KA-BARBecker BK9 Combat Bowie Fixed Blade Knife , Black

I purchased this blade back in 2018 for only $89. since then the knife has become my working model to develop an under 3 pound survival kit as it went through a great deal of upgradesthe knife itself is well designed to function as a one tool option, that can function like a light hatchet, small machete, fighting Bowie, a Shingle Froe for shelter building, and trail clearing knife.The bevel angle is its shining feature allows you to make smooth cuts without much resistance. most knives fail cause the bevel angle is too steep.in my experience this is still the #1 knife i recommend for people who hate knives but are looking for a knife to put in their bug out emergency bag. The trail master comes in at a close second but because that knife is $250-300 dollars few non knife fans want to pay that much.the follow upgrades i made1. handle KA-BAR BK77BLKHNDL Becker Black Micarta Handle Set for Lg Beckers found on amazon2. kydex sheath i bought on eBay from a seller named rbagwell2. He makes great affordable sheaths for the Kbar knife be sure to buy the sheath that has holes on both sides for attaching equipment the taco style sheath wont allow you to lash a molle system pockets on both ends3. pouch is WYNEX Tactical Knife Sheath Bag, Molle Flashlight Holster Pouch found on amazon for $11 these pouches are amazing at adding extra items for survival. Ive purchased at least 10 of them over the course of 7 years4. loops are IWB Soft Belt Loops - w/Heavy Duty Rubberized Nylon Pull-The-Dot Security Snaps & Mounting Hardware i use this to allow the molle pouch to attach to the sheath or you can use paracord but with the loops you can easily snap off the sheatheverything put together is 2.7 pound now i don't carry 3 pounds on one side of my hip the system is attached together for storage in a car or home but once used you remove the pouch and attach it to the opposite side of your belt so your knife and sheath 1.5 pounds sits on one side, and the pouch 1.2 pounds; is on the other side of your hipthe items i sore in my pouch are1. bobby pins2. safety pins3. oil for the knife4. ceramic rod5. diamond rod6. 2x mini ferro rod and long high speed steel striker7. Corona AC 8300 sharpener8. $1 store rubber coated grip gloves9. 2x mini Bic lighters10. 40x matches with strikers11. mini pry bar12. 4x scalpels with plastic handle13. small army tweezers14. military can opener15. Tactical Credit Card Axe with arrow head16. pen flash light with batteries storm proof by COAST from home depot17. BBTO Jute Tinder Tube Waterproof Wax Wick18. 1x Carabiner holds 100lbs19. jig saw blades (you can dremel cut and make a handle using a $1 kitchen knife from Walmart)

I got one of the newer (current) models from Amazon (powder coat, laser printed), with prime, everything came fast.My rating is FOR THE KNIFE, the sheath I would score a 1-2 stars tops, and I will cover after the knife.I am giving this knife a score of 5 out of 5 for the following reasons:1: Aesthetics: Its a damn fine looking blade, it's not elegant, or sweeping, it is brutal and utilitarian, but not without a kind of Masculine charm. Pull it free from it's sheath, and you will have to fight the urge to say - Now THAT'S a knife...2: The blade is everything it's cracked up to be right out of the box. I have plans to do a lot of modding to this knife, but if you use it as is out of the box and you get one at the Quality mine came in, the blade is superb for a production knife. To do better, you would need to spend ten times as much and wait months.3: This is a proven design. The balance and geometry make it an all around big knife powerhouse. You could get a blade that might do one task better, but this knife does them all. From batoning and splitting hardwood, to chopping, to fine carving and cutting, edge retention and ergonomics, I find I have a hard time putting this down or using anything else. Pair this with a smaller detail oriented knife (like a small but razor sharp neck knife) and you have all the bases covered, Whats more, despite it's size and mass, it is still lively enough in the hand that it makes for a terrific BIG fighting knife, able to deliver cuts, thrusts and pommel smashes lightning fast, but with power and authority. While a smaller or lighter dedicated fighting knife might do better, in skilled hands, this knife would hold it's own.4: Durability seems to be everything people claim it to be, with one caveat. I do not trust the handle scales out of the box. I took the set screws apart and put locktite in them, and wrapped the grip with hockey tape. Doing that is IMHO the minimum modding you need to do if you buy this knife to ensure it will last you and be reliable.Cons:1: DAT SHEATH! I'm sorry Ka-Bar, I have seen plenty of "acceptable" Nylon sheathes, but this one is hair brained... Whoever designed it must have been trying to save money, but ended up trying to make up for the materials by over designing it... the design is just trying too hard to be too many things to too many people, With a poor combination of Velcro and snaps that all seem to work against one another. All the useless elements seem like you guys are trying to hard to polish a turd here... A simpler Sheath like on the Ka-bar Fighter2, or the normal Marine variation Ka-Bar would have been better. despite being simpler.. This sheath is a Hot mess... The cheap plastic "box" that hods the knife rattles like a snake, and the fact that it still has the secondary box sheath for the smaller neck knife just serves to remind me that it doesn't come with it anymore... If you just need something to keep it in and don't care about noise discipline or ruggedness or utility, then this won't matter to you, if it does, either buy or learn to make your own Kydex sheath, or have someone custom make something in leather.Minor nit pick - Powder coating - This stuff is a terrible choice for a blade coating for a knife like this. It makes it bind in wood, and ensures that dirt sticks to the blade... This is a nit pick because I remove the coating from all my blades. The only area where I plan to leave it intact are in the handle and pommel.Modding plans/suggestions -1: I plan to make my own Kydex sheath for this. I think it's worth learning to do for those who don't know how... its one of the easier "big mods" that pretty much anyone with an oven and 20$ worth of home depot hardware can accomplish. Also if you make your own, you can make it exactly how you want it!2: STRIP THE COATING - If you use their knives for real, you know that the black coating on almost ALL blades is garbage. I tend to leave the coating on "fighting/self offense" knives that don't see any utility use (like tactical folders, Karambits etc)... Those knives IMHO should not be used for everyday tasks the same way utility knives are. In that case the coating is an easy to maintain way to keep your blade like new for a long time. However on a utility knife like this, you really should strip the coating, and force a patina instead. This knife has a VERY rough (as in gritty sandpaper rough) texture, and binds easily when used for cutting, chopping or splitting. So unless you plan to use the blade to file your nails... strip it ASAP.3: After stripping the coating I will be forcing a patina, I plan to leave some of the coating around the handle and pommel, but the blade itself will be stripped. The patina will serve to protect it very nearly as well as the powder coat, but will be smoother. This blade IS a high carbon steel and WILL rust. But a smooth, patina on a blade will only rust if not properly cared for, or stored improperly. Still a small amount of surface rust won't destroy a blade, it just makes it look bad. You could also blue it with professional gun blue chemicals.4: Edge re profile - At some point I will sit down and really alter the edge to have a solid Convex edge, however, the edge my knife came with is one of the BEST edges I have ever seen right out of the box from any company. I can make it shaving sharp with a few minutes on my sharpening kit, but out of the box, it's very respectable, esp for a large bowie.5: Flint striker - Somewhere on the spine I need to make the edge sharp enough to throw sparks from a Swedish fire steel. This should be easy enough once stripped.6: New grip scales - There are Micarta scales for sale on Amazon that sound nice, or I could carve my own from hardwood. The scales that come with the knife are adequate, and if properly secured with locktite and hockey tape will last a long time. But I think a better handle would make this go from a 80$ blade, to a 150$ KNIFE.7: Kydex sheath... Will take this from a 150$ KNIFE, to a 200$ SYSTEM.If you read this far, thank you, and understand that sometimes a flawed item is worth 5 stars. Because after all, this blade is a bargain IMHO, and all the cons are easy to fix, and IMHO if you are buying this knife as a survival/self reliance BIG knife, then you NEED to learn to modify and improve your tools, not just buy them as is. I have never gotten a knife AS IS that was correct or perfect out of the box, even my really expensive knives needed some custom work to make them work for me with my self reliance kit/mentality.So, I think all outdoors oriented people, need to know how to make a Knife THEIR knife... When I am done, this will be as much MY knife as it is a Bk9.