Kabar guard modification?

[Joe C]

How is the guard on the Kabar Short Black knives (eg 1258, 1253) actually attached to the blade? Welded? Epoxied? Friction?
If I look closely at these knives, I see a tiny gap between the guard and blade.
I want to cut off the end of the guard that protrudes on the dull side of the blade so that I can place my thumb there if necessary. If I cut the guard off flush with the dull edge of the blade, will the guard slide off?
Perhaps I could only cut off most of it and leave a bit of metal to retain the guard. And squirt some good epoxy into the gap btween blade and guard to securely anchor the guard.
Any ideas?

 

[Salamander42]

I may be wrong, and I'm sure someone will quickly correct me if I am, but I think that the Kabar's tang is. . . shoot, not a rat tail. . . can't think of what it's called . . . anyhow, it's narrower than the width of the blade and is like a rat tail tang, except it doesn't taper and goes all the way to the end of the handle. The point is that I believe you'll be fine if you take it flush with the blade. There should still be plenty of the guard left that's wrapped around the top of the tang.

 

[ninjajoe]

Salamander42 you’re correct, it’s called a hidden tang, a tang that is full length yet not visible, and usually not the full width of the blade.

Joe C, I cut my guard off in the same manner and it was fine, as the tang is only about 1/3 the width of the blade, and the guard simply slides on it like a washer, it’s just sandwiched between the handle and the blade. Beware of pounding on the USMC for this reason, that blade / handle juncture is pretty weak, I managed to break mine by just batoning it through wood for awhile

 

[Sword and Shield]

I chopped the guard on my Short for the same reason. Stripped the paint, had it convexed and worked the guard off, and now it's a hunting knife.