at all cause you're new here. I'll be perfectly honest, I don't see an issue. The tip isn't bent it just isn't a PERFECTLY even grind but you need to remember this is ground by hand so there are little variances and that little bit of a variance isn't going to make a difference when using the knife.

No one is spitting on you, I can promise you that. It's just lately there has been a rash of "my knife isn't 100% perfect" threads and while they aren't 100% perfect they are still perfectly usable functional and great knives. The thing to remember is you aren't buying a $1500 custom made artisan blade. You are getting a mass produced, yet still high quality, tool. Would you go to Home Depot and buy a hammer then take it back and complain that there was a nick in the head? Use the knife and you will fall in love with it.

No i wouldnt complain about a nick in a hammer head unless it effected the way the hammer drove nails, or caused the tool to eventually fail.

It is a nice knife. Heavy and solid. The handle feels good and i love the sheath.
I guess it could be worse, i bought a SOG cutlass 2 months ago that arrived with the tip completely broken off.(while still in the hang packaging)
Also bought a Kershaw caribiner knife last year that completely fell apart into 3 pieces, just hanging on my belt loop.
 
Douglas,

If it bothers you, you are completey within your right to say "Hey this bothers me" and ask for a replacement. I had an Axe that I bought, that had an uneven grind that made the head very lopsided, and the head was slightly bent as well.
Some people told me, "It wont affect the way it chops" but it was my money spent, and I wasnt happy with it, so I sent it back. At the end of the day, its your knife, and your money. If your not happy, get it replaced.
I would send it back to Amazon, and if you get a second bad one (Which can happen depending on the supplier that Amazon is shipping from) Then I would go to KA-BAR.
 
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