Top guards!

V

Vicarious Reality

Joined
Apr 9, 2008
Messages
1,319
I have grown to dislike top guards more and more.
I like to put my thumb on the back of the blade.
I just ordered a regular kraton handled ka-bar.
I'd like to discuss removing or altering the guard on it.

I've seen a couple of ka-bars that had the top guard ground off, this seems like a good idea, although then there will be naked steel in contact with your thumb all the time as the black coating is gone with the guard.
Also, i doubt i could find a way to do this as i have almost no powertools.

The second option would be simply to bend the guard forward.
I've seen one picture of this, i think. It was at about a 45 degree angle in it.
I actually tried bending the guard on my ka-bar black tanto forward, but that merely resulted in a chafed finish on it and the kraton being compressed backwards at the opposite side because the guard is so immensely sturdy.
 
Just use a hacksaw to cut the guard flush with the handle, then use a file to take the corners off and round them. The just touch the whole thing up with a little sandpaper and use a sharpie to paint it black again! :D
 
What 42 said. Hack saw and a file with some sandpaper to finish off.
 
I accidentally bent mine backward battoning with it (i was being dumb and drying to use the baton on the handle to level out the knife but i hit the guard because of my tremendous lack of coordination), the finish and handle are still fine, and it makes a nice little thumb rest, but that was with the regular kabar. To tell you the truth I think the hacksaw and file idea is far superior.
 
I've seen a couple of ka-bars that had the top guard ground off, this seems like a good idea, although then there will be naked steel in contact with your thumb all the time as the black coating is gone with the guard.
Click to expand...
There was a knife magazine writer that recommended the same thing on a Ka-bar yrs. ago. He also suggested drilling a throng hole. I can't remember his name. I think he was the one who helped design the next generation Ka-bar also. Wait - was it Greg Walker ?
 
Knife turned up missing after my last cross country move, so no pics, but I made some changes in one of my KaBars about forty years ago.

Remove top guard as stated above, hacksaw and sandpaper, cut bottom guard to about half it's issue length, and use a file to take the 'hook' out of the clip (false edge). Also, take a file and flatten out the sides of the handle to give a more oval shape, knife just seems to control better.

IMHO those mods more than doubled the comfort and usefullness of the knife.

Charles Karwin recommended the same/similar mods in an article about ten years ago. 'Tactical Knives" maybe.

He also drilled through the pommel to attach a lanyard but warned that the angles necessary and the extreme hardness of the pommel made the task a PITA.

Never did that to mine. As I've found lanyards to be a PITA on a belt knife.

I'm currently making the same changes and maybe one or two more to an Air Crew Survival knife, as I think the shorter blade will be adequate and handier for my current and near future use.

As always, JMHO, YMMV.

Regards,
:)
 
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I mangled my thumb pretty bad on the top guard of my Ka-Bar (short tanto)

Totally my own stupid fault, but still.
I was doing some light batoning.
I didn't notice that my thumb had crept up onto the guard.
I looked away for half a second and managed to bring the baton down on my thumb.

Deep bruising and crushing. Incredible pain from swelling under the nail...
After the damaged tissue died i had a big old dent in my thumb for several weeks.

It would have still been unpleasant without it, but I'm not a big fan of that top guard now.
 
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