KA-BAR Chat thread - Come on in the house

it will be interesting to see how exactly you managed to break a Heavy Bowie on its first outing. I heard of one breaking before, but that one had a bad HT.

Do you think that is the case here?

If its stupidity, I feel you there. I got myself pretty good tonight with our chefs knife, and am now missing most of the skin on my left index fingers lower knuckle :(. Note to self, don't get distracted with a 8in knife in your hand...
 
I've got a post and photos ready once I can get my laptop near some wifi. Short version is I stabbed it into a pretty old and ultimately kind of soft piece of pine and gave it an easy yank... nothing too hardcore. Snapped 1/2 inch of the tip off. Must have found the 'sweet spot' in that wood heh, so that the tip was held really tight. I dunno anything about heat treats, it just seems to me that if you stick the thinnish tip of a long knife in a vise and pull, you shouldn't be surprised if it breaks.

Here's a taste... that's the piece of wood that did the deed.

2011-11-20_15-02-27_22.jpg
 
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How much did it bend before it broke? If I recall correctly, most knives will bend 20-30ish degrees (or more) before it breaks. If it was less than that, then I would suspect a bad HT personally.

Of course, I'm no expert, so lets see what toooj says about this :).
 
Looks like you were batoning with something metal appears to be indent just before break. Can Not Wait to see how you are going to reshape this one maybe send to toooj and let him come up with one of a kind, just a thought, you will have a one of a kind soon just do not now what it's going to look like.
 
No bend. Snapped immediately, with a loud 'tink'.

No batoning. I had stabbed the tip in the wood, then lifted knife+wood up and slammed the wood down into the ground to drive the knife deeper.

Can't wait to make my big post tonight once I'm home. It's half a Cutlass vs Heavy Bowie thread and half discussion of the break. Is Photobucket working today?
 
yea, sounds like the HT was off on that one. It sounds like it was brittle.

Was it cold outside? Also, I'm excited for your big post, looks like it will be good.
 
40-50F, somewhere around there. Not particularly cold.

All my posts are cool, mister! :D
 
Since the blade-fondlers thread seems to be turning into a chat, figured I'd resurrect this. We need a little more activity in here, methinks. :D

Scores of my week: Picked up a Fenix LD10, my first real EDC/"tactical" flashlight. Love it. Also found an old copy of Craig Boddington's "Safari Rifles" for a buck at a used bookstore. This edition's about 20 years out-of-date but it's still excellent and interesting reading.
 
Going out to get more Doziers. There have been a few people interested in the all-black ones I put up (either a drop point with thumb stud or clip point with thumb slot) but they don't realize that means I have to buy two Doziers for this; a black-handled model and either a pink or orange with black blade. Then I have to swap the blade, lockbar, lockbar pin, and on the pink one, the pocket clip. So I end up with all the left-over parts and I can make some hybrid. Nobody wants (usually) an orange handle, satin drop point thumb stud blade, and polished lockbar, so I have several "mutants".
 
Nice. Only ones I can find regularly are the pink ones. I bought one for a coworker at my old job and she uses it every day. You should put together those mutants and then give 'em away or use 'em as contest prizes!
 
Yeah, it seems to be a little chatty in there.


My bad, I guess I should have came in an jumped everyone's stuff, and made them all kowtow and Honor the Mods. :D

Here, Lemme stick it for ya.

Moose
 
Looking at how cool your all black one is, J, its surprising that KB never thought of it themselves.
 
Back. Got three more Doziers. Just made an all-black one with thumb slot. The orange handle (4065BO) is the only knife in the series with a black thumb slot blade.
 
JNieporte said:
Back. Got three more Doziers. Just made an all-black one with thumb slot. The orange handle (4065BO) is the only knife in the series with a black thumb slot blade.
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Dozier whore. :D

You should get all of them together, lay them out, have everyone try to name them all, and give one away to the winner.

Just a though, ya know. :D

Moose
 
Stand by for a give-away! As soon as I get them photographed. An aside: the Doziers I have are spread through various bags, kits, cars, etc. and only about 12 of them are in the tacklebox that I use for knife storage. I'll pick 12 or so out of there and lay out the rules later.
 
BRL said:
My suggestion is forget trying to get her into knives and outdoors at the same time. Start with outdoors.

1. Plan a walk by a lake or through a forest or whatever is near you that's nice.
2. Plan a picnic using the same idea of a nice natural destination. Use your KA-BAR Heavy Bowie to spread the peanut butter and jelly on your sandwiches. Stare at her with one eyebrow arched the entire time you're doing this, but don't say anything.
3. Plan a one-night camping trip in a nearby place that has formal campgrounds and a nice natural place to hike nearby. Make sure there are bathrooms. Bring some simple cleaning supplies and touch up the bathroom before she has to use it for the first time (sweep, get the dead bugs and spider webs out of the corners, spray some cleaning solution on the john, spray some citrus scent around the room, make sure the lid is down when you leave if it's a pit toilet).
4. Alternate planning walks, hikes, and camping trips. Try to make the first batch as 'civilized' as possible.

You'll get to the point where either she clearly hates it all and you're definitively screwed, or she's on board with the outdoorsin' and you can then start in with the whole knife thing. By this time you'll have brought your knives and been using them, hopefully not in some lunatic manner, and she'll see the value and who knows, maybe (MAYBE) become a knife nut too.
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All great ideas...especially spreading pb&j with your kabar heavy bowie! My girlfriend and I are both archaeologists...She was lamenting a past knife she had had that was lost in the field and telling me about how cool her coworkers had thought she was...I got her a kershaw skyline to take in the field for christmas...Starting small to gage what she thinks....I think she liked it...It was one of a couple gifts I gave her as early christmas presents!
 
rwasham said:
All great ideas...especially spreading pb&j with your kabar heavy bowie! My girlfriend and I are both archaeologists
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Don't forget the eyebrow; that's the most important part!

That's cool you're archaeologists; my best friend/brother by a different mother & father is also one o' them, although he's adopted the easy life of museum work since he's a slackass who's decided that field work in the SW USA is too hot or something in the summer :D
 
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