KA-BAR Grass machete?

Y

Yorkshire Boy

Joined
Sep 27, 2008
Messages
947
In the general section I asked if anybody had any experience with the KA-BAR Grass Machete. It was suggested that I come here and try for info.

I was wondering how thick it is.
It's got a funky looking grind, can someone explain why so?
 
Blade thickness is .165", Tsujimoto Style handle (good), and a multiground edge.

From what I have heard, the added bevels are there to help put air between the blade and a wetter media, say, tall green grass when its swung.

Think potato slices on a flat ground chef's knife, without the scallops. It sticks. With the multi bevel, it limits the stick, and the wider angle at less linear distance from the edge, force the media at a more outward angle.

So, imagine our self swinging this thing through wet grass, and the grass flying away from the blade after the cut, instead of it folding over and foiling your backswing.

That's what I heard, multi bevels are not really a new concept, and some folks will consider it a leg up on making a good convexed edge. That's really the basic premise, is a basic convexing principle, of using the edge to seperate the media, and the blade to seperate it further and faster.

Plus, it looks cool.

:D

Moose
 
I heard they are silencing baffles that will even mute whale screams. :D
Thanks for the intel, Moose. I'm the one who sent Yorkshire Boy over here.
YB, until we can get a dedicated Ka-Bar forum, Becker is probably your best bet for Ka-Bar info.
 
each bevel is blessed by blind monks and then purified with virgin tears. good stuff.
 
whereismyclock said:
.........thing better cut through diamonds or a bunch of blind monks and virgins are going to be upset.
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eh, no no no, diamonds were not mentioned in the description or function specs.

*GRASS* machete!!! if you so much as TOUCH anything other than *GRASS* it will explode! and email will automatically be sent ot KaBar invalidating your warranty!

believe it!

:D
 
Bladite said:
eh, no no no, diamonds were not mentioned in the description or function specs.

*GRASS* machete!!! if you so much as TOUCH anything other than *GRASS* it will explode! and email will automatically be sent ot KaBar invalidating your warranty!

believe it!

:D
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Nice....I'm laughing, out loud, alone in my living room.
+10 awkward leisure points. :)
 
whereismyclock said:
Nice....I'm laughing, out loud, alone in my living room.
+10 awkward leisure points. :)
Click to expand...

even now, Tooooj, and that GUY have already received email of your impure thoughts. forget about mods, and warranties. better buy three of them with those carefree leisure points :)
 
whereismyclock said:
Nice....I'm laughing, out loud, alone in my living room.
+10 awkward leisure points. :)
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I'm a little ticked. Moose only awards Bushcraft Buddy points, and those things are no good at Bath, Bed, and Beyond.
 
Guyon said:
I'm a little ticked. Moose only awards Bushcraft Buddy points, and those things are no good at Bath, Bed, and Beyond.
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Dude, you gotta start going to Bed, Bushcraft and Beyond. See the lady at the service counter.

Moose
 
So it's just over 4mm thick?

That's a sturdy grass machete!

I owned the KA-BAR Cutlass (I think it was the same thickness?) and I was very impressed.

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I found it to have great bite and power, the handle was comfy and took the shock out of impacts. For the money it was excellent and I would recommend it to anyone. I'd love to see it tested against more expensive and famous choppers. I gave mine to my sister and she uses it quite a bit now.

p.s. thanks Guyon for directing me here, and thanks to Moose for the info.
 
Is the handle on the Cutlass kraton? Any issue with hot-spots from it?
 
This and the Cutlass are on my wish list right now. I think the Cutlass is first in line though.
 
rockspyder said:
Is the handle on the Cutlass kraton? Any issue with hot-spots from it?
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Yeah, standard Tsujimoto handle. Kraton, and so far, I haven't gotten hotspots from any Kraton handle, just micarta. Actually, blisters from micarta, not just hotspots. The Kraton is of a softer nature on the Toooj Handles. They don't contour as much as the BKT's, but they fill the hand, and are well designed. They feel almost too big, but you got to think , Toooj has small hands, and he likes them.

The Grass Machete is machete length, but knife thickness. Its a workhorse of a different breed, for sure.

Moose
 
The handle on the Cutlass is very good. Like Moose, I've never had any problems with any rubber handle on a knife. I've used mine quite a bit with no hotspots or blisters. Only thing I'm debating on is flattening the sides just a tad to keep it from rolling in my hand. It's not a design flaw in the handle, I tend to use a pretty loose grip with machetes and find that a flatter side profile keeps it from happening.
 
Thanks Moose and Cramsey. I can't say I've ever had a problem with kraton handles either; they're just not my favorite. I do like the look of that Cutlass, though.
 
The Kabar grips are a lot like the Ontario grips, and I have noticed at least on my Ontario Kukri that there are a multitude of hot spots from the rubber.
Don't get me wrong it absorbs a lot of shock, but it rubs bad in some places.

I took coarse grit sand paper to mine and rounded it a bit and roughed it up a bit and that seemed to help a great deal. (I still prefer to wear gloves when doing any heavy work with a rubber gripped tool.)

The Kabar grips are shaped a bit better than most rubber grips I have had though and they don't seem to rub as much, at least on the one that I had, but it wasn't like the cutlass at all.

P.S. if you rough up the rubber with sandpaper it also reduces how slick it gets when its wet.
 
All,

The blade thickness is 0.165" (4.45mm for you metricheads). The grind is what we call a duplex grind. It allows the blade to keep some swing weight but still lets the edge get sharp. This is a problematic edge issue with machete type knives. How do you keep sufficient swing weight and still keep the edge geometry usable. Alot of Machetes have very trucated sabre grinds that don't really work well. KA-BAR wanted something a little better. South/Central American Machetes are mainly used for chopping through leafy vegatation not batoning or chopping hardwoods as is the case in North America. We are suggesting the Grass Machete should be more leafy vegetation and less for hardwoods.

Silverthorn,

The KA-BAR handles and Ontario Spec Plus Handles are very similar because I was involved in the design of both. (I was at Ontario for 5-6 years. I will share authorship of the Ontario Handles with Dan Maragni. He played an important role in that design.)
I like to think the KA-BAR Handles are a more refined edition of the two, however, both are pretty good.
Hope this helps.

Best Regards,


Paul Tsujimoto
Sr Eng
Prod Dev and Qual
KA-BAR Knives
 
Toooj, I thought something like that might be the case.
I gotta say Nice work..lol.
I like my Ontario, but I have handled the Kabar (not under proper use, but for feel)
and I would have to say the Kabar grip is definitely more refined.
My Ontario is the Kuk though which I am not sure they are making anymore, so it may be an older model handle.
Its funny how small a world the knife world is.
Big fan of Becker/Kabar/and Ontario, for a while now.
I was very excited when Ethan signed on with Kabar.

Thanks for the info too.
 
I bet the grass machete would make a good chopper and splitter.

Another blade I've been looking at is a cheap Boker Magnum, it kind of reminds me of a Becker design.

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