*Sigh*...I guess it was her time...

Yeah---on this subject, I think it's time for the military to step up to the BK7. Make it a bayonet as well. Someone already did it & it looks awesome. Full width, full tang & extended pommel is the way to go IMHO. I broke at least 3 bayonets while i was in, doing stuff that should not have broke a knife that a soldier uses to defend his life as a last resort. I chopped a small 1"-2" branch & broke one, opening C-rats & broke one & prying a stovepiped blank round out of my M-16. They ALL broke in the same spot, where the blade meets the handle. Made me think that my bayonet was a one time use weapon.
 
Nobody uses bayonets anymore though. My unit had 110 (for some odd reason) and they sat in a bin through three deployments. They were never issued out to the soldiers, as there really wasn't any use for them.
 
This is why I only buy full tang knives.

No one can say that Kabars are anything but excellent knives, but a full tang won't break like that
 
If and when mine goes I'll have to bury it with full military honors as mine's server proudly for over 20 years. Come to think of it maybe it's due for an honorable discharge and a long retirement above my mantle.;)
 
sorry to hear you broke it man, kabars are just beasts of knives, i have a next gen and its just amazing
 
The "next generation" will brake under the same conditions as the traditional knife. The pieces will just look different.
 
Definitely a bummer. I don't have that many stick tangs myself, but they do hold up quite well. Ka-bar does a stick tang well. For that matter, many khuks have a stick tang as well. I don't think there's anything inherently weak about the design.

Where are you in Colorado, by the way?
 
If memory serves, the American Legend has differential HT on the handle and blade.

Moose
 
Sorry for your loss Deadfall27; I've never broken a knife at the tang, but I've "tipped" a few. :(

So, I have a question for the Kabar masses here: I have several Camillus blade blanks on my bench, and an old Kabar Fighting/Utility with a rotten handle around here somewhere. I had thought about carefully grinding the tang toward the blade tip, rounding those sharp corners where these seem to break. (I've seen a few pics over the last few years of Kabar Fighting/Utility's broken there, and I thought if I rounded those corners, and silver soldered a good thick guard onto that area, it might help strengthen it.

Just some ideas I've tossed around, for when I get the time to tinker.

So, possible? Or waste of time?

~Chris
 
orca8589 said:
Sorry for your loss Deadfall27; I've never broken a knife at the tang, but I've "tipped" a few. :(

So, I have a question for the Kabar masses here: I have several Camillus blade blanks on my bench, and an old Kabar Fighting/Utility with a rotten handle around here somewhere. I had thought about carefully grinding the tang toward the blade tip, rounding those sharp corners where these seem to break. (I've seen a few pics over the last few years of Kabar Fighting/Utility's broken there, and I thought if I rounded those corners, and silver soldered a good thick guard onto that area, it might help strengthen it.

Just some ideas I've tossed around, for when I get the time to tinker.

So, possible? Or waste of time?

~Chris
Click to expand...

Its what RMK does, and they been doin' stick tangs for a while too.

I say, go for it, but I don't think that you will make it much stronger, mostly, because you are removing metal.

Moose
 
Thomas Linton said:
They don't seem to say so.
Click to expand...

Toooj does. Its been said here a few times, though it may not be on the website. That's one of the awesome reasons we have access to Paul Tsujimoto here on the forums, is that it gives us a chance to glom some info from him.


Toooj said:
Octav,

We kept the same steel (1095CV aka 0170-06) for the Big Brother. I don't know if it is an "all known fact" that a larger blade needs to have a different steel if the blade is over 7". The Becker BK-9 is made from 1095 CV and does quite well. There are other factors besides steel alloy that needs to be taken into consideration...heat treat method, temper, type of grinds...
The proper terminalogy for the tang is: full length, narrow tang.. not a "Rat Tail" tang. A Rat tail tang tapers down to a point and is usually rammed onto a wooden handle. ie; an ice pick. The tangs on our 1217 et al knives are differentially heat treated. The shoulder being "spring: hardness (HRc 45-52), the hardness gradually moves to soft toward the pommel end. The tang at the pommel end will bend...that is what we want...To bend not break. A bent tang can be straightened back to a usuable knife. A broken tang gives you an unusable knife. While full tang knives offer stronger handles, narrow tang knives are capable of holding up to alot of stress.

We are developing a hard plastic sheath as an option for the Big Brothers. It will be out sometime in the future.
Hope this helps.

Best Regards,

Paul Tsujimoto
Sr Eng
Prod Dev and Qual
KA-BAR Knives
Click to expand...

Moose
 
"To bend not break" seems like an admirable objective. However, . . .

As for 7" being a magic point beyond which a different steel must be used, that sounds fairly arbitrary.
 
Thomas Linton said:
"To bend not break" seems like an admirable objective. However, . . .

As for 7" being a magic point beyond which a different steel must be used, that sounds fairly arbitrary.
Click to expand...

I agree, as a lot of items in the knife/heat treat discussion are fairly arbitrary. I've seen the newer Kabars bend and not break, I've also seen some of the older ones break before bending.

But they have all taken quite a bit of abuse before either bending or breaking, and almost everytime, its because of poor technique when batonning, which is how mine broke.

They are tough knives, for sure.

Moose
 
I Had a Kabar for bout 6 years before mine broke, right at the same place, cpet i was breaking up packed, dry earth for a small irrigation ditch for the missus's garden.
 
Street Samurai1978 said:
I Had a Kabar for bout 6 years before mine broke, right at the same place, cpet i was breaking up packed, dry earth for a small irrigation ditch for the missus's garden.
Click to expand...

6yrs and it broke digging a hole.

Man, it sounds like that knife got some serious love.

Awesome stuff, brother.

Moose
 
Moosez45 said:
6yrs and it broke digging a hole.

Man, it sounds like that knife got some serious love.

Awesome stuff, brother.

Moose
Click to expand...

Sure did. Would have used a spade, but:

1. I loved using the kabar from everything from digging to chopping to eating and

2. The wife had the spade at the time and she wasnt in a happy mood. Never go near a pissed off Indonesian woman, even if it's not your fault.
 
I don't think WWII Marines batoned wood with them. Did anyone baton wood back then? :) Maybe some light chopping of brush/branches. The skinny tang was probably to save weight -- same with the fullers / blood grooves (as they were called in the 1940s/50s). Marines carried a small mountain of gear and so every ounce of weight savings was important.
 
whitethronebooks said:
I don't think WWII Marines batoned wood with them. Did anyone baton wood back then? :) Maybe some light chopping of brush/branches. The skinny tang was probably to save weight -- same with the fullers / blood grooves (as they were called in the 1940s/50s). Marines carried a small mountain of gear and so every ounce of weight savings was important.
Click to expand...

I've read accounts in journals of Marines using their KA-BARS to open fuel drums and pry open crates that Jeeps were shipped in.

Even a couple of real life Marines sharing stories of some of the crazy stuff they did with a Kabar.

Batoning, who knows.

Moose
 
Eh, I doubt it. While people certainly used their knives for that (and there's written documentation of it), most anyone who tried it in anything less than a "boil-your-shoes-and-eat-them" survival scenario was considered to be a crazy lunatic. And rightly so.
 
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