Ka bar " Next gen figther " review

C

cabala

Joined
Oct 8, 2008
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316
Here is my new, so called " review " about stainless steel version of famous knife.
 
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I hit with pommel piece of hard wood on ground ( log ) twice and it cracked. Hits were medium strength, nothing special.

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Thorn is too narrow on his tip and because of that, heavy pommel just crack it. I'm sure that would be with all knives in 440A steel.

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As you can see, structure of steel on thorn tip is without any defects which means that isn't some manufacture defect. I don't know would it be happened with 1095 steel. Maybe tool steels have much better endurance on impact.

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Despite of pretty poor finish, blade stood every cutting task and is in perfect shape. Finish is mixed with particles of wood and that you can't clean by washing.

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When I have separate handle ill' erase sketch with it. Handle of Master Hunter erases better but as you can see this will be happened with all Kraton handles.

Conclusion? This is after all good utility knife and ill' will fix it and use it further. Knife stood very well with all kind of cutting tasks and I, personally don't like idea of using pommel as a hammer. First of all, you can hurt hand on something sharp and second, you may accidentaly stab or cut yourself or someone behind you.

Recommendation? If you are pro, better use old model in 1095 steel, for rest of us 440A is good knife with good capabilities and edge retention.
 
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Personally I wouldn't be able to recommend a knife that broke under the circumstances you described to anyone. 440A should have been able to take a bit more abuse than that. :eek:

Thanks for the review!
 
Are you referring to the very back of the tang? It is not clear to me what is happening there. That actually looks like epoxy adhesive or a coating failure, not a failure of the steel itself.

Can you post more photos of the crack to make it clear?
 
knarfeng said:
Are you referring to the very back of the tang? It is not clear to me what is happening there. That actually looks like epoxy adhesive or a coating failure, not a failure of the steel itself.

Can you post more photos of the crack to make it clear?
Click to expand...

Tang is clearly broken! It is very well seen on 2nd and 3rd pictures.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
I see no cracks. I see no bare metal. I am not saying poster is incorrect, only that I don't see what he is trying to show. Or is the poster saying the pommel broke off?

The pommel breaking off is somewhat different than the knife or tang breaking.
 
Part of the tang which goes inside pommel broken. There is not cracks - it completely broke off.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
nozh2002 said:
Part of the tang which goes inside pommel broken. There is not cracks - it completely broke off.

Thanks, Vassili.
Click to expand...

What he said. :eek:

The reduced portion of the tang that passes through the pommel has snapped clean off. :barf:
 
OK. Must be the coloration on my monitor. It doesn't look like bare metal on my screen.

But I would consider that a design flaw rather than poor steel.
 
Thanks for the review. I have that same model but with the D2. I wonder how that will hold up. I probably won't be pounding anything after seeing this. glad I didn't get the 440A.
 
knarfeng said:
OK. Must be the coloration on my monitor. It doesn't look like bare metal on my screen.

But I would consider that a design flaw rather than poor steel.
Click to expand...

I think KaBar design proves itself from WWII.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
Heavy pommel should have been reinforced with maybe some triangular wedges (for possible non centroid impacts) to further distribute stress if it is marketed to be a hammer ability pommel as well as an increase in the connection's cross sectional area. If for normal purposes (just to hold tang firm into handle for normal daily uses) then I think it is sufficient. However as seen from pics it's unsuitable for hammering.
 
nozh2002 said:
I think KaBar design proves itself from WWII.

Thanks, Vassili.
Click to expand...

I agree that the blade is a proven design Vassili, but IIRC that the butt of the NG design differs from that of the regular knife. IIRC, the butt of the traditional cannot be hammered. (I'm going from memory here. I don't have either model to actually look at. Just trying to remember what I have read. And I remember reading that you can't hammer on the butt of the Ka-Bar Marine. My memory may be faulty in this. I read a lot of threads.) Do you happen to have both designs? If so, can you look at the butt caps and tell if that part of the design is the same?

440A works for the rest of the knife. It just didn't work with that little nib that took the force of the hammer blow. That becomes a design issue.
 
knarfeng said:
I agree that the blade is a proven design Vassili, but IIRC that the butt of the NG design differs from that of the regular knife. IIRC, the butt of the traditional cannot be hammered. (I'm going from memory here. I don't have either model to actually look at. Just trying to remember what I have read. And I remember reading that you can't hammer on the butt of the Ka-Bar Marine. My memory may be faulty in this. I read a lot of threads.) Do you happen to have both designs? If so, can you look at the butt caps and tell if that part of the design is the same?

440A works for the rest of the knife. It just didn't work with that little nib that took the force of the hammer blow. That becomes a design issue.
Click to expand...

I have both to compare. It is not clear on this picture, but it is same, except NG has lanyard hole:

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However, I have original Next Generation made out of Sandvic 12C27. Design is same as for old one, except guard and lanyard hole on pommel.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
Sandvic would be better choice, I think that is happened because of lower steel quality and narrow tip.
 
I find it interesting that the tang gave before the pommel retainer pin considering the diameter of the pin. I know you are not supposed to hammer with the pommel of a Ka-Bar, it doesn't have the hammer pommel that the Aircrew survival knife has and the pommel is attached differently (the older Ka-Bar pommels were attached the same way as the A.S.K.) but I have driven wooden stakes before with my old style Ka-Bar and the pommel never broke off, it bent crooked a bit after a while but never broke.
 
I'm just surprised that they gave it a flat pommel in the first place if it wasn't intended as a makeshift hammer...and further surprised that they haven't modified the tang so that it can be. I know it's a classic, but seeing as how they've come out with a tanto version and all you'd think they could at least make that mod.

That being said the pattern doesn't do anything for me anyway, in spite of its iconic nature, so never mind me. :)
 
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