The Crewman is a great knife. I was originally looking at the Companion, but fortunately for me, Becker introduced the Crewman before I bought the BK2. I still like the looks of the Companion, but not enough to pay 50% more for it.

As far as splitting wood is concearned, Becker claims that the Companion can be used for "chopping onions for the chili and splitting out small kindling for the fire." They also claim that their new Necker (which I got for Christmas and am really excited about) can "slice an onion and with the help of a baton (big stick) split out small kindling for your fires." I'm not totally sure what that means, I just thought it was interesting. More to the point, I think the Crewman will do as much or more chopping than you can expect from a 5" blade.

While I don't own the CU-7, I've heard nothing but good things about it. I used to carry a 7" knife exclusively, but I've since converted to a 5" blade for my standard, all around/backpakcing blade. I think it's better suited for most things, and since I started to carry it, I've yet to come accross a situation where I wished I had the bigger blade.

Hope that helps,

Chris.