An old abused Kabar jack...

TLARbb

TLARbb

Joined
Jan 24, 2010
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I bought several knives in the last week including a couple of used and abused ones. This Kabar jack struck my fancy somehow and not because of it's beauty.

Kabarjack1.jpg

Kabarjack2.jpg


I decided I'm going to try to comb the knots out of it's mane and brush it up a bit - I can't hurt the resale value. It's an interesting old pattern with a pretty wide clip primary and a sturdy pen seconday. I don't see a model number on the blades and there is no shield. This could be an assembly of parts. I don't know. But I do know that I like the size and shape and so I am going to try to give it some love. If any of you have similar Kabars, post up some pictures.

Ed
 
Yeah, that's a great looking knife there, needs a little TLC sure, but it's a looker :thumbup:

Great, put me to work clip shape and looks good and solid. I'd clean it up a bit and carry it, no doubt at all. Nice find!

Jon
 
Thanks for the comments guys. It looked worse than the pictures, but I knew it was pretty rough. My beauty treatment is progressing nicely. I'll post some "after" pictures when I get finished with it. The blades are nice and tight and have good snap and smooth walk. I'm thinking it got rusty and a previous owner ground the rust off.

I find I am really making a connection with this knife. Maybe because of the intimacy of the freshining process. - Ed
 
I haven't fully decided what it is, but I am leaning toward delrin because it is such a uniform black color. I does have very nice jigging whatever it is. - Ed
 
TLARbb said:
I find I am really making a connection with this knife. Maybe because of the intimacy of the freshining process. - Ed
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Great thread there Ed, what are you actually doing, are you having to re-grind?, or just blocking the blades out with a stone etc?
Looking forward greatly to the upcoming pics, dont you be teasing us now!:D
 
Interesting. Got a Ka-Bar that's similar only Gunstock pattern. Mine is not that old, from about 81 I think and has dark brown bone. Very similar jigging to the one you show.

How's the spring? The one on mine is hell, I like a heavy spring but this one is murder!
 
Campbellclanman said:
Great thread there Ed, what are you actually doing, are you having to re-grind?, or just blocking the blades out with a stone etc?
Looking forward greatly to the upcoming pics, dont you be teasing us now!:D
Click to expand...

I'm wearing it down with wet/dry sandpaper laid out flat on my worktable. It's kind of like water dripping on a stone and wearing it away. :D The blades were mirror polished similar to Case knives as I can see from the base of the blades. I'm thinking now I'll stop at 600 grit. I am working at 400 grit right now. It's getting good enough I can see if I missed any of the grinder marks. It's a good thing I don't cost any money. I'll take a couple of "in progress" pictures here in a bit.

Ed
 
Does not look as if the knife was abused, just used as it should be.

Thanks for the photos.

Vin
 
Cool old Kabar Ed. I've picked up plenty of old knives and reworked them. It really gives a certain satisfaction putting some love into them. Like yours, I've found that very few are the old hard worked knives that some farmer, mechanic or blue collar Joe hadn't leaned heavily into a belt sander or bench grinder in order to "sharpen" them. It does give some character to the knife though.
 
willgoy said:
How's the spring? The one on mine is hell, I like a heavy spring but this one is murder!
Click to expand...

William, the springs on this knife are pretty strong, but not nail breakers. Actually just about perfect in my way of thinking.

The blades on this knife were full and I am not sure it had ever been sharpened.

Edited: I've changed my mind about storage conditions this knife was exposed to. The only bad thing that happened to it was a fellow used a bench grinder to "sharpen" it.

It wasn't gouged as bad as I feared though and it will clean up nicely. The back side of the pen may be the hardest one to get straightened out. The more I fool around with this knife the better I like it. It'll never be a beauty queen, but it's going to wind up looking pretty decent.

Vin, I think putting a knife blade on a bench grinder wheel to be abuse. But it is a good knife that probably only had that one episode of mistreatment. It will survive!

Ed
 
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The "in process" pictures. Not sure how far I want to go. I am liking the 320 grit finish so may just leave everything there.

First picture is the 'back" side of the pen blade. It has been lightly hit with 240 grit, but the grind marks are evident.

Kabarjack003.jpg


This next picture is the "front" or nick side of the pen. It has been through the 240 and 320 grit process.

Kabarjack004.jpg


This next picture is the main blade on the nick side or mark side. It is down to 320 grit. I'm liking this finish. It's the same finish I put on that Queen copperhead a while back.

Kabarjack005.jpg


and this last picture is in progress with the 400 grit paper, but I'm thinking I may want to back up to the 320 grit.

Kabarjack006.jpg


The more I look at this knife the more I think that it was unused or lightly used before the grinder treatment. Notice how shiny and bright the tangs of the blades are. This bargain is looking better and better all the time!

What do you guys think about the level of polish to put on these blades? How far would you go?

Ed
 
Nice one Ed. I like finding old beat up knives and touching them up. I think you've done enough.I like the satin look better than a polish. If it were mine though I would take a diamond file and put some crisp edges on the swedge and maybe add one to the pen.
More pics please. I have a small Kabar stockman that looks like the same handle material. Looks like bakelite to me.
Mine was a victim of a buffing wheel, but the fit and finish is great.

P1010030-2.jpg


P1010047.jpg


P1010048.jpg
 
Steve, I think you may be right about the handle material. It has a small chip out near the bolster on one side and scraping with the edge of a knife, it doesn't feel like delrin and I'm pretty sure it isn't bone.

I'll have to pick up a couple of diamond files to work the swedges, but thanks for the suggestion. I think I will put swedges on the pen as you suggest. I'll put up some more pictures as I get closer to complete.

Ed
 
Ed, that knife is really shaping up! Nice looking finish on those blades, this time next week it will be in the daily rotation I'll be bound.
 
OUTSTANDING!!! I love that you blew a little extra life into a poundpuppy, Its really a looker.
 
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