View Full Version : Ever broken a Kabar?
....if so - how? Did it snap at the blade/hilt junction (as most internet pics show), or at the blade tip? Prying/levering? Twisting? Batoning? Taking out a sentry with a kidney thrust??????? :)
TIA
john
SeriousStudent
03-27-16, 15:17
Blade/tip.
I lost count of how many times I walked a new Pvt/Pfc 0331 down to supply, and some wretched asshat slid a busted Ka-Bar across the counter. They would do it without pulling the blade from the sheath, and every damn time I pulled out the knife to make sure it was serviceable, it had a busted tip. :mad:
So yeah, none of my serious use knives are Ka-bars. Do I own one for nostalgia's sake? Yep. But when I was a lowly enlisted swine, I carried something else in the field, and the Ka-bar stayed in my wall locker for inspections. I usually carried a 5" Randall on my deuce gear.
Blade/tip.
I lost count of how many times I walked a new Pvt/Pfc 0331 down to supply, and some wretched asshat slid a busted Ka-Bar across the counter. They would do it without pulling the blade from the sheath, and every damn time I pulled out the knife to make sure it was serviceable, it had a busted tip. :mad:
So yeah, none of my serious use knives are Ka-bars. Do I own one for nostalgia's sake? Yep. But when I was a lowly enlisted swine, I carried something else in the field, and the Ka-bar stayed in my wall locker for inspections. I usually carried a 5" Randall on my deuce gear.
Curious when that would have been that they were issued? Serious question. I was 0351 in the 80's and had to buy my own.
daddyusmaximus
03-28-16, 22:40
Yes... but I was using it to baton firewood. Still think they are a good knife for the money, I'm just willing to spend more for better now.
Straight Shooter
03-29-16, 07:22
Lent one out when I, too..was an 0351 in early-mid eighties...came back broken about 2" down from hilt. Never did understand how..was miffed.
Kabars (well off brand like Ontario) were issued to pistol bearers until the new bayonet came out in the mid 2000s. Most units kept them in the armory along with their bayonets but since they were K TAMCNS and not Crane reportable they could be kept anywhere
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I am not a Marine...
However my Uncle was (Korea vintage). He of course kept the "Marine love" for his Ka-bar. I had a lot of time with one over the years and after I got older/wiser to knife craft, the Ka-bar just became a souvenir.
This change in thought toward the knife when said uncle was having difficulty dressing a deer with one (to show me how it's done of course) and broke the blade tip at some point. Normally he would use his buck folder to skin a deer, but I think he was trying to show off his "Marine-ness" to me at the time.
Curious when that would have been that they were issued? Serious question. I was 0351 in the 80's and had to buy my own.
We had them in the armories, but they were never issued.
Bent the hilt on a couple and broke the tip on one wised up when I made Cpl. and had Randells and Striders and left the Kbars in the armory after that.
Broke about 1/2" off the tip throwing it at a plywood hooch door, it stuck in many times before it broke, it was a Kabar but at the time you could buy them for around $20.
As a kid I was given a well used vintage Navy marked fighting knife, don't recall if it was Kabar mfg'd or not. But you'd have called it a kabar. I want to say it was marked in the 40s.
There was a break/chip from the fuller to the spine an inch or two long.
Cannot imagine how it got there, the blade was very thick.
Of course it was unappreciated, thrown, steel wooled, and ultimately forgotten/lost. Instead, I wanted the AF survival knife in the then brand new whole earth catalog. And an AR-7, also in the catalog. And the girl on page 137! I did not want much as a preteen! Lost the knife, but still have that catalog!
That and the fact it was marked Navy... uncool
Guns-up.50
07-03-16, 15:24
Curious when that would have been that they were issued? Serious question. I was 0351 in the 80's and had to buy my own.
I was in as an 0331 from 04-08, they only really issued them to 0331s in my co. But they were totally unserviceable, and not as common as the new bayonets.
Fordtough25
09-20-16, 05:57
I've got my FIL's from his time in Vietnam and mine from the mid 90's, have worked up many deer with both. I will admit that I too carry an Esee or my gerber lmf ii these days as I don't care if something happens to them. I will also say the ka bar from the early 60's and '90's look a bit different.
http://i1154.photobucket.com/albums/p534/Fordtough25/kabar_zpse8knzbr2.jpg (http://s1154.photobucket.com/user/Fordtough25/media/kabar_zpse8knzbr2.jpg.html)
Fordtough25
09-20-16, 06:12
Come to think about it I also have one from an unknown time that's marked USN and that knife only has half the blade left, and it has been re-shaped/sharpened. I will snap a picture of it tonight after work and add it to this post as well!
Curious when that would have been that they were issued? Serious question. I was 0351 in the 80's and had to buy my own.
They were issued to those carrying an M203 or pistol in my Company. If you could not mount a bayonet on your weapon you got a K-Bar. I carried an EK Commando Knife because of the full tang and a Leatherman. Those and the Zippo were constant companions in the field.
LowSpeed_HighDrag
10-15-16, 00:06
....if so - how? Did it snap at the blade/hilt junction (as most internet pics show), or at the blade tip? Prying/levering? Twisting? Batoning? Taking out a sentry with a kidney thrust??????? :)
TIA
john
Technically not a Kabar, but it was a Kabar Knife. The Kabar Bull Dozier, I snapped the last inch or so off prying some rotten log apart. I was disappointed....
Traded my actual Kabar to some Royal Marine for his Beret and a few other things. No clue where that Beret is today....
It's probably safe to say that I've broken one...or so I've been told. Something about Okinawa, mojo, and a dead buy me drinky girl...but I can't remember? I was in 2000-2008. We had kabars until we were issued the Ontario bayonet. Today most of my own my kabars are for display purposes. I do have one that's been hanging around in my truck for the past 10 or so years, and I'll use it for a few odd jobs here and there. It's held up fine over the years, but it's not like I'm beating the dog s*** out of it.
Intransigent
12-07-17, 11:03
I have seen them break at the junction of the blade where the false edge and the main blade come together. Yes, usually after doing stupid shit and yes, we put it into the sheath and acted like we dindu nuffin at turn-in. ...Pfc's gonna shitbird... Also, almost all of the ones I saw as an 2MEF Marine, were actually Camillus's like the one on the left in FordTough's pic. Those fancy Ka-bars witht the nice leather that haven't been edge dressed weren't seen unless some hardcore slipped his boot camp buy past his SL.
I am not a huge fan of it's knifely qualities and I hear that the new bayonet is a much better knife and light-years past the M7.
For their price they are decent blade. But the blade world has taken off since the KaBar came into its fame. Its a totally different landscape and for a bit more bucks more your into a RAT or TOPS lower priced models that are much nicer. It is impressive what you can buy for $100 bucks these days, a hundo isn't nuthing, but still. I own 2 KaBars for the record.
Threw one at a big rat one time while manning a fighting hole on Hill 55, missed rat, hit rock,
broke at hilt.
Seriously we had some big ******* rats there.
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