What is a good Ka-bar/Becker for backpacking?

K

Kansas Mike

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Jul 22, 2013
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I have heard great things about KA-BAR/Becker knives and am curious to see for myself. I do quite a bit of backpacking and am looking at ordering a knife in the next few days that would accompany me on my trips. Its uses would be food prep/bushcraft/chopping/survival. Any suggestions or opinions based on your guys experience would be greatly appreciated. So...what knife do you recommend?
 
I would also post this in the Becker section if I was you. Or just read through some posts on there. My experience: BK2 is a beast and a tank. The 10 is more nimble and some prefer it. The 5 is a great slicer and will probably be my next becker. The 9, the saying goes "you have to have a 9". It really depends on what kind of backpacker you are, if your for ultralight then you probably would want a tweener, each of those can do similar things just different blade shapes. The 16 is popular for bushcrafty purposes. This is all simply my opinion and I very well could be wrong. If you have any questions feel free to ask them!
 
I recommend looking at any of the Becker "tweeners" -bk15, 16, or 17. I found the bk2 a little on the heavy side for backpacking purposes (personal preference) and after taking the 16 out on a few trips I simply love it - more than capable for all my food prep, bushcrafting, and wood processing tasks.
 
If chopping is in the mix, BK9, Heavy Bowie, Cutlass Machete, Grass Machete, Kukri Machete, Swabbie, and Big Brother are all in the mix.

If you are looking for general belt knife class, the MKI, BK 15, 16, 17, 10, 14, 11, 24, and 2 are all in there.

Lots of choices, and if you have a need for it, Kabar makes it.

Moose
 
BK-16 for sure.

Or a combo like the BK-10 or BK-4 and the BK-11 or BK-14/24

Just depends how much weight you want to carry and how much chopping you want to do.

The BK-15 would be a great choice too but not a chopper in my opinion.

BK-10 alone would do everything you need as well I think.
 
if your planning on using it for "chopping" then IMO I would get the 10 over the 16.....if there's no chopping...then 16 is what you'll need. Or get both:cool:
 
Ka-Bar has a bunch of blades that will work. Here is a list off the top of my head: BK15, 16 and 17, Some in the JAB series, MK1, Stacked leather hunter series, and the Short [3/4 sized] Ka-Bar F/U series.
 
I would not recommend a 16... It is no chopper. To me the 7 is the best. 2 a close second.
 
Kansas Mike said:
Its uses would be food prep/bushcraft/chopping/survival.
Click to expand...


That's basically everything. For me personally I need at least three tools for everything. I like a combo of a BK9, Mora Companion and a leatherman ST300. This covers almost everything I need unless I need to make a BIG fire on a cold night for a lot of people. Then I need an axe and saw. Sometimes a site might be overgrown so a machete comes in very handy.

What specific tasks do you think you'll be doing? "bushcraft" is a very general term and gets thrown around way too much and has almost lost it's meaning. Same goes for survival. Even "food prep" could vary widely from person to person. Heck, I could write a whole post just about chopping and not even touch what tools you should use depending on the situation.

I have a whole lot of ka-bar knives, and they're all great, and I could tell you which one I would choose based on a given situation but I don't really have enough info to make anything better than a haphazard guess on which models you should be looking at. I hope this doesn't sound like I'm trying to criticize or flame you because I'm not. Every person has their own perspective based on their own experience which can be quite different from yours. When we use generalities the ones responding will make suggestions based on their needs and opinions and that might not line up with what you're looking for.

I can tell you this. No matter what when I'm venturing outdoors I'm going to carry a leatherman with a saw and a Mora companion along with one other knife (that may or may not be similar in size) and maybe even another cutting tool on top of that (hatchet and/or saw). The leatherman and the mora are just too handy to not bring along and mora knives don't weigh much. A lot of guys carry an SAK and that's fine too but I like to have some decent pliers that a multi-tool gives me.
 
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Looks like the only knife that hasn't been mentioned is the kabar warthog, old or new versions, both should excel at being a belt knife with chopping power.
 
Just off the info in the OP. I'd go with a 7 if it was just the "one" knife concept. But that's just me.

But I do like the more than one knife concept. So, I have a BK9, BK16 and a BK14 that does it all.

Not mentioned are the "special purpose tools" like a Letherman and Gerber multitools that I also have available. Pliers are a godsend sometimes.
 
Most of my backpacking days involved me carrying my old Camillus Pilot's knife. It never once let me down and I never felt like I needed more. The BK-16 reminds me a lot of that knife. It would be my choice.
 
Another vote for the BK-16 here. Depending on what tasks you do the most, you may want to adjust the bevel angle, or even convex it, but it's a whole lotta knife in a little package from what I've seen.
C
 
Someone asked a similar question in the general forum a few days ago and my response to that is pasted below. Long ------> short. I'd go with Aikiguy's recommendation on the BK16 or other lite weight tweener type blade.
Start Quote:
"... I've spent years doing multi-day backpacking trips in the white mtns of NE and mostly in NH. Weight vs functionality is the ever present trade-off for those type of trips. Esp on rugged terrain. I always carry a small to med size fixed blade and a multi-tool to help with possible equipment failures (backpacks, tents, stoves, zippers on sleeping bags, and etc). I stopped carrying a folding knife because I found my knife was used for a bunch of messy kitchen duties like spreading peanut butter, or stirring my messy soup or mixing oatmeal. A fixed blade is super easy to clean off and I don't have too worry about yuck getting into the hinges and etc. It's also real easy to strap it to the outside of a pack for quick access and storage as opposed to fumbling around a backpack compartment and grabbing the same lighter 5 times before you get your folding blade ;-)"
end quote

Side note: In all my years of backpacking and climbing I've never had to do any real "bush-crafty" type things. The exception was a minimalist course I took through the AMC, which required multiple days in the White Mountains, off trail, with no tent, a sleeping bag and minimal food / equipment, compass and maps. but, I would never plan a multi-day trip or other hike like that. In fact, if I find myself in that situation again, something went very wrong. It's nice to know your knife can baton and chop and make traps and etc... but in real life hiking and climbing, I typically used my fixed blade to do kitchen meal prep and completely un-glamorous things.
 
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