KA-BAR Tech Talk

Dude their PD schedule is on the order of years, not weeks. Plan on pinging for a good long time :)
 
For making the ka-bar kukhuri, i recently went on a winter camping trip here in michigan, and i used both a cold steel norse hawk and the kabar kukhuri, and just ended up using the kabar for all of my wood processing its less fatiguing than swinging that hawk and trying to stay accurate, the kukri just bites deeper and it seems easier to place my cuts with it. The thing that surprised me the most was the ridiculous edge retention that knife has, i really beat it to heck and after an hour of batoning with it was still very slightly able to take hair of off my arm with it i was totally expecting tiny nicks at the least but on looking at the edge every time i thought i found one it was just bits off wood stuck to the edge, it was definitely the best knife for the money i have ever spent! i was considering getting the cutlass machete figuring the straighter blade would be better for batoning and i discovered i somehow overlooked the grass cutter machete, did you design that one too? i was kind of wondering if there was a list somewhere of all the knives you have made?

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d177/littlemikey26/wat10.jpg
 
Hi Paul,

Is there any plans in motion to make the D2 1282 in straight blade design? For a fighting knife I'm not feeling the serrations, and for Kabar D2, would a dmt diamond stick work well with it?

All the best.
 
Toooj-

I have been working on my ZK War Sword quite a bit recently (Stripping it right now, and trying to get rid of the grind marks).

I have been stripping it by sanding it against a piece of glass, so I'm assuming I've got a fairly flat surface. I noticed that the grind appears to be very slightly hollow as I've been doing this even though the knife is a "FFG" grind.

I was wondering what process was used to put the grind on this knife, and also if all of your FFG knives are ground the same way.

Thank you very much Paul :).
 
Toooj, I was watching a video of you at SHOT talking about the new combat kuhk and it got me wondering... just how does one go about designing a weapon intended for use in combat? Are there some basic design tenets for knives that as long as you adhere to and make it look cool, it'll sell? Is there a long-standing tradition that you draw design elements from? Interview professional soldiers and people in prison for homicide? Or do you actually go out and experimentally chop at and stab people in order to refine your design?

Bonus question: I'm sure there are plenty of people that buy fighting knives purely for cool factor and then just use them around the campfire ( :raises hand: ) Does KA-BAR think the new combat kuk will find a market with people that expect to actually fight with them?
 
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Hey Toooj,

I searched this thread but didn't see what I was looking for. Do you by any chance know the size of the screws for the pocket clip on the Phat Bob, not what size torks bit but the thread size? This is a great thread with some amazing info. Thanks!

-Nathan
 
Hey Tooj,
What is your "favorite" Ka-Bar currently being made?

Thanks,

-orangish ducktape

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Dayum,

I'm going to have to pop in more often. Here goes:

Garandimal: Got brought up at the last PD mtg. No loud negatives so I'm going ahead on the drawing....we'll see.

SwordMikey: Too many to recall but here are some highlights: Ontario Knife: Spec Plus1-19, SPC 20-23, P1-4, BlackWind Swords, Ontario County Hunters, Various machetes and Industrial knives
Cutco/KA-BAR From 1997: All KA-BARs, Beckers, TDI, JAB, FIN, Doziers, ZKs. Either designed out right or heavily involved in design and manufacturing. Cutco: Santokus, Cheese Knives, Ice Cream Scoop, Garlic Press.

Hi Lone Gunman: The 1281/82 line will be discontinued. Sorry. Diamond works great on D2.

ocnLogan: All Flat ground blades are actually ground on the side of circular grinding wheels (or rings). There will always be a very, very slight concavity to all of the "flat" ground surfaces. In addition, The longer blades can cause some dish and contribute to the "Not totally Flat" condition.

BRL: You basically have it. We know many professionals in the Military, LE, Trainer, Martial Artist fields. In addition, we know many in the knife industry, We all talk and communicate. We get requests from all of these fields, even from other companies..we reciprecate. When a new design is requested, thought of...we take that concept and draw many sketches. Then we take the best of those and put them on the computer. We get prototypes made and test and send out for testing.We make changes as necessary and repeat the process until we are sure of a good product. Then we get the factory involved. Manufacturing is vital; what can be done by a custom maker or in a lab is not necessarily what can be done by the factory. Even during production a project can undergo major changes and can even be deep sixed. If you see a product there may be 3-4 that didn't make it. The Combat Khuk was a request from a Military unit. I'm sure that many will wind up in civie hands but that is part of the new game. No government contracts, NSN buying from the government system is a better way to get your product in the Military field.

Nsvens89: Off the top of my head, the screw threads are 2-56. However, I'm going to look that up. If I find differently, I'll edit the post.

Orangish Ducktape: How does a parent choose one child over another? I like them all. I also like knives from other companies. Heck, I like knives.

Best Regards,

Paul Tsujimoto
Sr Eng
Prod Dev and Qual
KA-BAR Knives
 
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Thank you for the update and the info Toooj, we really appreciate it :).

I figured that was the response that I would get, as it seems the easiest way to do it. Also, your explanation covered the other "irregularity" that I noticed.

Thanks again :D.
 
Thanks Toooj, very interesting.

NB: If you ever want to test out any of the fighting knife designs, there's a guy in the Becker forum named Flexxx that we don't really need anymore.
 
Toooj,


Any plans at all to reintroduce the electricians knife? even though the dogs head line? I love the pattern but all i can find of them are beat so badly. I want one of these knew even more badly than the electricians beat on those knives.
 
clich said:
Toooj,


Any plans at all to reintroduce the electricians knife? even though the dogs head line? I love the pattern but all i can find of them are beat so badly. I want one of these knew even more badly than the electricians beat on those knives.
Click to expand...

I, too, will chime in here. Are there any plans to expand upon the Dog's Head line, or add any of the other traditional-style, older patterns (folding hunters, lockbacks) to the lineup any time soon?

Thank you for all of your time, Toooj. You are awesome.
 
clich, hawaiinhawk,

Interesting thought. As most know, our slippies and traditional knives are made by Canal Street. They are small and it takes some time, money and effort to get tooling up and going; so new efforts in that area are slow.
We do meet and talk regularly so I can bring it up.
I feel your pain; I think the TL-29 was/is a great tool. Unfortunately, as with most tools, they get pretty beat up...just ask Master Electrician Moose. The best advice I can tell you is to keep searching. Old Union/KA-BAR Knives in good condition are out there but it is a task to find them.

HH, we do plan on slowly expanding the slippie line...just wait, we got some uber cool things in store for that area. Old slippies have a very special place for several of us at KA-BAR, that is why we started the collaboration with Canal Street several years back.

BRL, You a bery bad man. Bery, Bery Bad. :)

Hope all of this helps.

Best Regards,

Paul Tsujimoto
Sr Eng
Prod Dev and Qual
KA-BAR Knives
 
A new line of KA-BAR TL-29s would be amazing. I know that here in the tiny enclosed world of BladeForums, this pattern is very well-liked... not sure how that translates to actual sales potential. I think the recent thing with GEC's experimental run of $75 (orange delrin) sodbusters that immediately sold out and launched the upcoming $50 black delrin sodbuster line might indicate similar potential for a new line of TL-29s treated in true traditional style. Wonder how Klein does with theirs; they're the only ones I can think of that still sell this pattern.

I love the hints that KA-BAR is considering other things in the traditional arena. The reclaimed chestnut thing is really really cool, and that sunfish is dreamy (although sadly a bit pricey for me).
 
Toooj said:
...Garandimal: Got brought up at the last PD mtg. No loud negatives so I'm going ahead on the drawing....we'll see...
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Hey Toooj,

That is Outstanding news.

While not a blade-smith, It seems to me that a blade-only change incorporating an ~ 2/5th's width spine and spear point to the existing Mk1 ricasso/tang/guard/handle/butt cap should speed things up considerably.

The heaver blade should also balance the knife pretty well.

But what do I know. (I'm just a construction engineer) :D


Please keep us posted w/ your Dev. Drawing/prototype progress if it doesn't violate your Industrial security policies...


Can't thank you enough for your interest, leadership, and expertise in what will no-doubt develop into yet another extremely successful KA-BAR/Toooj edged-tool masterpiece.



Thanks Toooj.

GR
 
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