By Jim Dickson | Contributing Writer
A perennial knife question is “What is a good factory knife?”
This is best answered by telling the person asking to choose an old design that has stood the test of time in the worst conditions.
Unfortunately these traditional designs are more expensive to make, and most factories would rather sell you something of cheaper quality for the same price. From their standpoint the best design is a small kitchen knife size blade with slab handles and no proper cross guard. The knife big enough to be useful in all situations is dismissed by their brazen lie “The big knife is the mark of a tenderfoot.”
Well, that means people worldwide, as well as the pioneers who opened up the American wilderness, were all tenderfeet for the big knife is universal among the true wilderness experts who depend upon a knife to do more than open envelopes.
One knife that meets these qualifications and is still commercially available is the WWII KA-BAR, famed for its use in every U.S. Military conflict since WWII. The Navy had found that their MK1 knife with its 5-inch blade was too small for all the utility uses it was expected to accomplish and especially as a fighting knife. It was replaced by the Mark 2 knife in 1942. This knife was designed by Marine Captain Howard America, Marine Colonel John Davis, and Danforth Brown, the head of Union Cutlery. Intended as a knife to fill all roles it was a classic 7-inch blade medium length Bowie knife. The Bowie knife was the all American design for an all-purpose utility, hunting, and fighting knife on the American frontier in the previous century.
Size and weight were of paramount importance for a military design to fall within the maximum combat load a soldier can carry. A 7-inch blade was considered the minimum length that could do all the work expected of it and the weight was pared down by the use of leather washers for a handle material and a fuller on each side of the minimum thickness 0.165 inch blade with a flat grind. The steel chosen was 1095 tool steel hardened to 56-58 on the Rockwell C scale. The .7-pound weight served two purposes. It did not add much to the soldier’s combat load, and it would be less tiring to hold during long periods of use. Additionally, the knife must stand up to all the use and abuse an 18 year old draftee from the city could put it through and that’s a lot.
The knife was such a success as an all-round knife for the military that it has become an American icon. Union Cutlery had trademarked the name KA-BAR in 1924 after an Alaskan hunter sent them the hide from a Kodiak that had attacked him and he had killed with a Union Cutlery knife. KA-BAR meant “Killed a bear.” They marked their MK2 knives KA-BAR and the name stuck. It became so famous from this knife that in 1952 the company changed it’s name to KA-BAR in a rare case of a trademark becoming so big that it became the company name.
The same reasons that made this knife a success in the military make it equally suitable for civilians. The Bowie has proven itself as an all-purpose knife for hunters and outdoorsmen since frontier days. Unlike many other designs it does all things well. It skins and butchers game, does all the camp chores, makes wood tools, traps, shelters, and even slices bacon and prepares food for the wilderness dweller. A 7-inch blade is short enough for anyone to handle yet still long enough to be useful where shorter knives fail. When its false edge is sharpened it becomes useful for ripping big game open in field dressing. It weighs next to nothing, so it is not tiring to use and not even noticeable when carrying.
Most custom knives that are made from carbon steel are “tool steel” at about the same hardness as this knife. They also cost a lot more. Other companies that made the MK2 knife for the U.S. Military have gone and only KA-BAR remains. Fittingly, they were part of the original design team.
I tested one of their current production MA-BAR MK2 knives and could find no fault with it. Unlike some of the other government contractors that made the MK 2, KA-BAR makes the handle oval in cross section instead of round. While Teddy Roosevelt liked a round handle most folks prefer an oval handle as it helps you align the edge automatically.
In 2014, KA-BAR bought another WWII knife maker, the John Ek Commando Knife Co. Ek was a knifemaker famed for his double edged commando-type knives. He took the concept of the British commando stiletto and made a rugged useful knife whereas the original British design is a dainty, delicate design. The points were so prone to breaking off on the British commando daggers that the OSS took to purposely breaking them off and repointing them with a stouter tip profile.
I tested the Ek Model 4 and prefer it to the original Ek knives. It is double edged with a very sharp point in profile but looking at it from the side you see that it is quite thick and strong. While primarily a fighting knife this one can still be used for other chores.
Native Americans along with many frontiersmen such as David Crockett loved a double edged hunting knife because you could always have one sharp edge in reserve while using the other for working. The subtle “S” shape of the guard of the Ek Model 4 makes it easy to keep track of which is which. The rather abrupt Ek grind makes this inferior to the KA-BAR MK 2 as a general purpose knife but remember that these were intended as pure fighting knives.
This knife sports a 6.625-inch blade while the distinctive Ek design of the handle brings the overall length to 12.75 inches. There are glass filled nylon scales bolted to a tang that extends 3/8-inch beyond them to form a skull crusher. The narrow blade is 1.125 inches wide and 0.154 inches thick of 1095 tool steel hardened to 56-58 on the Rockwell C scale.
The sheath is well suited for combat use, and is made from Colcon plastic which is much more durable than leather, which is prone to developing mold or even rot. I think these knives are a significant improvement over the WWII originals which had wooden handles and poured babbitt rivets which you hammered back in place if they loosened.
Finally I tested the KA-BAR Reinhardt kukri which I found to be superior to the original far East kukris. The kukri is a wood chopper that works equally well in hand-to-hand with man or beast as the famed Gurkha soldiers have been demonstrating for centuries. Used throughout the Indian sub-continent of central Asia it has been the favorite knife of millions, for thousands of years. And why not? It works.
This is a full size kukri with a 13.75 inch blade and an 18.75 inch overall length weighing 1.4 pounds. The blade is .188 inch thick 1095 tool steel hardened to 56-58 on the Rockwell C scale. It is thinly ground so that it can slice through briars and brush easily as well as wood. I chopped down a small pine tree with it and it still shaved hairs off my arm. It also cut briars cleanly which is no small feat as briars and light brush tend to push aside rather than be cut.
This kukri has Ultramid handle scales bolted to a full width tang that extends ¼ inch past the end of the handle scales for a skull crusher. This also can take the impact if the kukri happens to be dropped on a hard surface that could damage the handle scales. The contoured handle which forms a rudimentary guard as well as a pommel neb is comfortable and gives excellent control over a very nimble blade in the hand.
The sheath is BK215 Polyester with a substantial hard plastic tip. It opens at the back and there is a safety snap to lock it in place. In an emergency, it is easier from which to draw the knife, and much safer than the traditional kukri sheath for most people because with a traditional scabbard if you don’t rock the blade out but instead try to draw it straight out the blade may cut its way out of the scabbard and cut the fingers holding the scabbard.
I am a big advocate of wood cutting knives and consider this a proper companion to a KA-BAR MK 2 for use deep in the wilderness for gathering firewood, shelter building, tool and trap making. Whether it is a machete, bolo knife, or kukri you are talking about a tool that the natives in the wildest places consider indispensable.
For the casual camper it will clear the brush out of the place that you have chosen to camp, something an axe is no good at. As an emergency weapon it is far superior to any shorter blade in reach and the damage it does when striking. It is even faster than a smaller and lighter blade because the extra weight turns into striking speed.
If 19-year-old miss Taylor Mitchell of Nova Scotia had been carrying this kukri instead of a pocketknife when she was attacked and killed by coyotes she would probably be alive and well today. Canines lead with their head when attacking and a blow to the side of the head with a kukri will end the fight instantly. That’s worth remembering if you are ever attacked by wild dogs or vicious “Tame” dogs in the woods.
As for two-legged attackers just remember that the Gurkhas used the kukri to establish their legendary status in war. Of course this is no substitute for a gun but when you don’t have a gun you may be very glad to have this. The rest of the time you will find this such a useful tool in the woods that you won’t want to ever be without it.
KA-BAR is one of the last surviving big knife making firms in the U.S. and they have excellent products. In this era of cheap imports it is important to patronize American factories if we want to keep them open.
