The latest addition to my knife collection is the Becker/Ka-Bar BK-2. Ordered one of these the other day and it arrived today.

The Becker Knife and Tool Campanion features a heavy duty full tang construction. The blade, 5 1/4", is constructed of 1095 Cro-Van carbon steel with a matte black epoxy powder coat, 1/4" thick. The handle, 5 1/2", features an ergonomic solid black grivory construction with large screws holding everything together and an oversized lanayrd hole. A black kydex sheath designed for belt carry was included with this knife.

First impression out of the box was amazing. It was sharp but not the sharpest razopr sharpe that I have seen though it did shave hairs of the arm. The weight and thickness was more than expected yet not too much. The knife has a great feel in the hand. I have average sized hands and it did not feel out of place.

The sheath is very comfortable with a lot of mounting options.

WOW! This knife will chop like no other. smaller one and two inch sapplings are no problem with a few strokes, sometimes only one.

I pried some flat wood as well as an old dead tree that was pretty solid I battened the knife in to the tree and was able to pry out chunks.

In the chopping and prying I found no blade failures other than the minor nicking. Their was no warping of the tip (the tip still remained sharp to a point) no flexing of the blade and misalignment.

The knife shaved the wood like hairs. I was able to shave thin enough tinder to start a fire.

I am very impressed with the Becker BK2. A solid strong knife. I feel capable of doing all the survival needs one could have. I have no complaints about the performance of the knife nor the look or feel. The knife preformed above what I was expecting!

If I had to bug out and only had time to grab one knife (or only had room to carry one knife) this might just be it for the sole reason of durability. I've got other knives that might be sharper or lighter or have a longer blade, or have a serrated edge, but none are likely to hold up to abuse and time as well as this one. The 1/4" thick blade really gives you a sense of durability!

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If it's in your pack, but you don't know how to use it...it's useless. So, always test your skills as a form of preparation...Don't wait until your life depends on it. That's a lesson you don't want to learn the hard way.

I should also note that this knife runs significantly cheaper than others on the market. Purchased this knife brand new at Amazon.com for $55.86. A total steal given the quality and durability of the knife.

_________________
If it's in your pack, but you don't know how to use it...it's useless. So, always test your skills as a form of preparation...Don't wait until your life depends on it. That's a lesson you don't want to learn the hard way.

How would the knife be for skining, field dressing and eventually butchering wild game?

I have a couple of rock solid dependable knives that I use for this, but they are not perfect either. I only need one more knife to complete what I need. This is for dressing game.

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Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

NRA Certified Instructor for Basic Handgun and Personal protection in the Home.
V.F.W. Life Member
NRA Member
U.S. Army Veteran

Not being much of a hunter (actually never been hunting at all) I can't personally talk about the BK-2's usefullness as a knife for dresing game. I did a quick bit of research online and it appears that it's decent for that purpose and probably is the equivalent of using a RAT-5 to dress game. Though I do beleive that a thinner blade might work better for skinning.

Hope this helps!

_________________
If it's in your pack, but you don't know how to use it...it's useless. So, always test your skills as a form of preparation...Don't wait until your life depends on it. That's a lesson you don't want to learn the hard way.

After reading the review/comments here I went out and ordered one from Cabela's. It was more expensive from them ($89) but I had a gift card hanging around from my birthday so that made it worthwhile to get it from them.

The companion arrived today and I gotta tell you - this blade is a beast! I haven't field tested it yet, but I have no doubt that it will handle any kind of abuse I throw at it. I can't wait!

Thanks for the review and suggestion.

Still loving the knife...but I'm not crazy about the sheath...Never really was a fan of the plastic kydex type of sheaths...Much or a fan of the leather or nylon sheaths...Just a personal preference...and I know that the Kydex sheaths are great because the don't hold water, etc...

In any event, I'm looking to find a leather sheath for the Becker companion and I can't find one out there for retail sale. Does anyone know of a place where I can get one?

Thanks in advance!

_________________
If it's in your pack, but you don't know how to use it...it's useless. So, always test your skills as a form of preparation...Don't wait until your life depends on it. That's a lesson you don't want to learn the hard way.

Find a person that specializes in leather goods. I have one locally that I have used to make special holsters for hand guns, and I have seen some of the knife sheaths he made. Everything is top notch quality.

_________________
Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

NRA Certified Instructor for Basic Handgun and Personal protection in the Home.
V.F.W. Life Member
NRA Member
U.S. Army Veteran

Let me start out by saying that I love the design and weight of this knife. My problems with the knife are handle is slick; it needs some type of texture to it. There are also gaps between the handle material and the blade. The blade is not finished very well; there are dings and scratches in the blade that they just paint over. And last I had to put an edge on the blade, I think they sharpen it with 40 grit sandpaper. I planning on replacing the handle with micarta and remove the black paint and dings and scratches from the blade.

First off, this looks like your first post, so let me be the one to welcome you to the forum! You are correct about the handle being a bit too smooth. The handle is too thick to wrap paracord around it, but I think even a layer or two of not so neatly placed duct tape would provide a more secure grip (though rather visually unappealing). As for the blade itself, I can't say that I noticed any imperfections on the blade. After several months, I'm still truly amazed by this knife.

_________________
If it's in your pack, but you don't know how to use it...it's useless. So, always test your skills as a form of preparation...Don't wait until your life depends on it. That's a lesson you don't want to learn the hard way.