I was able to pick up this very heft, sturdy looking, nice profile Ka-Bar BK-2 Companion knife in used condition for a decent price. I thought it would be a great addition to my knife family and useful in one of my various bags. Or maybe just dumped into the camping supplies to be used as needed.

The specs on the knife are as follow –

I finally had a little time to do some knife testing and put this in the group to tryout. Time came to pull it out and give it a try. Bummer!

As soon as I grabbed hold of it I noticed three things:

1. The handle was loose. While it has screws that hold the handle on the tine, why was it loose to begin with? Any good knife should not end up with a loose handle period. And the screws should not back out unless you are working on the knife and unscrewing them. So this was strike one.
2. Another thing I noticed about the handle was the handle material. It was one of the smoothest knife handles I ever held. Is that a bad thing? Of course it is. How are you going to maintain a grip on the knife it is really smooth. So I get the handle wet and it was a real pain to try and hang on to. If it was wet with body fluids from a deer or elk I can’t imagine this knife doing anything but being a slippery mess.
3. Finally, the knife is way out of balance. It is very weighted to the cutting side of the knife. Just no offsetting weight in the handle portion.

I was going to say that the sheath is decent. But once I really started looking at it I noticed it is poorly designed for use on MOLLE gear but is usable enough for belt hanging. And the snap to hold it secure, redundancy, is nice. That plastic sheath material is thin and very cheap feeling. I would imagine that it will break with little effort. There are plenty of holes and slots down both sides which will make it easy to attach to gear. With all that being said, as I handle it I can’t help but get a feeling that the plastic sheath belongs more on a $19.95 knife at Walmart.

About the blade…I am not impressed with the tip, it just isn’t sharp. By my measurements the knife is almost 1-11/16″ wide. That is really wide! The first 7/8″ is the edge and then the bevel of the blade. I like the way it splits wood. I could really pound on the blade to drive it through the wood to split it. I never worried that the blade would break or bend. On the pounding side of the blade I never saw the first little ding from pounding on it. That is nice.

I am also not crazy about the edge on the knife. Yes, I bought it used but I worked on it with my diamond sharpener but never go it to a fine sharp edge. I will try to put a better edge on it with my “WorkSharp” and will let you know how that goes.

What amazes me is the 4-1/2 star rating it got on Amazon. I just don’t understand it. But something I did find interesting is the full retail price is $127. Amazon’s price is $65. almost 1/2 the full retail price. That has  to tell you something.

When I had the handles off the knife the full tine steel blade just felt like a big ole hunk of steel. There was no feel to it of being a great knife. But I am willing to see how it feels when I get some a new handle on it.

Also, due to the sheer size of the knife I don’t see it as a hunting knife. The knife is simply too large for most hunting applications. The dang knife is bigger than a squirrel and almost the weight of a rabbit. A little too much for prepping either. Also, I don’t see it as a camping knife. Again, it is simply too large and cumbersome for most camp chores, including cooking.

The only true application I see for this knife is in a survival situation. You can hack on trees and limbs all day long. You can split wood with ease. Some might refer to it as a “bushcraft” knife and I can see that as well.

So far the only really positive to this knife…I bought it used and I don’t have that much money into it. If I had bought it retail it would have been returned as soon as I got it out of the box.

I am going to try and salvage this knife. There is a knife maker in town and I am going to talk to him about fabricating a decent handle for it. I am also going to look online for a better sheath for it. I will update you if I get either of those things done.

I am pretty brutal with my expectations. This knife failed on two fronts and that earns it a “Do not buy!” I may change my opinion once I get a new handle on. I will let you know.

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