Ka Bar USMC as a survival knife

The "Ka-Bar" has a serious design flaw - square shoulders at the tang-blade junction act as stress risers that raise the potential for failure at that junction. And that is simply unnecessary. They could make it with radiused shoulders but elect to leave it as it is.

A second issue is the sharpened "false edge" that chews up batons if you are batonning wood.

Finally, the double guard gets in the way in a non-weapon application, and that it why so many WWII specimens have the top guard bent sharply forward (Makes a place to rest your thumb.).

So, a great lot better than no knife and better than some other knives, but there are many better choices IMO.
 
I also have a CS bushman that I' gonna test out on some firewood when I'm home next. Dont have a hatchet yet, but I found one for 20 bucks online that I' thinking of buying. Its pretty compact and looks pretty nice.
 
The only fixed blade I ever broke was a Kabar. Then again I have a talent for breaking things.:D
 
Well I guess it depends on your definition of survival.

Some of the most notable knives in my mind and from different answers to the question "Survival" would be.

Ka-Bar
Mora (puukko style knife)
Swiss Army Knife
Buck 110

All proven to hold up respectably. Each a little different than the other, yet the pro's and con's are relatively obvious.
 
I like the Kabar but I would not recommend it for hard use. This is what happened to mine while batoning some dry hard wood.

For normal utility it is a great blade. For hard batoning I'd recommend some with a full width tang.

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Has anyone tried out the kershaw camp axe? Solid chunk of steel, seems nice, dont have to worry about cutting too deep and breaking your haft. A lot cheaper than an estwing.
 
Ka-Bar is not the best chopper, hunter, fighter, slicer, can opener, whittler, or splitter, but it will accomplish all those jobs with ease.
If you're a one survival knife guy it is a good choice.

The only real shortcomings as a bush knife are the ricasso and the top guard.
The guard can be cut off, or bent forward. But bending will prevent it from fitting in the sheath.

Despite the handle-tang junction the Ka-Bar is far from weak.
Don't form your opinion of the knife's strength from the Noss video.
It's a solid knife and can handle some abuse, but it is not idiot proof.
With proper technique and care you can baton plenty of good sized logs. I have.

When a 250lb man wedges a knife in a 4x4, leans his frame on it, and starts pounding on the handle with a 5 lb mallet in an attempt to get it to split against the grain it would be reasonable to expect the tang to bend. Many knives would have broken.
Keep that in mind when watching the Noss video.
 
12Bravo said:
I like the Kabar but I would not recommend it for hard use. This is what happened to mine while batoning some dry hard wood.

For normal utility it is a great blade. For hard batoning I'd recommend some with a full width tang.

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Click to expand...
Exactly the same thing happened to mine. Guess I can skip posting a pic.;)
 
I have never been in love with the KBar military knife. It was designed as a fighter, not a camp knife, and the shape, size, blade style and tang do not suit my needs in a woods knife.
 
12Bravo said:
I like the Kabar but I would not recommend it for hard use. This is what happened to mine while batoning some dry hard wood.

For normal utility it is a great blade. For hard batoning I'd recommend some with a full width tang.

SSPX0306.jpg


SSPX0309.jpg
Click to expand...
Did kabar replace the knife? And tho knife wasn't really meant for batoning, it's a fighting knife.
 
Definitely a good knife. However, I would much rather have a Cold Steel Leatherneck SF. From a functional point of view, it's better in pretty much every way except edge retention. Just my opinion. For the record, I think batoning is stupid and you should bring an axe and/or a saw.

EDIT: I didn't realize that this is a zombie thread. Rick, hand me your 3" Gerber folder!
 
I would say it would be excellent, as long as you use it properly. Some people take it and try to baton through a freaking tree with it and act surprise that it breaks. I would bring 2 knives, A kabar USMC and a kabar bk2 or somethin. As long as you can use the knife properly I think it would work great. I'm thinking I getting one also.
 
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