A classic American showdown

While the Buck 119 is an iconic knife in it's own right, i'd have to go with the Kabar.
"The owner of the KA-BAR trademark, the Union Cutlery Co. of Olean, New York, began using the name on its knives and in its advertising in 1923, after receiving a testimonial letter by a fur trapper, who used the knife to kill a wounded bear that attacked him after his rifle jammed.[6] According to company records, the letter was only partially legible, with "ka bar" readable as fragments of the phrase "kill a bear". In 1923, the company adopted the name KA-BAR from the "bear story" as their trademark."
 
eveled said:
I respectfully disagree about the sheaths. The Kabar leather sheath is by far my favorite sheath to carry. It hangs right where I want it. Doesn’t rattle and just plane works. I use a Kabar leather sheath for all my 7 inch knives even my Randall. Buck may have a lefty sheath but Kabar has the ambidextrous hard plastic one.

If you want the all time American Iconic knife it’s the BUCK 110.
Click to expand...
Alright.
I guess I should have not called the Buck sheath better based on a common complaint I've heard of the Ka-bar sheath seeming chintzy.

I do know the lower hang of the Ka-bar sheath is something I'd not like nor do I like the style of retention they use, but if I'm being honest the Bucks isn't my favorite either as I have to kind of be careful when re-sheathing the knife.
 
I have to agree with most of you that the Kabar is the more iconic knife because of its military background, but I have to say I'm more drawn to the Buck 119 because of it's hunting heritage and of course using it more often. Both are great knives though and both will work in many situations that would require a fixed blade knife.
 
Vote for the Kabar, my first real big knife, used to cut up fruit and such. The 119 as a civilian version hunting knife. I think a lot of 119s and 120s saw service in Vietnam.
 
Both are iconic but if I had to choose, I'd vote Kabar due to the military history.
 
I’ve owned both. They’re entirely different knives. The Buck 119 is a classic hunting knife, it’s also a great bushcraft/trail knife IMO. The KABAR was designed to work as a fighting knife in addition to basic utility stuff.

Which is more iconic? KABAR, easily.
Which do I prefer for general use stuff? Buck 119. It sharpens up really well and I love the sheath
 
Iconic in my family would be the cattaraugus 225Q.
Lucky enough to own and use a nice user.

Russ
 
eveled said:
I respectfully disagree about the sheaths. The Kabar leather sheath is by far my favorite sheath to carry. It hangs right where I want it. Doesn’t rattle and just plane works. I use a Kabar leather sheath for all my 7 inch knives even my Randall. Buck may have a lefty sheath but Kabar has the ambidextrous hard plastic one.

If you want the all time American Iconic knife it’s the BUCK 110.
Click to expand...


It’s a 7” Old Hickory butcher knife in a Kabar sheath.
 
As both a hunter and an old US Marine, this a difficult choice. I've known of the USMC Ka-Bar since I was a young kid because my uncle served in the Marines and of course I bought one on my first extended deployment to 29 Palms. Back then not many people knew you were supposed to baton and chop steel with knives so I just did what we called utility work with it. Thank God I never had to use it for its "fighting knife" purpose, but for the most part it did everything from cut, slice, chop, dig, and open crates and did it well.

My personal hands on experience with Buck was limited to the 110 for most of my life and I only recently got a 119, about two years ago. I think the 119 suffers from being sandwiched between the 102 & 105 and the 120 & 124 and so it can only be so popular. I really want to love my 119 but, I get the feeling that I am grabbing the handle with a set of pliers rather than sinking in and becoming part of the handle. (Slightly exaggerated for effect). The knife is well made and I like it, my hope is with more use it will get more comfortable for me.

The original question asked which is a bigger American icon, to me I guess it would be the USMC Ka-Bar. But I will say many of my friends from the county know the 119 well and have never heard of the Ka-Bar so I guess it greatly depends on where you are from and your closeness to military veterans.
 
I'm seeing a pattern here. Like some have mentioned it probably all depends on where a person comes from and which knife was known to the area more, which holds true, but in this pattern I'm also seeing because of the military background and fame it's brought to the kabar, Kabar is still the bigger American icon. Although I still feel like people have used the Buck more because of its hunting heritage even if it's not as well known as the kabar. These two knives sure do make for a great debate though.
 
I own and have used both a lot and I trust the kabar 1211 kraton more than the buck 119 polyphonic and alluminion Handel
I have both the leather handel ka bar and the brass and coccobollow wood buck 119 as collectables because there both icons and classics but I think the ka bars won
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top