Earlier this summer I did a great deal of research into camping tools and equipment, as my wife and I bought a camper and we were planning several outdoor getaways.
When I began my research into knives I quickly discovered one of the main subjects discussed is the steel it’s made with. Careful consideration must be given to your steel choice. The market for this is large and everything has pros and cons depending on what your desired end use is going to be.
My quest at the time was the elusive, “one knife that can do it all”. I quickly realized that this was going to be very difficult when I started studying the subject of steel.
I ended up having to take the resolution to acquire two good quality knives, one in stainless and one in high carbon steel.
There is many reasons why I decided to do this, but ultimately I didn’t feel comfortable investing money in a good quality high carbon knife and bringing it along on a fishing trip, particularly, around salt water. Likewise, as the son of a butcher, I don’t think anything but a stainless steel blade is ideal for food preparation.
So, why not just buy one stainless steel knife and be done with it? Ah. If I absolutely HAD to carry only one knife. It would be a stainless, but let it be known stainless steel knives cannot be used to strike a flint rock to generate sparks to start a fire. The steel in a flint and steel combo needs to be high carbon steel.
Also, stainless steel requires more effort to sharpen. This can be trouble for an amateur like myself without proper equipment.
So since it seemed foolish to agonize over making a final call between these two main categories of steel, I have simply opted to carry both.
The Becker BK-7 is one of the most highly reviewed knives on the market in 1095 steel. It’s a full tang knife, and has a full 7” cutting surface. It is designed mainly for rough work techniques such as batonning. For these tasks the long blade is a pro, for intricate tasks such as peeling a potato it is definitely a con.
I recently tested the knife by batonning it through several pumpkins. (Don’t ask… ok?) The factory sharpened edge went through the hard outer pumpkin shells like butter.
Overall first impressions, I liked the weight of the knife. I liked the thumb Jimping where I could rest my thumb safely while batonning. The actual blade of the knife protrudes past the handles so you can also strike the heel while batonning (neat!). This is definitely a “work horse” tool. I also opted to replace the OEM factory handles with the KA-BAR upgrade micarta handles as depicted above. This was a very good investment. I feel the OEM handles would have been very slippery if my hands would be wet. The knife also comes with a dura-kote finish to protect it from corrosion and rust. This is great, as long as you do not want to use the knife to strike flint or ferrocerium. The coating will need to be removed if this is a desired task.
After watching Roland Welker deliver a fatal blow to a musk ox with his knife on the television show Alone. I also got the idea that a knife such as this has “tactical” features and it could certainly double as a weapon of last resort in the event of attacks from larger game such as bear.
Overall, this is a very good knife. I would not bring into the kitchen or on a fishing trip. I would bring it on a camping trip where I would need to build fires, and improvise shelters. Definitely a good choice for “bush crafting”.