Kabar USMC fighting knife- still a great knife?

shane45-1911 said:
Please define "built correctly".

For all intents and purposes, I think we can safely say that the term "combat knife" is synonymous with "survival knife" in today's world. And for a "survival" knife, a stick tang is the last thing I want on a knife that may see use well beyond whittling some feather sticks. A survival knife should be able to pry, chop, and yes - even baton, if required.

All other things being equal, a tang that is half as wide, is also half as strong. Why would you want a half-strong knife when there are so many other good full width tang "survival" knives available today? (Unless of course, your only intention is making the aforementioned feather sticks.)

The Kabar - while a good knife - could be a great knife, if they finally decide to upgrade their 1940's tooling and produce a knife with a full width tang.
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Rat tang or stick tang is a spectrum of of tang with different designs and even size. It is not a fixed design.
Here is an older post from this forums where other members show the Kabar MK2 stick tang, their tangs is about half the side of the blade. Then also some the Becker series full length and width tang.

Please, allow me to use the pictures from the from the maker of my knife.
This 7 inches blade has much beefier tang than the Kabar mk2, which is also 7 inches.
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Serration on smaller knives for extra adhesion with the handle. The tang is closer to the spine than the edge instead of exact middle of the blade with a thinner tang width ratio like from Kabar.
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Allowing big handle on medium knives without increasing the weight too much like full length and width tang.
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If you check carefully, the base of the blade to the tang is curved and not straight 90 degrees, unlike the KaBar mk2. The buck 119 from the link post has even more pronounced curve, though still thinner tang. The guy advised me to not chop with his knives as they are not intended to chop wood. He made these from D2, which is one of the least tough steel but has long lasting blade, so not much of a reason to over build

I said it again and again, the stick tangs won't be as strong as full length and wide, I never deny that. Nevertheless they have their own advantage, they are still very durable for their purpose and very dependable.
 
Decades ago, it was the knife hanging off my webbing as a reliable beater and even available for the unusual knife task of "cutting things". The military utility design of Ka-Bar seems to have been largely replaced by chunkier bushcraft knives that are built for YouTubers to do batoning videos.

For this kind of general use, I'd probably recommend the Becker Harpoon BK18, Joker Montañero, Casstrom Swedish Forest Knife No. 10, or the Grohmann No4 Survival.
 
Sharp Steel said:
I thought there were knives made specifically for pig sticking? One of them would be sited to that job.
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Knives sold as dedicated pig stickers are usually dagger types, but anything that penetrates well, isnt too thick spine or fat , and 7" of blade will get the job done. A decent handguard is also a must, when the knive gets slick with blood you dont want your hand riding forward onto the blade. Dedicated stickers arent always good general use knives though, hence why I recommended something like a kabar. He can even use it for basic field butchery in a pinch.
 
strategy9 said:
Another option to consider is the Magnum Boar Hunter by KoA, designed as a pig sticker...
Sure-Grip handle helps with control while wet and bloody. Nice molded leather sheath. Not a great choice for "batoning" wood perse, could probably get away with some light stuff though, but definitely a solid choice for pig sticking that is a good slicer for food prep and other cutting/carving tasks...
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Only 6" blade, suprised to see that length marketed as a boar knife( unless its just the model name). Its pushing the envelope on very large boars. Where I am general recommendations including by various industry groups is 7" min. 7-8" is probably the most common.
 
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While I have not used it yet for the task, I think the Cold Steel Maurader might work well. It's not too thick and has a great point.

The sub-hilt is rubber, but the grip is good.
 
LimpCroissant said:
Another thing I could see is batoning kindling inside your house when there's a storm outside. Instead of swinging a hatchet indoors and having it hit a backstop on the floor, you could baton.
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Outside of the freak incident I posted above, this is probably where 75% of my batoning is done, although at this point I'm mostly processing smaller pieces.

Have split probably thousands of smaller 3-4 inch dia pieces sitting on my brick hearth with a ESEE 4 or BK16 to get smaller kindling to get the fireplace up and going.

Plus there is just something therapeutic to me about splitting logs..
 
shane45-1911 said:
Please define "built correctly".

For all intents and purposes, I think we can safely say that the term "combat knife" is synonymous with "survival knife" in today's world. And for a "survival" knife, a stick tang is the last thing I want on a knife that may see use well beyond whittling some feather sticks. A survival knife should be able to pry, chop, and yes - even baton, if required.

All other things being equal, a tang that is half as wide, is also half as strong. Why would you want a half-strong knife when there are so many other good full width tang "survival" knives available today? (Unless of course, your only intention is making the aforementioned feather sticks.)

The Kabar - while a good knife - could be a great knife, if they finally decide to upgrade their 1940's tooling and produce a knife with a full width tang.
Click to expand...

Cold steel leatherneck?
 
Regarding tangs. The hultafors heavy duty doesn't have a full tang. And that gas mask dude couldn't kill it.
 
MolokaiRider said:
While I have not used it yet for the task, I think the Cold Steel Maurader might work well. It's not too thick and has a great point.

The sub-hilt is rubber, but the grip is good.
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its a fair piece of metal to shove into a pig. 5mm spine, the belly looks 2" wide. A bit slimmer is better
 
mickb said:
its a fair piece of metal to shove into a pig. 5mm spine, the belly looks 2" wide. A bit slimmer is better
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Yes, it's a wee bit thicker than the Ka-bar.

A lot of hunters around here just use a chefs knife, as they are readily available and not super expensive.

The Buck 120 would work as well. I have used a 119 with mixed results. It's fine for smaller hogs, but a bit short for the big ones.

It might be worth having a custom maker put together a knife your looking for, but it's gonna be well north of a hundred US dollars.
 
MolokaiRider said:
Yes, it's a wee bit thicker than the Ka-bar.

A lot of hunters around here just use a chefs knife, as they are readily available and not super expensive.

The Buck 120 would work as well. I have used a 119 with mixed results. It's fine for smaller hogs, but a bit short for the big ones.

It might be worth having a custom maker put together a knife your looking for, but it's gonna be well north of a hundred US dollars.
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Regards the 119 I see it has a 6" blade and agree with what you say about being a bit short. The fella I was asking for has decided to get the kabar, he wants to keep things simple. I might pick one up myself too. I used to own one about 13 years ago but gifted it to an uncle.
 
shane45-1911 said:
Please define "built correctly".

For all intents and purposes, I think we can safely say that the term "combat knife" is synonymous with "survival knife" in today's world. And for a "survival" knife, a stick tang is the last thing I want on a knife that may see use well beyond whittling some feather sticks. A survival knife should be able to pry, chop, and yes - even baton, if required.

All other things being equal, a tang that is half as wide, is also half as strong. Why would you want a half-strong knife when there are so many other good full width tang "survival" knives available today? (Unless of course, your only intention is making the aforementioned feather sticks.)

The Kabar - while a good knife - could be a great knife, if they finally decide to upgrade their 1940's tooling and produce a knife with a full width tang.
Click to expand...


I completely agree.

when looking for knives for our USMC son to take into a combat zone, I at first thought of a Randall. Before I put down the money and waited, I looked long and carefully at their catalog of offerings. I was not looking for a wall hanger to put into a shadow box. I was not looking for belt jewelry to take on a guided hunt in Montana, Alaska or Africa. This was for a new Lieutenant going off to a very bad place. The only Randall Made knife I felt confident in or comfortable with was their #16 "Diver's knife" . They make a variant based on the same basic blade stock, but with the profile of their iconic #1 "All-purpose Fighter". The tang is the full thickness of the blade stock and about 3/4 the width of the handle and running full length. My lingering concern was that there is no mechanical fastening such as pins or screws. Anyway, that is what I bought, the Randall "#16-1, Special Fighter".

The only exceptions to my opinion on tang construction might be the Gerber Mk-II dagger. The narrow tang only goes part way into the handle, but this knife has a fifty-year history of rugged performance in serious combat situations. Another exception is the traditional construction of Japanese swords. The stubby tang extends ~ 1/3rd of the way into a hollow wooden handle and is secured by a pressed-in bamboo peg. And yet there is a thousand-year history of satisfactory combat performance with this construction method.

With all that said: I still prefer a full tang design in a knife meant for heavy use by a warfighter in harm's way.
 
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VorpelSword said:
Another exception is the traditional construction of Japanese swords. The stubby tang extends ~ 1/3rd of the way into a hollow wooden handle and is secured by a pressed-in bamboo peg. And yet there is a thousand-year history of satisfactory combat performance with this construction
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Probably because they were not using their swords to try to baton knotty hardwood 😂
 
I used and seriously abused an Ontario KBar for years as a metal detecting knife. It was used as a digger, for cutting sod, hammering through tree roots, and even prying. I used it so hard that the tool now has a permanent bend between the blade and handle. All that, and yet somehow it never broke. I suspect probably because I am not completely brain dead.

Would a KBar be my first choice as a survival or combat knife? No, own knives I like better. But I damn sure would not hesitate if that's what I had. I assume in a SHTF scenario you would be careful with the tools you have, and the knife would do fine.

Somewhat off topic, if you really need to split a big log to get at a dry core, you don't actually need to go right down the middle. You could, if you chose, take smaller bites proportional to the tool you are using.
 
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