Want a Kabar for Memorial Day!

C

calvinw

Joined
Feb 28, 2012
Messages
584
Memorial Day is tomorrow and I was a Kabar bad. I want THE Kabar, the fighting utility knife. I have two questions (the first will certainly go undefinitively answered).

1. Which one should I get? I'm decided in the hard sheath, but should I get the stacked leather handled one or the wrong (Kraton) one? I understand Kraton lasts longer and it waterproof. Just give me your vote.

2. Why is it that on some of these knives the blade looks so inelegantly misaligned with the handle? In profile view, In some pics, the blade and handle are in a perfect line. In other pictures, the blade sits noticeably lower than the handle. Is it just the angle of the picture? Or are some just built that way?
 
I like kraton.

600705_10151635473415219_1610753331_n.jpg


As you can see, they all have the misaligned blade/handle. Wish they didn't...
 
The observation that the centerline of the handle and the center of the blade don't line up is correct. This is less obvious on most of the WW2 KA BAR's. Our former resident expert for the old knives Toooj said at least on one occasion that the earlier knives had their leather washers cut off center to compensate. I haven't felt the urge to tear up one of my old knives to check that. Don't think I'll be getting the urge soon either.

The official spec drawings for the Government also show that the tang is off-set a 1/16" from the blade in that direction.
 
Thanks all! Sac Troop, I actually finished the 800+ post tech questions sticky and read the same from Toooj about the offset:

Toooj said:
Blue Sky,

Here is KA-BAR's quandry: We want to try to keep the current 1217 as close to original specification as possible. The original F/U knife had the tang offset toward the back (top) and not down the blade centerline.
With the new manufacturing technology, the offset on the handle is more obvious. The biggest issue is we wanted to make the handle larger as it fits modern hands better. That really highlights the offset. Notice that our handle is more oval than the other F/U knives from other manufacturers.
You are astute on the small version of the F/U (1250, et al). I moved the tang to the middle of the blade when we developed that knife. We felt we had more liberties with the smaller knife than with the original.
So, sorry, we have no plans to change. But we always appreciate the feedback; positive or negative.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top