So, after what seems like months of wanting to get out and go camping, I finally got to go this weekend. It was kind of a last minute thing, and the weather was kind of bad, but still, I finally made it out after far to many months stuck in the office. I just wanted to let you guys know how I liked the BK2 and its sheath for the trip, as well as just general camping observations.
I will preface this whole statement by once again saying that sorry, there are no photos of this trip
(), and that I am not an expert camper, so bear with me.
This was my first trip with the BK2, and I must say, I was quite impressed with it in general. I wore it in my neato scout carry sheath (will be working on the drop leg one this week most likely) all day, which worked flawlessly (this style of carry was previously a problem, before I changed the sheaths wrappings). I used the knife for everything while I was there, and let everyone else use my other blades. I used it to baton some wood to get the fire started, make feathersticks, chop a bit and basically anything else that I could come up with.
My thoughts so far on the BK2:
Batoning:
+ I had never batoned before (like I said, I'm new to this stuff), but found that the BK2 split wood quite well. I really liked the drop point because it was easy to hit with the baton, and I also liked how wide it was, and how strong the blade is. I batoned wood up to within about .5 inch of the length of the blade, with lots of knots, and got it stuck at least a few times. Even when the wood was splitting unevenly because of the knots in the wood, I could look down the split to the spine of the knife, and it was always perfectly straight. Sweet.
- Seemed a bit short for batoning large wood, so I've been considering a larger knife, and leaving the hatchet at home. And also... getting a folding saw.
Feathersticks:
+ Worked surprisingly well to be completely honest. I need to work on my technique a bit more, as well as get used to the blade a bit more, but I never felt like it was too thick or unwieldy to do something like this. In other news, I just got my first FireSteel, and I need some more practice
.
Chopping:
+ Didn't do too much chopping, as I brought my hatchet along, but I did get it a shot to see how it felt. It didn't chop as well as the hatchet (14in 1 1/4 lb head generic hatchet), but it did do surprisingly well. If you like to chop with it, I would suggest a lanyard, that would have helped out a lot. In fact, I'm now working on a lanyard for mine. If its all you have to chop through some wood, it will do the job.
Other lessons learned:
1) Never let someone borrow your knife without first asking them to follow basic rules with it. When my backpacking neighbor (who came camping with me) asked to use my knife, I just handed it to him. He proceeded to take the stick he was whittling, put one end on the gravel, and then tried to chop off a knot that his leatherman wasn't getting through. The first 3 strokes missed completely, and ended with my freshly sharpened BK2 eating gravel !! (huge chip in the blade and me=angry). He then handed me my knife back, blade first. I was too shocked to say anything. He later hit himself in the shin with his hatchet (nothing serious, just a glancing blow, but it did bleed enough to show blood on his pants).
In other words, don't assume people know how to handle a knife (or other bladed objects for that matter), just because they are "experienced".
2) Bring gloves
Once again, sorry that I didn't have photos of this trip, and if any of this stuff was redundant, but I just thought I would share my experiences with everyone out there. And also, vent about the chip in the edge of my BK2
. (already sharpened it out, it took quite a while though).
I will preface this whole statement by once again saying that sorry, there are no photos of this trip
(), and that I am not an expert camper, so bear with me.This was my first trip with the BK2, and I must say, I was quite impressed with it in general. I wore it in my neato scout carry sheath (will be working on the drop leg one this week most likely) all day, which worked flawlessly (this style of carry was previously a problem, before I changed the sheaths wrappings). I used the knife for everything while I was there, and let everyone else use my other blades. I used it to baton some wood to get the fire started, make feathersticks, chop a bit and basically anything else that I could come up with.
My thoughts so far on the BK2:
Batoning:
+ I had never batoned before (like I said, I'm new to this stuff), but found that the BK2 split wood quite well. I really liked the drop point because it was easy to hit with the baton, and I also liked how wide it was, and how strong the blade is. I batoned wood up to within about .5 inch of the length of the blade, with lots of knots, and got it stuck at least a few times. Even when the wood was splitting unevenly because of the knots in the wood, I could look down the split to the spine of the knife, and it was always perfectly straight. Sweet.
- Seemed a bit short for batoning large wood, so I've been considering a larger knife, and leaving the hatchet at home. And also... getting a folding saw.
Feathersticks:
+ Worked surprisingly well to be completely honest. I need to work on my technique a bit more, as well as get used to the blade a bit more, but I never felt like it was too thick or unwieldy to do something like this. In other news, I just got my first FireSteel, and I need some more practice
.Chopping:
+ Didn't do too much chopping, as I brought my hatchet along, but I did get it a shot to see how it felt. It didn't chop as well as the hatchet (14in 1 1/4 lb head generic hatchet), but it did do surprisingly well. If you like to chop with it, I would suggest a lanyard, that would have helped out a lot. In fact, I'm now working on a lanyard for mine. If its all you have to chop through some wood, it will do the job.
Other lessons learned:
1) Never let someone borrow your knife without first asking them to follow basic rules with it. When my backpacking neighbor (who came camping with me) asked to use my knife, I just handed it to him. He proceeded to take the stick he was whittling, put one end on the gravel, and then tried to chop off a knot that his leatherman wasn't getting through. The first 3 strokes missed completely, and ended with my freshly sharpened BK2 eating gravel !! (huge chip in the blade and me=angry). He then handed me my knife back, blade first. I was too shocked to say anything. He later hit himself in the shin with his hatchet (nothing serious, just a glancing blow, but it did bleed enough to show blood on his pants).
In other words, don't assume people know how to handle a knife (or other bladed objects for that matter), just because they are "experienced".
2) Bring gloves
Once again, sorry that I didn't have photos of this trip, and if any of this stuff was redundant, but I just thought I would share my experiences with everyone out there. And also, vent about the chip in the edge of my BK2
. (already sharpened it out, it took quite a while though).
.
