Long wall-of-text version of my unsolicited thoughts on this matter, which may or may not be interesting, and are worth...
almost as much as you paid to hear 'em
:
I can and do make, carry and use any dang knife I want - that is my passion, and that's how I put beans in my cupboard and pay my mortgage. However, the knife that lives on the left strap of my BoB/fishing bag/going-for-a-walk-in-the-woods backpack is a Becker/Ka-Bar BK-16. It is unmodified except for stainless steel bolts, and I put the supplied brown scales on it because I like the color.
Why is a BK-16
my number-one BoB knife? Because first and foremost, it
works, the way I want a general-purpose handy-dandy comfortable knife to work. Also, it's always there, and I don't have to think or worry about it, even if I don't use it for weeks at a time. If it ever gets lost or broken, I would be ticked-off and sad, but... I can replace it without working an entire day or week to either make another knife or earn the cash to buy one. That's a smart bargain in my eyes.
We are in a true Golden Age of knives today, and we're blessed with a sometimes-bewildering array of quite good options.
Many people simply cannot or will not pay handmade prices for a "using" knife. They want more "bang for the buck", but they still have high standards and (hopefully) prefer to support an American designer and manufacturer. My first recommendation to those people is
always the Becker line. (my second recommendation is Ka-Bar, for many of the same reasons)
I feel there's far more to Becker knives than meets the eye at first glance. These objects did not just fall out of the sky one day by miracle or happy accident! They happened for a reason.
I've been lucky enough to meet Ethan a few times and pick his brain. He has also explained his reasons for why his knives are the way they are, here on the forum. It's clear to me that he has a very firm grasp on the concept of
balancing many desirable attributes in a design/package that doesn't compromise any of them too much, in such a way that
the end result adds up to a whole that is much greater than the sum of its parts. He makes it look easy, but that is not nearly as "simple" as it might seem.
There is nary a hint of "hype" or baloney-sausage to BK&T, and that's refreshing, as well. It tells me something about how they think of me, the potential customer. No "top-secret HT-regimens", no renamed "proprietary" alloys or lotteries or marketing smoke-and-mirrors, no appeals to the tough-guy ego thing. That kinda stuff works very well for other companies/designers, but personally I find it boring at best, offensive at worst, and vaguely insulting to how intelligent or insecure
they apparently think
I am.
Mr. Becker also happens to be a remarkable human being for many other reasons, not least of which is his humility and willingness to share all that experience and knowledge with others. He did not know me from Adam the first time we met, but he was open - even eager - to examine my work and tell me how I might could get better at it. That conduct displays a level of quiet confidence, generosity and character that is very rare.
Designers like Mr. Becker, and manufacturers like Ka-Bar, have notably pushed the standards of
the entire knife industry upwards, and increased the level of what customers expect when they vote with their wallet. That's a good thing for all of us! That commitment to excellence is very good news for the "normal" person who just wants a
really good knife at a fair price, and it has also raised the bar in the custom/handmade niche. :thumbup:
