Blackjack

Blackjack

1991-1999

When Blackjack started "producing" the Becker line of knives the models that were perviously made in Cincinnati continued to be made there and sent over to Blackjack for marking the logos and adding handles. Eventually all the Becker knives were made at the Effingham, IL factory, but it was most likely serval years before that complete transition.  Now because of the Cincinnati blades being sent over, it was not uncommon to find Cincinnati stamped blades in Blackjack sheaths or some of the Campanions in Eagle sheaths. The standard sheaths changed when full production moved to Blackjack, every model came with a black leather sheath, except the Divtul, which kept the Eagle sheath. Obviously all that makes for a lot of confusion especially when it comes to dating and identifying some of the blades. Many times online I have had to tell someone that their Blackjack bk2 is not a real Cincinnati just because it comes in Eagle sheath. The steels they used was 440A and 440C for stainless. 0170-6 for carbon, which I'm told 0170-6 is basically just 1095. 

The blackjack brute was not designed by Ethan Becker. It was designed by the president of Blackjack, Mike Stewart. The blade design was added to Ethan’s handle.  It was made in a sandblasted satin finish and grey epoxy powder coat. The powder coat made the blades un-markable. So you will find no logos on the powder coated models. The powder coated models are often referred to as “Sterile” because they had no logos. Basically if you have a sterile Blackjack Becker its gong to be carbon steel. If you have a stain finished one, it's stainless. The Stainless Brute's were 440C

Photo thanks to Worth Point. 

The Campanion, when made by Blackjack, is usually only seen in its sterile powder coated finish.  I don’t have any photos, but rumor has it, others were made with satin sandblasted type finish. 

****UPDATE 10/17/18

I have found a sandblasted one! Photo below. 

The Divtul from Blackjack was mostly sold to divers and law enforcement agencies. It came in 440A with a satin sandblasted finish. The very rare black powder coated finished ones were special ordered for SWAT teams and other agencies to match their uniforms. They were made of thinner stock than the standard .25” and at the request of the agencies ordering them, had deeper cut serration. There is also a vary long version of the Divtul that Blackjack made. I only have a really crappy photo of what i've come to call the XL version, its posted in the extra photo post. 

***UPDATED*** 3/13/18 
I have recently confirmed with Ethan that most all of the Machax were still made in Cincinnati and sent to blackjack for handles sheaths. So the Blackjack machax is actually a hard one to find. 

When Blackjack did make the Machax it was exclusively in the sterile grey powder coat like the photo below. They really messed up the grind, it was much lower and very obtuse. 

There has been a sighting of another grey/silver painted finish Machax with Blackjack Becker logo markings. However, so far this is the only example found with the finish, but it is possible there might be more. 

The Magnum Camp knife is like the Brute. It’s another person’s blade design on Ethan’s handle. In this case the blade was designed by the legendary Jerry Fisk. These were made out of 440C stainless steel. They had a smooth satin finish. The Blackjack version of blade is the most equally balanced version of this blade. As the years progressed, three different companies in total would manufacture this blade. With each new company’s version the balance shifted more towards the handles. 

The Reinhardt kurki is, once again, Ethan’s handle on someone else’s blade design. The kukri is designed by Hank Reinhardt. The Satin version was made from 440A Stainless steel. The carbon steel version is sterile. This kukri shape is based off Hank’s combat kukri also made by blackjack. The Becker version is much thiner than the combat kukri. It's almost machete thin. Note the sterile versions have the nub in the choil ground off. 

Blackjack Prototypes

We have a few examples of prototypes from Blackjack that didn't make it into production. The first is a prototype neck knife called the backpacker. Ethan had been thinking up a neck knife concept long before the bk11 came out. 

  

The second is a prototype United States Navy dive knife. It has been confirmed with Ethan that he had nothing to do with the dive knife. It has the adopted name “The Becker Abomination.” The sad truth is, a lot of liberties were taken without Ethan’s knowledge during the Blackjack days. It is very probable that we might find other unseen Blackjack Becker prototypes magically appearing on eBay with a high price and a seller located in Michigan...

The next prototype was a divtul variation labeled ResQ. It is unclear if Ethan was involved with the ResQ prototype. 

UPDATE 1/8/22 

Some blanks have been found in a box from Ethan's shop so it is clear now this was an actual prototype Ethan was playing with. Also fun to note, the handles are the old original Cincinnati made from Zeytel. So this proto may perhap pre-date Blackjack and was something Ethan gave to Blackjack to make? who knows?

Photo thanks to FightingKnives.info

Updated 4/16/18
On a resent visit to Ethan's place. He showed me this. He said it was meant to be a pocket fork and knife set that would come in a stacked leather sheath. Really cool little hollow ground blade. The other similar blade below was just another version of it found hanging out in Ethan shop.