K-Bar 14 1/4 destruction test VIDEO

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noss4

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Jul 7, 2006
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K-Bar 14 ¼ destruction test. ON VIDEO (links at bottom )

I was doing a blade-flexing test by putting it in a vise and bending the blade
I was able to get about a 20 to 25 degree bend about 10 times before the tip broke.Unfortunately I didn’t have the camera running for this test.

Now it was time to work this knife until total failure. With the camera running.

With a broken tip I proceeded with impact testing, beating the back of the blade with a hammer in to a 2x4 over and over. No blade breakage and no edge chipping.

Then onto breaking a brick then hacking away at it like a log. The edge never chipped. There is one chip near the tip after striking my tubing notcher (wild swing) on the workbench.

Next onto a large landscaping brick hacking away the sparks really begin to fly (literally) I hammered the blade splitting the brick. After this there is still no blade failure just blade denting. I was still able to cut four layers of poster board I glued up from another project.

I whacked PVC pipe cutting it like a tree branch cutting it clean.

I moved on to hammering into metal conduit. Finally chipping a thumb size notch out of the blade.

Back to hammering in to 2x4s the blade finally broke in half at the broken notch.

However even with the blade broken with only about 2.5 inches left I continued to hammer and chop with the blade.

On to the handle: MELT posted a reply that the handles on K-Bars aren’t tough. The video proves him wrong. Locking what was left of the blade in the vise I beat the hell out of it with a hammer, over and over. The hammer just bounced off like hitting a car tire.I set the handle on fire and let it burn for a minute then beat it again and again.It finally took a 15-pound sledge and about 8 hard blows for the handle to fail.Kraton G is indeed a tough handle.

Bottom line this is one tough knife it took a hell of a lot of insane abuse to destroy it.

Since there is some debate between the K-Bar Bowie and the Becker BK series
I will perform the same test and see what the Becker can take before total failure.I already ordered the Becker BK 9 I will have it posted after the 1st or so of January.

The videos of the above torture test are in 10 minute 3 parts. Total 30 minutes of knife Hell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl1Cuj7JKDs part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2Le8NZ9T-E part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY9zJYpQBHI part 3

Hope you enjoy the videos ? Because I really ! had fun making this one
 
I don't have time to watch them all now...

But do you still recommend that knife?
 
cybrok said:
I don't have time to watch them all now...

But do you still recommend that knife?
Click to expand...

Yes I still recommend this knife. I would gladly carry this knife in the wilderness
or battlefield without a second thought.

Bottom line is all knives will fail if subjected to extreme abuse Some just fail quicker then others.
 
cybrok said:
I don't have time to watch them all now...

But do you still recommend that knife?
Click to expand...


Another note: There is no such thing as an indestructible knife.
Most every manufacture uses the word/words indestructible or virtually indestructible. K-Bar is no exception to the rule. Man has never made a knife
or sword or other blade that is indestructible.

The K-bar bowie took 30 minuets of extreme abuse before it was totally unusable. Some may take more, some may take less but they will all fail.
 
Damn, had me lauging at the start of #3. Would really be funny if you had a 4th video(about a 2 second one) with 1/2 pound of C4 duck taped to it and lit.
 
Actually about the handle burning. it seems to burn like a tire and tires burn a while. If after the knife totally fails. It should make a great fire starter.That alone may save your life.

I'm going to burn the handle later today and time it. I'll post the time.
 
So what have we learnt from this? Good knives are tough, even if we are determined to destroy them, so if we use a little common sense we can use them hard without hesitation.:thumbup:
Noss4, thank you, very good job.
 
:eek: :eek: :eek:

I'm really surprised how well the handle held up in the third video. Micarta or G-10 would have been been annihilated. I lost it when you pulled out that sledgehammer. Impressive videos!!
 
Wow, after only seeing the first video, I think I'm gonna have to get one of these. Thats a real tough looking knife for ~$50!
 
Thanks for the video. It's very interesting, and very entertaining. I like overbuilt knives as much as anyone. When an inexpensive knife like that will take that level of abuse, it makes me wonder what's next. In 5 years I wonder if we'll have tactical crowbars with kydex sheaths.
 
KaBar knives will take some heavy abuse and still work just fine. My KaBar Cutlass ("machete") is the grand champion of my heavy use knives. It's been to hell and back and is still begging for more. If I had to choose a knife to defend myself with, that's the one I would use. You could use it to chop off an arm quite easily- it goes through 3" branches in single chops regularly and with ease. Awesome!

(edit) I just went and looked at the subject of this article- the 14 1/2" bowie- that's the same handle as my Cutlass- and the blade is 3 inches longer. That's gotta be one bad-ass chopper. I can testify to the strength of that handle, I've thrown it countless times, screwed up and hit it backwards- the only thing that's ever happened is that the lanyard post has been squished a little. I have to have one of these big Bowies! That's the knife to have if you don't have a gun and a bear charges you. (Die with honor!)
 
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