Hi, I'm thinking about taking the coating off of a Kabar, but I'd just like to see how it looks without it first out of curiosity. I remember someone posting a link to a bunch of pics, but I can't seem to find the thread now. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
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Modified Kabar pics?
- Thread starter dougk16
- Start date
I dont have any pics but I've seen them. LIke anything else, done good it looks nice; but hack it up and it'll be horrid.
That said, on a hard-use knife like that, unless you plan to mirror polish it I see no reason to strip the coating. But I am a anti-rust fanatic... I used to oil my stainless blades!
That said, on a hard-use knife like that, unless you plan to mirror polish it I see no reason to strip the coating. But I am a anti-rust fanatic... I used to oil my stainless blades!
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2006
- Messages
- 812
I did it to my USMC Ka-bar after a member here posted pics of his de-coated Ka-Bar. IMO, it looks much better without the coating, even though I managed to scratch the polishing while doing the job. IMO, the scratches add character. All I had to do it with was a buffing wheel attached to an old drill, which took forever, but it was worth it. If you don't want to scratch the blade, I would find a more "high-tech" way to do it. One more tip, don't remove the coating on the inside of the "USMC", "Army", "Navy", or "USCG" letters, it adds contrast to the blade and looks fantastic.
Edit: Don't let the blade get too hot while you are removing the coating, either, or you might ruin the temper. One of the reasons it took me so long was that I was paranoid about ruining the temper of the blade, so I took it R-E-A-L-L-Y slow. Paid off in the end, though.
Edit: Don't let the blade get too hot while you are removing the coating, either, or you might ruin the temper. One of the reasons it took me so long was that I was paranoid about ruining the temper of the blade, so I took it R-E-A-L-L-Y slow. Paid off in the end, though.
Actually I was going to do it chemically, not mechanically. There's some post on the forum to that effect. The Kabar is the 440A NG, not a C1095 model, so I'm not too worried about rust and stuff. I did have a C1095 for a little while before it was lost or stolen, and I wasn't impressed with the coating, came off way too easily after just a few days in the woods. The NG seems a little better in that regard, but still I know if I leave the coating on it will look like a lawnmower ran over it in a few months.
I never could figure out why so many people complain about the durability of the coating. Either I have the rare good one, or you people must be doing some insane stuff with your knives. I've had my kabar for maybe 8 years and used it as everything from a thrower (never broke that 'delicate' tip... maybe because it always hit hilt first 
) to a daily kitchen knife and while the coating does show some where, its not bad AT ALL.
) to a daily kitchen knife and while the coating does show some where, its not bad AT ALL.Well throwing, while one of the most potentially damaging things you can do to any knife, especially a non-thrower, doesn't really give much oppurtunity to mess up the coating, and neither does food preparation, which I also use it for occasionally when I wanna feel real bad-ass 
The things I do that really mess up the coating are batoning, chopping, whittling, carving, etc. It's really just an aesthetic problem though. The coating's function, which I guess is to protect from rust (and to sneak up on your enemy without them seeing a reflection hehe), isn't really impaired.
The things I do that really mess up the coating are batoning, chopping, whittling, carving, etc. It's really just an aesthetic problem though. The coating's function, which I guess is to protect from rust (and to sneak up on your enemy without them seeing a reflection hehe), isn't really impaired.