Dog's Head Utility-The First Thirty Days

Day 9,
Part 1,
Breakfast,

In an effort to avoid the huge download, upload, reload, and editing this evening. I thought I would get the first part of today out of the way early. Plus I was just so pleased with this morning's project, I wanted to share.

A quick burst from the Kitchen Counter Commando.



I can not tell everyone how pleased I am with the performance of this knife in the kitchen. In my world breakfast is the most important part of my food regimen. I need fuel in the morning. I may or may not get to the other meals. But life flows much smoother for me, if I have fuel to start my day.

This is day 9. I am still working with the stock factory edge. Yet still, I was easily able to get six or seven slices from a single cherry tomato! The four on the blade are from the first half of the first tomato. The second half is under the blade, holding the knife up for the thickness shot.



I find that to be very acceptable performance from a field blade that I have been working in wood for eight days, with the untouched factory edge.



I am quite sure I could go thinner if I chose to. I was mostly just trying end with as many fingers as I started.



This was doubly exciting for me. These were the first tomatoes from our garden this year. I love cherry tomatoes. They work well for pasta salads. Also basil, tomato and mozzarella salads and Brushetta. Hard to beat fresh basil paired with fresh tomatoes. Plus the fact they can handle our short season.

In discussing Dannemora, someone on the news commented on it's nick name "Little Siberia" they noted the average is 155 days per year at or below freezing. We are further from Champlain and higher in altitude. So the burr factor is even worse here. Stuff needs to be started early and grown fast. With covers always at the ready.


A piece of frozen bacon was dispatched without incident,



A quick sauté of the bacon, pepper, and onions,



Add the eggs, when firm, add in the tomatoes, and a few slivers of cheese. Fold over and top with cheese and tomatoes for artistic value. Pause momentarily to admire it.


Then have at it,



If this is any indication, today should be a fine day!

More to come later.


Day 9,
Part 2,
The Tarp,

New knife, new tarp, new hank of para-cord,



Might as well go play. This new tarp is a 10x10 in Coyote Brown from the Bushcraft site.



A light duty day for the Dog's Head. Just slicing some para-cord. I like to use bungies with my tarps to build in some flex.



Got some new fangled gizmos for Christmas. Figured I give them a shot while close to home. Figure 9s their called. Make a nice hook to hang things on.



This hitch is called a Grapevine. It is good to know. You can slide it up and down on a taught line to adjust tension as needed. Let go and stays put.



It looks like it will shed water. I wasn't even done and the rain set in again. I know where all of California's rain is going. It has rained here almost everyday for the last three weeks. It was supposed to be sunny and 75F here today. Instead we have rain and 59F



Built a Spartan fire and had a cold one to break it in right,



That's it for today.
 
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My day was nothing like that. I'm definitely jealous :D

Nice looking set up!
 
Bushcraft site? Man, and I just ordered a tarp...

Grapevine hitch? Looks interesting, I'll have to see if I can find out how to tie that. I usually use a prussik for stuff like that, but that looks like it will take less cordage and do the same thing :).

So it's you that's stealing all of California's rain? I think it's best you return it now...
 
Oregon could use some of that rain too. Alaska as well come to think of it...
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My cousin in Alaska recently got separated from her kid for a few days when he wanted to stay with his grandparents for a few hours longer at their place and a fire sprang up between their place and my cousin's place. Everyone ended up being fine, but it was pretty scary for her.
 
Day 10,

Out of the house early, home late, and had to pass through metal detectors.

Zero KA-BAR action today.
 
Awesome. I like seeing these 30 day posts and this is a great looking knife. Might possibly be my first Kabar purchase (outside of the Beckers).
 
Day 11,

For today's KA-BAR Moment,
I love that line!


Hot Dogs on the Gas Grill,
Seriously, I just said that to sound normal, no gas grill action here.

A quick one stick.
You don't need to see me beat this knife through the wood every time, do ya?? It was already quartered anyways what fun is that. Broken down to workable size.



It was just a piece of cherry off the pile. This knife does a very decent feather stick,


Same stick, more work,



Another one,



All the pieces ready to go,



A quick fire lay. All pretty with the sun setting on it. If you are a photographer, they call it "Magic Light" If you're a redneck, they call it hurry up and cook.


A quick shot of it taking off. I started this in the most bushcrafty of ways. I flicked my bic.



Once it caught, on go the bigger pieces, an onward from there,



Onto the dogs,



Almost there,



A quick toast of the rolls,



And dinner, such as it is, is served,



The more I use this knife. The more I come to believe it's detractors have never even held one. I am not sure what else one needs in a general purpose woods/camp knife.


Am I boring you guys yet?
 
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Nope... just making me hungry and want to go camping. :thumbup:
 
well - I was going to mention putting ketchup on the hotdogs, but then I saw the slices of cheese. Also, the right bun is split on the bottom. Would drive me crazy. Hope the kabar didn't do that.
 
I have enjoyed the entire story. Thank you for the hard work, information and humor.

What a great tale!

Captain O
 
Day 12 - The Sheath

A knife sheath for me is an important part of the whole system. So today, I thought I would give folks some feedback on the Dog's Head Sheath.




Day 12 - The Sheath

A knife sheath for me is an important part of the whole system. So today, I thought I would give folks some feedback on the Dog's Head Sheath.



It is basically a standard KA-BAR leather sheath. Not made of outstanding materials, and the quality of workmanship is acceptable. If you are expecting a high end leather sheath. Brace yourself, this isn't it.

Knife sheaths seem to create almost as much controversy as knives themselves. Most people complain about factory supplied sheaths. Saying they are cheap, flimsy, or suffer from other maladies. Many opting to upgrade to a more specialized version that suits their needs better. I have done so myself on some knives.

Personally, I feel all knives should come with a sheath from the maker. Yes, it costs money. But knives should come with a sheath. I believe that compared to the prices of many knives today the KA-BAR represents a real bargain in the knife world. I have $70.00 into this knife. It is a very nice knife, with an acceptable sheath.

There's that word again. Acceptable, what the heck does that mean anyway?
Well, it means it is not fancy or built of outstanding materials. Could it be better?
Sure it could. But it does it's job of holding the knife just fine.

The Dog's Head came with a slight variation. And embossed Dog's Head. Who would have thought.



The sheath is single stitched, and riveted. There is also a piece of leather stitched in between the two pieces of sheath leather the prevent the knife's edge from cutting the stitching or hitting the rivets. Standard fair on all good quality sheaths.

The leather is thick and well treated. I believe it to be vegetable tanned but could be wrong. I treated it with some Obenauf's leather treatment. Basically bee's wax. It took the treatment, but absorbed little. Because the sheath was in great shape out of the box. Not some dried up, brittle leather, that cracks when you flex it. Like you get with some factory sheaths.


The sheath itself is pretty basic. No fire steel loops, or pockets. No redundant jump ready retention. No lanyards, nothing really, just a basic sheath.

But, sans all the BS, what it does, is hold the knife securely. A bit snug at first. But like a good pair of shoes, it loosens up a tad a it breaks in.

Another important thing for me. It holds the knife quietly. No rattling around like in some sheaths. Also holding it securely enough that I don't have to use the single retention strap every time.

Another nice plus is the wide belt loop. Allowing it to easily slide over most belts. With the possible exception a World Wrestling Federation Championship Belt.

A shot of the wide loop. With an accessory pouch I added. Sometimes building off a plain platform is easier than working around added items you might not want.


Adding the pouch was a simple affair. I just tied a piece of twine through the loop and laced it through the velcro straps on the pouch.


Y'all carry twine in your packs right?



A pretty straight forward set up. Versatile, modular, removable, it's the sexy military style setup everyone seem to clamor after these days. In my pouch I have an empty staple tin filled with goodies like char cloth, tinder fungus, more twine, a few fish hooks, needles, and other assorted goodies associated with not dying in the woods.
The velcro straps hold the pouch on well. The twine is just a backup against gravity helping the pouch slide off in the woods somewhere.



One cool thing about the KA-BAR sheath is it comes with its own built in strop. Just flip it over and there it is. How many sheaths have that? I am sure, if a person wanted to. They could rough that up a bit and rub in some black or green compound for a field expedient sharpener. I carry a bit of green and black rubbed into the inside of my leather belt for this. So for the moment the back of the sheath will remain just plain leather for the final strop.



So in conclusion. Is this the best sheath ever? Nope! Does it do more than an adequate job of what a sheath is supposed to do? You bet!

The KA-BAR is a big knife, but it disappears on the hip. It is not overly heavy and the sheath does an excellent job of hanging it off your belt.
 
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great review and lessons. I'm trying to decide between the dog head and standard Army/Marine version.
(why does the leather handled, no damn serrations knife have to be so difficult to find???)
 
I'm happy that your KaBar is so versatile. It is truly what I'm looking for in a knife. A hunting/camping/fishing/working knife. What more could you ask from a tool? :thumbup::cool:

I have no use for serrations on my knives. I can cut most things well enough without them, thank you! I like the Mark 1 I have coming. KaBar quality all the way with a knife that doesn't make me look as if I'm preparing to go into battle! :o

Captain O
 
I like the sheath too. I'd like one for my Mark 1 with USN and an anchor stamped into it.
 
Buck put out that 119 Brahma this year, looks very similar. Did Kabar only make this for a short time, I don't see it catalogued this year?
 
It's still available. Several vendors online carry it. It is model 1317. On Tomars kabars site (BF supporter and one of the Kabar Dealers I use) for some reason the 1317 is not listed in their "site map" but it is listed in their list of knives at the top of each site page as the "Dog's Head Fixed Blade".
 
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