Fixed Blade Knife Useless?

He's jealous of your knife. Or just stupid and rude.

The BK2 is a fine knife by all means, and has developed quite a following. While it's overbuilt, that's just its nature and claim to fame. I appreciate them for what they are. Unless he likes smaller fixed blades, and totes an axe or folding saw into the woods in conjunction to his fixed blade knife on his adventures, what he said is pretty senseless. All of this is coming from a guy who goes for smaller knives. Use what works best for you and nobody else.

I've got an original Campanion. It is useless.

That isn't to say it can't be used, of course, but the knife has issues. It's heavy, the blade is too thick, the edge is too thick, and the grip is large. I don't carry it precisely because of that. I should have gotten rid of it years ago. Therefore, it's never used, and that makes it - useless.

What do I carry and use instead? A 3 1/2" folder. Dress a deer with any 5 inch fixed blade and you fight the length, constantly being forced to choke up on the blade. The edge needs to be thin, and a longer tapering point offers more utility for other chores. It still needs to be drop point, but the Becker could have a 45 degree angle clip and do as well. I carried a Swamp Rat Camp Tramp for a while, it's better than the Becker because the edge was thinner, the knife handled better. It was still too big for most hunting and camping chores, tho, and I question now whether getting an ESEE 6" would be any good, either. According to the users and makers, the 5" is a bit much.

After 22 years in the Reserves, Infantry, Ordnance, MP, I never used a knife to open an ammo crate - you just twist the wires and it falls apart. I didn't have to baton or chop wood, most dry limbs broke under my weight, and the larger ones burned in two and both ends shoved in the fire. What I couldn't handle, a hatchet or axe would. Woodsmen use those to build lean to's, it's required by Alaska state law for bush pilots. In the field, the worse thing we had to cut were roots - which we uncovered with entrenching tools, and which are quite capable of handling them with a serrated edge. The other was paracord, and a 3 1/2" locking folder or Swiss Army knife was more than a match. The scissors were prized for personal care.

If I had nothing else, I could use a BK2, but it wouldn't be the primary choice, or even on the list. For the extreme work they are touted to be good for, I'd rather carry a 4" camp knife and a boy's axe.

There's the long explanation, which comes from a having a share of the outdoor experience. Yes, having rope might just be useless - if it's kernmantle or rappel line - when you actually need some twine to bind sticks together to make a shelter or tie out a tarp. If three lay twist, it could be unraveled.

If some is good, more isn't better. We wear right sized shoes and underwear, not three sizes too big. I don't take a 6" fixed knife in the woods anymore. It's useless.

Fixed blades aren't useless but I'd rather have something with a blade thinner than 1/4-in thick.

Whip out a clovis point and maybe he'll shut his yap about it.

It's like calling rope useless.

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But, rope is useless.

They used to use it to set rigging on sailing ships.
And I tied hay bales down with it on a farm wagon in 1955.
Even roped a cow or two with a real rope back then.


But today?

If Duct Tape, Tye Wraps, and a Blue Tarp or two don't do it?
It don't Get-R-Done around here.

I'm not even sure you can still buy real sisal or hemp rope in these parts?
Can't even get real bailing wire anymore to fix fences & Fords, dangit!

But if you could get rope, you for sure would need a good fixed or folding knife to cut it!

rc

I have never carried a "hunting" knife while hunting. Too big, heavy, etc.

I've found a Browning 3 blade folding knife to be ideal. Pointed blade to cut around the @nus and make a hole in the skin over the chest cavity. A blunt tipped blade to open the chest and avoid poking into the viscera, and a saw blade to cut through the pelvis or other bones.

Not macho, but it does work neatly and efficiently.

Did he specifically say that it was because the blade was fixed?

Without a bit more context it could be hard to judge. Personally I like my fixed blade (only one I have is a Kabar Hunter), but generally I have to say I don't really use it except when hunting. Other than that it just seems out of place to carry a fixed blade on the belt. For everyday carry to me a folder is just much more realistic, and lately I've been even gravitating towards smaller ones for convenience. Anything with multiple-blades is out (too thick), and I've found that I like most of my blades at 3 to 3.5".

With that in mind, the BK2 certainly wouldn't be my first choice for most tasks, but I wouldn't dream of calling it "useless". Maybe he just wasn't articulating his thoughts well. Or maybe he was just that dense .

captains - hatchets are heavy. I've carried them for long distances, and usually i leave them at home now one good solid fixed blade knife is an excellent choice for survival. I wasn't familiar with the BK2 ... but took a look at some pix. it looks like an excellent choice for a survival knife to me.

i would suggest that your critical "friend" get some more experience.
One thing about knives - everyone's got an opinion. Hahahaha!

CA R

I suspect that the person making the remark feels the BK2 a bit unwieldy and they prefer a more finese knife for their outdoor activities.

The BK2 is chunky. I have one. I mostly wanted to see what all the talk was about with them.

He probably thinks Crocodile Dundee is the antichrist.

For any given task there is one (or a few) perfect tool(s). Then there are usually a quite large number of other tools that can do the same job reasonably well, maybe with a bit more effort and time. Then there's a huge number of tools that just can't perform that task.

So it follows that every tool has a few tasks that it would do perfectly, and a whole lot of tasks that it can handle reasonably well, a few that it could be pressed to do with a lot of effort and bother, and some it just can't do.

It is absurd to say a small, thick knife is "useless." You could perform thousands of tasks with that knife. The ratio of length to thickness of that particular model might make the list of tasks that it is PERFECT for very small, but it COULD handle everything from trimming your toenails to killing an elephant (under some rather specific conditions. ...perhaps including anesthesia).

The likelihood is, however, that you might have hundreds of other tools that would perform your most commonly encountered outdoor tasks with a bit more aplomb. In other words, if you've got one, and you like it, carry it and it will do what you need.

captains - hatchets are heavy. I've carried them for long distances, and usually i leave them at home now one good solid fixed blade knife is an excellent choice for survival. I wasn't familiar with the BK2 ... but took a look at some pix. it looks like an excellent choice for a survival knife to me.

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The Bk2 is listed at 14.6oz. The sheath is listed at 3.9oz. (according to http://www.gpknives.com/kabarbeckerbk2campanion.html )

My hatchet weighs 20 ounces.

Just an ounce and a half difference.

In MY hands my hatchet will out perform a BK2 in any task, any day of the week. So for ME a BK2 serves no purpose. And, I have nothing but respect for Mr Ethan Becker, and his designs.

But I grew up with hatchets,pocket/belt axes, axes, and mauls. A thick,heavy, sharpened pry bar does nothing for me.

Too each his own,.....

If you have hatchets, saws, axe's etc, a large knife is probably not required. However, sometimes we do not have access to these other tools, and that is when a larger knife will come in handy. It may not do small tasks, food prep, cleaning game, camp chores, very well, but it WILL do them.

The BK2 is a fine knife, and very versatile. It is also a good value.

Dayhiker, you can skin a deer with a hatchet better than a knife? Please start a new thread, demonstrating. Sounds like a useful skill.

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Don't hunt....but can carve detail work just fine with my belt axe.. And I am not going to start a new thread.

Here are just two pics....



And a figure four I carved with my Wetterlings.



If you still doubt my word, so be it.

dayhiker said:

.But I grew up with hatchets,pocket/belt axes, axes, and mauls. A thick,heavy, sharpened pry bar does nothing for me.

Too each his own,.....

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Why do you hate Jim Bowie? And Vikings.. they didn't use no 20 ounce hatchets.

Dayhiker, so...you cannot, in fact, skin a deer with it? Skinning an animal is an important survival skill. Claiming you can do "anything" with an axe better is only valuable if you can do all the important survival skills with it.

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Didn't say I "can"t" just said I "haven't". If ancient man could do it with a sharp flake of stone I am sure I can do it with a 2 3/4" edge hair popping sharp piece of steel.

I know you like big knives, that is plain to see.But if I could "survive" 36 years of playing in the New England woods with a hatchet WITHOUT skinning a deer. I think I'll manage 36 more. (If I live to be 80).

Why do you hate Jim Bowie? And Vikings.. they didn't use no 20 ounce hatchets.

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That made me chuckle......(I am of Swedish heritage)