The Ugly Stick

SilentJohn said:
Maybe its just me. but I do understand, necessity is the mother of invention

I am a little dense so in my vid on YouTube of the bk2 I describe it as idiot proof which is why I like it. It does one thing and it does it real nice like
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Necessity may be the Mother of invention, but, perhaps, foresight is its Father. I think that just as many things have been invented by people asking "what if?"

You're not dense at all (although I may sometimes be — see my avatar), and there's nothing wrong at all with questioning whether there is a need for something beyond the BK-2 (which happens to be my favorite knife of all time). You're absolutely correct in that the BK-2 is an incredibly strong, well made, virtually idiot proof knife, but it simply can't be all things to all people: no knife can.

In that vein I've simply asked myself (and others) some "what if" questions. I gave some thought to "what do I actually do when I'm out in the woods; what do I — and others — really use a knife for?" While the BK-2 fills a lot of needs, and is great for what it was designed for, it may not hurt to have an alternative for some other camp or survival chores.

The Ugly Stick simply give us an alternative. It can cut, scrape, pound, saw, etc., etc., etc. pretty darn well. You can use it to dig small holes, tend the fire, baton and so on. It is by no means a replacement for the BK-2 — Ethan hit it out of the park with that one. No, it's just another choice, because choice is good. I would carry the two of them for different things.

There's no reason not to invent new things, and designing them gives me an excuse to play (as though I needed an excuse).
 
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GingivitisKahn said:
And a Becker Necker. THEN you'd be covered. :D
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My original thought was to include a BK-13 (the one that comes with the BK-7 and BK-9) along with the Ugly stick, but then I asked myself if there could be a better companion (not Campanion) for this thing. Well, having the warped mind that I'm cursed with, I started designing a nice little companion piece for it. It's the right size to do the smaller tasks the the Ugly Stick wouldn't handle as well, and has a unique handle that contains several things, including an allen wrench to remove the scales on the Ugly Stick. It would be in its own sheath that mates to the larger sheath of the Ugly Stick, but KA-BAR could sell it separately, too.

Same idea as yours though, just purpose built.
 
dawsonbob said:
My original thought was to include a BK-13 (the one that comes with the BK-7 and BK-9) along with the Ugly stick, but then I asked myself if there could be a better companion (not Campanion) for this thing. Well, having the warped mind that I'm cursed with, I started designing a nice little companion piece for it. It's the right size to do the smaller tasks the the Ugly Stick wouldn't handle as well, and has a unique handle that contains several things, including an allen wrench to remove the scales on the Ugly Stick. It would be in its own sheath that mates to the larger sheath of the Ugly Stick, but KA-BAR could sell it separately, too.

Same idea as yours though, just purpose built.
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Nice - that works. :D Oh and for the designs you've posted, I think I like the second to last mod the best though they all look like they would get the job(s) done.
 
GingivitisKahn said:
Nice - that works. :D Oh and for the designs you've posted, I think I like the second to last mod the best though they all look like they would get the job(s) done.
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Thanks. If it goes any further (meaning if KA-BAR wants it to go further) it'll probably be a combination of what I think are the best parts of all the variations. They all have good points and bad points. The trick is to take only the good points and turn them into a good knife that people will buy.
 
SilentJohn said:
What numer woul it be BK-??
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I really don't know, SilentJohn. There are other knives coming out long before this one would, so I don't have any idea of what the number might be. That would be up to Ethan Becker and KA-BAR, and that's only if they decide to make it. They could call me up tomorrow and say let's do it, or they may never mention it at all. It just depends on whether it would fill a hole in the lineup and they think it would sell well enough. Remember that it's a business, after all, and tooling up to produce a new knife is expensive. It may be this year, next year, or never. I just design the things: I have no control whatsoever over production.

ETA: Hey, I just noticed that this is my 4,000th post. Kinda snuck up on me.
 
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Here is what I recommend:
A- Remove the talon hole (Busse)
B- Remove the serated portion (useless if you have a sawback)
C- Get it done !
 
Revolverrodger said:
Here is what I recommend:
A- Remove the talon hole (Busse)
B- Remove the serated portion (useless if you have a sawback)
C- Get it done !
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Hi, Revolverrodger. I wish people wouldn't think that every time someone drills a hole, it has something to do with Busse. Sometimes, a hole is just a hole.:D

A.) There is no "talon hole." I wouldn't infringe on Busse's little hole for anything. There are, however, four lashing holes for mounting the knife to a pole if it should ever become necessary.

B.) I think the serration's were only on the first version (on page 1). I've removed them on all subsequent versions. If KA-BAR told me to put them back, I would, but right now, they're gone.

C.) Sigh . . . I wish it were that easy.:D I'd love to get it done, but it's not up to me. We'll have to see what develops.
 
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RescueRiley said:
I Like it Bob... Allot of applications there...
I hope the pick it up brother.
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Thanks, brother, I'm glad you like it, because you're exactly the kind of person I designed it for: someone who actually gets out there and uses these things as they're meant to be used.

I hope they pick it up, too, John. I think it would be a nice addition to the line.
 
I like it, but can't get over the overwhelming deja-vu (certain features, overall look) on this one compared to the Spetznatz machete.
This is by no means a put-down; the Spetznatz(sp) machete is an interesting and by all appearences very useful multi-tool/weapon.
It aint ugly, either!
 
bowieman said:
I like it, but can't get over the overwhelming deja-vu (certain features, overall look) on this one compared to the Spetznatz machete.
This is by no means a put-down; the Spetznatz(sp) machete is an interesting and by all appearences very useful multi-tool/weapon.
It aint ugly, either!
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Well, I had to call it something.:D

ETA: Thanks, bowieman. I hate to admit it, but I'd never seen a Spesnatz machete till you mentioned it, so I did a Google search. Interesting. Very interesting, indeed.
 
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Hey man, where do you take this blade design?
Russian knife-maker - mr. Skrilev has been making such knifes for several years His knifes are one of the ugliest knifes in the world.
a7763841cdb3.jpg

97a80d146d9f.jpg
 
Camaro said:
Hey man, where do you take this blade design?
Russian knife-maker - mr. Skrilev has been making such knifes for several years His knifes are one of the ugliest knifes in the world.
a7763841cdb3.jpg

97a80d146d9f.jpg
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Hi, Camaro, and welcome to the Becker forum and Blade Forums.

I can guarantee you that I had never seen a Spetsnaz machete, or the work of Mr. Skrilev, until the last twenty-four hours. Actually, on one level, I'm amazed that they exist; on another level, however, I'm not.

The Ugly Stick actually grew out of a design I did for a short machete-like knife that was based on the USMC Hospital Corpsman's knife from WW 2 (it's shown here on the Becker forum somewhere). There was feedback on that from various people, plus Bladite posted some pictures of something else, all of which caused me to think of what was actually useful in the field. There was also some influence from the Becker BK-3 TacTool. Those thoughts were distilled into what became the Ugly Stick. The first pictures of the Ugly Stick prompted more feedback, which I could incorporate into the final version (if there is one).

So now I'm being shown pictures of things from Russia — which I had never seen before — that bear characteristics similar to my design. How could that happen? Well, it's pretty easy, actually. A designer sits down in San Diego, or Moscow — or Disneyland for that matter — and begins to assess parameters; ie: what do I want this thing to do, and what are my constraints? Once they start thinking about what they want the knife to do, and the manufacturing constraints, they set about designing a knife that meets the criterion that they have set. Assuming similar base criteria, it's not at all surprising that multiple designers, in multiple locations, would come up with somewhat similar designs.

There are certainly differences between the designs of Mr. Skrilev, of whom I'd never heard before this morning, and my design for the Ugly Stick, but there are some striking similarities, too. I don't know whether to feel somewhat validated because we arrived at some of the same conclusions, or feel really disappointed for the same reasons.

Be that as it may, the Ugly Stick hasn't reached a final design yet, let alone gone into production. It may never go into production: that's not up to me. It depends on whether it fills a need and would sell enough to justify its production costs. Rest assured, though, that it's not based on any Russian — or other — design: it grew out of a WW 2 USMC knife.

ETA: Do you by any chance have a url for a website for Mr. Skrilev's knives? I'd like to check those out.
 
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