YES! Got the BK&T I've Been Wanting for Years!

I dunno. FAL’ER is a repustable guy. I would heed what he wrote and maybe not work it as hard as a KaBar King.

Not my intention to place in question FAL'ER's statement at all; I'm sure his eye witness report is reliable and well intended and I appreciate his unique contribution. It simply stands to reason logically that if what he experienced was ubiquitous in the Camillus production due to a prevalent manufacturing deficiency then surely such breakages would be a more frequently reported occurrence. One cannot exclude the specific variables involved with the failures in FAL'ER's account to having a significant contribution as well.

Ethan was there, and he didn't seem shocked. I'll say that if you deliberately use it as was intended you should be fine. The first time I saw it happen was during a BeckerWest chopping contest, this knife had been used multiple times for the contest by one person, the owner of the knife. On the day it broke, it was being used by an attendee who didn't have a knife of his own for the contest. He started chopping with the borrowed knife, and as he started to tire out he got sloppy with his strikes and as I remember it his angle was off and he struck down with the flat of the blade rather than the edge, the angle was off.

The second time I was present but didn't directly see it. Jonny 1280 could possibly speak about that as it was his knife.

And, the above is IMO, the best qualifying wisdom to be retained from FAL'ER's caveat. Personally it is essentially a non-issue since, at this time, I have no intention to use my Cam 9 but relegate it to "safe-queen" status. For the using I have two Ka-Bar BK-9's in my stable, only one of which has seen action and I'm confident it will suffice for the duration of my utilizations how ever much/long that proves to be.
 
A quick perusing of the archives led me to the following Cliff Stamp evauluation: http://www.cliffstamp.com/knives/reviews/becker_combat_bowie.html
I'm sure his evaluation was performed years ago during the Camillus BK&T production but I admit it has given me a moment of pause and a legit raising of an eyebrow. Of particular note is the results of his durability tests- below is the portion in question:

Durability
With a three quarter inch stab into a seasoned log, the point on the Becker Combat bowie broke easily, the knife lost a half inch of the tip. Little flex was seen in the tip before it broke, the blade was 0.086" thick behind the break. The break showed very jagged and scalloped steel. An attempt to do a 250 lbs pull-up on the blade with the edge pounded into a tree (wooden mallet), the knife broke well before the full weight was taken. Again little flex was noted in the blade, this time however the steel was very fine in the break. The Camp Tramp handled both without any problems.

The Becker Combat Bowie does however have some durability advantages over the Camp Tramp (and other Swamp Rat knives) in the grip which much harder and thus far more resistant to cuts, punctures and abrasion. The tang is also extended into a hammer / crushing pommel which can be used to pound on or with, even with hardened metals. In comparison, the butt of the grip on the Swamp Rat knives will get tore up quite readily in contacts with hard objects. A shot of the knife after the above work :

becker_combat_bowie_damaged.jpg


What's surprising about these results is the knife performed notably well in the other tests; namely the stabbing penetration tests and frozen Caribou leg hacking tests. And, that these knives are essentially the same steel recipe as the vaunted Cold Steel Carbon V knives that were much acclaimed for their toughness and lateral torsion strength. To see Mr. Stamps evaluation piece fail as it did at the tip and the obvious break precisely where FAL'ER described leads one to some honest head-scratching! Perhaps the Camillus 9's ( and other models as well?) do indeed suffer from a more prevalent failure prone condition. :eek:

Compare these results to what we see contrasted in the below fellow's YouTube evaluation of a current Ka-Bar BK-9 (despite his irritating manner) and it leads me to further wonder over the past 9's quality vs today's models.
 
Oh-kaaay... it's just come to my attention that Cliff Stamp was banned from Bladeforums some time ago and that his information and persona is not held in high regard here. I'm not familiar with the specifics to this nor with the history of Stamp's dealings with Bladeforums so I apologize if my inclusion of his web site and evaluation reports in my previous post has been an offense to the Mods and fellow members here. Mods, if you wish for me to delete the above post please advise me thus.
 
Oh-kaaay... it's just come to my attention that Cliff Stamp was banned from Bladeforums some time ago and that his information and persona is not held in high regard here. I'm not familiar with the specifics to this nor with the history of Stamp's dealings with Bladeforums so I apologize if my inclusion of his web site and evaluation reports in my previous post has been an offense to the Mods and fellow members here. Mods, if you wish for me to delete the above post please advise me thus.

hi, mod guy here.

let's see. to make amends, i need to see a picture of all your Beckers, Kephart merch, and so on.

i'm going to need some cash too. deets later.

also, i love Cliff. he's a hoot. i'm not on board with him being banned, and the haters can hate. they are not welcome here ;)

now, about that money
 
as far as knife abuse goes...

if anyone makes a knife, they consider to be balls to the walls tough/etc, do please send me three.

i will perform my standard tests, and post pictures of a test subject in many small pieces.

anyone can break a knife

not everyone can make a knife perform beyond its design parameters

now, if someone sends me a knife made of Hull Metal(tm) or something like that, well, Beam Me Up Scotty :D
 

To see Mr. Stamps evaluation piece fail as it did at the tip and the obvious break precisely where FAL'ER described leads one to some honest head-scratching! Perhaps the Camillus 9's ( and other models as well?) do indeed suffer from a more prevalent failure prone condition. :eek:
I'm sure your knife will be fine, I just had to say what I've seen and allow your mind to ripen the possibilities.
 
Alright Bladite, anything you say man, just don't hurt me!

Pics of my Beckers... minus the 3rd BK-9 and a BK-7 that are still in the box. :D

No Kephart as of yet. :(

0mOqvxu.jpg

I assume you want the money in cash, in small denominations, non-sequential serial numbers in a nondescript case dropped in a location of your choosing? :eek:

As for Cliff Stamp; he's an unknown quantity to me, having meager involvement among these forums despite my years here as mostly a sporadic lurker. I only today stumbled upon him and have yet to gain any firsthand depth of familiarity with his place and offering in the knife community. So... I got no dog in that race, as they say. :)
 
Nice catch.
Anything can be broken, but many a Nine has done many a tough task - always coming back for more.
 
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