The Stroup Knives BK1: Perfect As a Camp Knife

Stroup Knives may be better known for the GP1 and Mini 1, both of which are relatively light and compact blades that are perfect among fixed blade knives for everyday carry. 

But if you’re looking for something larger and more robust, Stroup Knives will not disappoint. In addition to a couple unique tomahawk patterns, they also make larger knives that would excel as survival knives or camp knives.

The BK1 comes to mind. Here’s what this knife offers.

Blade Steel and Profile 

The heart of the Stroup Knives BK1 is actually a pretty standard run of the mill knife steel. They use 1095, which is the same steel used by most ESEE Knives. 

But that’s not a mark against it. Even though it isn’t considered a super steel, 1095 is a timeless tool steel that, just for the performance it offers, won’t go anywhere anytime soon, no matter how many new nitrogen bearing, niobium laden, carbide-rich super steels come along. 

It’s really not much more than iron with about .95% carbon, more than enough to take a heat treatment that will let it take and hold an edge without being too brittle or impossible to resharpen. 

1095 is also incredibly tolerant of abuse. You could baton with this knife and you will likely come up for air before it does. Not that you should beat it to push its limits, but it’s tougher than you think. 

This brings up the question of blade size and profile. The Stroup Knives BK1 sports a 7.75 inch drop point blade with plenty of straight edge for slicing and chopping. Speaking of which, the blade, being as long as it is, has a pretty forward center of balance, which makes it ideal for chopping applications. 

All in all, the size and profile of this knife makes it excellent as a camp knife because it can be used for everything from clearing a space to carving camp furniture, preparing food, batoning wood for the fire, carving feathersticks for the same purpose, and much more.

The blade also sports some attractive aesthetics similar to hammer marks, a reminder that these knives are forged. 

The one note you should observe about 1095 is that it has practically no corrosion resistance to speak of. You will not want to put it away wet or dirty or when you draw it again you will be dealing with rust.

Just make sure you clean it and give it a touch up with a bit of oil before you sheath it and you should be good. 

Handle Design

This Stroup Knife sports a full tang design (to be expected) through comfortably textured scales of G10. The handle design is comfortable, fills the grip, and there’s even a generous choil towards the front that aids in control, comfort, indexing, and which critically helps prevent the hand from slipping up over the blade when you’re using it. 

The relatively aggressive texturing of this knife handle is another feature to love as well, since it helps improve traction even under adverse conditions. It’s also generous enough that it doesn’t bite the grip; it just provides generous control. 

The fact that the scales are made of G10 is another selling point. Unlike natural knife scale materials, G10 will never need any special care or maintenance. On top of that, it will not absorb oil or moisture, and it is not prone to rot or other deleterious factors affecting natural knife scale materials. 

Low maintenance and incredibly tough and strong, the G10 scales attached to this knife tang afford a solid grip in nearly all conditions and will never give you pause since they don’t need so much as a cleaning, unlike the steel. That’s one thing you don’t need to worry about.

For what it’s worth, there’s also a lanyard hole through this knife handle so you can add one if you like.

Kydex Knife Sheath Design

The Kydex knife sheath that comes with the BK1 is just one more thing to love about the design of this knife. 

Like other Kydex knife sheaths, it offers a solid friction fit which means the knife can be carried in a variety of configurations. 

This is one great thing to love about the fact that this knife comes with a Kydex sheath despite its somewhat larger size. The sheath that comes with this knife is perforated around the margin, so it can be rigged for carry in a whole bunch of ways. 

You don’t need to settle for tip down on a belt and in fact with a knife this big that would hardly even be comfortable. With a little bit of paracord and a cord lock you can easily rig this sheath for scout carry or pack carry in all of a few minutes. Flexibility is the name of the game here and the sheath this knife comes with is excellent. 

There is also another reason to love the fact that this knife comes with a Kydex version instead of a leather knife sheath. 

While a leather knife sheath offers class, it’s not a good pairing with a knife with a 1095 steel blade. If you leave a 1095 steel blade in leather for more than a few days, it’s going to rust, and that would probably be the case even if you had judiciously oiled the blade. Leather absorbs and releases moisture, that’s just a fact of life, and moisture will cause 1095 to rust a hundred times out of ten. 

Explore This and Other Stroup Knives Here

Think this might be the best selection out of Stroup Knives’ catalog for you to serve as a camp knife? It might be, but there are other tools in there, including a variety of tomahawks. Check out their full collection and if you have any questions get in touch with us. We’ll be more than happy to assist.