Still alive and working on 3 year long reviews of the BK5 and BK2...

S

Survivormind

Joined
Dec 18, 2012
Messages
399
Hey All,

We have been living in a sailboat on the Sacramento Delta since December. Still have our property in Oregon, built a cabin on it, etc, but have found being sailors to be an awesome way to live.

During the changes that have occurred for us during the last year, our Becker knives have been there every day, literally. There is no tool we've used as much. I have a new blog going and have three posts in the works....

Knife Review - Becker BK2 - A Three Year Review

Knife Review - Becker BK5 - A Three Year Review

BK5 Versus Johnson Adventure Blades Potbelly

I hate to be a spoiler but I broke the Potbelly. :) Yup, I broke that 1/4 piece of 1095 CV. I didn't even try. It was a shock when it happened. The BK5 wins and honestly, it's better at everything except splitting wood. Anyways, we've had many many more experiences with the Becker knives. All the more awesome for an accurate review.

I'll post again soon.

Survivormind
 
Whoa!!! He lives!!!
Great to hear from you!
Glad to hear all is well.
Don't be such a stranger.
 
well, breaking a 1/4 piece of metal comes down to a few things...

bad stock

bad heat treat

stress riser

abuse

satan

which one was it? :D

pix!

best part? other than abuse, even satan, warrany is good...

i have BEAT THE CRAP out of the potbelly. nothing. as good as the BK2

mind you, i haven't done steel on steel. i don't deliberately go out of my way to hurt tools i intend to keep.
 
I beat the crap out of my potbelly as well. Not with the intent to damage it and I never went metal on metal. I don't believe that the knife was abused and it should have easily been able to handle what I threw at it.

I actually REALLY liked that knife. That said, it broke at what I consider to be the weakest part of that design. Honestly, and this is just my opinion based on my own experience with the knife, I don't believe they should be making it 1/4" thick. I like the design of the knife but I personally believe that it would perform better in a variety of other tasks better were it, let's say, .20" thick or even 3/16". I'll even go so far as to say .16". I think the thickness of the blade hampered many of the tasks that a thinner potbelly would excel at. It also gives one what I would consider to be a false sense of security because of the thickness. A .16" potbelly would own as a skinning knife, would be lighter, and would be even better than the 1/4" version at fairly heavy duty field work. As thick as it is, it just plain sucks for clearing brush. It reduced its ability to be "slicey". What did it do best? Split wood. That's unfortunate considering the design of the knife. It would be WAY better at other tasks I feel it was designed for were it not so damned thick.

To summarize, I think that the 1/4" potbelly is more of a wannabe BK2 where it would be its own knife in a separate market were it a bit thinner. No one, besides Condor Tool and Knife, is going after the Nessmuk market with an affordable, well made knife. I would imagine that a thinner potbelly would clean up there since you are pretty much forced into paying $200 for a nice Nessmuk. The potbelly isn't a Nessmuk, of course, but it's damn close and I do think it appeals to that market. That's why I bought one. Admittedly, I was more interested in the knife because of its thickness although I thought it may hamper the blade's ability to do lots of regular chores. Turns out my hunch was right.

So now that I broke it, it's going back to Kabar so they can take a look at it. If only they'd send me a .18" thick version...

Ethan, you missed all of my rambling? Haha! Well, I missed you too. If you ever swing through the Sacremento Delta region, come sailing with us. We'll have a bass scaling competition with some of your knives.

Survivormind
 
Thanks for stopping in, Survivormind. I was was wondering about you folks the other day.

Looking forward to those reviews!
 
Thanks for thinking about us, Cooper.

We are rocking it. The goal is to raise our children while being the consumate adventurer. So far, it's working great. I mean c'mon. How many 4 year olds catch 4-5 lb bass regularly, can tie a bowline, and can carry 5 gallons of gas 350 feet up a hill while reciting his ABC's? We must be doing something right. Other than that, we spend every day together and party every night. Life is good!
 
I read your blog a little. Sounds like you're living the dream. I grew up on the delta, but not actually living on a boat. I sort of wished that I had.
 
Chris Pierce said:
I read your blog a little. Sounds like you're living the dream. I grew up on the delta, but not actually living on a boat. I sort of wished that I had.
Click to expand...

This place is pretty rad. It's become a sort of temporary base of operations until we can finish the boats. Then it's on to south america in the winter (their summer) and probably the pacific northwest (or maybe the delta) during the summer. If you are ever back in town, hit us up.
 
I live in the pnw now. I much prefer it to the delta. And I'm actually lucky enough to work on the water.
 
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