As for the Ka-Bar...
I have not taken the Kraton handle version apart, but I did repair an older stacked leather grip version that I am assuming is of similar construction.
The example I received came in 2 pieces, neatly snapped at the tang/blade junction. I asked the owner what happened and obviously if he was prying with it, but he said no, his girlfriend was just chopping some light kindling for a barbecue and not prying at all.
The Ka-Bar reputation notwithstanding, the knife looks rugged, but under the leather is only about a 5/16" tang... and that natural weak spot is compounded by the hardness of the blade and resulting brittleness, and the sharp 90 degree square cuts that can cause stress fractures, and likely did...(Small diameter, Hard, brittle steel and square cuts at the fulcrum point...that's three plus one strikes if you are counting)
On reading all the exceptions and prohibited uses in their warranty statement, I assume this type of breakage is not uncommon.
Anyway, I could have just welded it up, but I already had it apart on my bench so I went ahead and forged in a piece of steel to create a 5/8" tang that extended to the end of the handle. All that was hidden by the leather disks, so it retained the original appearance but was a lot more rugged than new when I was done...but...
That's a couple of hours plus and about $250 of custom repair work, so except that I wanted to see what I could do with it and the knife having a lot of sentimental value to the guy, being that it was a gift from his brother, and other than my curiosity this would have been a non-salvageable breakage.
I'm not sure how the new ones are made, or if they are improved, but I'd opt for a more modern full tang design for any actual use...even light duty.
Maybe not so modern...ancient Katana and my 1895 Mauser Bayonets have full tangs.
I have not taken the Kraton handle version apart, but I did repair an older stacked leather grip version that I am assuming is of similar construction.
The example I received came in 2 pieces, neatly snapped at the tang/blade junction. I asked the owner what happened and obviously if he was prying with it, but he said no, his girlfriend was just chopping some light kindling for a barbecue and not prying at all.
The Ka-Bar reputation notwithstanding, the knife looks rugged, but under the leather is only about a 5/16" tang... and that natural weak spot is compounded by the hardness of the blade and resulting brittleness, and the sharp 90 degree square cuts that can cause stress fractures, and likely did...(Small diameter, Hard, brittle steel and square cuts at the fulcrum point...that's three plus one strikes if you are counting)
On reading all the exceptions and prohibited uses in their warranty statement, I assume this type of breakage is not uncommon.
Anyway, I could have just welded it up, but I already had it apart on my bench so I went ahead and forged in a piece of steel to create a 5/8" tang that extended to the end of the handle. All that was hidden by the leather disks, so it retained the original appearance but was a lot more rugged than new when I was done...but...
That's a couple of hours plus and about $250 of custom repair work, so except that I wanted to see what I could do with it and the knife having a lot of sentimental value to the guy, being that it was a gift from his brother, and other than my curiosity this would have been a non-salvageable breakage.
I'm not sure how the new ones are made, or if they are improved, but I'd opt for a more modern full tang design for any actual use...even light duty.
Maybe not so modern...ancient Katana and my 1895 Mauser Bayonets have full tangs.