Are all Kabar BK's skeletonized?

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xtblade

Joined
Mar 25, 2018
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So I understand back in the day BK2 and others were truly full tang?

fulltang.jpg


Now I see they are all skeletonized?? To me that's good for a neck knife, not for an "indestructible" knife.
broken.jpg


Is there any way to buy the old full tang ones?
 
The old Camillus model BK2's, and the KA-BAR Gen 1 BK2's are full tang. The later ones are skeleton tang. I too wish they were still full tang. You can still find the older ones. They pop up here and there.
 
Come on, Kabar! You need to take us seriously. We need proper blades, not skeletons. I understand it's cheaper this way but price is not an issue for most buyers in this case, I'm sure. Extra weight? BK2 already weighs a hundred pounds. No problem. There's a video on Youtube where a guy actually shoots the BK2 several times. He shot the blade two times and didn't even make a dent. That shows you how good the steel is. And yet it did break in half on the skeleton part when he shot the handle. These knives deserve a proper full tang!!:mad::mad:
 
xtblade said:
Come on, Kabar! You need to take us seriously. We need proper blades, not skeletons. I understand it's cheaper this way but price is not an issue for most buyers in this case, I'm sure. Extra weight? BK2 already weighs a hundred pounds. No problem. There's a video on Youtube where a guy actually shoots the BK2 several times. He shot the blade two times and didn't even make a dent. That shows you how good the steel is. And yet it did break in half on the skeleton part when he shot the handle. These knives deserve a proper full tang!!:mad::mad:
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Funny it probably costs them more to make the Skelton Tang :D that pic above was that the 2 shot with a gun or another? Just wondering cause I haven't seen any other 2s ever broken.
 
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Xr6x said:
Funny it probably costs them more to make the Skelton Tang :D that pic above was the 2 shot with a gun or another? Just wondering cause I haven't seen any other 2s broken.
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Me neither, further, I’d challenge anyone to find something on the current BK2s (or any BKs for the matter) breaking during regular use. The Campanion is one tough blade. :thumbsup:
 
Good luck breaking one:D
Not too often I’d shoot at my 2, but I bet a non skeleton would break from a big caliber gun shot as well. The steel is hardened and can only take so much shock. I think any knife would break.
Jmo
 
My BK9 is thinner than a BK2 and I have spent the last 4 years chopping, batoning, a little prying (I prefer not to do that with a knife) and generally seeing how far I can push it. I once chopped into a rock by accident as well. I have been pushing my BK9, because if it is going to fail, I want it to fail in an environment and situation chosen by me, not when my life depends on it. Even after doing things with my BK9 that I would NEVER do with another blade, it has yet to break. Of course, I have not shot it yet with a 30-06, but I am hard pressed to find a scenario in which I would do that to survive.
 
Yep, the newer models are skeletonized. It's still a beefy knife, but would think it's not on par with the older models. If you want a BK2 style knife without the skeletonized tang, take a look at the Esee 5. The tang looks like the first picture you posted.
 
IIRC, that one was thrown "about 1000 times" before it broke according to the guy who posted the pic originally.
 
BK62 is not skeletonized. Great geometry for the things I use a knife for and I bet it would take more abuse than you'd think. Not much of a chopper, but that's what my hatchet is for.
 
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Yes, but I hope they’re designed for it. After awhile, there’s bound to be catastrophic failure.
 
I'm fine with the skeletonized bk's. I beat a lot of my beckers like an ugly step child and have never had a problem. Ive had some good bends while batoning, but I have never thought I was even close to breaking one.

Heck most "boutique" and "custom" makers drill so many holes in the tang for what they call weight reduction they really aren't true full tang even though they are marketed as just that. Custom guys get away with it because they pin and glue the handles on and you can unscrew them and see how much metal is missing.
 
knifejunkie1928 said:
I'm fine with the skeletonized bk's. I beat a lot of my beckers like an ugly step child and have never had a problem. Ive had some good bends while batoning, but I have never thought I was even close to breaking one.

Heck most "boutique" and "custom" makers drill so many holes in the tang for what they call weight reduction they really aren't true full tang even though they are marketed as just that. Custom guys get away with it because they pin and glue the handles on and you can unscrew them and see how much metal is missing.
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and this is why I prefer a tapered tang - you get all the balance and none of the weak spots.
 
Yeah. Statistically, the skeletonized handles are surely not an issue for Ka-Bar, or they'd have changed it by now. Though my gut says that the rear-most likely wouldn't contribute to any failures at all in any case.
 
You can't take the scales off a full tang knife, drive it into a rock crack, and self belay up El Capitan either.
Ok, I never did that, but it sounded freakishly awesome.
 
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