I submitted a suggestion to Kabar today.

C

Captain O

BANNED
Joined
Apr 14, 2015
Messages
1,333
How about a series of Mark 1 Deck Knives in ELMAX? This, and series of Marine knives in the same material would last four lifetimes and be worth their weight in gold in severe conditions.
 
It's a valid suggestion as I know many of us would think that knife would be pretty great, but the way Ka-Bar runs I doubt they'll find it feasible to pull off based on such large quantities of materials they normally deal with and the extra tooling effort and costs needed to work with high-wear-resistance stainless steel.
 
hah...truth hurts though, I guess...
I'm really loving my 1461. I'd love a D2 Becker, esp a BK16. The MK1 in D2 would be almost equally as sweet.
I would pick one up for sure... I have a 24 and its great too, but something a bit more substantial would be nice.
If I ever find an affordable BK77...
 
Captain O said:
I just love how positive some people are.
Click to expand...

Oh, I'm pretty positive it won't happen. Kabar is in business to make money. They make money by selling lots of knives at affordable prices. The cost to tool up to use ELMAX or any of the other fancy steels would be prohibitive. Developing the proper HT protocols for their oven machinery would take time and experimentation. That costs money that has to be spread out over each knife sold. Then there is the printing costs for new boxes, literature, labels, etc. Then there is the learning curve in grinding a different steel. Inventory and warehouse storage footprint. That adds to the time costs.

Look at the recent BK20. They only made 450 and it took 6 months to sell them all, even when bundled with 2 other great knives that were discontinued. Even a small knife like the BK16 or MK1 would end up being way overpriced from Kabar's perspective. They would sit on the shelves for months.

They've already tried using D2 for the BK24 and the NextGen series of knives and they've been discontinued. Great knives and I love'm, but slow sellers.
 
Captain O said:
I just love how positive some people are.
Click to expand...

I try to be...

As many have said before look at what zzyzz said and that pretty much what a lot of us think I would buy one but I wouldn't buy anoth for Kabar to make money on it

You see what I mean?
 
James w said:
I try to be...

As many have said before look at what zzyzz said and that pretty much what a lot of us think I would buy one but I wouldn't buy anoth for Kabar to make money on it

You see what I mean?
Click to expand...

There's a difference between explaining why it won't happen, and just stating "won't happen" with no explanation. Your post was unnecessary and caused me to feel annoyed at your attitude no matter how accurate it might be. As you can see others explained it instead of just saying it wouldn't happen, that's a better way to do it.
 
I would say "never say never". While the expenses and other hurtles have been pointed out, the present reality is the Buck is doing something similar right now with their "Alaska Guide Series" knives. Taking some classic Buck patterns and making them with S30V steel instead of 420 SS and upgrading the materials used for the hilts.
I'm not sure why Buck won't have to overcome most if not all of the challenges that have already been pointed out.
KA-BAR is still marketing the 1217EWS at this time, just saying.
 
zzyzzogeton said:
Oh, I'm pretty positive it won't happen. Kabar is in business to make money. They make money by selling lots of knives at affordable prices. The cost to tool up to use ELMAX or any of the other fancy steels would be prohibitive. Developing the proper HT protocols for their oven machinery would take time and experimentation. That costs money that has to be spread out over each knife sold. Then there is the printing costs for new boxes, literature, labels, etc. Then there is the learning curve in grinding a different steel. Inventory and warehouse storage footprint. That adds to the time costs.

Look at the recent BK20. They only made 450 and it took 6 months to sell them all, even when bundled with 2 other great knives that were discontinued. Even a small knife like the BK16 or MK1 would end up being way overpriced from Kabar's perspective. They would sit on the shelves for months.

They've already tried using D2 for the BK24 and the NextGen series of knives and they've been discontinued. Great knives and I love'm, but slow sellers.
Click to expand...

I think you meant 6 weeks, not months -- they were announced in mid-April and were gone before Memorial Day.
 
You're right.... should have been weeks. :foot: I'll leave it in for posterity. :D

They were announced April 12 and went OOS May 31, so 49 days. That's barely 9 sales a day "nationwide" including Canada and a couple of other Out-US sales. From a sales point of view, for such an awesome knife in a great package deal, that's putrid sales.
 
considering the sales were primarily word of mouth and manufacturer subscribers, that's pretty good.
 
Kabar e-mailed a polite explanation that they aren't planning on using Elmax steel in their large fixed-blade knives. Whine I shouldn't have been surprised, perhaps there's another small manufacturer that would be willing to make a few of these for the SEAL teams. These may be expensive, but you can "bet your bottom dollar" that the SEAL team members would be quite happy to have these. Ease of use, retaining a sharp edge, and resistance to rust and corrosion in hostile environments would make these knives quite desirable.

Why not the best knives in the world for the world's best warriors?
 
Can't argue with any of that Captain O.
This endeavor would probably put MSRP in the range of a custom blade anyway so may as well go to the little guy for a no frills hardcore use blade.
Hey, ya never know if you don't ask right?
And good on Ka-Bar for a prompt response and not just ignoring you.
HQ customer service as usual!
 
Elmax and S35vn are pretty similar. If you are looking for a knife like that from KaBar try the Snody Big boss. :thumbup: I love mine!

IMG_20160404_160007682_zpso0dgv9wg.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top