ka-bar USMC

[jimh0220]

No. Here's why:

1. Rat-tail tang.
2. Full guard.
3. Weak tip.

It is a fighting knife. It *can* be used in a survival situation, but so can almost any edged tool.

Actually it was made as a multi purpose tool, hence the 'combat survival' name. It was not a combat weapon primarily, just made to do double duty if necessary. The knife is a great hard use tool. I have a Camillus made version from WW2 that was abused long before I had it, and has seen its share of rough use by me as well. It's a top notch knife. If you watch to 'process' wood, use a hatchet. If you want a knife the will also process wood, it's a great knife.

 

[Cypress]

This is purely anecdotal, but I had one when I was younger.

I was chasing antelope on foot (I was 13, don't judge) outside of Craig, Colorado on my grandpa's land. I was running from one ridge down into the small valley below, then up the next ridge so I could get a shot on a herd I had spotted from a ways off. During the run, my KA-Bar wiggled its way around the side of my leg to the front of my leg. It was in the standard leather sheath, and was lashed to leg as well as belt loop. When the knife came around the front, my leg pushed the knife upwards and the pommel locked itself into my lower abdomen and pushed against the lashed sheath. When this happened, the extending leg put force onto the lower part of the sheath, and subsequently, the pommel in my gut. The force was enough to snap the blade in half inside the sheath, but not enough for me to notice until I got back to the house and found that my favorite knife was now in two pieces and useless.

I replaced the KA-Bar with a Buck 119 and never looked back. The buck is now a kitchen knife, and I've moved onto more substantial knives for hard-use tasks (Benchmade, Busse).

But as always, I am not the gold standard of what to expect from equipment. When researching products, I want all of the information I can get, good and bad.