Six inch bladed ka-bars

T

TheSaltyPirate

Joined
Oct 8, 2011
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I have been in the market for a new knife. My birthday is on the 5th (turning 16) and an wanting another kabar. A 6'' F/U knife would be perfect, but that is unavailable. 6'' blade length, no serrations, carbon steel, full tang, sub $100, kraton handle is preferred. I have not found any knives in the ka-bar line consisting of this, so help would be appreciated.
 
I don't know of a knife with that blade shape and size available from KaBar.

These are the closest things I can think of off the top of my head:

Kraton MK1 with a 5in blade at about $50
Kraton small F/U with a 5.25in blade and about $50
Becker BK12 (Ritter MK2) with a 6in 3/16in thick blade at $125
F/U at 7in and about $45
Warthog at 6 3/4in and about $45
Bull Dozier at 6.5in and about $75
The older Fin fixed blade in D2 is still available, although no longer being produced. Not sure on blade length, but its close to what you're looking for.

Hopefully one of those help you out a bit :).
 
Is a 6" blade important? If it can be a little under (4.375 inches) and you can wait until April, check out the BK17 Clip-Point Tweener. It's made by Kabar and designed by Becker. Kabar also makes the Becker BK2 which has a 5.25" blade.
 
Thanks for the help guys. I have two short f/u knives, cant get them very sharp. The bk2 is too blocky and not what I am looking for. I bought myself an esee 4 recently, which is nice, but Ive been on this search for a while without any success. A carbon v srk would be PERFECT but theres no way I can get that under $100.
Bump for help!
 
You can't get your small F/U sharp? What seems to be causing you issues? I have my full size USMC shredding paper with ease right now, and the shorts shouldn't be tons different.

Sounds like you have a hard 6in limit on the knife? (laws, parents, something), so the 6.something long knives like the bull dozier are to large then?

The MK1 could be a pretty good fit for you. Or you could look at "gasp" the Cold Steel Leatherneck (bit over 6in, but I think that includes the unsharpened portion).

Good luck man, I don't know what else to tell you other than saving another $25 and going for an ESEE 6 or Becker BK12.
 
ocnLogan said:
bit over 6in, but I think that includes the unsharpened portion
Click to expand...
Still counts as "blade" by law. Technically the entire length of smaller neckers w/o handles (think bk11) would be considered "blade" under law.
As far as sharpening, take a coarse stone and reprofile the edge until it's nearly where you want it, and take it through a series of finer grits at the same angle.
 
A have a worksharp,but I have to sharpen the shorts by eye, its to thick to fit in the guide. And it is not a blade length limit, I have several bigger knives. Its just a particular knife I don't have that's all. I did have the dozier at a time, but I traded it on youtube with a guy named franchisechronicles for the discontinued kabar camp knife. Maybe the srk in aus 8 is okay. I have other knives I'm not too impressed with in this steel (especially in tip strength) any input is nice.
 
If I may recommend something, invest in a Smith's Arkansas stone, the one that is on the base and comes with a finer stone. That way you can sharpen knives like this easily and quickly with a little practice.
 
Got it, so the blade length isn't a hard limit, its just what you're looking for.

It sounds like you're more interested in a fighting style knife than you are a camping style knife. Is this correct?

Also, all of the blades I've mentioned have been as thick or thicker than the Short F/U that you have, so you'll likely have the same problem sharpening any of the others. Like thatotherguy said, you might want to invest in another sharpening system, otherwise you'll be handicapped on the size blades you'll be able to do. I do most of mine by hand with some wet dry sandpaper (super cheap to get you started) and after some practice, I'm able to easily get them up to paper slicing sharp, and if I spend a bit more time on them, they'll start popping hairs with the best of them. Just something to think about :).

And it is actually kind of hard to find a blade in the 6in range, its kind of a no mans land for some reason, but hopefully we can find you something.
 
If you're not stuck on KA-BAR, you could look at the Ontario Ranger series, they have a 6 inch model with 5160 steel and micarta or G-10 scales for about $80.

From what I have heard is that 5160 is a good steel, I have no first hand experience with it though.
 
The short is the only knife I have I cant get sharp like my others. It will shave but only a few hairs at a time. My esee takes care of that, no problem.
 
If you're set on ~6 in blade I would look at the Warthog. Its wide blade puts a lot of mass forward to make it a pretty good chopper for its size. It is also a very competent wood splitter. The best part is that you can pick one up for around 50 bucks which leaves you plenty of room to get a nice sheath made for it. By the way, it also has the very comfortable Tooj designed Kraton handle.
 
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Thanks guys, Im going against my original statement but I have it narrowed down to a discontinued straight edge NG kabar, and an aus 8 srk. Which should I get? Ive heard stories of the srk handle slipping off or peeling.
 
Um, gonna have to go with Kabar.

Made in the USA, with some great steel, and great heat treat. It will serve you well.

I have some AUS8 stuff, and I really like that metal. Made in China leaves me cold.

Plus, you get a choice of sheaths if you want with the Kabar.

You might wanna hurry, the Next Generation is being discontinued this year.

Its 440A and the heat treat has been done quite well over the last 30yrs or so.

Moose
 
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