Real Becker BK-16 Testing. It Could Not Have Done Worse…
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- How will the real thing compare to the $13 Chinese BK-16 clone I recently tested? Take a look. I don't know what to say...
BK-16 clone test • SHOCKING! Is this BK-1...
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sometimes it is not more expensive because of high quality.
Sometimes (almost always) its more expensive just because the company says so.
insanely cynical take imo. I would agree that in this case this knife is riding off the recognisable name, "made in america" and the recognisable steel. Not the standard though in my experience.
In EU these are about 50% more pricy, 150€! I never got why a plain carbon steel would be that costly, pretty insane. Thanks for the test. Sub 55HRC is just too soft, you just end up with edge retention every cheap gas station 420/3Cr knife can beat.
Yep 👍
That is really nuts. I didn't know what to make of the rope test. It was just really weird.
54 Rockwell carbo steel...I wouldn't expect that to do well at all. I would want to see it at around 59-60 Rockwell
Oh boy oh boy, this gonna be a spicy one I can tell.
Nice self-edit on the rope cutting 😅
I guess we add Ka-Bar to the list of companies that dropped off after they made their name. Sad.
I got an ESEE 6 last year I haven't used yet. I'm not doing all of the fancy tests like you, Steve, but I'm curious how it will do with just some playing around and unnoficial tests. I'll be disappointed if I spend $100 on a turd.
Too soft, while I'm not a fan of 1095 for a lot of reasons, if you can get it properly hard its really quite decent. Course if you're only aiming at the mid 50's HRC then just go get some 1074-75 which will do that and still be tough enough to deal with most things that has a human attached to its handle. But for a hundred murrican burgerbucks its a little on the pricey side despite the attractive sheath and it really can't be that hard to make the handles fit properly with the tang. I mean really, if you're going to the effort of mass production just make them flush fitting its not a big ask for the money
I was disappointed to say the least. This was $15 knife performance for $105.
Yeah, I don't get why companies use 1095 then run it so soft.
Lower carbon steel would be a better choice if they were trying to achieve toughness.
@krissteel4074 Yeah itcshould be around 59-60 in my opinion. I can see the reasoning for keeping some of the larger blades in the stated 56-58 range simply for toughness, but like you said, just use some 1070-1080 in that case. All that carbon is being wasted with a 54 Rockwell heat treat. That would be low for 1070 in my opinion. 1055 can easily achieve 54 and be super tough at the same time. Unfortunately, these companies know the average buyer and market for these focus way too much on steel type and not nearly enough on heat treat. Without a good heat treat, even the best steels are pretty much junk
Wow! Ka-bar claims the 1095 Cro-van on the BK-16 is 56 - 58 HRC on their website. That's pretty under-spec even from their stated lower range, and they gave themselves a 2 HRC range to work with. Seems like poor QA/QC imo.
Or they know their knives are now used for abusive things like batoning wood. They start heat treating it like an axe because that's essentially how most people use Beckers now...
I get knives that do weird stuff like that on edge retention testing. Had one last night that couldn't do the paper cut, hit almost 600 on the edge tester but still cut up cardboard with clean edges. Normally the cardboard cut quality goes first. My BK40 has some weird heat treatment stuff going on as well, that thing just REFUSES to get very sharp.
It's true, I seent tit!
Wouldn’t be surprised if it’s from the same factory as the clone.
Isn't the real Becker made in the USA?
😂
クローンの劣化版...
I was just thinking the same damn thing
No it doesn't. I've bought quite a few blades off AliExpress and if you're diligent, you can get some "decent" clones or unique models but they don't come from the same factory unless the original is made in China, then that could be a possibility.
With any knife made outside of China, they just buy the original and make templates from it and then cut out blanks and use a mill or cnc to cut the bevels in. Some more "handmade" brands, they might just grind them individually on a belt grinder.
99% of my knives are authentic from the real company because I would much rather support the actual company then people ripping off their designs but I did buy quite a few on Ali out of curiosity and because of the cheap prices.
Hello, more than a month ago I did the heat treatment for the BK16 and BK19 from AliExpress... the second attempt turned out great (it bit Esee 4 on the edge without problems) and it surpassed the BK19 that came well from the factory... the Chinese do not sell a D2 or a CPM in a Fake (I tell you this because I check Ali knives constantly) with luck you get a 5cr15, but usually it will be a 4cr13 or 15 which would be an AISI420 (tempered correctly you can reach 56HRC like I did...) the soft blades will be 3cr13 softer than AISI420 and closer to AISI410 ... greetings from Chile
Ive been watching Cristian’s channel for a few months and I can confirm his tests with my tests. Even Kizer’s 154cm performs at about 440c Ganzo level and most unknown Aliexpress fake knives and others perform well under this at 420 level and 55hrc. This also includes a d2 KHU knife from Amazon…..it isn’t d2.
You could just sharpen some mild steel if you wanted to saw that much through rope
Correct
Great job ❤
I carry a bk16 at work. Upgraded sheath to kydex immediately. I cut open boxes and cut pvc pipe with it. It is the perfect size to not scare people around town and the perfect thickness to pry something apart or dig a hole while still retaining the ability to slice. I make around 30 cuts a day and hand sharpen on stones once a week. I have no complaints with my kabar.
Awesome testing, Steve! Thanks! 😃
But yeah, the fake one performed better! That's indeed a surprise!
Anyway, stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
Thanks, you too!
This is why I don't look at name brands anymore.
I bought a Ganxo knife from amazon and it is awesome.
You mean Ganzo? Good knives.
Have you reviewed the white River Ursus 45 like this? Or the Architect 4.5?
I wish the white river wasn’t so expensive
@ good point. Same.
Wow. This is why I make my own.
The BK-9 is good for wood processing. I use a saw to cut the wood to length. The whole "Bush Crafting" deal seems like a lot of work to me.
Lighter + cotton balls & Vaseline. You can push the wood into the fire 3 feet at a time when the fire is going.
The use case is very hard to find for the BK-16. If the knife came in 3v and was the perfect HRC, what do you use it for???
Was not expecting that knife to be that bad, very interesting.
PS: I had a little discussion with Jeff Randall via Email about my Esee 4, same as you... why sell a neutered 1095? ...just to prevent it from breaking when someone pries it... But who pries a 10cm or 4.5" blade knife? ...with Esee 6 it's understandable because of the blade length, but with Esee 4 of course not (we want edge retention and strength) ...so in my comparison: original Esee 4 vs Fake Esee 4 from AliExpress (Fake Esee won) ..that's why it's even sold in US stores (the counterfeit)
I was going to send you this video and here you are.
@@michaelwaldeck7081 lol
I pry apart wood pallets with my bk16 all the time. If it was considered socially acceptable to carry my bowie around town I would but it's not. Just because you are delicate with your knives doesn't mean everybody else is.
@@Cal4mity I only use tools for what they are made for... I didn't know knives were levers
@ in the real world there isnt always time to go grab the "correct tool". A sturdy bar of steel is great for prying even if sharpened into a knife. Don't be so afraid to actually use your knife. Or perhaps you're a hobbyist or collector and your lifestyle doesnt really necessitate a fixed blade.
I wonder if they've changed manufacturing standards since I bought my BK-7 almost 15 years ago. That thing has survived some serious torture over the years with aplomb. I will say, though, that when I got it I immediately replaced the handle scales with stabilized hardwood ones - but mostly for the look and grip characteristics than any particular dislike of the stock ones.
This is what happens when a knife company knows their product is being used for things a knife isn't for. Like batoning wood and being abused. They start heat treating it for toughness instead of edge retention. 54 Rockwell is like axe territory. I would want to see this knife around 60
Great explaination
I put a 20 degree edge on mine, seems to be much better then when I first got it
This video tells me few things:
1 - Becker has some serious QC issues
2 - I've made a better choice buying a BK-18 clone (more likely than not in 5cr13)
3 - you have to reheat the original as well... as soon as your blisters heal ofcouse =)
I dislike hardness files for testing I’ve never found them to be accurate enough.
So far they’ve matched right up with my tester.
@ maybe it was my set but there always seems to be a very subjective 3 hrc range either higher or lower.
Did you test factory edges first?
the use of 1095 is odd, because it wont fully harden unless its quenched in water, which i know theyre not doing for the bk-16. Its 5-7 hrc just left on the table. They could make the carbon steel work if they had a thinner geometry too. 1095 isnt tough for a carbon steel, but its head and shoulders above cheaper stainless steels so it could handle a lower edge angle and thinner bte thickness and beat the edge retention of a higher alloy tool with a worse heat treat even though the abrasion resistance is way less.
As a company, being afraid of people going on youtube and batoning their knife through a nail and going "this knife is crap everyone" if it fails is a legitimate fear if your market is not knife enthusiests who know better. Other than that, is bet this exact knife could be sharpened to 35 degrees and only stand to gain in every test. and maybe 30 if youre not doing anything extreem. The good news is that the edge angle is meant to be modified by the user. I wonder how well of an all rounder this knife could actually be if one just lazily adjusted the edge angle one or two times to be inbtween ideal for their most common and second most common task.
idk, i love 1095 so much and want it to be viable for knife makers engineering a product, but it really seems like its just for knives as a form of art (hobby makers, forgings, hamons, etc). It just doesnt make any financial sense, the work, risk, and extra processes it would take to have a 1095 knife perform better than a cheap stainless or tool steel would be vastly outweighed by the cost of paying 40% more for a more highly alloyed steel, and the one time cost of the heat treating equiptment for it in a production setting.
it seems to me like knife steel doesnt even matter for cheaper knives at all bc the heat treatment and geometry are all whack. a $100 1095 knife is a perfect opportunity to dial those things in on a cheap steel and have it perform twice as good as the clone.
fellas, knife makers with low equiptment. just use apex ultra. The heat treat proceedure is the same as plain carbon steels, you retain all the toughness, and minimum double the edge retention, and the cost increase in the steel is nothing in comparison to the cost of actually producing the knife with either steel.
Could you test the ~$15-20 Morakniv now? I’m mostly just curious but it’d be more work for you so
Nuts!
Sure as.... heck
Another quality usa made knife 😂
Ufff.... that rope cutting looked painful :D
Overall its a bit "annoying" knife, on paper look ok but in usage not really, steel is kept weirdly soft, probably to prevent users from breaking it, build quality on par with... alliexpress knife except steel it self... but not really... really mixed bag
wow only 54hrc
Kabar have been konda junk since at least the late 90s...i got one then and found they werent great and seemed to only get worse as they went forward
I've seen many over the years where the steel didn't feel or look right(like a Gerber) and the fit and finish had a flaw or two, but I've had one mini in some kind of stainless hold up great through light use over 15 years. Birds, fish, tape/boxes, and occasionally being thrown into wood.
Holy shit. Thats rockwelled at 54sh? Thats awful!!
Your just paying for the Brand name, not actual quality.
Sadly it happens more often than you'd think.
A high price tag is no guarantee of a better product anymore.
Butter knife lol
Essee - A genuine Made in America knife. 1095 with a Lifetime warranty. All the best to you in 2025.
Your speeded up chopping sequence reminded me of Jamie Summers trying to keep up with a recipe on the TV ...not suggesting you look like Lyndsey Wagner but its been on my mind for a while
for $100 I am scandalised ...... my knives perform better than that and I'm not a knife maker by any means. #BeckerBK16 should be ashamed of that mess and the sheath too..