Kudos to Ka-Bar

About this time last year a really good friend of mine gave me a gift. It was completely unexpected, in fact it knocked my socks off. He gave me a Becker BK2 Campanion knife made by Ka-Bar Knives, Inc. This knife is awesome to say the least. (Thanks W! I know you'll read this so I just want to say that I love and appreciate this knife quite a bit!) It weighs in at about one pound has a 5.25" length blade and an over-all length of 10.5".

Trust me, it's a big knife.

The BK2 Campanion (yes, it is Campanion, not companion) is one of the most comfortable fixed blade knives I've used. Even though it is heavy the handle is contoured just right and fits in the hand perfectly giving you control and confidence. The back of the blade is 1/4" thick allowing you to use the knife as a wedge, beating on it with a bludgeon if necessary. The knife is sharp enough for field dressing a carcass but also strong enough to break a joint when quartering. It just is a great knife.

But that's not the kudos that I want to give Ka-Bar. Please keep reading after the jump!


If you notice in the below photo, there's something funky going on with the tip of the sheath.

A crack, and a sad, sad attempt at fixing it.

The day after Christmas I pulled my BK2 out of storage (my bedside table) and I was getting ready to strap it to my day pack for a hike the following day. That's when I noticed the big crack across the tip of the sheath. I was puzzled because there had been no damage to the sheath when I had gotten it out just a few months prior. Upon further inspection I found out what had caused this crack.

The sheath is made of two hard plastic shells fastened together. The front of the sheath is contoured to fit the knife, the back piece though is flat. Apparently the back piece started to curl away from the front piece and this caused enough stress to split the front piece at the tip of the sheath.

I was honestly pissed about this because the knife is so damn nice. The crack isn't a real huge problem, even if the tip of the sheath came completely off the knife would still be protected, but cosmetically it looked bad, especially after I tried to fix it. I sat down and brought up Ka-Bar's site and filled out the email form on their "Contact Us" page.

Like I said, this was the day after Christmas and I really didn't expect to hear from anyone for about a week. You can imagine then my pleasant surprise when I received a very nice email that Wednesday from a customer service representative apologizing for the problem and requesting my mailing address so that I could receive a replacement sheath.

That sheath was hanging from my door handle (in a box of course) when I arrived home this evening. That's 8 days from the date of my email WITH the holidays and everything!

Sheath Front

Sheath Back

This sheath is a bit different design than my old one. The old one would accept the knife with the sharp edge toward either side whereas this sheath the knife only goes in one way. The new one does allow you to switch the side that the belt loop attaches to enabling you to carry the knife however it bests suits you. The new sheath is also much, MUCH stiffer than the old sheath which makes me wonder how I'm going to attach it to my backpack. The old one I'd weave through the tension straps on one side of my pack. This enabled me to reach behind with my right hand, while wearing the pack, and draw the knife if I needed it. I don't think the new sheath will allow a one-handed draw. I hope that it loosens up a bit with use.

Well that's my experience with the Becker BK2 Campanion so far. It is a great knife and I am very impressed with Ka-Bar Knives, Inc for their fast and courteous response to a very minor issue. I am going to look at more Ka-Bar knives in the future based solely on this experience.

Until next time, happy hiking and take care!

~Occasional Hyker