Ka-Bar's unpopular MK1

K

Kostik

Joined
Feb 9, 2016
Messages
88
I picked up a Ka-Bar MK-1 with the black Krayton handle almost 10 years ago. (Amazon.com has a great memory -- when I search for the knife it tells me "Last purchased Feb 25, 2012"!) We live in Thailand, and my wife has been using it to open durians. I took a careful look at the blade the other day and noticed it had a few microscopic chips in it. There happens to be a knife shop in the next street with a sharpening service, so I let them have it. Two days and 300 baht (around $10) later I picked it up and -- wow, what a difference. I'm sure it's sharper than it was new, out of the box.

My wife's only complaint is that it's not really long enough for the task. Opening the durians involves a little bit of everything: stabbing, chopping, slicing and prying.

It's an awfully useful knife to have, though. Funny thing is, I've watched a hundred knife videos on YouTube, and not a one mentions the Ka-Bar MK-1. It seems to be genuinely unpopular. Am I the only person who has one?

 
5.1" blade, with ffg, great leather stacked handle, 1095 crovan... it might be the perfect all-round heavy duty utility knife (on a budget)


2225_Overview.jpg
 
I don’t know that sumbish ^^^ fit in that sheath backwards… Anyway, I love the design and have planned on picking one up for years, but something else always comes up.

They have great blade steel, that super cool stacked leather handle, and the quality has to be there with the Ka-Bar stamp on it.
 
The MK1 has a lot of potential, but is just a little off IMO. The handle is a little too short and a little too fat in the wrong spot, which makes it feel odd in hand. Normally I‘m a big fan of stacked leather handles but the strangely enough the kraton handle feels better to me. I really wanted to like these but they just never convinced me to put them in rotation. They are well made though, so if it suits you, you’ve got a nice knife on your hands. The guys in the Kabar forum seem to like them.
 
Blue Sky said:
The MK1 has a lot of potential, but is just a little off IMO. The handle is a little too short and a little too fat in the wrong spot, which makes it feel odd in hand. Normally I‘m a big fan of stacked leather handles but the strangely enough the kraton handle feels better to me. I really wanted to like these but they just never convinced me to put them in rotation. They are well made though, so if it suits you, you’ve got a nice knife on your hands. The guys in the Kabar forum seem to like them.
Click to expand...
The handle IS a bit short. But I wear a size medium glove and it seems OK for me. Haven't used it enough to swear to it, but it seems OK. However, I think someone with larger hands, would have a problem.

This is a 1940's design. The average size of people in the US has increased in the last 80 years, especially in the last 30. And I mean in frame size, not just in weight.
 
My hands aren’t particularly large, the upper end of medium but not beefy or anything. If I remember correctly, it was mostly the butt cap that would get in the way. Maybe if it was a little smaller in diameter it would be less of an issue. Your hand would be able to go to or extend off the end a little easier. I wouldn’t expect Ka-bar to do that though, they are reluctant to deviate much from the originals. I learned that from Toooj once in a discussion about the offset blade/tang in the USMC knife.

A while back someone did a mod making the butt smaller that was pretty slick. I thought about it but didn’t feel I had the tools or skill level to do it properly.
 
I had one with the black handle. It was cool but way to small in hand.
 
Blue Sky said:
The MK1 has a lot of potential, but is just a little off IMO. The handle is a little too short and a little too fat in the wrong spot, which makes it feel odd in hand. Normally I‘m a big fan of stacked leather handles but the strangely enough the kraton handle feels better to me. I really wanted to like these but they just never convinced me to put them in rotation. They are well made though, so if it suits you, you’ve got a nice knife on your hands. The guys in the Kabar forum seem to like them.
Click to expand...
Feels great in my hand; if I have a complaint it's that it is very handle-heavy. Fine for slicing, but it doesn't carry much weight for chopping. I can see from the other replies that the leather handle is far and away the more popular version. I can't recall why I opted for the Kraton (I was living in Singapore back in 2012 ... very humid weather), but it's very comfortable and grippy, and hasn't shown an iota of wear since I've had it.
 
Been intrigued many times but like said before there has always been something else. The coating puts me off too. Something about leather stacked handle and coated blade doesn’t work for me. I think they also could offer the sheath without the USN stamp - no disprespect but because I’m civilian.
 
Kostik said:
... We live in Thailand, and my wife has been using it to open durians. ...
Click to expand...
K Kostik How are things going for you in Thailand these days? We'd like to get back in the not too distant future and stay at our house in Loei for awhile. But the Covid and all that makes it nearly impossible.

We have quite a few different fruit trees, but no Durian. Big jackfruits, mango, rambutan, lychee, coconuts and longans we do have.
 
knarfeng said:
The handle IS a bit short. But I wear a size medium glove and it seems OK for me. Haven't used it enough to swear to it, but it seems OK. However, I think someone with larger hands, would have a problem.

This is a 1940's design. The average size of people in the US has increased in the last 80 years, especially in the last 30. And I mean in frame size, not just in weight.
Click to expand...

view


These three are interesting to compare. The far right is a ww2 KA-BAR MK1 USN deck knife. You can see it has a thinner pommel than the new one on the left.

The middle knife is a civilian hunting knife it feels better in hand. The birds head pommel adds to the useable handle length.

All other manufacturers of the MK1 knife used a birds head pommel.
 
Last edited:
A.L. said:
Been intrigued many times but like said before there has always been something else. The coating puts me off too. Something about leather stacked handle and coated blade doesn’t work for me. I think they also could offer the sheath without the USN stamp - no disprespect but because I’m civilian.
Click to expand...
they make the 'dogs head' versions specifically for this, but unfortunately not for the mk1 (but I thought they did in the past? - does anyone remember?)
 
USMCPOP said:
K Kostik How are things going for you in Thailand these days? We'd like to get back in the not too distant future and stay at our house in Loei for awhile. But the Covid and all that makes it nearly impossible.

We have quite a few different fruit trees, but no Durian. Big jackfruits, mango, rambutan, lychee, coconuts and longans we do have.
Click to expand...
Hi ... Thailand was managing covid-19 extremely well last year, but now we've got some serious problems. Major outbreaks and a very slow rollout of the vaccine. Everybody is clamoring for it and trying to get on waiting lists, but the government was simply way too slow in negotiating vaccine purchases and now it's going ahead at a snail's pace. Bangkok just began a two-week quasi-lockdown today. So ... right now Thailand isn't quite as fun as it should be. By the way, I used to ride my motorbike up to Petchabun and stay at a little resort in Nam Nao, right near the provincial border with Loei. Absolutely gorgeous area.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top