No Free Time But Time For This

I'm procrastinating.  But it's high summer and high summer is peak procrastination season.

But we have a few things going on in Das Blade Haus that I'll touch on an provide in-depth reviews later.

First is sharpening.  Last month I lamented that I'll never get the hang of sharpening a knife.  After writing that I had an epiphany.  Why continue to suffer?  In this day and age there is no reason to put up with dull or less than shaving sharp blades.  Man is the tool-maker and he's made some great sharpening tools designed specifically for dullards like me.

So I went out and bought myself what looks to be the premiere non-powered sharpening system available - the Apex by EdgePro out of Oregon.  So far I've only tested it on a few blades, a badly nicked Buck 105, a Buck 402 folder and a Becker BK-16.  The system works as advertised - it is fairly easy to get a good, consistent bevel on a blade (consistency has been my big failure in sharpening).  However, there is a technique to it all and it does require a bit of practice so I'm still in the learning stages.  The real test will be putting a usable edge on my Becker BK-2.

New knives.  New knives continue to trickle in and I'm behind in photographing them.  Again, blame the weather.  I do all of my stock knife photography on my deck using a tripod mounted digital camera, and I like to do one set-up and photograph a series of knives in one session using the same background and lighting conditions.  But when it's 80 degrees in the sun at 0700 my motivation just ain't there.  I'll wait for cooler fall mornings to get all this done.

But like I said, new knives and accessories are trickling in.  Some are new designs that caught my eye, some are just to round out my collection.  Two interesting new arrivals are a Buck 124 Frontiersman and a Cold Steel Lone Star Hunter folder.  

The Buck Frontiersman is a knife I've wanted for a very long time.  In fact, I used to own one until, decades ago, some SOB mover stole the duffle bag that held my small knife collection.  We were moving from Fort Bragg, NC to Fort Belvior, VA to attend the Engineer Officer Advanced Course.  This was back in 1983, and at the time I had more important things to worry about than replacing an expensive knife.  I always intended to replace it when the time (and finances) were right, but not long after the knife was stolen the Frontiersman went out of production and the knife entered collector status.  Buck would do occasional limited runs of the knife for various retailers but it pretty much remained a tough to acquire knife.  Recently Buck put the Frontiersman back into limited production and I was able to grab one directly from the factory.  It is just as I'd remembered it - a big full tang chunk of steel.  We'll talk more about it in a later post.

Buck 124 Frontiersman

The Cold Steel Lone Star Hunter is one I just stumbled across.  I think I spied it discussed on one of the knife forums I haunt (more chronic procrastination).  I was impressed by it's elegant simplicity - a large (4") single blade lockback folder in a slim stainless steel frame.  I make no secret of my respect for Cold Steel knives.  A lot of folks are put off by their bombastic advertising (and it IS over the top), but the truth is they put out good blades at good prices.  The Lone Star Hunter is a surprisingly good knife.  It is a little cheesy looking with it's faux stag handle slabs, but everything is nicely fitted and finished.  A darned good knife for less than $50.

Cold Steel Lone Star Hunter

Last up, the BK-14.  More accurately, handle scales for the BK-14.  The BK-14 was originally designed as a skeleton handled knife and it works very well in that role.  However, Becker knife nuts can't leave well enough alone and started fashioning handle scales for the knife.  Ka-Bar, never one to let a good idea pass them by, decided the time was right to introduce a set of 'official' handle scales for the BK-14.  I picked a set up at the 2012 Blade Show here in Atlanta and I have to agree - they make the already great BK-14 a better knife.  The scales are made out of DuPont zytel and fit the knife perfectly.  I like that they are orange - the compliment the black blade very nicely and make it easier to find the knife when I drop it on the forest floor.  You actually get two sets of handle scales with each order - an orange set and a black set.  Lets you tailor the look of the knife to your current activity - orange for day wear, black for evening wear.  Nicely done Ka-Bar.  Now how about some orange handle scales for the BK-16?

Ka-Bar/Becker BK-14 with orange handle scales

Oh, and last, last, last (I promise).  Over on the Blade Forums I've posted so much garbage and drivel, particularly about Becker knives, that they have officially designated me Beckerhead #252.  I'm so honored.  I'll be signing autographs in the lobby after the show.

That's it.  Stay sharp!

Brian

   

A Becker Encounter

Bill and I were out fishing early this morning on Lake Kedron.  Since water levels are way down in the lake we didn't think fishing from the docks would be worth the effort (Kedron has a very nice set of fishing docks).  We decided to make this an early morning canoe/kayak outing.

We had the weather glass.  The morning was overcast with only slight breezes.  Not a bad day at all to be on the water.  I decided to put in with my 13' Grumman.  It is an ideal canoe for still waters - stable, fairly comfortable, easy to paddle and can carry a ton of gear.  It is one versatile little hunk of aluminum.  However, it can be a bit 'piggy' when you need to paddle fast or far - the flat, virtually rockerless hull sacrifices efficiency for stability.  My 15' Grumman weights fully half again as much as the 13 footer but has much more rocker and displays better hydrodynamic efficiency, even when paddling solo.  Still, the old 13' Grumman was just the canoe for today's adventures.

'Miss Piggy'
An old 13' Grumman that makes a nice fishing platform.
That's Bill in the background.  Right after I snapped this picture he tagged a nice bluegill.

  

Another shot showing just how low the lake is.  My guesstimate is that
it's at least 5' below full pool.  When the water level is down shoreline areas are
exposed that provide nice places to beach your canoe and stretch your legs.

We spent the better part of two hours paddling and casting.  The bite was s-l-o-w, but that's to be expected this time of year.  The lake water was like bath water and the big fish were holding deep.  Since we were throwing fairly small weighted flies the deepest we could hope to get down to was two or three feet.  Still, we had a bit of success.  We each tagged a few small bass and some really nice bluegill hiding in the weed beds along the shoreline.

As we were taking out we struck up a conversation with a gentleman and his two boys were were rigging their kayaks and fishing gear to get out on the lake.  I just happened to notice the fellow was wearing a familiar knife around his neck.

Yup, a Becker BK-11 with a wrapped handle!  It's rare to see someone wearing a neck knife, let alone a Becker.  His son did the handle wrap, and did a pretty darned good job of it.

Overall a great morning.  Some fishing, some canoeing and a surprise encounter with another Becker fan.

Stay sharp!

Brian

An Interesting Provenance

I recently picked up a Becker BK-10 Crewman Utility knife.  Ethan Becker of Becker Knife and Tool (BKT) designed this knife years ago as a potential replacement for the Air Force Survival Knife.  Ethan essentially cut down his successful BK-9 Combat Bowie to create a shorter, lighter, tough and well balanced utility knife for use by military aircrews.

Becker BK-10

This knife was recently manufactured by Ka-Bar and is still offered for sale by them, but you won't see it listed in any Ka-Bar catalog or on their website.  In fact, Ka-Bar has never officially manufactured the BK-10.  Huh?

BK-10 marked Ka-Bar

So how can a knife not be made by a company that manufactures it and sells it?  That's the story that makes this knife interesting.

Let's go back to 2007.  At the time Becker Knife and Tool had a licensing arrangement with the Camillus knife company to manufacture the complete line of Becker knives.  This agreement included the BK-10.  However, in 2007 Camillus went bankrupt and all knife production ceased.  Ethan Becker then turned to Ka-Bar to take over production of the BKT line.  Ka-Bar jumped at the opportunity and cranked up production.  Ka-Bar is now the sole manufacturer of Becker knives and makes most of the same knives that had been produced by Camillus.  As part of the new licensing agreement Ka-Bar got ownership of all unfinished BKT knives and components that had been left in the Camillus factory.  Part of that haul was around 200 heat treated blade blanks for the BK-10.  

These blanks sat around the Ka-Bar factory for a few years while Ethan and Ka-Bar management tried to figure out what to do with them.  There were too few to open a new product line with, and besides they were Camillus blades.  Ka-Bar had not (and still has not) agreed to bring the BK-10 back into production, so these were effectively orphaned knife blades. 

Word of these orphaned blades leaked out to the Becker knife collector community (affectionately known as 'Beckerheads').  Discussions started up between the president of Ka-Bar, Ethan Becker and leading members of the Beckerhead community.  In a short time a brilliant idea was hatched.  Ka-Bar would finish out the 200 or so BK-10 blades as completed knives and sell them directly to the Beckerhead community as a special offering.  Ka-Bar was even able to secure enough original Camillus sheaths to include in the package.  

The BK-10 would effectively be a Camillus knife finished by Ka-Bar.  Sort of a Frankenstein move - raising the dead.

"It's alive!"

The knives were first offered to official members of the Beckerhead community.  You needed to have a Beckerhead membership number to be able to order a knife.  Once that demand was satisfied Ka-Bar opened sales up to the general public, but you had to call the factory to order one.  That's how I got mine.

An interesting knife with an interesting provenance.

So how good a knife is it?  Very good.  We'll get more into depth on that topic a little later.  But for today it's just about the provenance.

Stay sharp!

Brian

Skeletor!

"I command you to bring me skeleton knives!"

It's almost Halloween, so let's have some seasonably appropriate fun!

Knives without handle scales - what are commonly called skeleton knives - are an interesting niche in the knife world.

Seems every knife maker feels compelled to have at least one, and often several, skeleton knives in their lineup.  The outdoorsy survivalist hunter-gatherer crowd has 'discovered' skeleton knives and has taken to them in a big way.  To hear them talk you'd swear nobody ever thought to make a thin, lightweight knife out of a single piece of steel until they came up with the idea.  Well, I've been around long enough to know that everything old is new again.

Over 30 years ago my Dad has a nice little Browning skeleton knife, a drop point skinner, that he carried now and again while fishing.  (Hey Dad, what ever happened to that knife?)

About 20 years ago I was carrying a nice little skeleton knife made by Gerber.  It had a wicked serrated edge and was designed specifically for white water rafters and kayakers.  It was intended to be used to cut free of any entangling rope or webbing and was carried in a neat little plastic sheath designed to be snapped onto a flotation vest.  I carried it while serving as a jumpmaster in the Army, strapped either to my load bearing rig or to my rucksack.  Its only purpose was to cut parachute static lines in case I had a towed jumper.  I thank God I never had to use it, but I have no doubt it would have done the job.

And that's just it; a successful skeleton knife tends to be a small, purpose built object.  The format, an all steel knife with no handle materials, introduces some interesting design challenges and restrictions.  The very minimalist nature of the skeleton knife means it's hard to get right and easy to get wrong.

Thankfully we've got a number of knife manufacturers putting out some really nice skeleton knives these days and for the most part they are getting it right.  Let's have a quick look at some.

Buck Knives leads off today first because I like 'em and second because they've got a really good lineup of skeleton handled knives, perhaps the largest in the industry right now.

Buck 140 Packlite Skinner and 136 Caper

The Buck 140 small Packlite Skinner and the 136 Caper are the two best models in Buck's lineup of skeleton handled knives.  They shine because of great handle shapes that make them comfortable to use and overall excellent balance.  The 136 Caper, in particular, is a delight in the hand and makes a great general purpose small knife.  I think a half dozen of these would make a really unique steak knife set.

Next up is the big brother to the 140, the 141 Packlite Skinner.

Buck 141 Packlite Skinner

The 141 is simply an upsized 140.  It too feels good in the hand, but the handle is getting a little large-ish to be considered truly comfortable.  Still, it is a very good mid-sized blade.

Next up is the Buck 143.  As far as I can tell this knife is only sold in Wal-Mart stores since that's the only place I've ever seen it for sale.  The 143 is the classic example of how small changes can have huge impacts on how a knife can feel in the hand.

Buck 143 Pakliite Skinner

The 143 sports a larger blade that is roughly the same size as the 141.

Buck 141 (top) and 143 (below)

But the handle is the same size as that found on the 140.

Buck 140 superimposed on the 143

Now, the combination sounds good, and to the marketing guys at Buck and Wal-Mart it must have seemed a winner.  In reality, however, it feels terrible in the hand.  The elegance of the comfortable handle from the 140 is ruined by the awkward transition to the larger blade.  The thumb ramp gets in the way and the whole knife feels awkward.  To make matters worse Buck has done no corner rounding of the metal handle and it is just uncomfortable to hold.  This is a Frankenstein's Monster that just doesn't work.

The sheaths that come with the Buck line of skeleton knives are nothing fancy, but they hold the blades safely and securely.

Buck 140 with sheath

The street price for any of these knives does not exceed $20.  In fact the Buck 141 goes for about $19.20 on Amazon.com right now, and it is the most expensive of the bunch.  The Models 136, 140 and 141 are great knives and well worth a look.  Take a pass on the 143.

Let's move on to my other favorite brand of knives, Becker Knife and Tool (BKT) made by Ka-Bar.  Becker Knife and Tool is really a one-man show, Mr. Ethan Becker.  Ethan is one of those guys who does it all.  He's a professional chef, writer, outdoorsman, and has been designing knives for over 30 years.  Currently Ka-Bar manufactures his designs and they do a great job.  BKT has three skeleton knife designs in its lineup, the BK-11, 13 & 14.

From top to bottom, the BK-14, BK-11 and BK-13

The BK-11 and 14 both share the same blade design - they are identical and they use the same sheath.  The BK-11 (in the center in the above photo) is wholly Ethan's design.  Ethan likes to eat and drink, and he wanted a small, handy knife that incorporates a bottle opener.  The BK-14 came about just a few years ago when a member on the BKT group on BladeForums.com decided he was going to marry the blade of a BK-11 with the handle of another extremely popular skeleton knife, the ESEE Izula.

ESEE Izula

The guy was a professional welder and did a great job, and the knife generated a lot of interest.  So much so that Ethan and Ka-Bar approached ESEE about copying their handle design.  The result was the BK-14, which is stamped with both Becker Knife & Tool/Ka-Bar and the ESEE logos.

(This BKT - ESEE mashup reflects the common relationships that exist in the American knife industry these days.  Knife manufacturing is a tight knit industry and there is a lot of cross-fertilization of concepts and designs between knife designers like Ethan Becker, custom knife makers and large volume manufacturers. The end result of all of this is that the American knife buyer has access to great knife designs for very little money.  This is truly the Golden Age of knife manufacturing in the US.)

Regardless of the handle design, the BK-11 and 14 are both great knives.

BK-14 with sheath

And what about that teeny little guy in the bottom of the photo, the BK-13?  Seems the BK-13 was designed as a knife that could be easily carried in an accessory pouch on the sheath of a larger fixed blade knife.  In fact, the sheaths for Becker's BK-7 and BK-9 knives include an accessory sheath designed specifically to take the BK-13.  By itself it's a good little blade.

BK-13 with sheath

That's about it for now.  Have I reviewed every skeleton knife available?  No, not by a long shot.  I've only reviewed those knives that have caught my fancy.  As more cross my path and catch my interest (and wallet) we'll take a look at them down the line.  

Stay sharp!

Brian