Does the KA-BAR USMC have a strong tang?

its an indian tiki...

but anyways, the kabar can handle a lot of abuse, just search on youtube for noss kabar

i mean if you are going to use the knife as a pry-bar or a chisel, such as i did, buy a pry-bar or a chisel, this knife can handle just about anything you can throw at it that is normal, like a camp knife, utility knife, etc. its a great buy, the handle is comfortable and over all, its a good ole classic. hope this helps
 
Knowing it's design use parameters, its construction, and its huge reputation, one should be able to come to a rational use level for the knife. Go off the deep end with near anything and failure is the end result. I will however attest to its glass busting abilities. As a pre teen, my friend across the road had an old Ka-bar, likely surplus. One day we tossed it down his huge back yard to stick it in the ground. He went in for a minute to bust porcelain or something and I had it all to myself, with no one around. Ok, now we'll see some spectacular throwing! I fired that sucker straight up to the moon and down she came. Kablammo !!! I took out the passenger side front door window in their station wagon. :o That was the last we ever saw of that knife. I don't think that his parents even knew that he had it.:D
 
cziv said:
Troubled youths eh? Too bad. :p
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Actualy..........., ya.:D I also remember opening my thumb on a hunting knife and slamming a thrown switchblade into a buddies foot. Another buddy around then killed a Canada goose in a public park and cooked it on the public BBQ grills. Man, the stories........;)
 
I once asked an ex-Marine what he thought of the Ka-Bar, and he told me a story about breaking his... Using it to pry an engine block out of a jimmy, and when it broke someone handed him his and he got the rest of the job done with it. So how many Ka-Bars does it take to get an engine block out of a jimmy? 2
 
Maybe the weeds in question were mutated monstrosities, and he barely walked away with his life. Or maybe he was killing the weeds by smashing cinderblocks on them with the knife. Those at least make some sense of his total bull story.
 
Pretty popular thread. OK, thanks, I know it's a great knife, I was just more or less curious when I started this thread. I'm obviously not going to use it to jack up a car, and I'm not asking whether I should get one or a ESEE etc. I was just curious about how strong it was. I'm going to look after mine when I finally get it, but I just wanted to know if it would break easily, or if it was really strong, simply because it does not have a full tang, and I didn't know how strong it is. I know it's been proven as a great knife, but again, I was just curious this time, not asking if I should get one or not. I just wanted to find out a bit more of what people think about the knife. I know it's a strong tang too, I was just wondering if it was strong, or very strong, especially for a knife without a full tang. Thanks everyone, alot of responses and good stories here. I'm sure people like cricketdave are getting annoyed at me constantly posting about KA-BARs and seeming so paranoid, so I'll try not to post something about them unless I have to. It's probably getting annoying for some of you. Anyway, thanks.
 
I think they are a very tough knife and very had to break only if you wanted to break one or was doing something extremely stupid with it like a certain masked man would you be able to.
 
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The USMC Ka-Bar suffers in a few areas. First and foremost is has "US" in its name, signifying the evil capitalist empire it came from. Then of course follows MC, short for Marine Corps, once again evil militant monsters from the land of the great satin! Lastly the name Ka-Bar has a long history of being carried on the hips of many fighting man and woman from America, used to slaughter innocent men, women and of course children in our insatiable lust to take over and occupy foreign lands. (Some think we do it for oil or Israel but I think its for the sand. Americans do use a lot of glass! We also have eroding coastlines, no doubt from our militant society squandering the planet's resources causing global warming and melting of the polar ice caps)

All I have to say to that is: oooh-rahhh
Take the appropriate steps to insure that we don't come to your land! [evil laugh, evil laugh, evil laugh]

Oh yeah, back on topic, great knife! Hey I have a question, if the tang breaks and the blade is stuck in your enemy, is that technically a good or bad thing? I guess it would depend on whether or not there is another enemy coming at you! I know what everyone on this forum is thinking; BACK-UP BLADE!!!

Honey read this thread, see I do need another knife!!!
 
Adaam said:
Pretty popular thread. OK, thanks, I know it's a great knife, I was just more or less curious when I started this thread. I'm obviously not going to use it to jack up a car, and I'm not asking whether I should get one or a ESEE etc. I was just curious about how strong it was. I'm going to look after mine when I finally get it, but I just wanted to know if it would break easily, or if it was really strong, simply because it does not have a full tang, and I didn't know how strong it is. I know it's been proven as a great knife, but again, I was just curious this time, not asking if I should get one or not. I just wanted to find out a bit more of what people think about the knife. I know it's a strong tang too, I was just wondering if it was strong, or very strong, especially for a knife without a full tang. Thanks everyone, alot of responses and good stories here. I'm sure people like cricketdave are getting annoyed at me constantly posting about KA-BARs and seeming so paranoid, so I'll try not to post something about them unless I have to. It's probably getting annoying for some of you. Anyway, thanks.
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You could always use it to open mail and gradually move up as it proves itself to you. :) Small steps ya know?
 
shortwinger said:
The USMC Ka-Bar suffers in a few areas. First and foremost is has "US" in its name, signifying the evil capitalist empire it came from. Then of course follows MC, short for Marine Corps, once again evil militant monsters from the land of the great satin! Lastly the name Ka-Bar has a long history of being carried on the hips of many fighting man and woman from America, used to slaughter innocent men, women and of course children in our insatiable lust to take over and occupy foreign lands. (Some think we do it for oil or Israel but I think its for the sand. Americans do use a lot of glass! We also have eroding coastlines, no doubt from our militant society squandering the planet's resources causing global warming and melting of the polar ice caps)

All I have to say to that is: oooh-rahhh
Take the appropriate steps to insure that we don't come to your land! [evil laugh, evil laugh, evil laugh]

Oh yeah, back on topic, great knife! Hey I have a question, if the tang breaks and the blade is stuck in your enemy, is that technically a good or bad thing? I guess it would depend on whether or not there is another enemy coming at you! I know what everyone on this forum is thinking; BACK-UP BLADE!!!

Honey read this thread, see I do need another knife!!!
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Lets stick to talking about knives here and leave the geo-political stuff out. This rule is here to keep this forum on topic, the political forum is here for folks to get all emotional. Let's use them correctly. ;)
 
Adaam said:
Pretty popular thread. OK, thanks, I know it's a great knife, I was just more or less curious when I started this thread. I'm obviously not going to use it to jack up a car, and I'm not asking whether I should get one or a ESEE etc. I was just curious about how strong it was. I'm going to look after mine when I finally get it, but I just wanted to know if it would break easily, or if it was really strong, simply because it does not have a full tang, and I didn't know how strong it is. I know it's been proven as a great knife, but again, I was just curious this time, not asking if I should get one or not. I just wanted to find out a bit more of what people think about the knife. I know it's a strong tang too, I was just wondering if it was strong, or very strong, especially for a knife without a full tang. Thanks everyone, alot of responses and good stories here. I'm sure people like cricketdave are getting annoyed at me constantly posting about KA-BARs and seeming so paranoid, so I'll try not to post something about them unless I have to. It's probably getting annoying for some of you. Anyway, thanks.
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I'm not annoyed about you asking questions Adaam. Sorry if I seemed like I was. I just think your overly worried about the differneces between the steels and rust and the strength of the knife. In 99% of use you will not notice any difference in using the knife. Yeah I think there are better ones out there, but its really a matter of what you want, truthfully most of the things done with knives camping could be done with a small folder and a hatchet. Its just alot more fun to use a fixed blade knife.

So it really does just come down to getting what you want and not being too concerned about the little details.

take it easy
cricket
 
Bottom line here is that it's been in use for nearly 70 years. People tend to lose interest in inferior products that don't own up to what they're supposed to do long before that.
 
Adaam said:
I was just curious about how strong it was. ... simply because it does not have a full tang...

...I know it's a strong tang too, I was just wondering if it was strong, or very strong, especially for a knife without a full tang....
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It should be made clear for all those not aware of the definition that this KaBar DOES indeed have a full tang.
A "full tang" blade is constructed of a single piece of material which extends through the length of the handle-portion (note, this need not include extending beyond the handle into the pommel). Different styles of "full tang" include tapered tangs (the tang-spine thins out into the handle), push tangs and hidden tangs (as seen in the KaBar, Randall, Marbles, Fallkniven, and a great many other quality knives), and exposed tangs (where the handle consists of slabs affixed to the full tang). The tang need not dictate the contours of the handle to be "full", nor need it maintain the same thickness or width of the blade metal (though on principle less metal means reduced strength). The tang could also have cut-outs to reduce weight (e.g. BRKT Bravo 1, DPx HEST).
A full tang blade need not have an exposed tang to be strong, and indeed this can be detrimental (corrosion, temperature/electricity conduction, ergonomics, weight balance, etc.). Comparing the strength of the various full-tang designs in knives is somewhat silly as more often than not it is the blade design which first experiences catastrophic failure, not the tang. This is so even in half-tang Mora knives. When considering the "strength" of a knife, look first at the blade design (grind, spine thickness, etc.), and then ascertain if it is full tang. After that, you can concern yourself with what style of tang is employed and how the handle is fixed.

Be confident in your KaBar. It is indeed a full tang knife.
 
Gus Kalanzis said:
Lets stick to talking about knives here and leave the geo-political stuff out. This rule is here to keep this forum on topic, the political forum is here for folks to get all emotional. Let's use them correctly. ;)
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Sorry, the 4th of July got me all hyped up and I haven't come down off the patriotic high yet. Plus you have to give me a little credit, I did throw in a knife reference here and there.
 
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