Rant! Why do knife companies over build blades?!?

I started this rant by mistake when I was writing the Machax post. I took it out because it just didn't belong. Thought it might be worth something on its own.

Both the Camillus bk1 and bk4 are examples of something tons and tons of knife companies do: over-build their blades. Why do companies over-build their blades? Lots of reasons. Let's take a look at just a few of them.

1) They let the fear of a broken blade guide them. Youtubers are responsible for this one. 99 out of 100 Youtube channels use the blades they are reviewing improperly. Basically all their reviews go like this: The review was good if the knife didn't break and the review was bad if it did. They don't actually care about the product, they will probably never touch it again. This tells the manufacturer that they don't have to make good, functional blades. All they have to do is put an edge on a quarter inch piece of steel and it will be a great knife because the Youtubers couldn't break it.

2) The company likes to market using the "tacticool" method. I was watching a interview from Bladeshow and they were interviewing one of the designers at this knife company, I don't want to name names so lets just call them "Bottoms." He said something like: "Here at Bottoms if a knife works at 1/8", we make it 3/16". If a chopper works at 3/16", we make it 1/4"". WHAT? Someone slap him in the face and get him a new job. They are so obsessed with marketing their knives as unbreakable weapons of war for only the most tactical people, that they forget to actually design the knife to be useful and functional.

3) This is a byproduct of reasons 1 and 2. The market demands it. Lots of good knife companies come out with a really awful deign at least once every two years, because they have to. They have to give the masses what they want. They either have to do it to stay in the black, or the men upstairs in the conference room told them to do it. The knife is almost always an over-built crap knife handed out to the Youtubers in the hopes that it will bring the rest of their line of knives into the spotlight.

End of Rant.

Weights

Weights

I have never trusted the posted weights of knives from the internet. I have weighed some of my collection and put them in this chart. I still need to add a lot more, I'll get to it eventually. Some of them have multiple weights. This is because I weighed multiple of the same blade just to give you a better idea of how things were done by hand back in the day and how much variation it caused. 

The other charts are the reported weights from the internet, old ads, and the Bladeforums database. I have found a few different ads that report different weights for the same blades. I included all the reported weights if there were multiple. It really creates a distrust when you see get the weight of a bk2 from the KaBar website as 16oz and really it's 14.8oz. Yes, I know I'm crazy, its only a 1.2oz difference, but still a difference nonetheless. 

Thanks!

Citations 

I would like to thank the following for their photos. 

Ethan Becker

Guyon

Warrior 

TKC

Fightingknives.info

Dexwithers

Knife Center

Worthpoint

Nutoknives

DerekH

David Anderson (TTAK/Nordsmith)

Collectors of Camillus

blackjack.0catch

The Rowen/ESEE Beckers

Rowen & ESEE

These two companies also produced a Becker knife. In the name of saving time, I'm going to combine them in one post. 

The bk12 or Ritter MKII Perseverance is a collaboration between Ethan and Doug Ritter. Camillus actually made the original prototypes, but they went bankrupt. Rowen manufactures these in the same plant ESEE knives are made. They come with the thicker Camillus handles and under the handle are slots for brass weights to put in and change the balance of the blade. It's a great blade, but sadly for me, it falls in with the bk7. Too big for a belt knife, too small for a chopper. 

Another ESEE Becker collaboration. The bk14/24, the first ESEE/Becker collaboration, is actually made by Kabar. These kitchen blades are manufactured by ESEE. Incase you didn't know: Ethan’s grandmother was the original author of The Joy of Cooking. Ethan is actually the rights holder to the book and has been responsible for all the current editions. Ethan is a world class chef and trained at the Cordon Bleu in Paris. So it only makes sense that he would design kitchen knives. These are seriously some of the finest cooking knives around. I know a few Beckerheads who say these are their most used Beckers. They can be expensive and hard to find now that they are discontinued, but if you find a set I highly recommend you pick them up. Also, keep in mind that on the box they say this is only series #1. I have it on good authority we may see a new set-of-four series down the road. 

Becker Links

Just a list of some good links. I'm sure I'll be adding more soon. 

Last updated 9/23/18.

 The Bladeforums Becker Database

The Becker Sub-Forum

The Joy Of Cooking

5 From the Grinder with Ethan Becker

Camillus Becker Archive

Ethan on Kukri Knives

Becker Patrol Pack

The Story of the bk10

Story of the bk20

Ethan Becker Wikipedia

Old Becker Ads and Miscellaneous History.

Becker Style Renderings

Old Camillus Website?

Ethan on the bk16 & bk4

Ethan Becker & Jerry Fisk on the bk5.

Some odd-ball stuff.

Ka-Bar

Camillus Catalog

Camillus Dealer Catalog 2006

Ethan and Kabar

Lots of old Blackjack info

Extra Pictorial Becker Info.

This post is just to show some photos for reference. I'll try to give a little bit of detail for each one.

This will be an ongoing post so check back regularly for added stuff. Last updated 8/6/19.

This is one of the longer versions of the Divtul in the Non- reflective finish made by Blackjack. Some will say this is the ResQ, the shorter version is the Divtul. However, all the box, labels, order sheets, and literature call the short version by both names. The only one that is really labeled ResQ is a prototype.

Photo thanks to nuto knives

Here is that weird marked Blackjack Machax I talked about in the main Blackjack post. I'll post more photos later, but this is the only one I've ever seen like this.

Original CAD photo of the bk8:

Photo thanks to guyon

Original CAD photos for the other bk8. The file name calls it the Predator.

Photo thanks to guyon

This is something cool Ethan showed me at his place. It's a Chinese copy of a bk6. It's just funny that they have a photo of Ethan holding the real knife on the box.

Some of the Machax protos. I left all of the Machax prototype stuff out of the main Cincinnati post, because I thought they needed their own post. So here's just a sample.

Here is what the bk29 set looked like: bk29, bk5, and snake charmer.

photo thanks to kabar

Here is a smooth coated stamped Kabar bk9. The important thing in this photo is the "BK-9" stamp. The first run of bk2, 3, 7, & 9 had that stamp almost touching the handle. The first Run of bk2 and bk3 from Kabar used the leftover sheaths from Camillus. The first run bk7 and bk9 sheaths were not MOLLE compadible like the new ones are. Also the First run bk2 was true full tang, so no cut outs under the handle.

Here are the two sets of green handles and the unique sheath that came with the bk29.

Kabar bk10LE (top) with the Camillus bk10.

Original bk2 smooth coated and stamped from Kabar with original box. However, it's a first run because the stamp is back to the handles and it comes with the recycled Camillus kydex sheath. Also very important to note, the first versions of the bk2 didn't have the pommel. This version is also true full tang, the pommel version is when they started to skeletonize them.

Here is the thickness difference between the Kabar bk9 .188" (Left) and the Camillus bk9 .21"(Right)

Here is the CAD photo of the bk21:

photo thanks to Kabar

There are a few Cincinnati Beckers that have a Blackjack "prototype" marking on them. From what I've gathered, Ethan sent these over when Blackjack started making his knives and they used these for the templets to make them in Effingham.

photo thanks to fighting knives

More shots of the ResQ prototype:

Photo thanks to fighting knives

Photo thanks to fighting knives

Another prototype marked Cincinnati:

Photo thanks to fighting knives

Here is the proto Machax from Kabar. I didn't feel the need to have it in the regular document because there is nothing different about it, except it's not stamped.

Proto Tweeners:

More shots of the other bk8:

photos thanks to guyon

Another Tweener proto photo:

Cincinnati Divtul sent to Blackjack and marked prototype:

Photo thanks to fighting knives

Cincinnati bk2 in a blackjack leather sheath. Not uncommon at all.

Photo thanks to fighting knives

 Another ResQ photo:

Photo thanks to fighting knives

Here is a photo of a Camillus bk9 with no swedge grind/clip. Bottom is a Kabar bk9 with clip.

As talked about in the main Kabar document, the no clip bk9 from Camillus was an early version usually seen in a Blackjack leather sheath meant for a Brute.

Here is a cool cut out from an ad about the San Mai. 1900 made. 

 Some old labels from the Blackjack days.

 Some cool photos form the other bk8 Helicopter Egress. This one has handles!

An end-of-days blade from Camillus. A bk3 with no serration. I would love the bk3 so much more if they made it this way, or if they went back to the actually useful serrations that we have on the old Divtuls. However, the serrations are here to stay because the government wants them and the government probably buys most of them.

Some old Camillus blanks like these pop up from time to time on eBay. Tons and tons of them were sold at auction when Camillus went under. They make for great project knives.

Here is a Saber bk16. Most of the saber bk16s are the first production run with Ethan's signature etched on them. There was also a much smaller number of smooth coated stamped bk16s like the one below. However, even rarer than the other two is a rough coated version with laser etched logos.

Here are all the micarta scales that have been sold from the makers. The left is the Camillus micarta and the other three are from Kabar. There are infinite aftermarket scales from tons of different companies. The ones below are the only ones from the OEM.

KaBar and Ethan seem to pass out a lot of the Becker factory seconds. I'm putting this in here because people try to sell them as new sometimes and I want people to know how KaBar marks a second so that they wont get fooled. The small drill hole dots on the small blades and larger dots on the big blades represent a factory second, sometimes it will be a hand etched "S" for second. A side note: the factory seconds are still 100% functional and useable blades. If you're looking for a hard user and it's a good price, I'd get it. The flaws I've seen in mine and others are incredibly minor. Some slight edge dip, scratches in the finish, and an ever so slightly bent blade (seriously unnoticeable) is all I've seen.