YOU HAVE THE ORIGINAL BK2 BEFORE THEY SKELETONIZED THE HANDLE. LUCKY!

You made this video super interesting to watch. Never thought much about this kind of customization, but I really enjoyed watching/learning from you.

Fantastic job with the new finish and the scales look great. Thanks for sharing this with us Mark.

Love what you did with the knife, I've been wanting to do it to my BK2 for awhile and now I think I finally will.

this is by far one of the top 3 vids on bk2. He explains everything he does at a nice even pace and doesn't cut any corners. You made a killer video AussieMark

Excellent video and modifications Mark, as always. Thanks for sharing! I always love getting a new knife because I like modding them to fit my likes and needs, take care!

I wish I'd thought of it too. I learnt it from a vid Kyley did as part of the Sugar Creek Forge build along. You just gotta love the free exchange of ideas here, it really is fantastic.

Thanks Robert, and good luck with your knife making.

I gave mine a vinegar bath instead of bluing. I got a cool, unexpected design out of it, I also opted for those micarta scales. I didn't hate the originals, but the micarta sure works well. I'm a nice leather sheath away from having the knife I always wanted. :) Thanks for sharing your

Thanks mate...well done...well video'd and explained! I might have a go at something like that myself!

That's very cool brotha ! I really like how dark the blue came out. Thanks for sharing !

👍 Good video. I like the finished product. Thank you for sharing.

Awesome, good luck with the project. I think you'll be happy with the result.

It was very interesting to watch you progress in your project. And it turned out pretty awesome imho. The new handle scales are the bomb. And the gun blue finish lets you forget that this is a mass produced knife. Great job.

Very good video my friend. Very informative and easy to watch. Keep up the good work! Thank you.

Wow... I am very impressed! This video made me go to our local store and buy a BK2! I think im going to try darkening the blade too! Thanks for the video, and best of luck!

I learnt a hell of a lot from this video. I never knew that bluing was something we could apply ourselves and placing the sandpaper on timber to make it easier to control is sensation. I wish I'd thought of that. :)

Thanks mate, I really pleased with how it turned out.

Sir, you have given me a great idea for my Bk2. Thanks for the info.

Knife looks fantastic! Good job sir.

nice and well done project. there was a tutorial for blueing knives in a german knife-magazine last year, and ever since then, ideas for a similar project have been swirling around my head. so you might just have inspired me to finally do it. one thing they did to make it shinier at the end was get the knife to a finer grit finish befor blueing and the rub it with some oil at the end. Thanks for showing us!

Cheers Mark. Great looking knife. Very informative vid. Keep it up

Impressive. I like what you have done. I have been watching a lot of videos on this knife. I am going to purchase one.

Thanks for posting this. I've recently started making knives, and was curious about using gun bluing for the blades. You did a great job and the scale are really nice. Congratulations on a project well done.

Thanks Andrew, it's always nice to hear that people enjoy my videos. This was a fun little project and I'm really pleased with the result. Thanks for subscribing, hope to see you around in the comments :)

Thanks mate, I'm very happy with how it turned out.

Yes, just paint stripper I got from the local hardware. Worked perfectly. I was a bit nervous to try this too but very glad I did.

Cheers mate, every time I look at it I like it more.

I used walnut oil on my micarta scales and darkened them up nice. Great video!

Good to see there are actually some Aussies on you-tube as well, ha ha good on ya mate!

Great job Mark. Looks nice.

Allways enjoy your videos. Very informative and most of all no " hokus pokus" Thanks Mark.

Fantastic! Looked like a fun project.

Very nice video, I appreciate your time for making video , from Pennsylvania USA

Thanks for the info, that will be very helpful to me on future projects. Cheers!

This has turned out so well I think I'll be do more mods in the future. Thanks for watching mate.

Thanks for the kind words, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Cheers, Mark

I cross hatch cut my original handles for more grip and it made a great difference in grip feel and handling. I’m going to get the micarta scales for my other BK2.

Thanks for the tips, with the info I'm getting in the comments I'm sure next one will turn out even better.

You have the best version of the Bk2. 1st Gen Bk2 is so much better and stronger. I wouldn't even think of buying the new ones that are weaker with the skeletonized Tang handles. I need me a first Gen! Great video thank you

Congrats! Nice video. Thank you

Thanks for the tip on the fine grit before bluing, i'll keep that in mind for next time. Cheers :)

Great vid mate. I have a BK2 that I kind of runied the edge. I have another on the way but might use this one as a project knife and try this. Thanks for the vid

Thanks, glad you liked it.

Say Heah M8, The only thing I didn't like about my BK-2 was the Sheath, Mine was so tight it actually hurt my wrist and I'm not a whimpie guy, Played outside linebacker in the American Football game. So when I found out that there was a Full Grind BK-22, and the knife is virtually the same as the BK-22 but came with a Nylon Ballistic Sheath, I bought the sheath, and it fit's a glove, Before that the Spec-Ops Small Sheath worked great, Now it houses my Modde Rodent 6 which I had thinned down and the top gaurd taken off, One of my Fav's, Nice to see you again MI. Cheers. ,,, ,,, ,,,

Very good work.

Thanks my friend, glad you enjoyed the video.

nice mark. good little bit there on getting a convex edge.

well done, knife looks great!

Good looking knife man... I just bought a BK2 and although I am not to the point of modification, your vid makes me want to. Nice job.

Nice mod project, Mark. Well done!

Say Heah M8, nice job, looks spiffy, I left my BK-2 stock, using it like I do it has its own unique love marks, sort of shabby but when you pick it up in your hand the virtue of the knife is there and you know your picking up a tank of a knife, I actually like the look, reminds me of a well used tool by men of old that's kept in very good condition, I put a convex edge on it too but I used a Work Sharp I have both the new and the old, the newer one has a little wider belt, it makes the edge nice and sharp, I don't sharpen it alot, because I don't want to take too much metal off the knife, unless it really needs a good sharpening, but after a good work out when I get back home, a good cleaning and I strop it with the green compound then a little oil and it's back to sharp again and ready to use, the sheath is the only Modde I did to it because I actually like the Grivory handles, I don't have any slipping problem, but then I don't get fat or blood on my knife, even when wet the Grivory doesn't slip that much for me, I got a new sheath, because the kydex sheath it came with was so tight that it hurt my wrist pulling it out of the sheath, so I got the small Spec Ops sheath, it's very well made and it has a pouch and not that expensive and it fit's the BK-2 like a glove, I also have the O.K.C. Ranger Afghan that's another tank of a knife, but it has a choil and a Flat Grind and it's made out of the 5160 carbon steel instead of the 1095 CroVan, Oh Yeah, I also have the O.K.C. GEN2 SP-47 that's very similar but a little thinner so it's more of a match with the BK-10 which sometimes I like using it better because of the thinner blade and it's a great match with my BK-9, with my Ratmandu I have a nice stable of robust 5" blades (I do have other 5" blades). Thanx M8 for sharing your BK-2 and what you have done to it.

I got my Gen2 (milled out tang) BK2 for 30 Aussie dollars with an original multi-point sheath about 6 months ago. Bought it from a non-knife person. I've removed the coating and given the steel a bit of a polish. The knife and the sheath had been neglected, so it ended up being a resto job as well as a mild modification. This video has been sitting in my 'watch later' list for at least 5 months. I watched a few minutes of it back then and got sidetracked.

excellent job, thx for the vid. thumbs up. cheers!

Good video as always. Thank you..I would love to have one to.

Well done! We should have no fear in personalizing our things. You’ve inspired me to attack my BK-2! Love the knife, but the paint scars up and ruins the look. I also have the Becker Kephart and use it frequently as an all-around camp knife. The more I use it, the more character it develops. Love the rugged cutlery!

They really change the feel of the knife too. Thanks for watching Stefen.

G'day Bruce. Thanks mate, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Not bad for a first atttempt. I will keep learning and maybe down the track I'll redo the BK2 to a finer finish. But then again, it is a working knife so it's not that big a deal.

Looks great. Nice job.

The micarta scales are very nice. Glad you liked the vid, thanks for watching mate.

I own the bk2, customized mine though. Stripped off the coating and put a 90 % spine on it to strike a ferro rod, and opted for micarta scales, completely different knife now. There's nothing this knife can't excel in the outdoors. Took some hard work and a couple days, but worth every bit of it. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and opinion on this awesome blade.

Hmmm, might be worth looking at this and strengthening before it happens. Thanks for the tip.

Thanks, it worked out to be much easier than I thought.

Very Nice, Mate. You did that just like you'd done it 100 time before. Gutsy gamble that paid off big time !

great job mate

Great knife

nice upgrade love the look of the knife, now all it needs is a nice leather sheath for it (insert RDPproject hear ) looks grate

Oh, I like the bluing. Might get around to that one day.

this knife is back when it had the slicker coating..not the rough assed evilness it has now. great video, hun...I want to do a dura coating on one of mine...I am getting another to polish:) cheers....from Nebraska, USA.

Looks like a good heavy knife for most applications. Nice job.

Question: As of at least now, 2/2022, both the BK2 and the BK22 have those chunks of steel missing from the handle tang under the scales/handle. I bought both to get the full version but they are both that way now. Anyone know where I can get an original with the full handle tang without the steel missing? Thanks in advance.

Good work!

So you've ordered one at last, good for you. I really don't think you can go far wrong using this stuff, from other comments it seems like some finer prep work might pay off with a more even blue. Enjoy the BK2.

I gave mine a stonewash and micarta scales, it turned out nicely

Nice mod. Love the bluing!

This came out great!

No worries, glad you enjoyed the vid.

I loved this video so much. Subbed.

Nice video dude. Is it possible to use the spine of the blade to strike fire steel once the original powder coating is off? Is the edge 90°?

Thanks, very easy to do, give it a try.

I did a distilled vinegar patina on mine, and I did just that. Soak the knife in vinegar for a couple of hours and then rub with 000 steel wool to smooth/even out the finish. It took several repetitions of this process, but id did come out nice even antique looking steel grey finish.

Nice project, quick question , could you tell me what kind of sanding paper did you use? Sandpaper for metal ?

wondering if theres a company selling old stock bk7 from first generation that dont have skeletonized tangs ?

great video. how come your bk2 doesn't have have the large gaps in the handle I've seen other mods on bk2 they all have pin holes and 2 gaps. yours has just the pin holes ? thanks

From Arizona, thank you!

I had one and it broke where the tang was skeletonized that one in the video that's the way I would like mine I think they are weak the other way

Should have mentioned in the video that I did just that. I now have to coat the whole blade not just the edge to prevent rust, but thats no problem. The blue shows up great when oiled up. Good to hear from you Bruce.

what should i do if there is some stainds on the blade??

nice job man

Well done.

That’s pretty! 👍

Good job :-) I want to strip my bk2 too, but not all of it. I want to make it something like virtuovice knife, cutting blade bare but top still coated. having used the paint stripper, do you think masking tape would protect the paint I wanted to keep? many thanks

Actually I really like this sheath. The later models have a different one that I've heard bad reports on, but this one is great.

Wot did you use to clean the blade before you blue it was it some sort of de greaser? 🤔

Just saw a vid of one but the with less steel under the handle. Are there different gens or something I need to look for because I prefer the way yours is even if its a bit more heavy.

Absolutely! I figured at the time it was a temp fix. But it's held up to some very harsh abuse. Just remember to singe(melt) the slits in the nylon or you'll risk fraying the material. If you go this route that is. Rivets are great fasteners for metal. Not so much for fabric.

Good luck with it.

I got the Mora to use as a workshop knife. Does the job well.

Well done, Mark! The Micarta handle scales look far better than the original ones.

Thanks my friend.