Ka-Bar Large Heavy Bowie, Ultimate Wilderness Survival Knife...?

[ursamajor]

I have to say so! lbs for lbs, dollar for dollar, best value out there. Here is what I did to mine (lots of fun!)



Punched through the spacers (idk what the technical term is for that part of a sheath), and fastened an ESEE pouch.



Unsheathed w/ the tin, Sheffield steel, Swedish Firesteel, Fresnel Lens, and nylon twine removed.



Here is the goodies of the Tin removed. Total contents of system are:

9 inch Bowie (obviously)

(Very) Minor 1st aid kit w/ multiple bandages, alcohol prep pad, antibiotic ointment, and a set of Uncle Bills's Silver Gripper Tweezers.

medium grit sand cloth

Light My Fire "Scout" Swedish Firesteel.

BCB Swivel Wiresaw

Credit Card Sized Fresnel Lens

Fenix E05 LCD Torch (Water resistant up to 5 feet)

Liquid Filled Button Compass (points north)

Fishing Kit Consisting of 2 split shot weights 2 hooks, and several yards of 20lbs test line

Smith's Pocket Pal Sharpener (Works really well with the factory edge of this knife)

Cast Aluminum Whistle

5 piece pack of Quik Tinder

20' +/- of nylon mason's twine

[ursamajor]

Here is a few shots of the Mods I made to the sheath



I borrowed from the genius of Paul Scheiter and ran some elastic shock cord through the retention straps of the factory sheath. It has been over a year, and the straps still spring open-well out of the way of the egde, and make drawing the knife VERY easy (I found that "out of the box" the straps would curl, and snag the choil like area of the knife). The proceedure was simple. I just punched a pair of holes near each of the snaps, and criss-crossed the cord around the swivel, pulled snugly, tied, and fused the knot. This also had the extra benefit of still alowing the straps to spin, but gave some added friction, so they don't spin so easily.



Here you can see the position the straps spring and hold open to when unsnapped.

[ursamajor]

I have seen that some reviewers have given this sheath a hard time. I actually like it a lot. Most times with leather sheaths, or even synthetic ones, the sheath grips the blade too much, and cause to to pull up clumsily when drawing the knife, requiring some added unnatural technique to avoid this. This one does not. After modding the retention straps, this is the easiest knife I own to un-sheath. It also wears rather comfortably for a knife of it's size.

[GingivitisKahn]

Nice mods! You need to get that thing out and get it dirty. We crave carnage pics.


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Beckerhead #42

[BRL]

lol this is awesome! That's a great setup and the strap thing is genius. I love the LHB, it's beautiful and beefy as all hell. I concur with GK: go smash!

[blt-2-drg]

How would you know if it was the "ultimate survival knife" if you havent actually used it yet?

[wildmanh]

How would you know if it was the "ultimate survival knife" if you havent actually used it yet?

LOL!!

OP, those mods look good. I love the traditional blade shape and the modern Tooj handle is pretty comfortable. Now get out side and use it!!

[ursamajor]

How would you know if it was the "ultimate survival knife" if you havent actually used it yet?

Have used it. The pics were taken on my phone, so the scratches in the finish are not easily visible. Batoned a log with it last camping trip (had a few knives I was playin with, but my Junglas got the most attention, because one of my buddies brought his RTAKII, and so everyone wanted to see a chop off to compare).

TBH, I have never really Batoned wood with a knife, except for doing it just for the sake of doing it. Nor do I dig with them, or chop down trees with them. That being said, I am on the jungle training forum, so I did not have a problem hacking the hell out of crap with the esee, because I knew that if it broke, Jeff would replace it. I am sure that I could be as cavalier with the LHB, but the warranty is not ” no questions asked”, and they don't make them anymore (our so I have heard), so I am a bit more caring of it (my wife gave out to me as a gift).

[CamH_16]

Have used it. The pics were taken on my phone, so the scratches in the finish are not easily visible. Batoned a log with it last camping trip (had a few knives I was playin with, but my Junglas got the most attention, because one of my buddies brought his RTAKII, and so everyone wanted to see a chop off to compare).

TBH, I have never really Batoned wood with a knife, except for doing it just for the sake of doing it. Nor do I dig with them, or chop down trees with them. That being said, I am on the jungle training forum, so I did not have a problem hacking the hell out of crap with the esee, because I knew that if it broke, Jeff would replace it. I am sure that I could be as cavalier with the LHB, but the warranty is not ” no questions asked”, and they don't make them anymore (our so I have heard), so I am a bit more caring of it (my wife gave out to me as a gift).

If its the 9" model there are plenty around, the 7" ones are the discontinued ones as best I know. Ka-Bars warrenty is pretty good, its not stated "no questions asked" but really if you were doing something legit and not down right retarded then they'll probably replace it. I think the firm sounding warrenties of most companies is to stop idiots from messing up a good product and then asking for a free new one, might be wrong, this is just my opinion, thtats all.


But nice knife ans set up, the heavy duty series have caught my eye as some high quality beater knives...Might get a grass machete or warthog to customize or just to mess around.

[ursamajor]

If its the 9" model there are plenty around, the 7" ones are the discontinued ones as best I know. Ka-Bars warrenty is pretty good, its not stated "no questions asked" but really if you were doing something legit and not down right retarded then they'll probably replace it. I think the firm sounding warrenties of most companies is to stop idiots from messing up a good product and then asking for a free new one, might be wrong, this is just my opinion, thtats all.


But nice knife ans set up, the heavy duty series have caught my eye as some high quality beater knives...Might get a grass machete or warthog to customize or just to mess around.

My own opinion is that for a camping/outdoors knife the bowie knife is the pinnacle. Basically based on the fact that it was the knife that carved out the west.

I would also give the hudson bay an honorable mention

[Translash]

Kabar heavy bowie 9 inch version is definitely my favorite of all nonbecker kabar offerings! Cheap, looks great, and strong as bull!

[Brad "the butcher"]

The large heavy bowie was my first "big chopper" and was/is a great camp knife, hard to get a better performer for the $40 bucks I paid on sale. Great comfy handle.

[tfields]

looking good !! i like the mods!

[northingeasting]

I think it's funny that all the Beckerheads (of which I am one) spin up in fits of ecstasy over the BK-7 and BK-9 while whistling right past this blade. I think it's a real sleeper in Ka-Bar's lineup. Hopefully not so much of a sleeper that it gets dropped from the product line!

[wildmanh]

I think it's funny that all the Beckerheads (of which I am one) spin up in fits of ecstasy over the BK-7 and BK-9 while whistling right past this blade. I think it's a real sleeper in Ka-Bar's lineup. Hopefully not so much of a sleeper that it gets dropped from the product line!

The Heavy Bowie came out as competition for the BK9 before Ka-bar got the Becker Contract. Sometime after Ka-bar got the contract they discontinued the Small heavy Bowie and had the Large marked for it also. IIRC it proved so popular that Ka-bar kept it in the line up. . . . I bought my Heavy Bowie in the Spring of 2007 (Camillus who made Becker knives right before Ka-Bar went under that summer?) as a loaner blade for when I went camping and someone wanted a knife. This way I didn't have to loan them my Camillus made BK9. After a while I started using my Ka-bar Heavy Bowie more then my BK9.

[BRL]

I think it's funny that all the Beckerheads (of which I am one) spin up in fits of ecstasy over the BK-7 and BK-9 while whistling right past this blade. I think it's a real sleeper in Ka-Bar's lineup. Hopefully not so much of a sleeper that it gets dropped from the product line!

I've got an LHB in addition to the BK7 and BK9. It's a cool knife but I can honestly say after using them all, I prefer the Beckers.