After a bit of waffling between the gerber infantry knife and the BK 7 I opted for the BK7 based on these reviews. 80USD turned out to be a price I could live with. Salute.
I saw your reviews on the BK2 BK10 and Condor Croatlus, I ended up with the BK10 which arrived today and even at the price I paid for it(132 Aus.$) it was worth it. You don't relise what a "tank' of a knife it is until you actually hold it in your hands! Love your work.
You do make a good point though. My idea with the "unbiased" review probably wasn't a good one. He should review his knives, and I should review mine because you will be a lot more natural with what you are used to. So when I re-do the BK9 review this weekend, I'll be the one doing it. I might let him chop a bit though. I sure don't want him trying that draw knife trick with Becky. Becky is so sharp she scares ME sometimes. I don't want to have to stuff someones guts back in...
I have seen the BK7 break but not because it's a bad knife but because there are morons out there that think that this knife is supposed to do everything which is why Ethan Becker prefers the BK9 and which is also why I use the BK9 before I use my BK7. In fact, I won't even baton wood with my BK7 unless I absolutely had to. It's meant for light chopping, slicing, and stabbing. The BK9 for heavy chopping and batoning. I know guys on their 2nd or 3rd BK7 and 9 while the coating on mine is barely fading! And people wonder why my knives last forever!! Diversify your knives and they will last forever, even down to your grandchildren! Also, after you finish batoning wood with your knives, wipe it down with extra virgin olive oil it really preserves the coating of your blades!!!
BK9 - "you can do a small job with a big knife but you cannot do a big job with a small knife" - theory still stands, so between the two i would chose the BK9, but if i cannot get a BK9 then a BK7 would do. Awesome review. BECKER RULES !!! Thank You.
Sure I agree with you but.. In my opinion BK9 is only better when chopping.Now if you do the maths,the BK9 has the same steel as thickness too.. That makes "theoretically" BK7 stronger,since it is shorter!!! I did an Internet search and the ONLY "Becker" fail I found,was a broken BK9...
Agis Tsakalakis Your right. I just love the BK9, well.......i love the BK2 {that as you know has the same blade thickness as the BK7 & BK9 so that is a tank of a knife, but i find it a little to short for some jobs} & the Ka-bar Warthog as well. At the end, it's probably a matter of preference. Take Care Now.
MrEdium BK-2 Is even thicker than the BK-7 & BK-9!!! I own a BK-7 and I love it! I have to say,that I have seen BK-9 chopping better than 3 longer and havier machetes we tested on hard wood!!! That's really cool! You can't go wrong with any "Becker".I wish I could afford them all and I wish you choose the one that suits your needs best!
My only problem with Becker knives is for the price they should have better scales and better coatings that’s my only real complaint.I know cheaper knives that Can accomplish both. I live on the coast so I have to have a good coating.
I was wincing too...I'll grant that. But he was trying to see if he could do the same stuff he does with his knife. He does much more "bushcrafty" things than I do. I cut, chop, and baton. He carves bows and spoons and sh*t.
I don't think Chris has mentioned this so I will Beckers are highly Addictive you can't have just one I have 2 so far and will have a third on the third (the remora to fit the secondary sheath on Beast my BK9) and after that I cant decide between the BK7 and BK16 like I said Addictive BE WARNED LOL!!!!!!!!
Ha,ha- excellent! I have a BK9 (and 14, which fits in it's sheath). Just inherited a BK2, 4, and 16. I bought a BK7 last night. Great blade, metal and construction. Ethan knows his stuff.
nice I think I'm set on the BK16 I don't really need another big knife but I don't have any that are true bushcraft knives and I just watched a video where Ethan Becker said the BK16 is the knife he has been looking for since he was 14 so that pretty much has me sold on it!!!!!
Michael Mixson hey I jus my bk7 in the mail love it so far... already customizing it... but i was jus wondering do u still love the Beckers u have.. because I can tell they are already addictive lol
His "arsenal of experience" in bushcraft (and field time) is about 20X what mine is. You're giving him an unfair appraisal because A) He's never used the BK7 before B) It's bigger than what he's used to and C) He's been using a PLSK-1 for 2 years. They are VERY different knives. He can do damn near anything with HIS knife. He's trying to do tasks he's used to with a knife that he's not used to.
Why don't they start manufacturing a small amount of these knives just like the way that you have it. It makes sense for the people that really enjoy this knife like I do. and there's plenty of other people that will buy this knife like I will I think the knife looks fantastic .
Been jonesin for a Becker BK 9 after the reviews of BK 2 BK 7 and BK 9....then yesterday it hits me what you just said: best knife FOR THE MONEY" and I can get a knife from A-2 tool steel thats light years or at least double better. Duh moment. It Might be fun to play with a BK 9 and less heartache if it gets lost or stolen, but Im totally of a mind that knives are one of the few places you can get MORE than you pay for and I'm gonna push it!!!! This is the GOLDEN AGE of Cutlery due to sintered PM steel technology. I remember when 3V was novel and one could be hard pressed to get a knife of that steel. Not true now!
BTW...You earned two Preparedmind Points for referring to Jessica by her proper name. Not sure what you get with them yet, so don't lose them. Might be something great...
A large knife like a bk7 or bk9 is meant to be paired with a smaller knife for the fine stuff i never want to go with only one knife to do everything .
I was wondering what your opinion of the gerber lmf 2 is? I didn't see a review on your page.....thanks for your reviews, they are great, I also got a big laugh from your "review" of the 1980's "survivor"!!!
I ground in a choil on my BK-7. Crazy that Will said he would do it way back. I hadn't seen or didn't remember this video. Preparedmind101 (Chris) was one of the first subs I did on the account I had back in 2015 or so. This is all still very relevant.
Beckers are great blades ,i have the Kabar Heavy Bowie and love it,great vid guys ! And you are exactly right about rust on the coast i live in Atlantic Canada 30 feet from the Atlantic Ocean so i keep my coating on.cheerz from the far Northeast !
hey man. was wondering if you had a bk2 review. im looking for a smaller knife for finer tasks. LOVE the bk series. i do like your review process. sooo....bk2 review?
Chris, based on your knowledge and input which blade would you suggest as a companion blade for the BK7.....#1 the BK11 Becker Necker or #2 the BK13 Remora?
Did you sharpen the spine for a keen Edge so you can strike a lot of Sparks from a fire Steel that didn't look like a ton of Sparks but it was a shorter Rod so I don't know I have the bk7 but no mods and you're right I have the older sheath and they do suck they're just good enough to be a Sheath
$67... It's $131 on their website and that's probably USD, I'm Canadian so it'll end up costing me more. Not to mention international fees. I fucking hate ordering shit online. If it's USD it'll end up being $172 CAD, and with taxes onto that it ends up being $197. Last time I had something shipped internationally it was around the same weight and it was like $60. So apparently this is a $257 knife in Canada.
The coating on these knives really is a thing to get rid of, if you're ACTUALLY gonna use them in the field! It is sticky, it comes off very fast anyway and leaves ugly marks on the blade and all in all are more of a trade off than a benefit. I took off the coating from my Becker BK2 and never had an issue with rust, despite having the blade in the sheath basically all the time when not in use and not doing any of the "geek treatments"(no offense) like applying a mustard or vinegar coatings or oil it up all the time (which sucks if you have it as a "do it all tool" anyway, because you also wanna be doing food prep with it and I don't like any oil but olive oil on my food) like really heavy abuse and moisture didn't do much the blade. I mean there are few tiny salt-grain sized spots, but they could also be tree sap tropletts and I mostly get rid of them with aceton or a piece of fine sand paper every 6 months or so. If you resharpen, the crucial part gets "carved clean" anyway, so.... Great knives, absolutely recommend them (for the price). If you have the money for a 400+USD bowie like the legendary Condor Undertaker, go for it. If not, the BK7 or Bk2 are an awesome option that won't dissapoint you and you don't need to rob the bank to get one. I like the Ka-Bar Becker series especially, because they are highly customizable by the owner and you can have unique knive with a little bit of work and not even much know how, without ordering a custom knife for hundrets or even thousands of bucks. I personally stripped the coating off of mine and made some custom handle scales made from dark Ovankol wood and had it covered with thick glossy UV-lacquer to really harden and seal it off (props to my friend who did that for me). The only thing I don't like is the sheath it comes in. The draw-retention on some of them is so high, that you can't get the knive out of the sheeth without using both of your hands and even then it is a dangerous task, because of which I already cut my palm badly. Keep in mind, this only applies to some of the sheaths - I think the blades themselves are made in the US but the sheaths are made under cheap labor somewhere in Asia to keep the cost down, so the quality differs a lot. Mine was super tight and it only became better after I attached my handmade scales, which are a bit thicker than the originals and push the sheath apart a bit more than normal, affecting the retention in positive way. I love mine, never will I give it away and I am really considering to get a BK7, because I lately really got hooked on the bowie knife aesthetic, but sure would also customize it the way I did the BK2. I am thinking of some ornaments in a Dias De Los Muertos theme. Sure a cool thing. Great video, although not unbiased. But I don't blame you, because they just ARE very convincingly well made knives!
Good test. I just saw one where the guy pummeled the bk-7 with a huge rock. I just don't think I will ever need to do that. If it doesn't break from batoning or hand pressure, seems to me that it is good.
I'm a big knife fan also, in my years of experience I have found the edge makes very little difference in performance, as long as the knife is sharp. If you take a knife that size & use the landard, hold the last 3 or 4 inches of the handle it will chop a lot better. A SS knife blade will create sparks also, I have never found one that wouldn't.
I don't have a stock sheath. BUT, the stock sheath that Kabar makes now for the Beckers are some of the best built STOCK sheaths out there. Definitely good enough to use until you get a custom one. Don't really do much with the pommel. Kabar would replace it. They'd want to to send it in so they can investigate what happened. Not to screw you, but just so they know.
I'm used to big knives. He's from the Dave Canterbury train of thought that you don't go over 5" and the knife design he's accustomed to is nothing like the BK7. The PLSK-1 is a perfectly designed bushcraft knife. Just a damn expensive one compared to a BK7.
I love my BK7 and have beat the crap outta it, but the tip just snapped in a stump, i used the work sharp with the green belt and re shaped the tip. ill never get used to taking it out of the sheath with a weird tip. :(
I live in a wet, hot, steamy, swampy environment. How well would those knives hold up in a wet environment? My go-to knife for the past 25 years has been the original Gerber LMF back when they still made very good knives. The LMF has held up extremely well, but I found out that these things are considered to be collectibles now so I am going to retire it and find a new go-to knife. So far the BK7 is on the top of my list. BTW, I did find one BK7 fail on youtube when I did the search, but the guy said they sent him a new one.
i think one of thee best knives for survival and any thing you want it to do is the tom brown tracker you can get it from amazon for around 200 bucks but its so worth it
Your buddy has demonstrated some of the most dangerous knife use I have seen yet. He could very easily have gutted himself. He also has no clue what knife grinds are. A sabre grind is a flat grind that starts mid-width on the blade. A scandi grind (most misunderstood grind of all) simply has no secondary bevel. This is done to aid in sharpening (just lie the bevel flat and go) but sacrifices strength. The BK7 is a flat grind, not to be confused with a full flat grind or a sabre grind. The difference being where the taper begins. A full flat grind starts to taper right at the spine. A flat grind starts out square to the spine, and has a bevel cut before mid-width on the blade. RU-vid experts....
I just heard you saying you search "becker bk7 fail" so did i... I don't know how, but i ended watching a video of a guy shaving with a ceramic knife... That was weird.
No offense but the guy testing out your knife rubs me off as a noob, he is lucky he didn't cut open his stomach and his review of jessica is mediocre.....doesn't even know how to baton safely or efficiently. Idk his entire arsenal of experience but from the video it doesnt look like he's had much field time....
Ok I'm 16 almost 17 on the 29 of the 12th and I was looking for a good forthe price fixed blade to go camping with or what not I'm a boyscout so I do alot of outdoors stuff and I was wondering how good the Bk-7 was for such things?
Hi there, what sort of tape have you put on the handle. I have one of these with Mikarta grips but i also have a BK2 & want to make the handle more grippy. Thanks in advance for your help & keep up the good work, Paul UK
