Ka Bar Stacked leather-handle Bowie Knife
Jun 29, 2010 21:13:57 GMT
Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2010 21:13:57 GMT
[glow=red,2,300]Ka Bar Stacked Leather Handle 7'' Bowie Knife Review[/glow]
By
Sébastien B., Montréal, Québec
By
Sébastien B., Montréal, Québec
Here goes my second fixed-blade knife review, this time a medium/large-size hunting knife that I bough for 42 $ a few months ago from knifecenter.com. I bough it because I wanted a cheap and large bowie-shaped blade, after checking numerous products, I took the plunge with this one.
I will try to keep this review very short and sweet, enjoy.
Introduction
Here's a few numbers, taken from www.knifecenter.com ...
Overall Length (inches): 11.81 fixed
Blade Length (inches): 6.94
Blade Material: 1.4116 Steel
Blade Detail: Plain
Handle Material: Stacked Leather
Carry System: Leather Belt Sheath
Taken from : www.knifecenter.com/kc_new/store_detail.html?s=KA1236
Fittings
The blade is stainless steel, it has a mirror finish (which wasrather annoying when I tried to take good pictures of it ...) and is bowie-shaped. The edge is paper cutting sharp but the back-edge isn't sharpened (although it is thin and could be sharpened with proper tools, wielded by competent hands). The blade is rather thin, which makes it quite light.
The hilt is small and made of brass. It offers a very secure grip when thrusting the blade but I doubt it will offer more than minimal protection during a knife fight. The grip is made leather stacked around the knife's tang. It feels good in hand and has an old, retro-looking charm, in my honest opinion. It fits well in hand and has decent ergonomics. My only grip is that I think that anyone with larger hands than me may find the handle too short or small.
The pommel seems to be made of stainless steel. It seems quite sturdy and I think it could serve as a last-resort small hammer (although the light weight of the knife won't help you much for hammering stuff), and that I would also give nice pommel strikes if a bad guy pays you a visit.
The scabbard is made of leather. It looks good and has a weird, half-leather/half-chemical stuff smell. It doesn't look nor feel very sturdy, but it comes with a belt loop and strap, so it should be more practical than some sword scabbards offered these days.
Handling and cutting
This knife feels very, very light, almost weightless. It feels like it could be a very quick and vicious weapon. Jabs and thrusts are very easy to make, the shape of the blade's tip makes these feel very natural. The very light weight makes swings and cuts feel less strong ; the wielder has to fully use his strenght and body to power his strikes. However, the very sharp, slightly curved edge seems to be quite capable of deeply cutting flesh, which would be very useful if you intend to use this knife as an hunting blade.
I had one backyard cutting sessions with this knife. The lack of weight and short lenght of the blade made cuts a bit unsatisfying, although the slim edge could easily slice through water-filled bottles, it didn't have the gratifying chopping power of other, larger blades that I own. On the bright side, it was very fun to jab through a gallon-sized bottle with this knife. Here is a clip of this cutting session, I didn't edit it much, but I hope you will get some enjoyment out of it.
Conclusion
Pros
-Sharp edge
-Nice, classical fittings
-Light weight
Cons
-Light weight is a drawback for some working tasks
-Handle is bit on the short side
Overall, this is a cool knife. It doesn't have the badassness-in-your-face charisma of a Cold Steel nor the Hi-tech-highly-engineered charms of a Spyderco, but has plenty of qualities of its own. It offers a good-looking, practical blade that comes with a very good edge and a functionnal sheath.
I think it would make a good hunting knife or last resort self-defense knife for life-or-death confrontation, if you are looking for a 45 $ and less product.
However, I also think that they are numerous other high-quality knives in this price range (which is a good thing for us, happy customers, right ? ). So, if you want an hunting knife, shop around, check out this knife, but check out others too.