The Annoyed Man wrote:My dad's Kabar from WW2 was still in the family at some point. I think my youngest brother might have it now, but not sure.
joe817, it sounds like you're opinion is that in the $110 price range, there are better knives? My son gave me my Gerber LMF II for Christmas back when he was still in high school. It is a VERY rugged knife, and very well thought out. Back then, they were a fairly new item, and the going price was around $120. But I just bought my wife one a couple of weeks ago from Amazon.com for around $85, so they've come down in price. I suspect that the LMF II is a better all around survival knife than the Kabar by a fair margin, if for no other reason than it has features the Kabar lacks. I was thinking of the Kabar mentioned in my OP as a "throw it in the bottom of the bag and forget about it" kind of thing. At $45, it isn't a large expense. But I don't want to spend $45 on junk. The ad says the knife is made in America (New York), and the sheath is made in Mexico. Personally, I don't much care where it is made if it is well-made. But at $110 from Kabar direct, I can buy 1.3 more Gerber LMF II's from Amazon Prime and skip the shipping cost.
I've never heard of Ek knives. I'll have to check it out.
Not at all TAM. I was trying to(albeit a poor attempt apparently) to compare the $45 knife that you found to the MSRP of $110 on Ka-Bar's website and to be leary of the price differential. IE: the $45 knife was a Ka-Bar
style of knife, and maybe it may not be a Ka-Bar
manufactured knife. Just a caveat emptor. I'd say that if it's an original Ka-Bar made knife, that's a real deal!
I was aware that Ek was sold to Ka-Bar last year or so, but I would have hoped that Ek would continue to make Ek knives, making it a subsidiary of Ka-Bar. But that's not the case. Ka-bar is now making them.
Ek has a rich history in making combat knives for the military:
http://www.onlyknives.com/category/brand/ek/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I was fortunate enough to purchase an Ek Model 4 from Ek at the Dallas Shot Show back in 1996 or so. Bought their sales sample. One good solid fighting knife. Sold it at the TSRA gun show in Mesquite back in 2010. Sure I wish I had it now.
I had one of those and carried it daily while out on field exercises when I was at Ft. Sill back in 1970.