- Joined
- Feb 27, 2011
- Messages
- 1,020
Hi all,
Someone requested a review of Ka-bar's Next-Generation (This review pertains specifically to the 440-A model with serrated edge.
Review:
The knife was used in both wet & dry winter conditions (sleet, rain, snow, ice) battoning
wood, splitting wood, clearing brush, cutting foliage (through ice). Splinttering kindling,
making both feather & fuzz-sticks (my defintions are different, excuse me.) Carving hundreds of fat pine sticks. The knife likely battoned through a couple of hundred pounds of wood, mostly oak & pine. It was even battoned though snow-soaked & semi-frozen pine. It was used, frequently, with a ferro rod to get fires going in my wood-burning stove. The tang never bent, gave, cracked, or stressed. The blade chipped, barely noticeable, a couple of times--it was nothing to hone & polish them away cleanly. The edge frequently held it's hair-popping, razor-sharp bite.
It chewed through many lengths of 550 mil-spec paracord, ropes, hemps, thick roots,
wysteria vines, & so on. It never needed any pressure. Choking up on the handle, the
serrations also chewed through everything from ropes to plastic sheets to thick roots.
Also, choking up on the handle, allowed the serrations (convexed) to act much like & as
well as fine-edge for controlled-cutting chores (much the same as a smaller, fine-edge
knife would be used--cutting notches, whittling, etc.)
It was often able to shear through 1 in. thick limbs, branches, & saplings (some had sprouted up in my old garden)..with one quick flick of the wrist. It could go through
2 & 3 in. thick with one or more swings, provided they are skillfully & accurately executed..the knife is only around 11.6 to 12.3 ozs.
The point was able to clearly drill holes in wood without problem, it also impacted, more than once, on concrete..cinder-blocks, brick, common stones, and even granite.
Never really phased it. I often did pry out chunks of resin with the point, as well as pieces of fat pine. I also, in a pinch, drilled a hole through a cinder-block (don't ask why, please--I could've gotten a drill..but I was curious..) I also, at one point, having
nothing else, used the point to pry up a cinder-block, checking the mortar in my grand-
father's old grill. It held up fine through all of this.
Also, I had a frequent habit of hammering in nails, stakes, poles, etc with the pommel of the knife. It held up.. It held up fine..until it hit it at the wrong angle..then..SNAP! Popped right off. This allowed the kraton handle to slide off & wether i wanted to or not
I saw the tang. It was around 3/4's to a bit more than 2/3rds of the blade's width & just
as thick as the blade itself--3/16ths. For a 'hidden-tang' knife, it's tang was strong, thick, & substantial. I couldn't see the tang breaking through rough use..let alone through normal use. Depends on the heat-treat.
What finally broke my knife:Throwing.. Funny, I sank it into an old oak several dozens of times, into pine boards, cross-bow targets, cheap foam targets..foam targets laid
against the side of a hill. 3-10 yards range, the knife was fast, accurate, & had considerable durability for it. I could usually, at 10 yds, make 29 out of 30 throws into a
target the size of my hand. It was a pleasure to work with. What broke? The pommel.
It hit a post, and inspection showed it had the lanyard hole--the little bit that sticks out from the pommel & likely hurts the fingers. If it hadn't been for that lanyard hole, that
pommel would not have snapped off. Well, I was able to super glue the handle back into place, along with the guard, & it proved to be immovably tight. Good as new, well..lacking it's pommel..but it threw just as accurately without it (threw accurately without the handle, guard, & pommel even..
Ah, well, it happens. I finally lost it on a botched throw, I'm still searching for that old knife, it's been a year now..snow..rain..floods.. I intend to post many pictures of the knife when I finally find it. It'll be interesting to see how it has held up to the elements over such an extended period of time.
Overall rating:
1-10..
For a 7 in. combo utility-knife in 440-A steel, I give this knife, an 8-of-10. (Pommel broke off, there was little relief edge, sheath rattled & was uncomfortable, lanyard extension--thing--hurt my fingers badly..) My request to the manufacturer, breath new life into the Next-Gen series--they ARE NOT the Ka-bars of the past. Extend the blade to 7.5, thicken to .240, widen the relief edge, slim down the fuller, full-flat-grind, widen the blade itself, & please no more lanyard extensions that stick out!! (Oh, and always keep the tang as thick as the blade's stock.) I loved that knife, I took great care of it--
yes, I threw it alot (I paid for it with my own hard-earned money
), I used it frequently, it was a fine companion & I'll never forget it.
Lastly--Thank you to Paul Tsujimoto, for helping me choose that knife over all the others I had looked at back then.
Someone requested a review of Ka-bar's Next-Generation (This review pertains specifically to the 440-A model with serrated edge.
Review:
The knife was used in both wet & dry winter conditions (sleet, rain, snow, ice) battoning
wood, splitting wood, clearing brush, cutting foliage (through ice). Splinttering kindling,
making both feather & fuzz-sticks (my defintions are different, excuse me.) Carving hundreds of fat pine sticks. The knife likely battoned through a couple of hundred pounds of wood, mostly oak & pine. It was even battoned though snow-soaked & semi-frozen pine. It was used, frequently, with a ferro rod to get fires going in my wood-burning stove. The tang never bent, gave, cracked, or stressed. The blade chipped, barely noticeable, a couple of times--it was nothing to hone & polish them away cleanly. The edge frequently held it's hair-popping, razor-sharp bite.
It chewed through many lengths of 550 mil-spec paracord, ropes, hemps, thick roots,
wysteria vines, & so on. It never needed any pressure. Choking up on the handle, the
serrations also chewed through everything from ropes to plastic sheets to thick roots.
Also, choking up on the handle, allowed the serrations (convexed) to act much like & as
well as fine-edge for controlled-cutting chores (much the same as a smaller, fine-edge
knife would be used--cutting notches, whittling, etc.)
It was often able to shear through 1 in. thick limbs, branches, & saplings (some had sprouted up in my old garden)..with one quick flick of the wrist. It could go through
2 & 3 in. thick with one or more swings, provided they are skillfully & accurately executed..the knife is only around 11.6 to 12.3 ozs.
The point was able to clearly drill holes in wood without problem, it also impacted, more than once, on concrete..cinder-blocks, brick, common stones, and even granite.
Never really phased it. I often did pry out chunks of resin with the point, as well as pieces of fat pine. I also, in a pinch, drilled a hole through a cinder-block (don't ask why, please--I could've gotten a drill..but I was curious..) I also, at one point, having
nothing else, used the point to pry up a cinder-block, checking the mortar in my grand-
father's old grill. It held up fine through all of this.
Also, I had a frequent habit of hammering in nails, stakes, poles, etc with the pommel of the knife. It held up.. It held up fine..until it hit it at the wrong angle..then..SNAP! Popped right off. This allowed the kraton handle to slide off & wether i wanted to or not
I saw the tang. It was around 3/4's to a bit more than 2/3rds of the blade's width & just
as thick as the blade itself--3/16ths. For a 'hidden-tang' knife, it's tang was strong, thick, & substantial. I couldn't see the tang breaking through rough use..let alone through normal use. Depends on the heat-treat.
What finally broke my knife:Throwing.. Funny, I sank it into an old oak several dozens of times, into pine boards, cross-bow targets, cheap foam targets..foam targets laid
against the side of a hill. 3-10 yards range, the knife was fast, accurate, & had considerable durability for it. I could usually, at 10 yds, make 29 out of 30 throws into a
target the size of my hand. It was a pleasure to work with. What broke? The pommel.
It hit a post, and inspection showed it had the lanyard hole--the little bit that sticks out from the pommel & likely hurts the fingers. If it hadn't been for that lanyard hole, that
pommel would not have snapped off. Well, I was able to super glue the handle back into place, along with the guard, & it proved to be immovably tight. Good as new, well..lacking it's pommel..but it threw just as accurately without it (threw accurately without the handle, guard, & pommel even..
Ah, well, it happens. I finally lost it on a botched throw, I'm still searching for that old knife, it's been a year now..snow..rain..floods.. I intend to post many pictures of the knife when I finally find it. It'll be interesting to see how it has held up to the elements over such an extended period of time.
Overall rating:
1-10..
For a 7 in. combo utility-knife in 440-A steel, I give this knife, an 8-of-10. (Pommel broke off, there was little relief edge, sheath rattled & was uncomfortable, lanyard extension--thing--hurt my fingers badly..) My request to the manufacturer, breath new life into the Next-Gen series--they ARE NOT the Ka-bars of the past. Extend the blade to 7.5, thicken to .240, widen the relief edge, slim down the fuller, full-flat-grind, widen the blade itself, & please no more lanyard extensions that stick out!! (Oh, and always keep the tang as thick as the blade's stock.) I loved that knife, I took great care of it--
yes, I threw it alot (I paid for it with my own hard-earned money
), I used it frequently, it was a fine companion & I'll never forget it. Lastly--Thank you to Paul Tsujimoto, for helping me choose that knife over all the others I had looked at back then.
