My custom Ka-Bar 1217

B

Billabong01

Joined
Mar 10, 2020
Messages
265
This is my Custom Ka-Bar 1217.
Huge thankyou to my good friend zanussi01 for giving me this knife.
Also for his patience,perseverance and advice in doing this.
This is how it was,lightly used.
z8HhMYk.jpg


Disassembled.
I didnt bother drilling out the pin as I wasnt using the pommel again.
QInBU2e.jpg

Blade coating removed.
All the pieces for the rebuild.
Notice the little ramps at the top and bottom of the front face of the guard.
This is to minimize stress riser effect on handle/tang junction.
JZer9jl.jpg


A better shot on the ramps.
O0jmA8t.jpg


Dry fit up to check spacing.
UJLFlCC.jpg


After a lot of filing and sanding,shes all done.
Reset the edge to 20 degrees per side,one was a little out.
Balance is on the front spacers.
Even though it weighs a little more than standard,the balance makes it feel lighter.
And it feels so much better in the hand than the original handle.
pXv6iJz.jpg


Fits the original sheath.
Love it.
M3AFSbO.jpg
 
Thankyou all for your kind words, much appreciated.
When I was given this, I used it for a few days, but soon realized the handle had to go.
Poorly shaped and too heavy for my Tinkerbelle hands.
My modifications make it feel so much better in both weight, balance and feel, the side effect that it looks better as well is just a bonus.
Proof you can make a silk purse from a sows ear!

I've had one detractor though, they scoffingly referred to it as a "Poor mans Randall".
Good thing a Lion does not bother itself with the opinion of the sheep.🦁

Stay tuned for my next project, a custom Buck 110.
 
The similarities to a Randall were my first thoughts too. But not in a negative way. It’s pretty obvious with the top finger choil, the guard shape the RW&B spacers the aluminum pommels shape. A lot of similarities but still obviously a KA-BAR

I own multiple Randall knives and I’d be proud to own your KA-BAR. Nice job.
 
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Unfortunately I no longer have this one.
It was stolen from my display table during a recent "Home Crafts" exhibition.
Someone activated the building fire alarm,and in the confusion, it was taken.
Only noticed when we were allowed back into the building an hour later.
The lock on display case was smashed,knife was gone.
 
Billabong01 said:
Unfortunately I no longer have this one.
It was stolen from my display table during a recent "Home Crafts" exhibition.
Someone activated the building fire alarm,and in the confusion, it was taken.
Only noticed when we were allowed back into the building an hour later.
The lock on display case was smashed,knife was gone.
Click to expand...

that's a stone cold bummer right there.
you going to make another one like it?
 
1066vik said:
that's a stone cold bummer right there.
you going to make another one like it?
Click to expand...
I could, but will have to find an older blade with the smaller markings, and these are getting hard to find.
Would love to find a early 90's version with small markings and offset (towards spine),like zanussi01's 1217.
Those produced at the moment have blade markings that are not to my liking to do these mods, even the single mark blades.

In the future, I may do a little Mk1 with similar handle style as on the 1217 above.

Right now though I have a Fallkniven S1 full tang blade blank I'm doing.
 
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