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

LoneWolf X

LoneWolf X

Joined
Dec 6, 2007
Messages
169
Since I first discovered the magic of Becker blades some years ago and having arrived rather late to the party I missed out on many of the BK&T line milestones. Apart from the joy of using my meager collection of BK&T's; the other great pleasure is buying new ones!
Can I get an Amen?! :D
Better yet is acquiring one of those milestones I missed out on. By mere happenstance I recently had the fortune of finding and acquiring, quite reasonably too, a lovely example of one of my most desired BK&T's.
Can you tell what it is? ;)



Here's a hint:
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Another hint:
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One more:
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She was on ebay just waiting for me to find her. In VERY good condition; looks virtually pristine. The original sheath has seen some use/modification but the knife itself shows no noticeable wear & tear-even the edge is factory fresh.

Some pics from the ebay seller:

bEOchP4.jpg



pDjAz23.jpg



bqwI4JL.jpg
 
Don't know if the seller is a member here or not, but, I actually purchased this a few months ago and just recently have had the time/motivation to fellowship here on the forum again... have gone through a very bad time these past six months and apart from the grace of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the distraction of my knife collecting hobby has been an intermittent avenue of therapy.
 
I'm torn about actually using the Cam. My Ka-Bar Bk9 is my absolute FAVORITE knife of all my practical user knives but an unavoidable component to being a "collector" entails maintaining rare, uncommon and discontinued ones in new condition (Yes I have lots of "safe-queens".) But I'm also curious to see if the different geometry profile and thicker blade of the Camillus version provides any superior abilities to the Ka-bar version...I cant see how because, although thinner, to me the Ka-bar has always had the perfect balance of weight/agility/strength for a large knife- I've seen few that can compete with it in that arena...until now. Now I wonder if the original would change my mind BUT the collector part of me doesn't want to destroy the pristine condition of a now difficult to find discontinued knife.
Any of you long-time BK&T aficionados wish to give me your learned opinions?
 
In my experience I perfer the kabar. The grind on the Camillus blades are not as thin, leaving the edge thicker.

The thickness does add some weight which can be advantageous in some activities.

On the different primary grinds I also prefer the kabar with the lower saber. However with the thicker blade on the Camillus a lower primary would totally throw off the weight and balance. So it's right where it needs to be.

One thing I really like about the Camillus bk's is generally the clips are not ground as thin so it doesn't chew up your baton stick as much as the kabar.

I say beat it up but I won't shame for making it a safe queen. I'm against safe queens except for old Beckers haha.
 
I prefer the Camillus version. More material behind the edge. Not quite as good for slicing, but I think it would be more durable for chopping.

They're both good though.
 
FAL'ER said:
No don't do that. They break at the "C" In "Camillus" on the stamp. I've personally seen two of them break at that same spot, during chopping contests on two non consecutive occasions.

Beat the piss out of the Ka Bar version. That'll still be warrantied.
Click to expand...


WOW! Never heard anything like that about the Cams... sounds like a significant defect. Can any Beckerheads around here confirm or shed more light on this?
 
I've seen the same on some of the older threads here. I remember the gathering photos he was talking about.
 
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.
 
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I personally have NO doubts about the reliable integrity of a BK&T knife be it Camillus with the stamping or Ka-Bar with the laser etch. Logically, these two occurrences are likely attributed to the "law of averages" (not to mention a multitude of variables involved with the particular circumstance) and are relatively negligible statistically speaking. In any circumstance of mass production there are always percentages of inevitable anomalies. If the Camillus produced version had suffered from a prevailing manufacturing abnormality of any significance it would have long ago been discovered and likely would have had an equivalent derogatory affect on their market as well as a widespread reputation of defectiveness in the community. I've seen no evidence of this, but quite the contrary actually.
 
I dunno. FAL’ER is a reputable guy. I would heed what he wrote and maybe not work it as hard as a KaBar King.
 
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