Spartan/EK Knives collaboration!

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Ek left the hands of the family 3 owners ago. In 2000 the brand would have been owned by Blackjack. When Blackjack went under KaBar bought the Ek brand and all the materials BJK had for the Ek line.

I'm glad to see Spartan putting the name and style to use. Good to see the guards from BJK/Ek being incorporated.
 
I own a Kabar Ek. Honestly, it’s a fine knife. Likely better than the original.

Kabar can make a dang good knife. The one I have is carbon steel. The Presentation model is beautiful. I just can’t justify another knife.

KaBar. Not the mystique, just as a tool.
 
Ka-Bar makes nice knives and I get that they wanted to put their touches into EK knives. Their touches don't get it for me, don't care for the new look.

Even when Blackjack was making them they kinda kept up the design of the knives. I have a couple of the BJ knives and if you compare them, the differences are noticeable.

Looking at the Spartan design it looks like they've nailed it but I would like to talk to someone that has both an older EK and the Spartan version. That way we could know how close they are.
 
I also got a Kabar Ek at the last Blade show. It's mounted on my plate carrier.
 
Likely better than the original.

I'd be skeptical of that. John Ek and his "elves" made practical using knives by hand. KaBar is a good company and they're using the same steel John Ek used, but KaBar's aren't made by hand. Still, the KaBar Eks, like the Blackjack Eks are fine knives, as will be the Spartan.
 
Fun fact: The founders/ co-owners of Spartan Blades (Mark Carey and Curt Iovito) are both retired NCO's from 1st SFG(A). They were both instructors together at the SF Sniper Course (SOTIC) at Ft Bragg, NC in the early 2000's. I purchased a match grade M1A from Curt in 2003, which I believe he used the proceeds from to purchase knife-building equipment. Spartan Blades are among the most respected knives carried by US Special Operations Forces, and many have been used in actual operations world-wide.
 
They're good guys and Spartan makes excellent knives. I'm not sure why they're doing the Ek model considering they already have daggers, but having another product that people will buy can't hurt if they don't lean too far forward and invest a lot in blades.
 
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HSO, isn't there a way to tell from the Crest on the blade?

Yes, you can bracket the time by the presence or absence of the conflicts on the logo. 1939 John Ek starts the company in Hamden, CT. Interesting and relatively accurate history - https://www.militarycarryknives.com/EKHISTORY/EkHistory.htm


    • HAMDEN CT HISTORY 1939-1949
    • MIAMI FL HISTORY 1949-1968
    • NORTH MIAMI FL HISTORY 1968-1978 John Ek dies 1976 and son Gary takes over
    • PEMBROKE PARK FL HISTORY 1978-1980
    • ST. AUGUSTINE FL HISTORY 1980-1982
    • RICHMOND VA HISTORY 1982-1997 INCLUDES: AMERICAN HISTORICAL FOUNDATION (AHF) HISTORY 1982-1986 & EK BENCHMADE Knives (custom) HISTORY 1993-1997 1985 the company leaves Ek family hands.
    • BLACKJACK EFFINGHAM IL HISTORY 1993-1997
    • RICHMOND II VA HISTORY 1997-2014 (Two Locations In Richmond)
    • BARK RIVER MI HISTORY 2001 (sketchy)
    • KA-BAR OLEAN NY HISTORY 2015-PRESENT

220px-Ek_Commando_Knife_Co_Logo.gif
 
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hso

Thanks for the link. My Ek Commando knife, a P-3 model, has the 601 N. Lombardy St. Richmond, VA address on it.
 
Your Ek is just simply sweet. All my brother ever gave me was one of his old rugby shirts.

Interestingly enough, Midway recently had their Ka-Bar Ek knives on sale, both the base model (I think a little over 100 bucks) and a presentation model (a little over 200 bucks).

Wish I'd been following Spartan a few years ago, that was a great knife.
 
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