Johnson Adventure Blades

J

Jake Bauer

Joined
Sep 19, 2007
Messages
4,293
Got my KABAR 2010 catalog today.

Page 14 has 3 new knives called Johnson Adventure Blades. Model number 5601 "Baconmaker", 5600 "Potbelly", and "Piggyback" The catalog doesnt give dimentions, except that the "Bacon maker" is .188in thick w/ 1095CV and a dark brown (I'll guess) zytel handle, the "Potbelly" is .25in thick 1095CV with dark brown handle, and the "Piggyback" is .165in 5Cr13 skeletonized, no grips. They look well, unique. I Like the looks of the Potbelly. The bacon and pot come with coyote brown polyester sheathes.

Anyone got more info on these?
 
Excellent. Thanks AF.

I've never heard of that handle material. Wonder what it's comparable to.
 
The neck knife has an attractive price and would be an interesting model to practice cord wrapping.

Can anyone educate me on the good/bad of 5Cr13?
 
Translation: GFN-PA66 means (fiber)Glass Filled Nylon - PolyAmide66. Nylon is a polyamide. Nylon66 is a popular nylon formulation. So, basically the same type of material as Zytel or Grivory, which are brand names. But no specification for the amount of fiberglass filling, or the length or diameter of the glass fibers. All these things affect the strength of the resulting composite.

5Cr13 steel, with 0.5% C and 13% Cr, is in the ballpark of 420HC steel. Steels labeled nCrNN are usually Chinese or Taiwanese steel. What we don't know is what trace elements may be there, and more importantly, what kind of heat treatment is used. The Tomars website says "made in the USA", but does that mean assembled in the USA of Chinese steel and GFN, or Kabar heat treated Chinese steel and American GFN? I'd trust Kabar's HT more, since they use a cryo quench before tempering, and seem to do a good job with 440A. As always, YMMV.
 
Hi Marantz,

The JAB 5600 and 5601 are made in the USA (Handles from Taiwan). The 5599 is made in China.
Hope this helps.

Best Regards,

Paul Tsujimoto
Sr Eng
Prod Dev and Qual
KA-BAR Knives
 
My Potbelly arrived 2 days ago. Nice, solid knife. The handle offers a few grip positions.
 
WOW!! Love this blade desighn. I noticed somthing VERY interesting though. There are TWO desighns out for the potbelly. Gellati international and a couple other stores have this knife in stock but the knife doesnt a choil. It looks like the made the knife available then changed the desighn?????? Makes sence because the first thing I thought of when I saw the potbelly was the fact the handle runs right into the blade........that could be bad. As long as I can get one with a choil, this is my next knife.:thumbup:
 
Thanks, "I'm sold". I think this knife is going to be a smash hit. I see a rough use camp/hunting knife that can hang with a BK-7/ RC-6 and be an even better chopper. Love the sheath too! I can already tell Im going to be putting some cutom micarta on this guy.
 
The grip scales are covered in variously sized pebblegrain, which can't be duplicated in Micarta, and they also vary in thickness, with a palmswell that's not real obvious in the photos you see. The "scuplted" scales are not flat, and by all means go with Micarta if you want, but you'd be giving up some grippiness & ergonomics.
Just FYI.
Denis
 
So my potbelly arrived saturday from tomars. I am very impressed. The knife has a nice feel overall. The blade came razor sharp, "I can shave arm hair with ease", it also chops like a dream. The handle is very ergonomic and felt great even after a little chopping. I would say that this knives chopping ability is a "little" better than a BK7.

Now for the sheath....... "wicked"!! This has got to be the best sheath I have ever seen. The pouch is huge and large enough for a altoids tin, insect spray, emergency blanket ect. I now have to decide if I'm going to rock my becker in this or keep the potbelly:D
 
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Right on, Ill take a few tonight and get a kit list togather.

UPDATE: Sorry guys havnt had time to post my pics and more detailed review. To much work and PT the last couple days. Ill have some nice material up by this weekend.
 
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Just want to update that I did take photos and shall post them,....Im workin like a mad man. I eat, work, work out, eat, sleep. Oh-well at least I have a job:thumbup: Mabey Ill post tonight after an iced coffee.
 
I've been eyeballing that Potbelly a lot recently. I wasn't impressed at first, but it is looking better and better. How are those pics coming along? Does the sheath have any of the issues that the BK7 sheath does (no retention, rattling, etc.)?
 
sqoon said:
I've been eyeballing that Potbelly a lot recently. I wasn't impressed at first, but it is looking better and better. How are those pics coming along? Does the sheath have any of the issues that the BK7 sheath does (no retention, rattling, etc.)?
Click to expand...

it reminds me of the Canadian Grohman knife and also the CRKT MUK knife in some way, but its own thing.

definitely interesting


Bladite
 
Is the Potbelly flat, or hollow ground? The product summary on Tomar's says hollow, but the longer description says flat. Johnson's page says hollow, but earlier designs were flat. Which is it? If it is hollow, how deep is it? I've never seen a hollow grind on a .25" blade. Does its thickness compensate for the usual gripes folks have with hollow grinds on survival blades?

If I don't see some pics soon, I'm going to have to just buy one myself. The wife will love that line of reasoning.
 
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