how do you break a ka-bar ?

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poussin

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Jan 28, 2003
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Hello. I have purchased a classic USMC Ka-Bar (the 1217), since I had heard only good things about it, and with the will to rely on it during a trip in the Moroccan desertic mountains. And now I read here that people have broken it at the hilt, or lost the butt cap... May I know how they managed to do it, so that I avoid putting the knife in a situation it does not like... And does anybody know if there is a way to secure the butt cap ?

Thank you very much,

Poussin
 
The buttcap is secured with a pin. Unless you are hammering a whole lot of hard things I wouldn't worry about it coming loose. Some "superknife" makers have compared their knives to the KaBar and loudly proclaimed the advantages of their knives. My retort is that you would expect a knife that costs $400 to out perform a $40 knife. The KaBar has been around for 50 years and works just fine for most normal applications you might have for a knife - especailly for the price. Use and enjoy it.
 
Thank you Loki. I feel better... especially because the Ka-Bar is almost twice as expensive here as in the U.S and I would not want my money to be completely wasted.
 
most of these knives that i have seen broken have been used for prying with the blade and throwing, although the kabar is a very stout blade, no knife was meant to pry with. although you have to remember that they issue these things to U.S. marines, and they tend to give their equipment a fairly rough time. so as long as you dont try to move a boulder with it, you should be fine.
 
It is somewhat easy to break the tip of a Ka-Bar if you stick it into hardwood or bash it into rock. You se lots of old Ka_ar's with broken tips.

About 20 years ago I bought one with the intention of getting another when this one wore out. I'm still on my first one and it sees a great deal of heavy use. They are a great knife for the money. If you look up the word "knife" in the English dictionary you see a photo of a Ka-Bar, nuff said. Mac
 
Any knife can be broken if you use it for anything other than cutting no matter what it costs. The Ka-Bar is a good general purpose field knife IMHO. If used as a cutting insturment you should have no problems with it.

Of all of the knives I have broken only one was not due to abuse of some sort. I broke a Schrade stockman cutting cardboard. :confused: I still have no idea how that happened.
 
The Ka-Bar USMC is an excellent value for money, however many are not enamoured by the stick tang.

Regarding the pommel issue there have been a few reported cases of the pin popping out and the butt cap coming loose from the handle.
This happened to me on a caming trip. All is under warranty though according to a re-assuring e-mail from Ka-Bar.

I remember reading in another post that they have now remedied the butt cap problem by using stronger titanium pins. I remember this just vaguely.
 
Thank you to everybody. Now I have a last question : since you consider the knife unbreakable for normal cutting chores, is some light chopping (and occasional harder chopping) a normal cutting chore (i.e. not too risky for the tang) ?
 
I have never had a problem using my Ka-Bar for light chopping. If you have to do heavy chopping I would cut a heavy green stick and use it to hammer the back of the blade. This spares the handle the force of the impact.

About the only thing I wouldn't want to do with my Ka-Bar is pry. This is a tough job for any knife and will mar the finish and scar it up pretty bad. I would do it if my life depended on it but not in general use. Actually it has never come up in general use for me.

The only real problem that I had with my Ka-Bar was the leather sheath. About a week after buying it I had it shaving-sharp and put it right through the back the sheath and INTO MY LEG!!! I ruined a good pair of jeans and poked a decent hole in myself. I bought a OD green nylon web sheath with Velcro retention strap (Pre-Kydex era). This sheath has served me well and was a vast improvement over the original WW2 era leather. Mac
 
poussin :

... is some light chopping (and occasional harder chopping) a normal cutting chore (i.e. not too risky for the tang) ?
Click to expand...

No it would not be a problem, unless you are similar in physical ability to a bull mountain gorilla. The only concern would be with quality control issues.

alco141 :

no knife was meant to pry with
Click to expand...

You pry with a knife every time you cut something, harder cutting like in thick woods and hard plastics can involve a significant amount of lateral stress. Lots of knives are even designed to handle dedicated prying.

-Cliff
 
The ka-bar is a good knife, however IMO the Becker BK-7 or BK-9 is alot better for about the same price. They are full tang designs and made from thicker steel and better steel IMO. I would feel alot better with a becker than with a Ka-bar. I dont think i could break my BK-9 without some power tool of some kind, its a solid knife and i would not hesitate to pry with it if i had to to survive. Just my .02.
 
Yes Rifter, the BK7 was the one I was thinking about. But I have not seen one here yet. But, for a sturdy thing, I have seen a Buck Nighthawk, about which I also never had heard anything before. I took the Ka-Bar because the time I bought it I still was believeing it was a bit better than it really is. How is the Nighthawk doing ?
 
There's a big difference between "can you break it", and "will you break it in actual use". I have no doubt that I could break a Ka-Bar in about two seconds if I wanted to, but not in any kind of sensible use. One day, I will inherit my grandfather's Ka-Bar, which is his beater, close to 60 years old, and still going strong.
 
If you like the "kabar" style (really the "fighting/utility" style) buy a Camillus brand. It has been the issue knife to the Marines until recently, and Kabar has not been "issued" since WWII. ...also the Camillus is about $10 cheaper and every bit as good, or better.
 
Bruce : yes, I really like the look and love the feel of the ka-bar, and that's why I chose it over the Nighthawk which looks very strong but is uncomfortable to my hand.
And now that I have one, it would be a pity to buy another one from Camillus (even if it is a bit better) which would be only slightly different, especially because here the lowest price for a Ka-Bar is 80 euros, and believe me I had to search a lot to find it under 100 euros.

So I will go on with this one and trust OwenM and all the guys who gave the knife some hard time.
 
I've got one of the Camillus USMC knives. I've owned it for almost 25 years, have used it real hard, and it's still going strong. In my opinion, you would have to genuinely and deliberately abuse it to damage it.
 
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