Ka-Bar BK11 Becker Necker Neck Knife , Black

I was looking for a small EDC fixed blade. I looked hard at Tops Iraq JAC and Bagdad Box Cutter. I looked very closely as the Esse Izula series as well. Obviously I looked at the BK 11, also the 14. In the end, it came down to cost VS quality and that is why I bought the BK11. I paid $35, VS the 60$ to 75$ for the Esse and Tops. For me the BK11 was the better choice when comparing cost against performance. I acknowledge the quality of the other top brands, and I had to buy a 10$ TDI clip so 45$ total to carry it securely. The others have clips on their sheaths. That was part of back and forth between the three. In the end the BK won on a cost to quality ratio.The knife is very nicely finished. It was sharp out of the box but needed stopping to finish the edge. The sheath is excellent, even minus a clip. I like the manual lock on the sheath, others may not. Security is important to me and I know this knife will not be easily taken out of the sheath by others during a scuffle.The blade is thick enough to stand up to semi hard use, has a decent handle length for a small neck/belt EDC blade. I was disappointed in the cost of the Kabar Micarta scales at 30$. I used the cordage to wrap the handle and plan to make my own scales for the blade.Overall I am very happy with this product and I would buy it again and would recommend to others. Knives are very personal items and each person should do their research and then buy whatever fits your needs and budget. I can't imagine anyone hating this knife, its very functionally solid and shouldn't break, bend or lose its tip if used as intended. Bottle opener and wire breaker are nice additions to a good piece of HC steel.

I love this little knife! Pound for pound and dollar for dollar, you'd be hard pressed to find a better quality blade.The knife: the knife itself is amazing quality. I didn't think I'd like the finish but I really like it. It reminds me of a fine grit Rhino Lining and feels very durable. Have not tried the bottle opener or "wire breaker" yet but I've watched some YouTube videos and the bottle opener seems to work great, but no one can quite figure out the wire breaker. Not an issue though as I didn't buy this knife for that capability, I have a multitool. Lastly, the "stamp" is truly what looks like laser etching into the finish and isn't actually stamped into the blade metal itself. Not a big deal to me, but if your big on a "stamp" for whatever reason, you may be disappointed.The sheath: great quality plastic and the knife fits in like a glove. Some of the videos I've seen show the knife jiggling when fully seated. My unit does not have this issue and when seated is in extremely tight with absolutely no movement. I'm sure it has something to do with being brand new and having a full, non-nicked finish but still no wiggle. I've also tested by viggorously shaking, my arm got tired and the knife happy stayed in place. Also, I included a finger hole in my wrap so I can jerk out of the sheath and it takes a good yank to get it out. The jury is out on the lock, however. It's bulky and while it works, I'm not sure I'll keep it on since the blade is so secure in its sheath already. It is easily removable with one 5/16th wrench.The "550" chord: ok, this is not really 550 chord. It's the only thing that comes with the unit that is not authentic. It's 550 chord material wrapped around what is essentially a shoelace rather than the 7 - 9 strands that make up real 550 chord. As you see in the photos, I used it to do my wrap and I was able to do the wrap and a neck lanyard with what was provided for demo. If you just want a chord for wrapping, solely for the purpose of adding a grip it'll work just fine (as depicted), but if you want a wrap that doubles as reliable chord in a bind, you'll want to get real 550, I'll be switching it out with true 550 chord. Also, if you're new to skeleton style knives and want to wrap yours you can play around with it to make your own or there are plenty of how-to's on YouTube.Again, really nice knife and I can't recommend it highly enough.

I've been carrying an ESEE Izula for quite some time now and really enjoy carry a neck knife, and truly appreciate the added versatility that carrying a fixed blade gives as opposed to carrying a folder. Being a fan of the Izula, I naturally discovered that ESEE had collaborated with Kabar to design the EsKabar neck knife with incorporates the Izula's hand design with the Becker Necker's blade design. Since I already owned the ESEE Izula and have given it tons of use in the woods, I figured I would try something a little different and pick up the Becker Necker. I've owned a number of Becker products in the past and have never been disappointed, so naturally I had high hopes for this knife as well!This knife was no disappointment! Upon receiving the knife, I immediately noticed that it came from the factory with a beautifully sharp and symmetrical blade grind! Nice job Kabar! I then took a few moments to wrap the handle with some trusty 550 paracord and then quickly took to the woods to test this knife out! It handles batoning tasks great, as long as your reasonable and don't try to do anything stupid like baton knotted wood, or baton ridiculous logs of course! Kabar's 1095 CroVan steel held it's edge very admirably and got plenty of work done without needing to be touched up! The grip is more or less a 3-finger grip, but quite comfortable! I didn't find there to be any bad hot-spots or major discomfort while using the knife. However, keep in mind that this style of knife is not designed to be used for hours upon hours of whittling either!One of the tasks I put this knife through was fabricating an Arapuca Bird Trap from saplings in the forest. Then I crafted a figure-4 deadfall to trigger the trap. The knife made easy work of this task, and was a real pleasure to use! The blade size is very nice - not too big, not too small. The blade is small enough to make it convenient for neck carry, yet at the same time not so small to inhibit it's usefulness as a survival knife! As an added bonus, this knife was designed with 2 extra features that the EsKabar and Izula don't have; a bottle opener and wire breaker! I can't honestly say I have found myself in any situations where I've needed to break wire, but I've already put the bottle opener through it's paces, and it works just fine!Overall, I absolutely love this knife! Some people complain the the sheath is a bit too large for neck carry, but I've been carrying this knife for nearly a month now with no issues whatsoever! I did however choose to immediately remove that new added retention lever that Kabar has added to the corner of the sheath. I find it to be way too big and clunky if you plan to carry this knife as a neck knife. I also have no issue with this knife printing under my shirt either. I would highly recommend this knife!Update: I just recently decided to remove the paracord wrap from the handle because I wanted to start using this knife in more "food prep" application to see how it performs, and the paracord would present real problems as far as sanitation goes... (Good luck trying to get raw chicken juice out of paracord!). Anyways, I decided to cut up an apple for my yellow lab, Henry, and I to have for a snack today. The knife performed quite well, and certainly can pull off any task that a paring knife could be used for. Obviously a knife like this isn't the most ideal blade for food prep due to it's thick blade stock, however it certainly gets the job done! I will try to post more shots of my BK11 in action! Stay tuned!