Good news for Becker Knife & Tool Fans

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Dave Markowitz

Dave Markowitz

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You may know that long time American knife maker Camillus went under earlier this year. Among other things, Camillus made the Becker Knife & Tool line. Since Camillus closed up shop the prices on BKT knives have shot up.

Over on Blade Forums, Doug Ritter posted that Ethan Becker has acquired the rights to produce the line of knives he designed, and it looks like KaBar will be putting them back into production.

I have a Becker Combat Utility 7. I regarded it as the best value in a sub-$100 belt knife. It'll be good to see them back on the market.
 
Yeah, that's great news that Becker Knife & Tool is coming back.

I made a comment on knifeforums.com about how glad I am that the current "gouging" on aftermarket BK&T knives will soon end and an old coot there flamed me because he wouldn't be able to overcharge for these machine-made knives anymore. :rolleyes:
 
I spoke with Ethan last night and while he'll get the rights to his designs back for KaBar to produce he'll still come out without recovering the 6 figures owed him out of Camillus's bankruptcy sale this week. Good thing the book is selling fabulously.

KaBar is already producing versions of the Darrel Ralph designs that Camillus had (Darrel and Paul showed them at Blade).
 
Important questions:

Will the Becker Necker be produced again?

More important: will it still have the bottle-opener attachment in the grip?
 
Important questions:

Will the Becker Necker be produced again?

More important: will it still have the bottle-opener attachment in the grip?
Click to expand...
I hope so, but in some regards I'll feel like an MG owner would at the repeal of 922(o). My BK-11 is worth like 250% more than they originally sold for, but I wouldn't sell mine- it was a very nice Christmas gift from a good freind.

Still an excellent design that should be on the market. :)
 
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Yes and no. They'll do fine as long as Ethan doesn't have it picked up by one of the other manufacturers. When that happens they'll just call them Camillus collectibles and keep selling them as long as they have them.
 
That is great news!!

I had a very nice BK9 with the micarta grips and a custom sheath stolen by my movers. Would like to be able to replace it (or come close) without paying an arm and a leg!
 
The folks on BladeForums are going wild over this news. The thread from last week is up to 3,000 hits and 130 replies.

Mr Becker himself had dropped into the thread to answer questions, and the mods are offering him his own subforum in the makers' section.

It's impressive how the Internet is changing small business models like that. If he'd done this business move 20yrs ago, we might hear about it a year from now when the new Ka-Bar catalogs came out. As it is, folks are getting a play-by-play of business moves.
 
Mr Becker himself had dropped into the thread to answer questions, and the mods are offering him his own subforum in the makers' section.
Click to expand...

That's hilarious if you know Ethan. He's not an email/internet guy (heck, getting him to answer his cell is a challenge{getting your phone number into his cell is a bigger challenge]). Very much the Renaissance Man in most ways he's not very interested in what others think or in the internet.
 
That's hilarious if you know Ethan. He's not an email/internet guy (heck, getting him to answer his cell is a challenge{getting your phone number into his cell is a bigger challenge]). Very much the Renaissance Man in most ways he's not very interested in what others think or in the internet.
Click to expand...

He seemed pretty blown away that 100 people would write in to wax ecstatic about his products, post pics of their collections, make requests for re-issues, etc. I can see how it could be really impressive if you're not used to that sort of immediate feedback.

Heck, I myself was pretty impressed when Sal Glesser (owner of SpyderCo) dropped into my BFC thread about the Street Beat to explain why he sincerely believed it was an exceptional product. No hype, no putting down the competition, just a detailed explanation of how much work went into the steel, scales, and achieving the ideal balance.

I would never have heard of Becker had it not been for forums. Without forums, I'd still be carrying whatever $5 Eagle folder I got out of the bin at the surplus shop. I believe it was TFL that convinced me to get a SpyderCo Delica when I was 20 or so. I lost it a few years later (think I tossed it into my car when I was going out to a club in Los Angeles and didn't want the bouncer to hassle me), and bought a BM Mini-Grip I still carry.
 
Dangit, Becker is still posting more news and hints to the board. Apparently the Ka-Bar partnership is a go or close to it.

Plus he promised a "special treat for Becker Necker fans", so that's got everyone salivating...
 
KaBar will be producing Ethan's knives. Possibly the first product will be the Necker. I'll let Ethan announce the "special" on it, but smart money is on a upgraded material version like the upgraded versions of the Beckers Camillus did before they went under.
 
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