Not impressed with my first Becker

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oguruma said:
You're right, the manufacturer of my knives has no responsibility to ensure that the product will function as intended :rolleyes:
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Well, I just checked your original post and I didn't get any "to function as intended" stuff from it. Maybe it's just me but from over here it looks like you were just trying to assume that nobody checks their gear before an outing and that things can't happen (like a bolt loosening).
I tried to say that in my reply- it DID function. It just got dulled a bit from getting stabbed into a material that it shouldn't have been stabbed into (self explanatory), the coating wore (not hampering the function), and a bolt got loose (there's three there for a reason).
As far as Mr. Becker and Ka-Bar is concerned, their jobs were done IMO. They made a great knife at a great price. The user maintenance part picks up after the manufacturers are long done.
The scales aren't designed to come loose- they're designed to be easily replaceable. For that, the handles did exactly what they were supposed to do. IMO one of the points behind a fixed blade knife is that even if it DID fall apart (which it didn't) it could still be used.
This isn't fanboyism- just common sense stuff that should be done.
It's not a fault of a manufacturer, it's not a flaw either. That is what we have all been saying since the beginning (IMO).
I'm with the others- I'd prefer to KNOW without a single doubt that I can rely on my gear to save my life, not assume that everything neccesary has been done from the factory.
In before the lock.
 
I tried a some Honey Nut Cheerios this morning. Put some in a bowl and poured milk on it. What I noticed was the top part of the cereal was too dry while the part underneath it was getting soggy! What the hell kind of cereal is that? How am I supposed to eat this crap?

OP, I'm with you on this one. First a total failure on the part KA-BAR and now this debacle. I heard a story about a guy that bought a brand new Jeep and the left rear tire was low. I give up.
 
tradewater said:
I tried a some Honey Nut Cheerios this morning. Put some in a bowl and poured milk on it. What I noticed was the top part of the cereal was too dry while the part underneath it was getting soggy! What the hell kind of cereal is that? How am I supposed to eat this crap?

OP, I'm with you on this one. First a total failure on the part KA-BAR and now this debacle. I heard a story about a guy that bought a brand new Jeep and the left rear tire was low. I give up.
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Hilarious! Made my morning lol
 
oguruma said:
This fanboyism "our chosen brand can do no wrong, so when it fails it must be your fault" crap is getting old.
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Tread easily here. Until you posted, I generally saw folks giving the OP good advice.


For a 16 day trip, I certainly would be sure about my gear prior to departure.
The knife did work. Loose scales are an annoyance, but they don't entirely impede function.
Coating removal is just part of using any coated blade.

This morning, my wife served me coffee that was nearly too hot to the touch. The nerve of that woman.
 
Wow.

Ok, first off, Connor, welcome to the BKT Forum, glad you stopped in.

Second, I hate that you have not had a good experience with your BK7. I recently got another one (this one marks my 14th in 10yrs), and I've been using it quite often. It was my my first BKT model, and its still one of my favorites. I recently ground the ramp off, and stripped the blade, squared the spine, its kind of a thing I do too my knives.

Third, I hate that your handles came loose. The basic process involved with BKT knives, is that finished blades come in a carton from the factory. That carton is then opened, and the blades are assembled by hand, by many folks. This involves taking 2 separate scales, 3 bolts and 3 nuts, being placed on the blade, and tightened down. Then, the blade is inserted into a sheath or cardboard sleeve, then placed in a box with paperwork, and then put in a large container rack and hauled off to the warehouse.

Last year, there were over 20,000 BKT knives manufactured, and assembled, sometimes, the screws don't get cranked down enough. These are people assembling the knives, sometimes, mistakes are made.

The coating problem you posted about, seems a bit odd to me. I've owned and used quite a few BKT's, and though most wear quickly, I've yet to own one that has "chipped" or "flaked" off. Not saying yours didn't, but none of mine have. I'm sure, that if you are unhappy, you can contact Kabar directly, and they will make you happy with your purchase.

The tip dulling, does bother me, though. The BK7 has a thinner tip than most BKT's, because of its intended function in its design, The BK7 Combat/Utility was created as knife function in the arena of tissue separation, as well as woodland all rounder, sticking it into a tree, doesn't seem like it would dull the tip as much as you explained. I'm not saying that is justification, just a curiosity that I would like to see. We get a few knives occasionally, that the heat treat just doesn't seem to take. Kabar does the absolute best they can to ensure uniformity across all their knives, but when you make so many knives a year, the sheer numbers say, you're gonna have a few lemons. Lemme show you what I mean.

This is a BK2, granted, the tip on this fella is thicker, but you get the idea, this ain't no Redwood Ethan's working with here.

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Kabar is taking the 1095CV that they use, about as far as it can go, for toughness, edge retention, and wear and tear. By comparison, you can see the coating on the BK2 held up pretty well, as well as the edge has some small (as Ethan calls them, "Roundy Rounds") edge rolls.

We don't advocate using any knife in this manner, but, sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do.

Boring holes in Red Oak, with no tip failure, but some edge dulling does happen.

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Anyways, I hope you didn't feel dog piled on in this thread, the guys around here are a rambunctious bunch of knife uses and modders, its a great forum and good place to hang out, I invite you to stick around a while, and check us out more thoroughly.

Moose
 
I'm curious about the blade dulling... how dull are we talking about here? Is the tip visibly worn or damaged? Or just not-as-sharp?

As for the socket head screws on the handles, I've read about others having them come loose but I've honestly never had that problem. I do replace mine with stainless steel screws. Never needed loctite or anything else.

You can find the exact type of screws to replace them with in the Becker Database (see my sig below). Some people have trouble finding them locally - if you do let me know and I'd be happy to send you a couple sets free of charge.
 
To the OP: Don't overcompensate and crank the screws either... the first time I tightened mine, I ended up stripping the threads from all the torque.
 
+1 Moose

This thread took a turn for the worse REALLY quickly. OP described his experience, albeit in a manner which could be considered insulting to the kabar/becker brand, and everyone seemed to almost assault him for his opinion.

The guy had a bad experience with his knife, and I completely understand where he is coming from because the knife didn't work as he expected it to. Now, either his expectations were wrong (my personal guess), or something is wrong with the knife. However, I think talking about the problem here is more important than joking the OP and essentially calling him an idiot. Not everyone knows as much about knifes as the regulars on this forum... I am sure I still have a ton to learn.

P.S. Still want to see pics on the tip dulling.
 
Yeah, People here are normally pretty good about not jumping someones ass, when they have an issue. I know the guy didn't post pics, but he bought a Becker and wasn't happy.
Some of us are acting like Busse Fanboys. There are manufacturing defects sometimes, and while all the failures on his knife didn't really affect performance, and maybe a few of them could have been avoided, this thread got REALLY snarky.
Lets keep the snark in the snark thread huh ?
 
Connor,you never did say what kind of fish you speared,do tell.Plus it could be worse,you could have bought a hat like the one Moose is wearing and not got the free bowl of soup.
 
willis said:
Connor,you never did say what kind of fish you speared,do tell.Plus it could be worse,you could have bought a hat like the one Moose is wearing and not got the free bowl of soup.
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LOL

Gotta' love Caddyshack.
 
Silverthorn said:
Yeah, People here are normally pretty good about not jumping someones ass, when they have an issue. I know the guy didn't post pics, but he bought a Becker and wasn't happy.
Some of us are acting like Busse Fanboys. There are manufacturing defects sometimes, and while all the failures on his knife didn't really affect performance, and maybe a few of them could have been avoided, this thread got REALLY snarky.
Lets keep the snark in the snark thread huh ?[/QUOTE]


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"Easy there Thorny ... it's a well known fact that Beckers are the best knives in whole world" ... :D J/K
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It's a pretty good batch of guys. Definitely would love to see any pics you have from your adventure, and sorry to hear that your knife didn't function as expected. You might be happier modding it to have a set of permanent handle scales. Although I do think it's a good idea to give your gear a check before you head out. Don't want something important breaking down right after you get out, and ruining your trip, and things do happen...

All of the coatings aren't always the same either. Many shops have new ones, but some shops sell older ones, in which the coating just isn't as good. My BK2 was a pretty flaky knife as well, but it was an earlier one, without the new coating. Still was hard to get ALL of the coating off though. Mostly, it sounds like you had higher expectations than the rest of us, but it's still a good knife, and I'm glad you're giving it another a chance. It could be defective, so you'll want to keep an eye on it, but Ka-bar will make it right for you if it does turn out to be defective. Wait til you get into modding your Beckers whole hog. I've been modding my BK2, and now it's just the sort of knife that I wanted. Before it just didn't feel right. Make that knife YOURS. Beat on it, mod it, patina it, make it new scales and pants, etc. You've got a whole fun world out there awaiting you.

And welcome to the Becker subforum. Stick around, grab a cold one, and enjoy. We're a lively bunch; hope you don't hold it against us.

As for ogurama: lighten up, bud. You'll be welcome here too, if you can just open your mind a little and try to minimize the insults. I can see your point of view, but you could be a little more tactful eh?
 
Thank goodness Moose saved this thread, as an outsider occasionally reading Becker forum this was a particular embarrassing one.
 
allll righty, so here we are...

@connorr93! still would like to see some clear pictures of your knife and the issues.

in the field, if you lose one, you can generally make sure you have the remaining on the two outer holes in the handle, and lock that down and use something in the threads to keep'er tight till you get home, as you had duct tape, that would've been a good wrap as well and keeps the bolts in - a ranger band would be good for that purpose as well.

removing the handles completely? overkill i guess. though that also indicates you had the tools to tighten and secure the remaining bolts. perhaps you could have gotten lucky and found the missing one :)

most knives are not what we would call maintenance free. at the very least they get sharpened. things with nuts tend to need some torquing sometimes. a learning experience? perhaps.

at this junction, you have been given offers to buy the knife off you if you no longer want or trust it; i'm sure even a buddy would trade ya for it.

if you want to keep it, you can readily buy some nice stainless bolts and loctite them down for trouble free use, or call KaBar to get a couple factory bolt/nuts free and do the same...

so either way, you're covered. unhappy? we heard ya, ditch it, and happy trails. want to work with it and learn it? soldier on!

what's it gunna be?
 
I would like it noted that the knife in Moose's pictures is a BK2... :)


Who needs those over compensating 7's anyways... LOL
 
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