KA-BAR BK23BP Becker Skeleton Fixed Blade Knife 3.25" Stainless Steel Blade with Black Skeleton Handle

The knife comes out of the packaging sharp and it feels good in the hands even though the handle is a little small for my hands it compensates for it. I even checked the balance on it and it is spot on. It's a cheap and affordable ka bar. It may be a $16 dollar knife but it performs like a $100 knife so you definitely get the bang for your buck.

I live in a rural area of Michigan. I have bought more than a dozen of these blanks. I have been making knives for about a year using exotic wood that I found in a barn and I have found that this blank works really well for me. Others have been ok but not as good as these. They are strong, thin, flat and have good dimensions for what I want to do. I have made diffrerent types of knives but I have settled on these BKT-KABAR blanks completely encasing the tang in wood and not letting the metal show at all. That is because the tang is rather narrow and feels too small for a man's hand. I grind off the back lanyard hole to make room for a bit more wood thickness at the rear of the handle. It is going to be covered up anyway and doesn't weaken the tang at all. It just makes the tang thinner and a more uniform width. I make my handles more or less 4.5 long, 1.125 high and .875 thick from two pieces of 2" X 1/4 exotic wood. That makes for a nice hefty handle that is just right for a small to medium - large hand size. I make little pine or oak insets for the holes in the knife that fit tightly. I tap then in with a small hammer and I tack them into place with cyanoacrylate (Super Glue) and I wipe off the excess. When dry, I scrape the glue and excess wood thickness to make the tang flat with a very sharp razor blade i got at the Dollar Tree store. Caution: Don't use the belt sander or sandpaper on the tang unless you carefully mask the blade areas. Sandpaper will damage the powder coat of the blade if it even touches it softly. I cut 5/8" (lengthwise) off each 5" X 2" X 1/4" scale and glue them together edgewise with G-Flex. I thin the third piece that I made to .005 thicker than the blade handle using many crosscuts of a radial arm saw and then I hand sand to the correct thickness. I cut out the shape of the handle in the thinned homemade piece with a bandsaw. I inlay the handle in the cutout and G-Flex it all together after drilling the holes for the pins and carefully masking all the wood with plastic painter's tape. Caution: Regular masking tape will stick to the G-Flex and will be very hard to remove. Then I use a belt sander to complete the shaping and finishing. I cover the blade portion with a thin strip of aluminum weather stripping to protect the blade from accidentally touching the sander. It will instantly remove the powder coat and you will be left with an ugly, bright shiny spot on the metal where it touched. I learned this the hard way. For a big guy, I make the handles a bit thicker and for a woman, I make them a bit thinner. I shape the handle for the index finger groove depending on whether the person it is intended for is right or left handed. That makes it a one-of-kind and special for that person. See photos. I use 6 to 8 coats of Clear Gloss Polyurethane to finish the piece. The first coats are to seal the wood so it doesn't bubble when the thick coat is applied. It took me a while to figure that out. I sand lightly with 220 to 600 sandpaper between coats depending on how much bubbling has occurred. Getting the finish right is the hardest part of the job and it takes a long time to wait for the coats to dry. I find that overnight in a dry place at room temperature is best. That's about 6- 8 hours. Longer is better than shorter. If it is tacky, DO NOT repaint until dry and sanded. You will not save time that way. The final coat is dipped and, after all the excess has run off plus 10 drops, I allow it finish dripping off with the blade DOWN - handle UP. Wrap a piece of tightly rolled up paper towel to catch the paint so it doesn't drip on the floor or get on your clamps. If you let it dry with the handle down, a thick drop of paint will form on the bottom of the handle and it may not be smooth there. These blades come very sharp and are easy to resharpen on a hand held stone. The black powder coat is pretty tough and doesn't wear off quickly. I have used one for 6 months and still no powder coat loss. I do not recommend these to be used unaltered. Without handle scales, they are not comfortable to use or carry. I use the ones I make handle for as gifts for people who do me favors which are many. Surprisingly, women seem to appreciate them as much or more than men. I guess we must beware a woman with a KABAR in her purse. I recommend these blanks for the hobbyist but not unaltered. UPDATE: I had discovered by accident that these blades are not "true" stainless and are attracted by a magnet. That gave me an idea to build one for my boat with a maple and cork handle so that it floats and that will be held in place with two powerful rare earth magnets that are slightly recessed into wood and padded with a piece of cloth so that the blade is not actually in contact with the magnet to preserve the powder coating. JAF

Blade is an ok size handle is too small. Grip obviously sucks but I’m sure a paracord wrap would help with that or some custom handle scales. I do like the design it’s like I forgot my bk9 in the dryer and it shrunk. Overall it will make for a good utility knife, it is very lightweight and well balanced not sure how much that will change when you fix the handle though.

I use this as a neck, knife for backpacking, lightweight, very strong and sharp. Does an outstanding job for my needs.

Knife is sturdy and sharp and is great when paracord is used to wrap the handle.

If you’re interested in this knife, you want a small, inexpensive, skeleton knife for easy storage or carry with the intention of customizing it. You’ll apply an aftermarket handle or paracord wrap. So you want exactly two things: 1-You want the sheath to fit without interfering in a significant way with the handle you’ll apply and its look after the fact. The problem I’m having is that the sheath covers about 5/16 inches of the distal opening of the skeleton knife. This means I need to choose between the factory sheath and an attractive after market look for the handle. In the end, making the right handle may mean making a new sheath, too. 2-You want it sharp out of the box. Mine failed the paper test. Sure, I’ll sharpen it to my taste, but part of my plan was to customize the handle for a unique and personal gift. I don’t want to affect the look of the blade coating by sharpening it before it’s used, but if I don’t, then I’m gifting a dull knife. Everything else is precisely what you’d hope. The sheath function is positive and secure, even if I think it’s too long. The knife is not sharp enough for a Becker, but the finish is even and the steel is as advertised.

This knife is for children age 1 to 3 size hands if you were wondering. The handle takes up an entire quarter of your palm.