Ka-Bar Becker BK2

Grizzly22

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Jul 29, 2012
Messages
56
Location
Minnesota, USA
Anyone have this knife or familiar with it? I really like this from everything I've read, watched , and reviewed. Hoping someone here has knowledge or experience with it, if so, please share what you like about it, what you hate about it, what you personally think about it, or what you think is a better knife.
Thank you!
 

seanborn1979

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Oct 16, 2013
Messages
9
Location
Mid-Michigan
I've got a BK3 and if the BK2 is made as well as the BK3, its a no brainer. I would recommend buying the Micarta replacement handles for $40. The original handles are kinda slippery. I have seen some guys cutting a light texture into the original handles to make the grip better.
 

ASheep

Enlightened
Joined
May 10, 2010
Messages
267
Location
Sydney, Australia
The BK2 is an absolute tank. I've had mine for a couple of years, and beat the snot out of it on a regular basis, it still looks almost new. It has one of the thickest blades around, and the steel is a nice alloy for what it's designed for.
I like the feel of the stock scales, the palm swell fits my hand very well. The scales are a bit slippery if you have wet hands, many people swap out the scales for Micarta ones, or cut ridges/jimping into them. I've never really found it necessary though.
The stock sheath is good, it has very good retention, and multiple mounting options.

I only really have two complaints about the BK-2:
The frog could be a bit better as the knife tends to flop around on the belt, so if you're belt carrying a lot I'd recommend getting a more rigid replacement.
The spine is almost too thick. I know this is designed to withstand the American bushcraft obsession with Batoning, but a quarter inch thick blade is insane. If it had a full flat grind, it may be a little easier to handle, but for deep slicing it's just too wide. It does make it insanely tough though!

I also have a Glock field knife, which I tend to carry a little more than the BK-2, simply because it is lighter when out hunting. It's also been a really great knife, I've had it for ages and use it hard. Around camp though, the BK-2 is hard to beat!

Cheers,
Alex
 

cancow

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Sep 18, 2006
Messages
157
The bk2 is novelty knife IMO. It is way too thick to make sense. Check out the bk10. This is the knife to have from becker.
 

CRKDMike

Enlightened
Joined
Oct 6, 2014
Messages
367
Location
GTA, Ontario, Canada
It depends on what you need from a knife. For me, the main strength of the BK-2 is batoning. You may want to leave other bushcraft tasks to an "easier-to-yield" knife with a scandi grind.

The moment you hold a BK-2 in your hand, you will want to buy it, and own it, and love it, and use it.....
 

CelticCross74

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 30, 2014
Messages
4,021
Location
Fairfax Va
I know this is an old thread but when I saw how few responses it had I had to chime in. The BK2 is nearly indestructible. For such an incredibly thick blade mine came out the box razor sharp and with perfectly even edge geometry. Also came with an improved sheath. Got the upgrade micarta handle scales worth every cent. The knife is food safe. I read an article awhile back about the BK2 it was a hard use test review. In the test the took the BK2 to anything they could find wood, rubber, aluminum, an old refrigerator they found in a field. The reason the spine is so thick is to make the BK2 a top notch baton use knife. In the article there was literally nothing the knife could not baton through so much so that at the end of the test the took the knife to an old abandoned railway track. There they used a rubber mallet and actually batoned through an entire iron train rail. They then nick named the knife "train wrecker".
 

Wondering_Traveler

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Dec 12, 2016
Messages
2
I don't own a BK2, but everything I've read and everyone I've talked to that does really like the knife. It's got a 0.25 inch thick blade of 1095 Cro-Van steel that is powder coated. This is pretty much why its nearly indestructible.

The advice I've gotten is if you plan on doing a lot of wood processing, especially batoning, and you won't have a bigger tool on you, then this knife is a good solution.
 

CelticCross74

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Aug 30, 2014
Messages
4,021
Location
Fairfax Va
the BK2 is still THE standard for a manageable food safe bush crafting knife. Once again the upgrade micarta scales are worth every extra cent. I have put my BK2 to fairly good use. Made a huge Thanksgiving dinner with the knife. Had a huge turkey to cut up and my god did this quarter inch thick beast go right through it like a scalpel. Was really able to cut some prime slices of turkey and actually cut and break away the joints like nothing due to the weight of the knife.
 

swan

Banned
Joined
Apr 21, 2011
Messages
669
Location
sydney aus
I have a BK2 and find it handy when camping- a great all rounder, sharp out of the box it can be used to slice tomatoes or to chop wood. The quality steel retains a good edge and i find it feels good in hand even with the stock scales. I reprofiled the edge to approx 20 degrees with the lansky deluxe system and its incredible how it cuts through photo copying paper like a much smaller knife.

At a quarter inch thick and weighing in at one pound this is no light weight, so you would not want to drop it on your foot as it would go straight through your shoe and foot. When i saw a guy batoning a lawnmowers engine out of its chassis i knew this good looking mini Axe was for me. I would love some micarta scales for this and thought about maybe having a crack at making some linen micarta out of some old khaki camo shorts after watching some diy videos. Epic knife.
 

Tachead

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jan 3, 2015
Messages
3,872
Location
Northwestern Ontario, Canada
The BK2 is more of a novelty knife(just like the Esee 5). It is too thick for any practical use(unless you cut through a lot of plane fuselages). It has terrible geometry for most uses as well and is overly heavy for belt carry(any carry really). Go for the BK16, it is a better knife in almost every way and will be a much better performer and user.
 
Top