KA-BAR USMC Fighting/Utility knife

[Coalcracker]

I was issued a K-bar in Danang in 1969. I still have it. I would never take it diving. Easy to find any sort of dive knife, little, long, short, etc. on most scuba sites or on e-bay.

My K-bar still takes a great edge and is always a useful tool for camping and hunting, just not diving.

 

[Nemrod]

I brought up using a Ka-Bar in another thread and got a lot of negative responses; one guy mentioned that it will break. I don't know what he was doing with it to break it, but...

If you don't want to buy another knife, then you probably even more don't want to ruin your Ka-Bar. I think it's entirely possible that salt water could infiltrate the handle and corrode the tang.

I have been using a 19 cent steak knife from the thrift store that I ground the blade off to length, and it fits into a mini-maglite sheath (I had an extra one from the mini-maglite that I ruined by trying to use underwater!). That one worked great, until my wife broke it in a pumpkin-carving contest. Oh, well; another 19 cent trip to the thrift store.

I have more recently been thinking about getting a bigger knife, but have not made up my mind yet.

So the 19 cents steak knife broke carving a pumpkin and yet you recommend it for a diving knife where it might be required to cut heavy wire leader, cable, rope, kelp or other manner of material? I don't get it .

N

 

[ZzzKing]

So the 19 cents steak knife broke carving a pumpkin and yet you recommend it for a diving knife where it might be required to cut heavy wire leader, cable, rope, kelp or other manner of material? I don't get it .

N

It was 19c. What's not to get?

 

[DA Aquamaster]

In the late 1980's and early 1990's I dove with a smaller version of the Scubapro Stilletto with a 5" blade, a molded rubber handle and a sheath desigend to be worn on the forearm. It was the sharpest dive knife I have ever owned and a nice compromise between the 12" long knife/ab iron it replaced and the modern overly wimpy really small and hard to hold or dull as a used crayon dive knives we seem to have today.

Larry

 

[Belmont]

I have been using a 19 cent steak knife from the thrift store that I ground the blade off to length, and it fits into a mini-maglite sheath (I had an extra one from the mini-maglite that I ruined by trying to use underwater!). That one worked great, until my wife broke it in a pumpkin-carving contest. Oh, well; another 19 cent trip to the thrift store.

I have more recently been thinking about getting a bigger knife, but have not made up my mind yet.

I would like to understand: you are proud of your purchase: 19 cent steak knife, but your wife breaks it carving a pumpkin.

Tell me, how would you react trying to free yourself from an entanglement underwater with a steak knife that is not resistant enough to carve a pumpkin. At least bring a mirror with you just to see your face after realizing that you are left with a plastic handle to deal with a fishing net.

Now, there is thrifty and cheap, cutting your own hair is cheap as well as using a 19 cent knife for diving.

 

[james croft]

Screw the wimp knives. The Kabar could work but the leather handle is problematic. You may want to try the military Mark 3 Mod 0 dive knife. You can get one off Ebay for about 35-45 bucks.
Go all the way and tape a Mark 13 day/night flare to the sheath for the SpecOps look.
I have husked a few coconuts with one without breaking it so a pumpkin would pose no problem.

 

[cmburch]

That is a nice looking KA-BAR. Mine does not have the serations and has staples in the sheath. The high carbon steel which is good for an edge is not good for saltwater. It would be nice if the tang and handle was a different material so only had to worry about rinsing and oiling the blade after a dive.

 

[sambolino44]

So the 19 cents steak knife broke carving a pumpkin and yet you recommend it for a diving knife where it might be required to cut heavy wire leader, cable, rope, kelp or other manner of material? I don't get it .

N

I would like to understand: you are proud of your purchase: 19 cent steak knife, but your wife breaks it carving a pumpkin.

Tell me, how would you react trying to free yourself from an entanglement underwater with a steak knife that is not resistant enough to carve a pumpkin. At least bring a mirror with you just to see your face after realizing that you are left with a plastic handle to deal with a fishing net.

Now, there is thrifty and cheap, cutting your own hair is cheap as well as using a 19 cent knife for diving.

Thanks for all the kind thoughts. Let's just say that I do cut my own hair. And I have to say that I'd like to see you cut a heavy wire leader or a cable with any dive knife. Not that I don't believe you, it's just something I'd like to see. As for my 19 cent steak knife, I cannot be responsible for my wife's pumpkin carving technique, but personally, I usually do not put a lot of side load on a knife blade. Maybe that's how that other guy I mentioned earlier broke the handle off his Ka-Bar. I certainly had no intention of hijacking this thread, which was supposed to be about using a Ka-Bar for a dive knife. But if you really think my steak knife is such a bad idea, maybe you could get Tobin, or some of the DIR guys to explain it. Thank you.

 

[sibermike7]

4. No WAY you'd be in the dork club. It's too manly for that.

Yeah, right. Being a Dork Diver has nothing to do with manliness!

In fact, a true DD doesn't give a rip what other people think; doesn't have to be a weak-kneed-go-along-with-the-crowd kind of diver. O.K., maybe I'm being a little harsh. I do care what you think, but I have enough brains to listen and decide for myself if what you think is important to me or not. He/she is willing to do what ever they want to do simply because they want to not because everybody else is doing it. I have met a lot of people who were simply too weak to swim up stream. They'd never make a DD because they can't able to stand on their own.

Guaranteed if you duct tape a Ka-Bar to your wetsuit, you'd be a Dork Diver! Simply carrying a big knife doesn't make one manly.

 

[ItsBruce]

I love knives. I've got a bunch of wonderful ones. I recently got a Spydrco with a serrated blade that appears to be more aggressive and is certainly sharper than a saw. It frightens me just to imagine being cut by it. However, I don't dive with it or any of my wonderful knives.

I've taken to the cheep serrated steak knives. I cut them to just a few inches. The serration will cut anything I am likely to encounter underwater at least as well as any other knife. I do not worry about rust. When it rusts, I toss it. If I drop it on a dive, I don't worry about looking for it and I certainly don't go deep just to get it back. The only two criteria I have is (1) the metal of the blade must go the entire length of the handle, and (2) the serrated teeth must still be sharp. I know better than to try to pry anything with it. And, since it is not pointed, I reduce the chance of hurting myself, my buddy and my gear.