Ka Bar USMC as a survival knife

C

CSRevenant

Joined
Jun 13, 2010
Messages
72
Hello,

I was wondering how good of a survival knife a Kabar would make. I am working on a bug out bag/wilderness survival bag, but I don't know what knife I would want. I have Kabar USMC, but I am not sure about the limits of the rat tail tang. I have seen some photos where the tang bent pretty severely.

Would this knife stand up to chopping 3 or 4 inch diameter chunks of wood? Or do I need a devoted knife along the lines of the larger RAT knives? Being a bug out bag, I cant really put an axe or hatchet, so I need a do it all knife.

What do you all think?

Thanks in advance.
 
Worked for the military for oh, say , 80 ish years, and still a huge seller in the consumer market. i have one that does whatever I need it to, and it's 70 yrs old. I'd say that would be a yes.
 
I did 4 years in the Marine Corps and carried my Ka Bar to the field with me every week and never had any issues....never did chop wood with it though. I'm kind of in the same boat you are in trying to decide which fixed blade to put in my BOB. I have a CRK Green Beret that I'm thinking about using for that purpose. My requirements seem to be similar to yours and I've come to the conclusion......for myself......that a S30V steel blade with relative thickness will fit the bill. Interested to see what the more senior/experienced members here might have to say because you can't go wrong with the price of a Ka Bar.
 
[video]http://youtu.be/hK6wSzXr_GE[/video]

This will show you its "wood processing" limits and let you decide for yourself.

Edit: can't figure out how to embed it, so you need to click the link.
 
My major concern is what happened at 8:30 in this video. Looks like the tang bent where the handle meets the blade.
 
You could a whole lot worse than the usmc. But don't expect it to out perform something that is more specifically designed and likely twice or three times the price. Like a fallkniven a1 for example.
 
If you only have one knife in a survival situation, then avoid any type of activity where you are using your knife outside the scope of its design, ie: chopping wood with a knife with a small tang. For the same amount of money you could buy a becker bk2 and have a tool that you could have more confidence in. just my opinion... And I have a kabar usmc knife and I wouldn't ever chop wood with it. Its a knife, not a hatchet. It cuts things and you can pry with it using caution. And im not sure if you knew this, but at my local walmarts, Stanley tools makes a mini prybar for 9 dollars. Stick one of those in your BOB with a kabar usmc and you're set.
 
There are worse knives out there.... but then there are better too. I've had a couple USMC Ka-bar's and they served me well enough, but I never abused them. I have heard quite a few stories of others who broke their's while attempting to chop or batton wood, and at least one guy here says his broke at the butt cap when he simply dropped it from waist height.

IMHO if my life were going to have to depend on it, I would choose a sturdier knife, and personally I preffer blades with full flat or convex grinds to the Ka-bars shart saber ground blade. FYI, for their price, you can't go wrong with something from ESEE, Fallkniven, Bark River, or many of the other dependable brands out there. If you are looking for a bargin, Beckers are pretty reasonably priced.

If you decide to stick with the Ka-bar, you may want to consider throwing a simple folding saw into your BOB.
 
If you want a knife quite capable of cutting wood, but still the general price range of a kabar- an Ontario sp10 would serve you well, ive seen people cut trees down with them, and never heard of one breaking..

I would never use my kabar to cut wood, for mainly 2 reasons, not meant to, and lack of weight....
 
USMC F/U is a great knife upon which millions have relied for decades. It ought to work for you. As has been mentioned, purpose made outdoors knives (Becker BK2 BK9, etc.) will be better for that purpose for similar money but given you already have the USMC one, use it and enjoy it. If you find you want something more overbuilt after a while, look at Becker or ESEE etc.

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Beckerhead #42
 
dronenbphk said:
I did 4 years in the Marine Corps and carried my Ka Bar to the field with me every week and never had any issues....never did chop wood with it though. I'm kind of in the same boat you are in trying to decide which fixed blade to put in my BOB. I have a CRK Green Beret that I'm thinking about using for that purpose. My requirements seem to be similar to yours and I've come to the conclusion......for myself......that a S30V steel blade with relative thickness will fit the bill. Interested to see what the more senior/experienced members here might have to say because you can't go wrong with the price of a Ka Bar.
Click to expand...

(( seriously off-topic ))
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The KABAR is a fine knife.
It would good in a BOB, but there maybe better knives out there.
IMO the BK7 is a better knife.

I'd also like to add that just about EVERY knife fails eventually on knifetests.com
Helluva testing process !!
 
Except the ffbm!!

But seriously the kabars are great reliable knives- just don't use it for what it wasn't intended for!

I love my pre kabar.... Uh... Kabar it's camilus from around or before WWII
 
I might just have to make room for a small fiskars hatchet or something along those lines. Looks like the cheapest option with the most versatility. I hate to dish out 70 for the bk2, even though it looks like a wonderful knife.
 
IMO the kabar is for killing people and general utility and not so great as a survival knife. Will it work in a pinch? Sure but there's better knives out there. I've seen them pics galore of broken ones both in the tang and the tip. Heck I'd go with a 6 dollar tram machete before a kabar. Unless we're talking the beckers which would be miles better than the USMC kabar.
 
CSRevenant said:
I might just have to make room for a small fiskars hatchet or something along those lines. Looks like the cheapest option with the most versatility. I hate to dish out 70 for the bk2, even though it looks like a wonderful knife.
Click to expand...

Closer to $60 for the BK2 but if you already have the USMC F/U and a hatchet, you should be golden with that. Please take some pics and share them w/ us. :)


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Beckerhead #42
 
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