KA-BARBK-22 Becker Companion Fixed Blade Knife with HD Polyester Front Pocket Sheath (5.25-Inch)

Is it overkill? Yes, most definitely. Is it cool? HECK YEAH! I love this knife!KNIFE EVOLUTIONI have a theory on how this knife evolved. For years, survivalist experts have been clamoring for the ultimate survival end-of-the-world knife: full tang, thick blade, indestructible – etc. etc. etc. Any knife produced under the umbrella of a survival knife was quickly subjected to torture tests that involved hammers, vices, blow torches, and knives being used in a manner that they were never designed to be. This was very good because survivalists quickly whittled away the "JUNK" that was being passed along as survival knives.This crucible of testing produced knives that a nomadic Neanderthal living at the edge of an ice age would dream about all his entire short life. I'm confident Neanderthals dreams of this Kabar BK-22! (I DID, for decades).It’s quite frankly the very best hunk of steel a nomadic close to extinction Neanderthal living at the edge of an Ice Age would dream of carrying.In knife evolution, all of these inventions were being used to fell full size trees, dig holes through rocks, skill wooly mammoths, etc. Videos were posted of all of this. In time, the industry responded by producing knives that were tougher and tougher.Sturdy full-tang knives like the excellent Marine Corps Kabar were relegated to the degrading rat-tail tang category. This knife is at that long line of survival-knife-abuse evolution. It’s the toughest, baddest, most well designed and engineered survival knife on the planet. I am confident of that. Sure, you can pay a guy $4,000 to go make you a custom crowbar…but for us simple folk who deal with mass produced tools – this is the Apex Predator of our realm.Is this knife going camping with me from now on? HELL YES. Does it replace my Axe? HELL NO. Does it replace my .357 magnum? HELL NO. Does this mean my SOG Pup or my folding knife aren’t going with me? HELL NO! I always carry at least two knives with me – my main side knife and a folding knife that actually sees all the action while camping.Mind you, I’m not a big fan of using knives as crowbars. In my humble opinion, it’s not the kind of work that knives were designed for. Use an axe to fell a tree. Use a crowbar to pry things. Just because a knife is at your side does not mean that it should be used as a hammer, crowbar, axe, and chisel – but that’s just me and experts do disagree – as evidenced by the creation of this brute!Also, without survivalists torture testing knives, this beast would not have evolved and it would be a much more boring world-of-knives with junk knives being peddled as survival knives – so thank you to all you torture testers out there. This knife though is now more than just the ultimate survival tool, it’s an image – it’s fashion. Most of these knives are not going to see much action, they are going to be heirloom display pieces, which is just fine.BEING SERIOUSI’m a backpacking camper. I’m not Rambo. I don’t expect to go out into the woods and have to survive a Zombie Apocalypse. The knife I always carry is a Coast DX356 Double Lock Folding Knife. It’s a smaller folding blade knife that I wind up using all the time to cut line, whittle a stick, etc. It’s cheap, it locks, the blade geometry is great (that means its thick enough and wide enough that I like it and robust enough that it’ll cut through bark etc.). It’s a perfect camping knife. I will turn the house upside down before I go camping if I can’t find that little folding knife. If I were to lose that little knife, I would cry because I use it so much but I know that I could just buy another one for very little money.I almost always carry a bigger knife at my side that doesn’t see almost any action out in the woods. It’s more of a showpiece that’s there in case the Zombie Apocalypse hits. The thunder is stolen from that show-knife by my folding knife and by my camping axe. The knife that almost always winds up on my side is a nice and sturdy SOG Specialty Knives & Tools E37N-CP Seal Pup Elite Knife with Straight Edge Fixed 4.85-Inch Steel Blade and GRN Handle, Satin Finish. It’s light and its short enough that it’s not a weapon but it’s a proper knife. I posted some pictures that compares a SOG pup and my little Coast knife to this knife.I put on a 40lb pack, hike for a day, camp and then do it again the next day. Weight is everything to me. The best purchase I made was a Estwing E45ASE 26-Inch Special Edition Camper's Axe-All Steel with Shock Reduction Grip. I probably shouldn’t say this because it’ll give up my secret, but what I find is that most campers will gather all the small wood and leave the larger dead pieces that they can’t harvest – a 28inch camper’s axe allows me to harvest wood that less experienced campers cannot. Yes, that axe weighs 3lbs but those are the very best 3lbs I carry.STEELPeople get all wrapped up around the axle over steel types for knives: S5, 1095, ATS-34, AUS8A. You can have arguments with engineers who are experts at metallurgy and you can have countless arguments with people who know nothing about steel but who will still argue that their knife is best. Just know that there are thousands of different types of steel. One of the most common knife steels out there is ANSI 1095, which is a high carbon steel that keeps a great edge. The major issue with 1095 is that it rusts easily. To combat this, the folks at Kabar have always added Chrome and Vanadium to their steel – hence 1095CV or ChroVan. It’s one of the distinguishing characteristics of Kabar – they made knives for the Marine Corps and those knives had to withstand marine environments. This Kabar is made out of 1095CV steel – which is the same as Sharon 170-06 – steel from Sharon Pennsylvania. It’s basically ANSI 1095 with a bit of Chrome, Vanadium, Nickel and Molybdenum to help protect it. So, it’s not pure 1095 but 1095+. The blade is coated to further inhibit corrosion. Will it rust? All steels rust if subjected to the right conditions. If you throw it in the ground and leave it there for two months in the rain – yes, it will rust – you can, of course, polish those rust stains out. But, if you take care of this blade, keep it sharp and clean, with maybe a drop of oil now and again, it will last three lifetimes and you’ll never have a problem.WEIGHTWhen you have a hunk of steel like this one, you’re going to pay with the weight. It weighs in at 15 ounces. That’s a pound of solid steel because the handles don’t weigh much. The sheath adds another 5 ounces – 20 ounces total. That’s heavier than my .357 Magnum Snubby – which is always at my side. By comparison, the SOG pup comes in at 5 ounces and the sheath adds another 5 ounces for a total of 50% weight savings. It bears repeating, this knife weighs as much as 3 SOG Pups and more than my .357 Magnum!! Bear in mind, my 28” camping axe weighs 46 ounces – this knife weighs 20 ounces. If you give me a choice of taking my axe or this knife, I will take the axe every day of the week.If you’re a light camper that is concerned with weight, this knife weighs you down. If you’re a diehard survivalist, you’ll gladly carry it.FIGHTINGQuite realistically, you are not going to fight with this knife. It’s too heavy. As a trained knife fighter, I’d say that the full size KA-BAR Full Size US Marine Corps Fighting Knife, Straightor even the SOG Pup are better knives for fighting. This thing is a brute…you could use it as a hatchet maybe and crack a skull or a femur but you can find better fighting knives. Of course, if I’m fighting a Grizzly Bear or the Alien Predator from the Schwarzenegger movies, and I’ve lost my rifle and gun, this is the knife I want in my hands when they find my dismembered body.SHEATHThis new nylon sheath is much more in line with a high quality sheath for this knife than the previous generation. It does have a kydex-like liner to protect the nylon, just like the SOG sheath, and it has an outer pocket which is perfect for a fire starter magnesium block. I love that the belt loop is held together with Velcro (hook and loop) and with a snap closure, so I don’t have to take off my belt to don this. It also comes with a variety of attach points that you can use to latch this to an Alice pack or for you to use paracord to strap this to your leg, if you so choose. It’s a really nice sheath in my opinion.Basically, the BK2 had the old sheath and the BK22 has the new sheath. I recommend the new model.THE LAWIn my state, it is illegal to carry a knife whose blade is 5” or longer. Because this knife is 5.25”, you would need a weapons carry license to lug this bad boy around the woods. I am a licensed carrier so I can carry this knife but I always check up on my laws and the laws of the states I visit. The last thing you want is to go camping and wind up with a felony weapons charge. Know your knives and know your knife laws. The SOG pup’s blade is 4.75” which makes it easier to carry without legal entanglements. Personally, I think it’s ridiculous to have laws of this sort but they exist – ignore them at your grave peril.WHO SHOULD CARRY THIS KNIFE- If your name is Arnold Schwarzenegger, you should carry this knife- If your name is Vin Diesel, aka Riddick, you should carry this knife- If your name is The Mountain, from Game of Thrones, you should carry this knife- If your name is Quartermain’s towering travel companion, you should carry this knife- If you are a guide in Alaska, you should carry this knife- If you are a bush craft master and a knife is the only tool you are allowed to take into the woods, take this knife- If you drive a Hummer or an F250, you should carry this knife- If you want to impress a bunch of 5-year-old boy scouts, you should carry this knife- When the Zombie apocalypse hits, carry this knife- If you are a red-blooded American, you should carry this knife.

I ordered the BK22 the other day and received it today. I opened the box which was sealed at both ends and when I took the protective sleeve off the blade it wasn’t a BK22 😳 it’s a BK2 with the BK22 sheath. After doing some research I found out that the only difference in a BK2 and a BK22 is the sheath. The BK2 is supposed to come with a plain plastic sheath. What I got was the nylon sheath with the front pouch that the BK22 comes with. Not a deal breaker but still strange. Another thing that was odd is the coating on the blade is smooth. Not rough like my BK9. Only thing I could find online was that it may be an older model BK2. I’m not really sure what’s going on. I don’t think it’s a fake but part of me is saying it could be. I guess I’ll email KA-BAR and ask them what’s going. Unless it’s a fake I am over all impressed with knife. Pictures don’t give it justice of how beefy this thing is. When you hold it, it just feels like you could chop a tree down with it. I’ve seen some reviews that said it was too heavy but I like the weight of it. It feels extremely durable.

I normally do not chose a KA-Bar as my first choice for anything. However, this knife has changed that completely. People complain that the sheath is not perfect however i think its great. You have to remember that you didn't just pay $300 for a knife and awesome sheath. This BK-22's updated sheath is sturdy and even has a pocket large enough to carry a small survival kit. The coating on the knife was quickly and cost effectively changed to a custom Cerakote job in my case to prevent rust and keep the knife almost maintenance free (any knife you get needs to be maintained just as you would a gun or it will rust). I changed the scales immediately to a set of custom wood scales that are pretty cool as far as looks go but don't perform well (just personal preference). You can get the several different set of scales for the knife or if you don't want to spend any money you can stipple the stock ones and have a bad set of grips for free.Back to the knife. This thing is amazing as any educated you tube search will show you. You could tear down a house with this thing. Its heavy and durable for the big jobs and yet nimble when it comes to fine work. I can not say enough good about this knife and truly made the changes that I did for fun, not because they had to be done.Some will say that you "have" to change grips or the coating and then you are in the same price range as the better knives, but to me that is just laziness. I would have done the same changes to the expensive knives as well just because i cant leave anything alone.Conclusion, Buy this knife as this collection has completely converted me. If you do not like the grips stipple them yourself its free, put a little mineral oil on the blade every now and again and you will have the most capable knife you could ever want for the rest of your life.(blade came absolutely razor sharp and the difference between this and the BK-2 is the sheath/finish. This sheath will not dull your knife)Amazing knife BUY BUY BUY!!!!!