[SniperStraz]

Does anyone know any handy accessories that are made to be used with the Ka-Bar? I found one here: http://www.militaryclothing.com/IBS/SimpleCat/Product/asp/hierarchy/0S0H/product-id/507060.html
Its the Raine Ka-Bar leg strap and I plan on getting one soon. I was just wondering if anyone out there has found any other ankle strap type of rigs or shoulder harnesses. Anything like that. I'd like to know what other options I have as far as commercially available ways of carrying the Ka-Bar. Doesn't have to be concealed. Any home made rigs ideas would also be appreciated, especially with pictures. Thanx in advance.

[SniperStraz]

bump?

[Pax Jordana]

...

stone (http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/indextool.mvc?prodid=NO-IND-MB8)

see also: Grand Master [mike] Sastre (http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=265054) (helped me out in that thread, quite a bit) -- if you don't see it, make it. Why not? it's what our forefathers did.

My friend, you must understand that there is beauty also in simplicity. Grip, poke, repeat.

:p ommmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[hso]

"bumps" within 24 hours are in very poor taste and a "bump" here is hardly needed.

The only worthwhile accessories for a KaBar is a safer sheath and a portable sharpening system. All the other stuff just lets you KISS your money goodby.

[Eleven Mike]

The best KaBar accessory is a real knife to go along with it. :neener:

[Pax Jordana]

e_mike : How bout some duct tape and an 03A3? Always handy to take with your Ka-Bar.. :rolleyes:

[Eleven Mike]

I would like to be understanding yourself, but that I am not doing.

IOW, huh?

[Pax Jordana]

I'll slow it down for ya-

Duct tape and an 03A3.. duct tape the knife bayonet style to the end of the 03A3 and you actually have made a weapon :)

[Valkman]

I thought you were going to say to duct-tape it to his leg! Of course that would work also... :)

[markk]

duct-tape it to his leg

O Yeah.

Travis Bickle,Taxi Driver style.

You talkin to me?

[Eleven Mike]

Oh. No, I was talking about carrying, as an accessory to the K-Bar, a real knife that would be useful. Like one of these.

http://www.barkriverknifetool.com/deluxegame/gameskeeper/largeknives/amboyniaburl.jpg

Bark River - beautiful and functional. Sweet. :)

[Eleven Mike]

Don't mind me, folks, I just can't stopping hating on K-Bars, ARs and other forms of evil. :(

[SniperStraz]

Mind elaborating Eleven Mike? I realize that Ka-Bars arn't top of the line, but what's so bad about them? Or is it that you're just a non-conformist?

[Pax Jordana]

Leave him be, Straz, we're just jerking your chain :)

the Ka-Bar is a good knife, like the AR is a good rifle. There is no accounting for taste. My dad wants me to take the sealer off my 870's stocks and rub 'em with linseed oil, I'm thinking of trading them in for plastic.


I think the point we (well, I at least) was trying to gently make was, if you show up at the range in a black Beadazzled "KA-BAR" hat you're gonna get laughed at ;)

[hso]

Look, unless you're very lucky, strapping a KaBar on your leg is going to earn you a concealed deadly weapons charge in your state if you are ever caught by LEOs.

In addition to that, it is a silly idea to strap a large knife on your leg. Small knife, maybe. Big knife? No.

The only accessories you need with the thing are a good sharpening system and a better sheath than the one that comes in the box with it. All the rest is just toys.

[Eleven Mike]

My response to SniperStraz. Hso told me to be nice, but I got the PM after I posted the following. Don't take this so much as a judgment on your taste in knives, although it is, take it as an explanation of my own personal hang-ups. :)

The hype, the hype, oh the hype.

Non-conformist, yes. I suffered a sudden onset of knife nut when I was a teenager. One of the first knives I got was a Ka-Bar. Then I grew up, and I find that an adult taste in knives is hard to indulge, unless one has money.

That's a caustic way of saying that I like knives that look like the one I listed above, but with a blade about 1/8" thick. I have one very much like it now, but there was no Bark River then. It was custom-made for $200 and the Bark River is pretty pricey as well. :eek: There are a few production knives that might be comparable, but the options are quite limited. Why? Because no one wants them. Everybody wants the long, thick, clip-point blade, not ground all the way to the spine, with the double guard, the bulky pommel. All of this the KaBar represents. So, since you people so vastly outnumber me, I can't get what I want. That's capitalism, but it steps on my toes and makes me a little resentful. Like I said, don't mind me. :)

Sweet Joanie! Nobody ever gets it right. If they're not too long (seven inches) then they're too short (three inches). And if they are the right length, they're a clip point. And if they're shaped and sized right, they're ground funny. Or they're too thick. Or they don't have a single guard. Or they have a silly handle. Or serrations. Or....

Hopefully, some of our knife nuts will weigh in with reasonably-priced knives that aren't too wide of the mark. And the Loveless style, drop-point hunting knives that I like are getting a little more attention these days. And I've got my custom job and my CS Master Hunter, and a couple of other decent knives, so I'm OK for now.

[SniperStraz]

Look, unless you're very lucky, strapping a KaBar on your leg is going to earn you a concealed deadly weapons charge in your state if you are ever caught by LEOs.
In addition to that, it is a silly idea to strap a large knife on your leg. Small knife, maybe. Big knife? No.
hso I'm asking for military application not CC. The reason that leg strap works is because it's meant to go over BDUs. I agree that it would be a little strange to walk around with a 7 inch blade strapped under my pants. By the time I pulled up my pants and got to it, it would be too late. Not to mention the legal issues.
Eleven Mike I see it's really just a matter of preference. I happen to like the KaBar. It think it's the perfect knife for fighting even if it doesn't make a good tool and I think that looks are the last think I'll be worried about if I ever use it. I also happen to think the same thing about guns. If its ugly, that's fine as long as its practical. No one is going to see my CCW anyway. I just need to know that it works. Anyway, I guess that settles it. Those of you that don't like the KaBar, that's your deal. I think carrying a knife that you're more comfortable with is great. To each his/her own. As for me, I was just wondering what neat things other people have done with an old classic.

[hso]

SniperStraz,

If you're planning on carrying it in combat we'll want to know the type of activities that you're going to be engaged in. Vehicle operations have different priorities than foot patrol have different priorities from helicopter flight, that sort of thing.

The best person to ask is JShirley since he's just spent several months on top of a mountain in Afganistan with the 3rd SF who he has a great deal of admiration for. In his communcations from there he's indicated no exotic knives or carry methods. Straight LBE or belt carry.

My friends in SF have told me they only carried a large knife on LBE or belt. A couple have recounted having buddies that carried a small knife as a backup on the boot, but a knife on the leg rubs and chafes.

As a diver I've carried on the leg, but only long enough to learn to move it to my BC.

[SniperStraz]

hso, I appreciate your help so far. I'm not asking for advise in specific combat scenerios here on THR and I'm sure you can understand that. I'm simply wondering what other people have done. Like you said, JShirley has communicated that there are no special super duper knives being used around the SF teams that he is deployed with, save for a lot of benchmade folders. I'm also a diver and I usually carry a knife on my BCD and on the inside of my leg. I've even carried on my forearm before when I was down. I agree that LBE or web belt are probably the most convenient but I like to have all my options laid out. Also, I'm not that comfortable with the current KaBar leather sheaths, especially for a cross draw from an LBE. The kydex alternatives arn't so great either. Oh well, I guess it just falls under the old "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

[Pax Jordana]

Oh well, I guess it just falls under the old "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Straz, my brother, that's all we're trying to say.

The more complicated you make the system, the better the odds something's gonna break.

I mean, who the heck would've thought, even five years ago, that they could start making stocks with battery compartments and actually sell 'em?

If you're really not happy with the leather, seriously now, go talk to mike sastre. Or buy his DVD and make your own. Lotta serious innovations come from people saying "this could be better, maybe I can improve it..."

[Eleven Mike]

I think that looks are the last think I'll be worried about if I ever use it.

Sure. My objections to the KaBar aren't about looks. I think it's too big for a knife and too small for a chopping tool or weapon.

[hso]

Ask Mike Sastre if he's got something that's fast and secure both. I'm sure he could come up with something you could draw easily from a PLF.;)

[SniperStraz]

Thanks hso.
Pax Jordana I might do just that.
Eleven Mike I'm glad you're comfortable with your knives. All the best

[Eleven Mike]

Eleven Mike I'm glad you're comfortable with your knives.

Well, yeah. But it's not as if your choices don't affect me. Because you and so many others value features that I don't like, knife-makers produce lots of your type of knife, not so many of mine. I'm not mad at you, or anything, just annoyed at the situation.

[SniperStraz]

I'm sure. After all it is rathe upseting to be limited to paying $300&^ just for a knife style that you like better. It's a shame. Have you considered making your own? Just out of curiosity what are the stats of what you would consider the perfect knife? I only ask because maybe someone will run across this post in the future and finally make an affordable knife that will suit you better. Lets face it, not everyone wants a Rambo knife right?

[coelacanth]

now I'm almost ashamed to admit I'm one of those uneducated grunts that have been making do with my Kabar all these years.:D

[SniperStraz]

That's nothing to be ashamed of coelacanth. Ka-Bar makes a great knife!

[VHinch]

Sniper-
Do you have a specific application in mind?

Experience will teach you that many of the accessories that you will find are simply not field expedient, and most who buy them and try them only do it once. In all the times I was in the field I never once carried a full size knife. You have enough crap to carry around, and it's just one more thing to get in the way. A good folder in your butt pack will serve every purpose you need a blade for in the field and be a lot easier to haul around with you.

[Eleven Mike]

A folder in your butt-pack? If you're keeping it in a butt-pack, there's no reason to carry a folder rather than a fixed-blade knife. You could even strap the sheath to the outside, to make it easier to get to.

[VHinch]

I didn't say it was the only place to carry, just where I did. It was a rare occasion that I ever used a knife in the field, and there was never a situation where I just had to have it right away.

Kinda like all the guys that would carry their first aid pouch upside down on their LBE. I suppose it looked all HS/LD, but it was no more field expedient than carrying it opposite your compass pouch on your belt.

[Eleven Mike]

High Speed, Low Drag. That's me. :) But if you rarely used your knife afield, I'm guessing you didn't eat many MREs. :)

[VHinch]

That's about the only time I used it, and since the MREs typically rode in my butt pack, that was the logical place for the knife. :D