KA-BAR BK92 Becker Campanion Fixed Blade Knife 5.25" CPM-MagnaCut Black Stonewashed Drop Point Blade, Black Zytel Handles, Molded Plastic Sheath

Ok. You've gotta understand: you're not reading reviews for this knife because you want to know if it's a generally high quality item (it is). You're reading reviews because you want to buy this absurd thing and I'm going to help you.

This is an honest review - not just honest about the mechanical qualities of this knife, but about the psychological or spiritual qualities that make someone buy it and enjoy it. If you're honest with yourself, you'll know if it is the knife for you.

Cons: hot damn is this thing beefy. This freak show of a knife is a quarter inch thick at the spine. That makes it worse at just about everything you want to use a knife for. It's so damn thick. Don't be mistaken like me and imagine that this means it's as thick as a BK7 or 9. No, it's thick like a BK3 tac tool that's intended for prying doors off their hinges. The BK7 I've previously been using for backpacking is plenty stout to handle batoning and I can't think of a reason you'd want to have a thicker knife like this in the woods. I love the way this thick heavy thing feels in my hand, but otherwise the thickness is a downside unless you have a very specific use in mind and we gotta admit that whatever that use is, there's probably a better tool for it that isn't a knife, unless you have one specific thing in mind...

Pros: ... the other use you should have in mind to make this the knife for you is being cool as hell. That's it. You gotta accept this if you want to have a great time with this knife. It's just sweet as hell. So if you want a knife that will make someone say "hell year brother!" you're in the right place.

Otherwise, it's hard to justify this absurd thing on a practical level. The best I can do is say that it's an all around multi-purpose tool that hits the sweet spot of being an a jack of all trades if you want to carry just one tool (and you happen to want that tool to be absurdly durable because some of your use cases involve intense corrosion risk and tremendous abuse that a thinner more useful blade couldn't handle).

But, like any big camp knife, it's lighter than a hatchet and can chop branches and split logs almost as well while also being decent at handling large game. (Which honestly surprised me. I held off on a review until I could try it out because I thought it wouldn't fare well. But, I field dressed a white-tail with it today to see how it would do and it was honestly a whole lot better than I anticipated. Did a great job! Would use it again for the task!)

But that's all mostly going to be true of any decent large camping knife. Things I can say this knife might pull ahead with are corrosion resistance (not that there aren't other big magnacut options), and food prep. This blade really beats the BK7 on that point because it doesn't have the same prominent finger guard lump at the top of the handle that keeps the BK7 from being able to get down flat against a cutting board when making a cut if the handle is over the board. That's a minor difference, but we're trying to put together excuses here, not reasons. There's a difference!

I also have to say that as a chopper this thing is really superior. I cleared a bunch of medium sized trees and shrubs with this and it went a lot better than I would have guessed. Blasting straight through inch thick woody stems isn't a problem at all and it was only a hand full of chops to cut through a 3 inch thick trunk. It's not an axe... but for chopping medium sized things it was more convenient (and a heck of a lot more fun) than getting loppers or a saw out.

I may have put my thumb on the scale for how well the chopping (and the game processing) went as I re-profiled the edge to be a shallower angle and a bit sharper than the decent factory finish was. But, the factory grind does leave things at like a 40 degree angle or something - like you'd put on a hatchet. I'm sure that shape is more durable for the level of chopping this thing is presumably designed for, but the edge on the blade was still pristine after a good bit of chopping even with the more acute edge shape I put on.

In summary: if you read that whole review and you're not completely put off, you're looking for excuses the way I was. Try and tell me you're looking at this knife and you don't already own too many knives. Go ahead.

Now, go ahead and get it. It's a fantastic choice if you can only take one big tool and you'll love the way it feels in your hand even if it's hard to justify using it for most jobs. Just like that F250 with a nice trim package. It's a stupid thing to own and almost everything it does could be done dramatically cheaper or could be done better with more specialized and less overbuilt tool. And yet, it still kicks ass and will live up to your expectations for how happy it will make you.