Heres an older post about my Becker BK-2........

"I field tested a Becker BK-2 last winter back in the woods. It is a foot long knife with a very heavy 1/4" thick blade. Don't get me wrong, it's a great knife, and it worked well for lopping off small frozen branches and light chopping. You would be able to chop through ice and pry up rocks from the frozen ground with it. I thought the blade thickness made batoning through 4 inch branches to split them for kindling more difficult. I had to hit the knife so hard with a log to move it, that eventually my arms got tired and I bashed my thumb. I think a thinner blade would have cut through more easily"

It is a well made knife in a form-fitting Kydex type sheath (unlike the larger Beckers which have woven nylon). There is a lot of 'handle' on this foot long knife, and this makes the blade feel too short for it's weight and thickness. The handle scales do work loose, but I solved this by paracord-wrapping the sheath and sliding an allen wrench into the wrap. I could just apply epoxy, but I want the option of removing the scales to mount the blade on a pole to use as a spear.

Because of the fact that the handle is big and the blade is somewhat short, the balance is near the center. It is not particularly well suited for heavy chopping. The blade is 1/4 inch thick and it is difficult to wield for fine knife work. It's more of a breaching, light chopping, digging, and prying tool than an EDC knife for me, so I just keep it in my truck.

I would recommend either a longer blade and/or a thinner one than the Becker BK-2 has. If you are on a budget and want a big knife, look at the Buck 110 folders or the Buck Special fixed blade knife. If you buy it at Kmart, it is $10 more expensive than Walmart, but you will get a nice leather sheath instead of a nylon one.