I'm reviewing the tried-and-true Kabar today. The only significant difference between this knife (model 1211) and the WWII-style knives is the handle: the older ones were made of stacked leather, and you can still get them this way, but this one has a Kraton (rubber-like) handle. The price is the same as the standard USMC Kabar at $53. I remember seeing these at the PX in Fort Benning and thinking "what a great improvement!" and I was right. The sheath is black leather, although the same knife is available in a Kydex sheath for $20 more and as the model 1213. The knife, inside the leather sheath, weighs 3/4 of a pound (12 ounces). The knife is made in America, and the sheath is made in Mexico. Here are the details...
Handle Details: The Kabar's handle is black Kraton G, which has a half plastic, half rubbery surface. I'd describe it as rubber, but not as tacky. The handle is quite comfortable and is a welcome upgrade from the hard stacked leather washers of the older-style Kabars. You still have the grooves in the handle where the leather would've been stacked, and this only helps with the grip. The handle is rounded and has a hardened carbon steel butt cap, which is flat. It's great for pounding tent stakes and such, and is powder-coated in black. You can see the full tang through the buttcap, which I like. The handle is 4-1/4" between the guard and the butt, which is nice and comfy. Should you need to, you can easily choke back on the handle for a longer reach. There is also a double guard, and it's black powder-coated carbon steel as well. It's 10/16" long on each side, which is long enough to keep your fingers off the blade. I ground the top guard off as this helps a lot in general outdoor work. The Kabar performs extremely well now that I can put my thumb on the spine of the blade without that guard in the way.
The handle is great, and after using it I would really have a problem going back to the leather-handled Kabars. They're not horrible at all, but the Kraton handle is so much better.
Blade Details: The Kabar's blade is a solid piece of 1095 carbon steel hardened to 56-58 on the Rockwell scale. It's 7" long with a 6-1/2" edge and is 3/16" thick. The tangs are stamped as follows: KA-BAR over OLEAN, N.Y. on the left and USA over 1211 on the right. There's a 2-9/16" X 1/2" fuller on each side. The edge is sharpened at 20 degrees per side, and is flat ground. The edge came pretty sharp right out of the box, and was made shaving sharp quite quickly. I've found that the edge will hold for a while, and is very good as an outdoors steel. The back has an unsharpened swedge and it's 2" long. I've sharpened the swedge on some of my Kabars including this one, as it's good for striking a ferrocium rod without needing a second blade. The blade has a powder-coated black finish just like the butt cap and guard. It differs slightly from the coating on the leather-handled Kabars in that the leather ones were more coarse. They felt more like a parkerized finish, while the coating on the Kraton-handled Kabars is smoother and glossier.
The Sheath: The Kabar is held in a leather sheath. It's 12-3/4" long and the leather is dyed black to match the knife. It has the Ka-bar logo embossed on the front, and is nicely constructed. The leather is just over 1/16" thick and is both stitched and riveted, and includes a drainage hole / leg tiedown. The knife is held in place with a snap at the butt. You can fit the Kabar on a belt up to 4" wide, but it will move around on a standard belt unless secured somehow. I have no complaints about the sheath; it will go onto a GI pistol belt with no problem and can be MOLLE or ALICE clipped to a pack with a little ingenuity.
The Kabar 1211 is a welcome improvement over the standard leather-handled fighting knife. It excels at both combat and utility tasks, and if you grind off the top guard you'll have a nice bushcraft knife as well. If you haven't held a Kabar, pick one up and you'll be holding a high-quality, low-cost, lightweight tool for just about any task. There's a reason the U.S. armed services use this as a standard, and I still have mine in great condition after many years of hard use. Great :thumbup:
The Kabar 1211 at Kabar's website... https://www.kabar.com/product_detai...d=1,2,3,7&categoryName=Product Search Results
Handle Details: The Kabar's handle is black Kraton G, which has a half plastic, half rubbery surface. I'd describe it as rubber, but not as tacky. The handle is quite comfortable and is a welcome upgrade from the hard stacked leather washers of the older-style Kabars. You still have the grooves in the handle where the leather would've been stacked, and this only helps with the grip. The handle is rounded and has a hardened carbon steel butt cap, which is flat. It's great for pounding tent stakes and such, and is powder-coated in black. You can see the full tang through the buttcap, which I like. The handle is 4-1/4" between the guard and the butt, which is nice and comfy. Should you need to, you can easily choke back on the handle for a longer reach. There is also a double guard, and it's black powder-coated carbon steel as well. It's 10/16" long on each side, which is long enough to keep your fingers off the blade. I ground the top guard off as this helps a lot in general outdoor work. The Kabar performs extremely well now that I can put my thumb on the spine of the blade without that guard in the way.
The handle is great, and after using it I would really have a problem going back to the leather-handled Kabars. They're not horrible at all, but the Kraton handle is so much better.
Blade Details: The Kabar's blade is a solid piece of 1095 carbon steel hardened to 56-58 on the Rockwell scale. It's 7" long with a 6-1/2" edge and is 3/16" thick. The tangs are stamped as follows: KA-BAR over OLEAN, N.Y. on the left and USA over 1211 on the right. There's a 2-9/16" X 1/2" fuller on each side. The edge is sharpened at 20 degrees per side, and is flat ground. The edge came pretty sharp right out of the box, and was made shaving sharp quite quickly. I've found that the edge will hold for a while, and is very good as an outdoors steel. The back has an unsharpened swedge and it's 2" long. I've sharpened the swedge on some of my Kabars including this one, as it's good for striking a ferrocium rod without needing a second blade. The blade has a powder-coated black finish just like the butt cap and guard. It differs slightly from the coating on the leather-handled Kabars in that the leather ones were more coarse. They felt more like a parkerized finish, while the coating on the Kraton-handled Kabars is smoother and glossier.
The Sheath: The Kabar is held in a leather sheath. It's 12-3/4" long and the leather is dyed black to match the knife. It has the Ka-bar logo embossed on the front, and is nicely constructed. The leather is just over 1/16" thick and is both stitched and riveted, and includes a drainage hole / leg tiedown. The knife is held in place with a snap at the butt. You can fit the Kabar on a belt up to 4" wide, but it will move around on a standard belt unless secured somehow. I have no complaints about the sheath; it will go onto a GI pistol belt with no problem and can be MOLLE or ALICE clipped to a pack with a little ingenuity.
The Kabar 1211 is a welcome improvement over the standard leather-handled fighting knife. It excels at both combat and utility tasks, and if you grind off the top guard you'll have a nice bushcraft knife as well. If you haven't held a Kabar, pick one up and you'll be holding a high-quality, low-cost, lightweight tool for just about any task. There's a reason the U.S. armed services use this as a standard, and I still have mine in great condition after many years of hard use. Great :thumbup:
The Kabar 1211 at Kabar's website... https://www.kabar.com/product_detai...d=1,2,3,7&categoryName=Product Search Results
funny thing is ive seen leather handles on both kabars and catt's described as wood handles by sellers on ebay
