KA-BAR Tech Talk

[orca8589]

Orca,

See if you can reset the back prongs of the rivet with a rivet set or even a pair of pliers. Or you can try to stone down the high, rough edges of the rivet. If that doesn't work, send it to me and I'll replace with a better sheath.

Thanks, Toooj! I'll work on it and let you know here.

~Chris

 

[orca8589]

Nevermind. Doubletap for some reason.
~Chris

 

[Moosez45]

except Moose. He has hater tendencies.

Oh, someone here is a hater...

Moose

 

[sideshowbob8]

The likeness is scary isn't it?

 

[sideshowbob8]

I actually had hair like that too moose in college.

 

[Bladite]

The likeness is scary isn't it?

nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Bladite]

The likeness is scary isn't it?

nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[BRL]

While not disregarding our traditional customer base, we are really trying to think out of the box on some of our new offerings.

Really interesting! I appreciate the soap box and the glimpse into this corporate strategy, especially when it means green lights for unique products that push boundaries rather than cater to established and boring populist desires. Hope you have strong sales and get the market encouragement needed to continue to think outside the box. You can count on me being there in April to vote with my checkbook when the new stuff hits the retail stream.

And should you ever go with wood scales in the Coppersmith line then you can simply ship them all straight to my house!

 

[Moosez45]

I actually had hair like that too moose in college.

I'm gonna need some proof, there mon frere....

Moose

 

[sideshowbob8]

i will dig them up.. these are printed pictures you know. Aint no digi back then.

 

[FreebornErik]

The Johnson Adventure Blades Gamestalker, is it 440A or 1095cv? The new catalog says 1095CV, other sources say 440A (like the Remora), which is it going to be?

Thanks,

Erik

 

[sideshowbob8]

440A. misprint in the catalog.

 

[danbremner]

Heard you are working with snody on some collabs. If so any specs, when, or possible msrp?

 

[hawaiianhawk]

Hey Toooj, I wonder if you could tell us something about this knife I found poking around the 'Bay. It looks interesting: Stabilized wood handle and parkerized blade.

 

[stvpourciau]

440A. misprint in the catalog.

WHY??!!!

I was sooo eager to buy one. Probably still gonna pick one up. It beats out any Hunting/Camp knife in the Walmart Sporting Goods section that carries a $30-50sumthin' price tag. Looks like a promising utility knife, I was hoping for a chunk of the nice solid Cro-Van we know and love.

I Have a couple of Buck Knives in Chinese 440 mystery steel which I'm assuming is 440A, that I wouldn't cry over trowing in the garbage can.

Is it gonna be .188 inch thickness as printed?

To be clear, I'm not disrespecting the product before it's even on the market. I'm well aware many here are excitedly looking forward to it, as am I. I'll be one of the 1st to snap it up when she goes on sale. I'm just voicing some concerns/disappointments from bad experience with the steel that will hopefully be put to rest.

Being stamped KA-BAR goes a long way towards doing that to begin with..

 

[Toooj]

HH,

Your knife is (obviously) a 1209. Made in the 1980s. Phosphated blade and Black Fibron handles. I'm thinking it was made at Camillus. Due to the KA-BAR factory being closed in the late 1970s.
Hope this helps.

stvpourciau,

A properly made 440A knife blade is much better than its reputation (due to the plethora of poorly made 440A blades). We have the largest, most sophistcated blade oven in the US (Maybe the world) in our plant. We deep freeze our blades to optimize the quench. Remember that alot of the blade performance comes from proper edge and blade design; BTW; the GameStalker steel thk is 0.165".

Best Regards,

Paul Tsujimoto
Sr Eng
Prod Dev and Qual
KA-BAR Knives

 

[Toooj]

danbremner,

Yes we are. KA-BAR will be producing some of the "realest knifemaker in the game" designs. In fact, I just finished a steel search to see what is the large quantity availability and pricing for certain exotic steels.
We are looking at what designs make sense for us to produce and in what order.
Stay tuned.

Best Regards,

Paul Tsujimoto
Sr Eng
Prod Dev and Qual
KA-BAR Knives

 

[sac troop]

Hey Toooj, I wonder if you could tell us something about this knife I found poking around the 'Bay. It looks interesting: Stabilized wood handle and parkerized blade.

Hawaiianhawk the knife goes back farther than the 1980’s. I know because I remember where and when I was when I got mine in the mid seventies.
The 1209 and the 1207,(stacked leather handle and bright finished blade) were knives that many service men bought thru the PX system back at least as far as the Vietnam era. I don’t know exactly how early the 1209 became available but it was a personal purchase knife that was carried by more than a few Vietnam veterans “In Country”.
Good solid utility knife. Yours looks great! Wish mine was still in such shape, but it’s been there and done that.

 

[europeanoutdoorsman]

Hi Tooj,
I have got into the fun of stripping some knives so I could see that beautiful shiny steel. I stripped a BK2 a blackhawk tatang, and now I am working on a BK9.

I am in Europe and I don't have access to the Klean Strip the guys here on the forum use. For the BK2, I used sand paper and s6000 paint remover (designated for synthetics). For the Tatang, I used the s6000 (at first it didn't work), so then I switched to a jelly that was more of a paint on stuff and after 2 days it worked (with a little elbow grease). I still had some of the s6000 left so I tried that and it didn't put a dent in the coating. So, then I tried s6300 because I wasn't satisfied with the jelly as it didn't live up to it's claims. This s6300 is designated for epoxies and other tough synthetic paints of multiple layers. So far, after about 6 hours and multiple tries, this hasn't worked yet.

So, who says your coatings need to be tougher? Do you have a suggestion on how I could strip the coating off the blade? These strippers that I mentioned are both stronger than acetone and really, I don't know of anything stronger that I could buy here, but I could be wrong.

 

[stvpourciau]

Do you have a suggestion on how I could strip the coating off the blade? These strippers that I mentioned are both stronger than acetone and really, I don't know of anything stronger that I could buy here, but I could be wrong.

I've seen other guys voice there input on here, so in hopes that it's not considered rude, here ya go.

I found the most successful way (for me) to strip my Kabars is just to chip(scratch away) the coating with a cheap stainless steel multitool knife blade. The soft knife didn't do any damage at all to the Kabar and then you just have to sand away the undercoat left on the blade.

Took me about 1 hour per side while watching TV, nothing to meticulous.

stvpourciau,

A properly made 440A knife blade is much better than its reputation (due to the plethora of poorly made 440A blades). We have the largest, most sophistcated blade oven in the US (Maybe the world) in our plant. We deep freeze our blades to optimize the quench. Remember that alot of the blade performance comes from proper edge and blade design; BTW; the GameStalker steel thk is 0.165".

That's good enough for me.