Becker BK2 Review

My fully modded BK2

Well after going through modding the BK2; I realized we didn't give the knife itself a proper review. The BK2 is very well known in the Survival/Bushcrafting community, for good reason. It has all the potential to be a great knife. If you've seen our modding articles about the BK2, you can guess I'm not particularly thrilled with the way the knife comes in the package.

Handles
      Lets start off talking about the worst part of the stock BK2 (in my opinion). The BK comes with black "Grivory" handles. Grivory to me feels like a very cheap plastic. It also causes the knife to have an extremely weight forward position. The stock Grivory handles have a hollow design that allows the user to place survival items in the handles. To me this is not very important and I was more than willing to give up the space for a well balanced knife. Another problem I had with the Grivory handles was that they would become extremely slick when wet or if my hands became sweaty. I was more than happy to spend the extra money to get the canvas micarta seen in the picture above. If you have or plan to get a BK2 I highly recommend that you purchase the micarta grips. They add weight to balance out the knife, the micarta will soak up water/sweat to combat slippage, and they look much better. You can purchase those grips in the below lower right corner by finding them in the Amazon box.
          I would also like to say that I really like the fullness of the BK2 grips. The contours fit well in the hand for a sure grip. The BK2 is often compared to the ESEE-5, I will say I like the full grips of the BK2 more than the ESEE-5 flat micarta grips.

Blade
     I can go on all day about the blade, design, etc... So I will try to keep it short so you guys don't get bored reading. The blade length is 5.5 inches and total length of 10.5 inches (full tang/great length). It has a very beefy 1/4" thick flat ground blade. It is a 1095 Cro-Van steel and features a drop point design.

Its a combination pry bar, hatchet, and knife if you will. The BK2 is a very multi-purpose knife and excels at processing wood. It is somewhat difficult to do tedious work. So I do recommend carrying a smaller fixed blade or folding knife to accomplish those smaller task.

The knife takes an edge very easily and also holds an edge. One modification I made the knife was take a sharpening stone to the rear of the blade near the handle. I made a clean 90 degree angle so that I could use the knife as a firesteel striker.

I also removed the black coating from the knife. When I first used the knife--there was an immense amount of coating that stripped off the knife. So I used some epoxy paint remover to remove the rest. I believe this is personal preference and not really anything to do with function. I just feel it makes a better looking knife.

Sheath
The factory sheath in my opinion is absolute crap. If you do own a BK2, try this: Do a sharpness test with a piece of paper, then take the knife in an out of the sheath 10 times and try a sharpness test again. You will notice that the sheath dulls the knife. I don't know about you but I do not need my sheath dulling my knife. The other problem with the sheath is the belt loop. The belt loop makes the knife hang at an awkward angle.

With that, I do recommend getting a replacement sheath. Whatever your preference. Whether kydex or leather. I went with the Hedgehog Leatherworks sheath (its well worth the money).

Final Thoughts
The BK2 is definitely a bargain. With the upgrades your looking at spending another $65 at the low end of the spectrum to replace the sheath and grips. At the very least I would replace the handles for safety sake. It's a well respected survival/bushcraft knife for many reasons. I will say its one of my favorite knives.

Check out our modifications
Stripping the poorly applied coating
Hedgehog Leatherworks BK2 Sheath upgrade
Micarta Grip Upgrade