- Joined
- Nov 11, 2013
- Messages
- 44
Howdy y'all! New guy from the Dallas, TX area and I figured I'd jump in and say hi here since I don't see a new member intro section. I've been a member here for almost a month and I finally feel like I have something worthy to post after doing a lot of reading and drooling over your Beckers. More on that later, first a review of my history with knives in general.
Though I lived in Alaska for much of my childhood I never used a blade much except for splitting firewood with my dad's axe. Since childhood I've always owned, but not always carried, some sort of basic pocket knife. I've had a few SAK's over the years, as well as a number of relative no-name folders I picked up at Walmart, Academy or from a tool catalog at work (Schrade, Proto, a couple nameless Chinese made Spyderco knock-offs.) Sometime in my mid thirties I decided that EDC'ing a folder was a prudent thing to do. One day in 2009 I decided I needed a "quality" knife and walked out of REI with a Benchmade Barrage 580S. First time I ever spent more than $30 on a knife! It's been my trusty EDC blade for almost four years now. I also EDC an SAK SilverTech Huntsman for light utility work and the scissors, tweezers, etc. A couple years ago I got my CHL and bought and incorporated my first fixed blades into my EDC, the Ka-Bar TDI. I have a small and a large version I carry depending on wardrobe selection. These are carried for SD and CC weapon retention, and though I have occasionally used them to open packages, they rarely see the outside of their sheaths.
A few months ago I decided having a "regular" fixed blade might be handy, especially a larger utility blade that could also serve well in a fight if worse comes to worse. I did lots of reading on this site and others and I zeroed in on the BK 10 as my first Becker and standard fixed blade knife. I soon ordered canvas handles and custom sheath from 710 Custom to personalize it a bit, and started shopping for my next Becker almost immediately. Due to price and other practical constraints I went with the BK 14 as my second Becker, but the 16, 9, and 5 are next on my list. In the interest of full disclosure I should mention that I don't have much practical use for these knives at the moment. I live in a suburb of Dallas and rarely get out camping or backpacking like I used to. I hope to change that soon, and I wanted some competent tools at my disposal for that day. There also exists the possibility that I may need to harvest from the little greenbelt behind my house should heck freeze over one of these days.
Even though I don't have any batoning or other bushcrafting planned I couldn't just sit on these beauties so I decided to give them a few of the popular mods I've seen on this forum. I started with deepening the laser etching with PCB etchant then proceeded to strip the factory coating and finally force a patina. I even made a homemade strop from the instructions I found in this sub-forum, though I still need to get some compound and learn about knife sharpening in general.
Thanks to the forum and especially to all the Beckerheads for fueling my discovery and love of the BK line of knives. I don't know if I'll ever have what it takes to be a Beckerhead myself, but I love my first two Beckers and can't wait for my next. Pics incoming once I resize and upload.
Though I lived in Alaska for much of my childhood I never used a blade much except for splitting firewood with my dad's axe. Since childhood I've always owned, but not always carried, some sort of basic pocket knife. I've had a few SAK's over the years, as well as a number of relative no-name folders I picked up at Walmart, Academy or from a tool catalog at work (Schrade, Proto, a couple nameless Chinese made Spyderco knock-offs.) Sometime in my mid thirties I decided that EDC'ing a folder was a prudent thing to do. One day in 2009 I decided I needed a "quality" knife and walked out of REI with a Benchmade Barrage 580S. First time I ever spent more than $30 on a knife! It's been my trusty EDC blade for almost four years now. I also EDC an SAK SilverTech Huntsman for light utility work and the scissors, tweezers, etc. A couple years ago I got my CHL and bought and incorporated my first fixed blades into my EDC, the Ka-Bar TDI. I have a small and a large version I carry depending on wardrobe selection. These are carried for SD and CC weapon retention, and though I have occasionally used them to open packages, they rarely see the outside of their sheaths.
A few months ago I decided having a "regular" fixed blade might be handy, especially a larger utility blade that could also serve well in a fight if worse comes to worse. I did lots of reading on this site and others and I zeroed in on the BK 10 as my first Becker and standard fixed blade knife. I soon ordered canvas handles and custom sheath from 710 Custom to personalize it a bit, and started shopping for my next Becker almost immediately. Due to price and other practical constraints I went with the BK 14 as my second Becker, but the 16, 9, and 5 are next on my list. In the interest of full disclosure I should mention that I don't have much practical use for these knives at the moment. I live in a suburb of Dallas and rarely get out camping or backpacking like I used to. I hope to change that soon, and I wanted some competent tools at my disposal for that day. There also exists the possibility that I may need to harvest from the little greenbelt behind my house should heck freeze over one of these days.
Even though I don't have any batoning or other bushcrafting planned I couldn't just sit on these beauties so I decided to give them a few of the popular mods I've seen on this forum. I started with deepening the laser etching with PCB etchant then proceeded to strip the factory coating and finally force a patina. I even made a homemade strop from the instructions I found in this sub-forum, though I still need to get some compound and learn about knife sharpening in general.
Thanks to the forum and especially to all the Beckerheads for fueling my discovery and love of the BK line of knives. I don't know if I'll ever have what it takes to be a Beckerhead myself, but I love my first two Beckers and can't wait for my next. Pics incoming once I resize and upload.
