Ka-Bar Potbelly Review with pics and references to some Becker knives...

S

Survivormind

Joined
Dec 18, 2012
Messages
399
Hello All,

Here's a Potbelly review I should have had completed A LONG time ago. I make some references to Becker knives and there are some pics of a few as well so I thought this may be of interest to a few of you.

This review definitely made me appreciate Ethan's designs, most notably, their thickness from edge to spine right above the handle. :thumbup: It's easy to see how this simple feature alone can increase the durability of a knife. No wonder Ethan's line-up is well known among those that use knives hard.

Survivormind
 
Survivormind said:
Hello All,

Here's a Potbelly review I should have had completed A LONG time ago. I make some references to Becker knives and there are some pics of a few as well so I thought this may be of interest to a few of you.

This review definitely made me appreciate Ethan's designs, most notably, their thickness from edge to spine right above the handle. :thumbup: It's easy to see how this simple feature alone can increase the durability of a knife. No wonder Ethan's line-up is well known among those that use knives hard.

Survivormind
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Hey Survivormind , in case you might want to review the Baconmaker , KaBar has it on Clearance as of now.
 
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JD...I stopped in my tracks when it broke and just stared at it for a good ten seconds before it soaked in.

I'm gonna pass on the baconmaker. Too specialized of a purpose for me to be interested.
 
Thanks for the review, as all review's help us decide where we will send our $ towards (at least I use them)
Noticed this Knife, Like you stated the Looks Grabbed my attention
Blade Length, Shape, appeared as a MINI 1246 Camp Knife to Me so was on my List of Get's
After Review, off my List, Thanks as Now more $ towards some BK's


KEEP EM SHARP
 
Still can't figure out why they messed with original design and created weak spot with that sharpening choil. Absolutely unnecessary...
 
Hmmm... I wanted to add a potbelly to my stable, because they're discontinued, and I don't own one... Now I'm considering skipping it altogether and just getting a 2nd "5" before they're impossible to find...

I prefer not batoning with my knives whenever possible, but brush clearing is a necessary evil.... So do I add a Potbelly, possibly the best (broken) knife ever made, that can't clear brush worth a $#@&, or get a backup bk5, a brush clearing champion, that "can" baton wood reasonably, in the event I would need to go that route which I like to try and avoid...

Me thinks another 5 just topped the list.
 
I posted the following: I have a Becker BK9 and BK4. Either of them - and certainly both together, could do (out do) anything a Potbelly could do IMHO. I say that however as a loyal abd very satisfied owner and user of the BK9 and BK4 and not as someone who has ever even so much as touched a potbelly, let alone used one.

That said, there has always been something that has drawn me to the potbelly and while I would have gotten one a long while ago had it been in 3/16th" ... that will all change when the big brown truck shows up at my door in a few days.

In this thread:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1350868-The-discontinued-Ka-Bar-Potbelly-Review


The knife seems pretty cool. I don't own one ... and they are discontinued. Ding - ding - ding - PURCHASE. Similarly, I shored up the quiver with 4s, 5s and 15s when the news of discontinuation spread. Maybe that could be a new marketing technique. :D
 
bghorn said:
Still can't figure out why they messed with original design and created weak spot with that sharpening choil. Absolutely unnecessary...
Click to expand...

I agree completel. If you look at any of the pictures really close up, you can tell they recessed the choir even more than was necessary. Just a total fail. Search Johnson Adventure Blades on Google and you'll see that the original knife designed by them didn't have this problem. Nor did it have the useless swedge. I think Ka-Bar overlooked the strengths of the original design and focused too much on looks and by adding some "gimmicks" to the design, created one serious flaw.

Survivormind
 
Ironically, the original knife was also 3/16in thick, which would have addressed some of your other concerns around how the knife was used.

Do you know if you had one of the early hollow ground models, or the later flat saber ground models?
 
bghorn said:
Hollow
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I did read in the article that he had the hollow ground version, but as far as I know Kabar never changed the ad copy when they changed it to a flat saber grind. Which meant that I thought there was some possibility that the knife being used may have been flat ground.

Thanks for clearing it up :).
 
I had one of the hollow grinds when they first came out. I loved the knife but the grips felt strangely slippery like owl snot.
 
That's a shame. I agree the knife has a lot of promise if the swerve is removed and choil area made bigger.
 
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