disappointed in new Kabars

[jsoukup]

For as long as I can remember, my dad has carried this old worn out 1232 black leather handle Kabar hunting knife along with an old Schrade skinning knife. Last year we accidentally left his Schrade on a fence post after skinning a deer and was gone when we went back to get it. We think someone else on the lease picked it up.

Last Christmas I bought him a new Gerber Freeman and he seemed very happy with it. He carries it while hunting on the same belt with his 357. And my sharpening skills have vastly improved, now every knife we own is razor sharp. After opening weekend of deer season, he brought me the old Kabar and asked me to sharpen it. This thing is really worn out, it has to be at least 30 years old. I think at one point someone put it on a bench grinder, then when I was 11 or 12, he and our neighbor spent about 2 hours one night sharpening and honing the blade on a piece of cork with valve grinding compound, giving it a flat grind bevel.

I buffed it out, polished it up as best I could, gave it a razor edge, cleaned and oiled the handle and sheath and gave it back to him. So last visit to the lease, I shot 2 deer within 5 minutes and go figure, he leaves the Gerber in the sheath and pulls out the old Kabar. I mean we've got about 10 different razor sharp knives, including my KOA's, and he goes for the Kabar.

I figured I'll give him what he wants and I ordered a new Kabar 1232 from Cabelas. Came in a nice green box with Olean, NY written all over it and limited life-time warranty. I pull it out of the box and the leather sheath looks so cheap, it could be confused for plastic. Then I unwrap the knife. It's got a beautiful brown leather handle, but then a blade that looks like it has chrome on it, that boldly has "TAIWAN" etched into it. Taiwan? what in the world happened to Olean, NY? They seem so proud of their location, but order in from Taiwan. Kabar is etched into the other side, definitely not stamped like the old ones. Just a cheaper look.

I'm going to sharpen it before I give it to him, but I'm tempted to hit with my satin-brite belt on my sander and knock that Taiwan crap off and turn down that chrome looking finish, otherwise, I just don't think it will look right to him. I expected a little better quality than this.

[Joel]

There is no knife manufacturer named Ka-bar; hasn't been for years.  Ka-bar is a registered trademark belonging to the parent company Cutco; also headquartered in Olean.  Ka-bar knives are made by a variety of knife manufacturers located all over the world. If you go to their website, they explain all this.  Ka-bar does maintain a strict quality control over the products, and the couple of modern ones I've handled are pretty decent. Cheap sheaths have always been the norm for most knife manufacturers; although there are some exceptions to that.  I've two old ones(back when Ka-bar actually made knives) that are 50 years old that are made of high carbon steel and are also heavily chrome plated. Came with really cheap sheaths. The purpose behind the plating was to prevent the knife from rusting.  It worked, but was a very expensive operation and was dropped when stainless steels were adopted.  Unless your knife is also high carbon, which I doubt very seriously, it 's probably just highly polished.  Taiwan makes some pretty good knives, as does Japan etc.  I haven't heard of Ka-bar suddenly putting their trademark on crappy knives; unlike some American companies have. The really cheap crap these days comes from Mainland China, Pakistan and certain South American/Mexican manufacturers. One of the reasons  Schrade  and Camillus ended going down the tubes was because the quality of their knives had declined, for the most part, to Godawful.  I suspect you might try the knife before you condemn it, since you're apparently not taking it back for a refund.

[ironglow]

  I live about 25 miles from the Cutco (Alcas) plant..they do good work there. Kabar has a warehouse building on the near side of Olean toward me..about 22 miles.
  I never stopped by there , but will someday soon.
  On the other hand, Ontario is about 4 miles from my house, and I am personal friends with the Pres, Sales manager and quite a number of their employees.
  If you want the same old-fashioned quality, with the precision of modern technology..get that (kabar styled) Marine fighting knife from Ontario..that's what the Marines do..

    www.ontarioknife.com/


   BTW: This doesn't mean your Kabar is bad, I doubt Kabar would put their name on junk...

[jsoukup]

I suspect you might try the knife before you condemn it, since you're apparently not taking it back for a refund.

I don't want my father to be disappointed. His 30 year old knife sheath is better than this one, and the old one is pretty rough. I don't want to give him something he won't end up using like the Gerber. The dimensions on this knife are EXACTLY the same as the old one. I could sharpen it and see if it holds an edge, but then Cabelas probably won't take it back if it ends up being a POS. Blade looks like something you'd see on a "made in Pakistan" knife.

My father has a bad habit of holding onto stuff when it's no longer servicable. He's got an old Stevens 820B shotgun that he loves to shoot that's falling apart. At one point the pump tube was secured to the barrel with electrical tape. He deserves better than that, but he's stubborn about change. Got it cleaned up and and put some new screws in it (got rid of the tape), but it's still worn out.

[jcn59]

I got a Kabar "Little Finn" couple months ago - nice little knife but stamped "Taiwan".  I don't buy Kabar so someone half a world away can have my neighbor's job.  When I bought the Kabar name, I thought it was still domestically manufactured.  I won't EVER take a chance again on ANY Kabar.

I bought some Ontario fixed blade knives a while back.  Made in USA.  Bad looking plastic sheaths.  But the knives are good old USA quality.  I'll just replace the sheaths.

[ironglow]

  Like most other US companies, in order to compete, Ontario has some very small amount of imported stuff..but it is clearly labeled as their "Iternational" line..
  Not too bad of stuff..but clearly not like their US made items.

[jcn59]

Thanks for the info.   It's disappointing to me that "our" government gives tariff breaks to US companies operating overseas with cheap yellow labor while  domestic manufacturing goes down the tubes.  But I guess that was the purpose of clinton's NAFTA bill.  God help us if we get another democrat like him........

We have to discover a legal way to remove the renegades from office before they do any more damage to the USA.  Remove a couple from office and the rest will fall in line. 

Face it, we have no representation in government.  When a congressman snags some of our OWN money & returns it to our district, he thinks he's a hero.  And then only if his party authorizes it.