Hey everyone, David C. Andersen here coming at you from the
KnifeCenter. And today is day number one of blade show 2023.
And we've got two new Becker knife and tool designs to talk
about today. We've got, we got the chance to interview Ethan
Becker a few months ago back at the Shot Show, actually, but now
that this weekend that both of these products have been
officially unveiled, we get to show him to you now. So we're
gonna cut right back to the past now to our interview with my
good friend Ethan Becker. Ethan, good to see you.
Good to see you, boss.
Absolute always we've got a new fixed blade, and a new folder to
talk about. Yeah, I'm gonna, I'm just gonna turn it over to you.
Let me let you say what you would like to say.
That's a dangerous thing to do. All right. As long as you accept
responsibility,
it's all it's all on us. It's Thomas's fault.
Okay. So this is our new folder, which is a smaller version of
our other folder. That's a liner lock. D2 blade. The clips can be
changed around top to bottom right to left. So anyway you
like to carry? We're good. This is just a nice size. Yeah. If I
had to do over again, we would have introduced this one first.
And I've been carrying the big one every day. And because I
were 511 pants all the time. It's not that's not a big deal.
But for most people, it's too big for EDC. This to me is an
absolutely perfect EDC size.
Yeah. About a three inch blade. Little bit thinner. Yep, than
the bigger one. And I like that you went with D2 as kind of the
starting point on that. Yeah, rather than the stainless.
Really good.
It'll do. It'll do what it's supposed to.
Well, it's still, you talked before about the large one kind
of, obviously being a very Becker design, but taking a
little bit of inspiration from the sod buster. Yeah, like the
classic, just hard working basic pocket knife. Yep, it feels
good. I like for my hand size. I like this kick up at the back
you and I've talked about that before where the pinkie likes to
catch that. And you can really manipulate the blade, turn it
this way and that and still get a full grip on it when choked
up. Just
it's really a three finger knife for people with big hand. But
three fingers is all you need. Yeah. You know? Yeah. So if you
want a four finger knife, you need a longer knife. And you
sell one. Yes. There is one available finger. We got it for
you, buddy.
No, that's cool. I like the pinch grip here, right behind
the pivot. The way that the swells work that makes a really
nice resting point. And I'm finding that right there.
I'm really looking forward to spending a lot of time with this
one I've had. I've had one for a few months. And of course,
because it was a pre production prototype. The liner didn't
quite register properly. It was always a little nervous, but
it's a nice play.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I love the shape. And again, just that
slightly thinner blade stock I think really sets it Yeah,
that's it over the top for me. And that's gonna be really good.
Everybody knows each and loves flap for Crown flights because
they're flies here and they don't move when you're going
through food and stuff. And, or anything else and. And it's
ground high enough that it's nice and slides. Yeah. Yeah, for
sure. The whole point of a knife is to cut stuff.
Some people forget that sometimes. I have. I didn't say
it.
Well, nobody's perfect. And certainly nobody has ever
accused me of perfection. Talk to my all my ex wives.
I've talked to one of them. Yeah, yeah. Speaking of flat
grinds and slicey-ness
Yes. Okay, I got to preface this. This is my take on an S
mug. And it's a BK 19 It's full height ground. The actual
profile is actually quite, quite thin. slicey thin. And because
it's made from Cold Rolled 1095 It's still plenty tough. When I
first got into business, I was scared to death of two things.
One is somebody would break one of my knives and they In German,
I know I can break anything. You give me a five pound sledge
hammer and watch out. So but but still choice is still very
important. And a cold rolled 1095 as has a better a better
grain structure. And a cro-van, that little bit of extra
chromium and vanadium makes a heck of a difference. And I
think I told you, I haven't done any destructive testing on this
one yet. But this guy, not this particular night, but one of its
brothers or sisters, I drove into 1095 or drove drove into
drove into endgrain, white oak to work just wouldn't pop out.
And when I bent, we got over 45 degrees of flux before failure.
And if you haven't figured out you're about to break your knife
after 30 degrees, you probably deserve a broken
but of course, being made by K bar, they'll probably take care
of you.
Oh, well, they will. Yeah. But but it's, it's a great, it's a
great steal. And the difference between hot rolled and Cold
Rolled estates. And a cro-van does really make a difference. I
didn't always believe that. But I have become a believer. I
mean, regular 1095 is okay. So, but this is just a little bit
extra. And we buy our steel from the from Germany, because they
have the best chemistry this this week.
So I'm a fan of this blade shape. You and I have had many
conversations about nessmuk blade over the years. I imagine
my surprise when you showed Well I
knew you were I was gonna get a lot of grief about but I guess
if you think about it, he's in backpedaling here. There is no,
it's just like there are no bad children only bad parents. So I
figured that somewhere in that blade shape. There was a real
knife part of this guy's is me giving him the res
well, well taken. No, I think this is great, though. It's
definitely more of a backery take on nessmuk It's a little
pointy er than many interpretations out there.
And you there's a reason there's a point on a night. I mean, it
really is and I've I've my knives have gotten over the
years I've gotten thinner. And they've gotten point here.
Because frequently you want to use the point drill through
water whatever. That's if you only if you've forgotten your
swiss army knife with a diesel was it's all on it. Yeah. So but
it's it's it has it has appointed. What's his face? told
me one day about the 16th. He said you can't get nut meats
out.
And tips a little too broad or Yeah.
And I'm on like Miss Walker. Brian Griffin. Yeah. Gave me a
lot of grief about it. Yeah. And I, I took it to heart, because
for all his faults, he knows that occasionally. They
occasionally know something I don't write, though. Well, yeah,
you
definitely got a little more point with this one. The full
flat grind on this is going to make it slightly easier than the
18th or the 16th, of course. And one of the details I like
especially is the distal taper. Yeah. Coming down from the
spine. So your thickest here at the back. thinning out towards
the tip. I'm not telling you anything you don't know. But for
the folks out there at home, of course, that's going to be
really nice for those those more fine cuts you want to make with
the tip
didn't weigh anything. Yeah. Yeah. I and there are a lot of
factors. I never forgot. I was having a couple of beers with
some other designers and with a good buddy of mine who had been
an arrangers and Charlie Randers was Vietnam. And we were
discussing how to build a better Ka-bar. Because that was
everybody's everybody's go to and still is the go to for many
and it's not a bad night. It's a great night actually. And so I
was talking and of course, I was thinking the ticker. This is 30
years ago and I was thinking on ticker and I was thinking this
and think of that. And Steve, it was Steve deck and Steve said to
me, he said an infantry man doesn't need any more goddamn
weight. IE, if you're carrying 120 pound pack, you don't want
to add an extra two pounds. Yeah, I know as a backpacker.
Yeah. You don't want any extra weight. I mean, I never was to
the point of pulling the paper off the tea bag, right? Just say
weight. Right, right. But I know people who did and they have a
point. I mean, it's a matter and this is and this by the way is a
great is you know, if you're this then you can really process
food well, and we all think about and, and a knife should be
capable of doing hard work. I always say a small knife ought
to do the work of a big knife with a baton a big knife, but to
be able to do the work of a small knife and took one on my
vacay patrol machetes one time. 14 inch blade Yep. and built a
bow and a complete fire kit because it was ground all the
way back and you could you catch up on it. I was doing it in a
crowded garage with a bunch of other guys and I got more room
than anybody else.
This sounds like something our good buddy Joe flowers would be
doing over in the other hall right now probably
Yeah, exactly.
So you're right i mean the the slicing this year will let you
do all that food prep stuff, but it's still got the strength and
to the weight comment you made like all the mid size Becker's I
think there's certainly lighter weight knives out there if
you're really going for like the ultra light thing, right. But
for a good compromise between being weight conscious, but
still having robust, quote unquote, survival knife
capabilities have always been a good choice. Yeah. Yeah. And I
know which ones at the top of my list. Now, of course.
How did I put it. But it feels very nice. It's really
same same sheet as the as the
same sheet. And I've frequently said, and I can brag on the
sheets heavily, because I didn't design it. But I've always I've
said many times, nobody buys a knife for the sheet. But if they
were gonna buy a knife for the sheet, this would be the sheet.
Because you can flip everything around us. You can take the
hardware allen wrench and turn everything right to left. And
when you're working around camp, as you know, you're pulling it
in and out. Because if you're smart, you never put the knife
down on the ground somewhere because a few leaves will cover
it up. And you'll spend a lot of time finding it and maybe won't,
right.
So maybe your fingers will before. Yes.
kicking around is probably a better idea. So anyway, this has
got an easy innie-outie, and it's very solid. There's no
rattle. Easy out is the end. And for round camp, you don't have
to use a strap to make it secure. Just guarantees that
then it's not going to catch on anything on a trail. So
even if it did, you've still got the retention, you've still got
the retention. And I know you've told me this as well. I mean,
your neck knife here is a perfect example of the way you
might like to use this nice flat area to strap on some extra
extra goodies that we've gone through before we can touch on
it real briefly.
I stole this idea from Dave McIntyre, who won in a long
series a second year, a great fellow by the way. And so just a
piece of bike inner tube. button light. Good compass. This was
the best button compass. I know I was made by Suunto. They're
expensive, but they last longer. And then we've got a fire,
little fires ferrocerium and magnesium rod here. And we have
a little sharpener little sharpen fish ups as well as your
knife.
Any nice small, especially small flat goodies that you're gonna
have along for
the ride. The total weight is about three and a half ounces.
Yep. So you're
right on that sheet and a great platform on the big guy too.
Yeah.
And you can do it on any night. She's, but your debt works best
if it's on a backer sheet.
Of course. Awesome why I did both of these. I'm definitely
buying both of these, I'm sure. Thanks for taking time to show
it to us.
Hey, you know me,
I do I get
to talk about, especially my time.
Absolutely every single time, David. Thank you folks, if
you're watching this video, that means if these aren't available
yet, they are going to be available very soon. Hopefully,
when this video is up, we will have these available, at least
for preorder on the KnifeCenter website. You can check the link
in the description take you over to our Becker knife and tool
page. And if we're not here yet, just keep an eye out here and on
our social media channels. I think they're winners. Thanks
guys even thank you so much.
Thank you appreciate Always a pleasure.