Ka Bar USMC question

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rc3mil

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I have heard mixed things about this knife. Some say its great, other say the tang is connected with a pin making it a weak blade. What are you opinions on this knife? Do they make them the same as they did in WWII or do they make "cheap knockoffs" these days?

Anyone ever broken the knife? Ive held the knife and it seems pretty solid.
Is the 1095 Cro Van steel easy to sharpen like the 1095 high carbon or is there no difference in the steels?
 
They are really solid. I've chopped down many (invasive) trees with mine without a problem. Really good deal for the price. The steel sharpens up nicely like any 1095 but they do come pretty obtuse. I put a semi-convex edge on mine.
 
I've abused mine near 11 years no problem. I think it can with stand almost pretty much anything but if you ran over it with Abrams or Bradley...
 
I like the Next Generation version myself.
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rc3mil said:
I have heard mixed things about this knife. Some say its great, other say the tang is connected with a pin making it a weak blade. What are you opinions on this knife? Do they make them the same as they did in WWII or do they make "cheap knockoffs" these days?

Anyone ever broken the knife? Ive held the knife and it seems pretty solid.
Is the 1095 Cro Van steel easy to sharpen like the 1095 high carbon or is there no difference in the steels?
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No, the butt cap is connected to the end of the handle with a pin. The blade and handle are quite solid.

They make them the same way they did in WWII out of the same alloy steel (if you buy the 1095 Cro Van version).

The 1095 Cro Van will sharpen just as easily as 1095.
But there is a difference between 1095 Cro Van and 1095. The fraction of a percent of chromium in the Cro Van gives a more uniform temper. The fraction of a percent of Vanadium gives a finer grain structure leading to higher toughness at a given hardness. That is to say 1095 Cro Van should be superior to 1095.
 
I gave up trying to knock the pin out (to mod one) that holds the leather handle together, I finally just sawed off about 3/4" of the tang.
 
Seems like a solid choice for a fixed blade. Thanks for your input guys
 
The pin does not make the knife weak. I have used mine for just about every outdoor task you could imagine. The only problem I've had with it is that I accidently dropped a log on it and bent the cross guard so that it wiggled badly, I fixed that with a couple of good whacks with a hammer. It's a very well built knife.
 
I have had one of the early ones in my edc task for 20 years held up good,sharpens easy and holds a edge..............
 
Just don't baton with it or use it for heavy prying and it should do just nicely.
(The tang is about half the height of the blade)
I love mine.
 
Believe it or not, i had one that i had gotten at a flea market, but it was a genuine Ka-Bar. I remember throwing it as a kid, and after like the 20th shot into the tree(of course, no knife is meant for banging off of trees) the thing snapped in half. I believe it was actually about a half inch or an inch above the guard. I know everyone around here loves them, but since then, i can't see much for the knife myself. Just my 2 cents, hope it helps.
 
d.weglarz13 said:
Believe it or not, i had one that i had gotten at a flea market, but it was a genuine Ka-Bar. I remember throwing it as a kid, and after like the 20th shot into the tree(of course, no knife is meant for banging off of trees) the thing snapped in half. I believe it was actually about a half inch or an inch above the guard. I know everyone around here loves them, but since then, i can't see much for the knife myself. Just my 2 cents, hope it helps.
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Well I agree with you on one thing, no knife is meant for such treatment.:eek:
 
If it helps, I can't remember ever taking a return on a Kabar USMC for handle failure. Yes, a few cosmetic issues but nothing structural. Normally, if a product is poorly designed or made we wind up with a lot of returns and we discontinue the product. We've been selling the Kabar USMC since day one and it is one of the best selling fixed blades in the industry. Virtually everyone who buys one is happy with it.
 
the cro-van alloy is superior to the old 1095. as frank[knarfeng] said the newer alloy is not radically different but the heattreat[ which ka-bar does well] does make the knife a better edge holder than the original. in fact ka-bar has moved to this cro-van in most of their line. i'm hoping they put it in the becker line since i ordered a becker 9 last wk.
 
DennisStrickland said:
the cro-van alloy is superior to the old 1095. as frank[knarfeng] said the newer alloy is not radically different but the heattreat[ which ka-bar does well] does make the knife a better edge holder than the original. in fact ka-bar has moved to this cro-van in most of their line. i'm hoping they put it in the becker line since i ordered a becker 9 last wk.
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i'm ordering a bk7 this week. on this website, it states 1095 on the bk9. when you click on it, it says they use cro-van.

http://www.tomarskabars.com/Becker_Knives.html

edit - i think it's the old 1095 - when i click on the usmc, it has the cro-van
 
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I have had a Kabar USMC for almost four years and it has held up very well for me. So well in fact, that I just bought a full sized black kabar with a kydex/glass filled nylon sheath. Both of mine have come sharp, but not razor sharp. It takes an edge easily and it holds the edge for a long time. I have chopped and battoned the knife pretty hard for long periods of time. I even, on accident, battoned it into a nail and all it did to my kabar was leave a small dent in the edge.(Some knives would have chipped badly!) I can definitely recommend this knife for a medium-hard use fixed blade.:)
 
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