It's worth to remember that a lot of military hardware, especially older stuff, would have been made to be quite cheap, since it was mass-produced to meet minimal requirements.
I have military equipment that's going on 100 years old and is in like new condition with daily use. I have rifles that are reaching 200 years old and still like new.
It was mass produced to a minimum because there plenty of man resources in relation to budget for equipment. This puts the situation into better perspective because the military usually has more budget than it needs at the sacrifice or other useful infrastructure in the country.
You are saddly a very true and wise man. Why has the world turned its back on real craftsman and real quality and . . . oh yea . . . $ . . . more important then life itself . . . Do Not GO CHEAP!
@@ElohssArehtonAtsuj I did 10 years (89-99)with 4 deployments. I'm very well acquainted with Mr. Murphy, he followed us around constantly. The lowest bidder, things that must be together to work usually can't be shipped together. This was so true especially using AF cargo planes, it was a major pain in the ass! No plan survives the first contact, (more like, no plan survives once you walk out of the brief) Radios will fail as soon as you desperately need them, were so true. We also had the "No training fairy" She was with us always too.😉
Woody 5326 thank you for your service!! We are free because of men and woman like you!!! The 2 things we have to have to stay free and fed is soldiers and truck drivers!! And both are out there doing what they do and spend too much time away from their family so thank God for both!!
You see this is why I use a bayonet off a carcano rifle because not only is it strong, it’s rusty so it does poison damage and it is basically as small sword
Its the best machined version I have found. Search around you might find one that suits you better. You cannot go wrong with this knife. Been around since 1865 with the only changes being steel, different name (K55K Mercator cat knife was first), and way better machining. Otters are stainless hence water and the name.
As someone who had been buying this knife twice a day, every day for the past 10 years, I want to thank you for the opening line. I knew I should stop buying it, but I just needed to hear someone else say it.
Being in the military has taught me two things about the term "Military Grade. #1. It is built by the absolute lowest bidder. #2. It is left over from WWII.
@@redtube8667 they sent a man to the moon with equipment built by the lowest bidder. The military does have exacting standards and will get those standards met while spending the least amount of money possible. We aren't going to war with junk.
@@redtube8667 Could be, but keep in mind, wars in history are matters of mass production. Serviceable enough to perform, but cheap enough to produce. Case in point, the M3 "Grease Gun". It's not terrible by all means, but it is a downgrade compared to its older counterpart which is the Thompson with its lower fire rate, simple furniture and fire selection capabilities. Really, a lot of wars were won because the other side had more stuff to lose or play around with.
Military grade = lowest bidder that just meets minimum spec... Commerical grade high quality equivalents are almost always going to be a superior product.
The irony is that the UK is so particular about *Challenge 25* for Knives... yet Hammers... anyone can buy them XD. (to say nothing about all the other stuff that even a kid could buy, that's as lethal in the wrong hands, as a knife) Better idea: we shouldn't waste time trying to micromanage ownership of knives, we should be instilling and encouraging personal responsibility. "You own a knife?, who cares!?... *unless you do something stupid or illegal with it* "
@@DoktrDub it's also about the standard/requirements. If it can achieve the same standard for less money, it's a reasonable choice. But if you set that standard too low, you get shitty stuff. The bar should be set higher and then you get the cheapest option and everyone's happy
@@dimitrijekrstic7567 That's basically what they do, the military just has a really bad habit of not looking into why something is so cheap. If it does the job on paper, that's good enough for them
@@filmandfirearms yeah...unfortunate for the men depending on that equipment. But people should really be educated better when it comes to their countries military exploits and think whether or not they want to put their life on the line for such morally ambiguous causes
Its a maintenance issue. If you use a beezwax/linseed oil mixture leather rounds are fine. It seals them and the knife against moisture. Any kind of base will do. Olive oil, tallow, parrafin.
I've seen this happen to three ka bars as well. Even when not being abused like I am doing in this video. They aren't even the issued knife for the USMC anymore. They now get M9 bayonets. It's just the meal team six cosplayers who think the ka bar is cool. Disappointing frankly.
I made my own knife aswell out of a file it's a great knife best thing about making your own is the design is up to you and you can make it what you need
Full tang just means the tang extends the full length of the grip-portion of a handle, not that it's as wide as the grip. when the tang is as wide as the grip it's called slab construction.
there is a surplus shop in london called silvermans. longterm squadies soon learn to replace essential kit with silvermans stock, right down to popsticks and boots, army kit is poo.
*A few years back, I won a knife like that and decided to throw it into a tree. The knife broke instantly and I was glad that I won it and not bought it*
Dont throw your knives. Throwing knives are made of soft steel so the bend, but the dont sharpen well. Field knives like this one are made of hard, brittle tool steel. They hold a cutting edge longer, but they snap instead of bend. You destroyed a perfectly good fighting knife, and the next time you throw a good knife it will happen again. If a knife survives a tree throwing, chances are its cheap soft steel, or you got lucky.
@@malicioussigmaape7432 doubt that dude. Collectabilities of knife are greatly depandant on various factors and I dont think he randomly got his hands on a 'nam knife
Not really 1977 MA-1 jacket. They said was obsolete. So I sent it home. $25 or35 dollars. Next to the full parka and field jacket some of the best clothing Uncle Sam bought.
Messed up at my 1st duty assignment, they issued the old M7 and mine was dull. So I sharpened it, then ended up having to pay for it. Received and signed for another dull one. Put the sharpened one in my Kimchi Cabinet and used the issue bayonet as a pick to soften or break up dirt and to pop the metal bands, mostly on ammo crates. I still have the sharpened one.
@@Zanophane_Gaming I find seeing how every object in a room can be used in different ways an excellent way to pass the time. Most of the time things can be weapons, but that's just the human nature talking
Not necessarily. The german army knifes were made by victorinox and are quite amazing, especially for the price. Other stuff….not so much 😁. I think this is the case with everything from the military. You have to separate the good from the bad 😉👍
We learned this in culinary school. This is why you don't buy those shitting infomercial knifes for your kitchen even when they claim "it can cut through anything". Yeah, I'm sure it can till that handle falls apart. Everyone is gangsta till that handle breaks and the blade is still stuck in that dry ass turkey.😂
man I worked in a kitchen owned by a cheapass boss. When I heard a loud clang and saw the cook's shocked expression I immediately asked him what happens and he shows me the handle of his ex-knife. Turns out he tried to cut a fishbone but got his knife cut instead and flies over his head
@@tehpurplepills yeah, like the main bone of a fish, he wants to separate the head from the body. It's not even a big fish, just 50cm long fish which he caught when fishing the day before
Honestly, anything can be able to theoretically cut anything, since its a matter of having a sharp enough edge. The problem is retention of that edge, with many of those shit infomercial ones don't do.
Funnily enough my survival instructor was an army veteran and survivalist. And he showed us one knife that you could put your entire body weight on, with it only flexed slightly, and another one that snapped in two instantly. Guess which one was the military knife
I have used an ESEE 5 Survival knife as a stepping stone to climb up a tree. It passed that test with flying colors because it has the thickest tang of any blade I own. Much thicker than an ESEE 6.
Military grade = "We can make you a knife using this random aluminum can I found in the dumpster out back. It honestly just costs $0.9 to make it but we'll charge $100 because marketing."
oh thanks but i wanna share my curiosity about that word cuz ive been hearing it since i was a kid. doesnt "military grade" means heavy duty, superior, very reliable, etc.? and so now i dont get why peoples are saying military grade is cheap and trash?
@@amberrr6651 but things in the military have to be cheap to be affordable. Its true that we make most things quality(at least in the U.S.), but in the military they are trying to get their stuff to be as cheap as possible so they can manufactute millions of units to arm tons of soldiers
Military grade stuff LAST. Like really last. I'm a computer geek and asus makes their tuf and msi makes their military style stuff claiming they are tough and strong. Dude, a military laptop might not be a gaming powerhouse, but it can handle operations in a sandstorm.
@@migultantamco good thing you mentioned network. Can we talk about how garbage the networking chips on everything is? Bro i am using the main ship's wifi from like 600m away, while my phone doesn't get a full signal if I'm 15m away from my home router.
My dad bought one in the late 70’s, because he said it was the closest he could find to the knife he was issued in Vietnam in 1966. I think the knife he was issued was a Camillus M2, a Camillus made version of the Ka-Bar USMC design. There is a slight chance it was a Cattanaugus, but I don’t think it was.
@@FollowTheCompassNorth cuz sometimes they get a lucky batch and assume all military gear is like that. Anyone who's actually been in knows half the time it's broken or on the verge of breaking. Unless your lucky and get issued experimental shit that's halfway decent
I feel things like tools and cars and whatnot are meant to be used, maintained, and should be out there turning heads and being appreciated. I'm not saying go beat up your heirloom, rather don't forget it's a tool as, to me, it shows utmost respect to maintain and use it as a tool, even if it's only the most meaningful times where it gets used. That may or may not be a popular opinion, but historical significance or not, every thing is simply a collection of chemicals.
@BEATING NCP93 I just returned the axe saw combo because I couldn’t chop a stick in half, didn’t even leave a dent. I got an ozark trail axe and I’m literally going through wood like it’s nothing.
I wouldn’t say this is the case across the board. Some material takes higher priority than others. Each soldier is carrying 20k worth of gear, so obviously the military is gonna cut corners somewhere.
Military grade just means that it’s the cheapest that Uncle Sam can get it for, but it’s not to say that a lot of military equipment isn’t going to be good, like an abrams tank, or some of the most durable rifles in the world that were produced and/or mainly used for military purpose, stuff that’s made to handle the abuse for the military is better than stuff just blatantly labelled “military grade”
It is called an "Air Crew Survival Knife" but the word survive here just means, maybe make fire starter or clean some game/cut herbs and roots for food, but its primary purpose was to cut rigging on parachutes and maybe silently kill pursuers. It is a stabby knife, meant to be light and hopefully never be used, and if used, to kill people and take their stuff. It is not a heavy duty knife.
@@JoshWallace-i3l The Aircrew Survival Egress Knife was not exactly replaced but Gerber designed the LMF II to be ASEK-compliant and it was approved for purchase It still has only a partial tang but there's a good reason for that, it's designed for cutting through aircraft skin and acrylic windows, with holes to tie it to a stick to make a makeshift spear, the partial tang means the polymer and rubber handle is electrically insulated, so you can cut through electrical cables. With the intended use for the knife, you don't really need a full tang as you're not going to be batoning firewood, as if you're a downed pilot you don't want to build a fire and draw the enemy to you if you go down near or behind enemy lines.
@@enriquecabrera2137 id say banging blades on wood and flexing them to almost 90 degrees is pretty extreme, most blades are going to incur damage with that. You are completely correct that a good blade shouldnt break in half but even many decent weapons are going to chip and warp from those tests.
@@theredcinder7437 yeah. Those aren't "extreme tests" those are retarded tests. It's like saying that the special forces need to get shot with a 12 gauge on the shoulder and walk away calmly in order to pass the last test. That's not extreme, that's retardedness.
@@enriquecabrera2137 Basic requirements does not include cutting into wooden logs. Forged In Fire tests are meant to determine the strength of the competitor’s blades in the most extreme conditions.
@@thelouster5815 "but it's not MEANT to do that!" Doesn't mean it shouldn't be able to do that. Tool knives are meant to be used as tools not weapons. So yes. Being used as a tool is basic requirements.
This particular knife hasn't been issued for quite some time, and any that were made in the past 20 years are absolute trash. Even when it was issued it was never really meant to be a bushcraft knife, but a tool for escaping a downed aircraft, with features supporting that purpose. The sawback on the spine is meant to cut through aluminum aircraft skin, not wood. The bolt on the pommel is intended for breaking through windows or cockpit canopies, not crushing rock or pounding the the blade into wood like a chisel, etc... That said, it never was a particularly great knife even when it used good materials and was made properly. It's stupidly heavy and unbalanced for what it is, making it slow and unwieldy in combat and limiting the fine control that's desired for carving, while being too short to use that weight and balance point effectively for chopping. Even if it doesn't snap, the tang has sharp angles that create weaknesses, and it's prone to twisting and flexing which causes the leather handle to separate and loosen, further reducing control and letting moisture reach the tang to corrode it and weaken it. It could maybe pry decently with that extra weight and thickness, but the flawed tang makes doing so a coin flip that you may damage the knife. The style became popular so the companies contracted to produce it continued to make them for the civilian market. Unfortunately, since they're not being made for the military, they aren't held to the standards set by those contracts, so now they're made with subpar materials and heat treatments to be sold at milsurp stores marketing to LARPers, airsoft players, and history buffs who want a wall hanger they'll never actually use.
@@charles597 It's not supposed to be a Ka-Bar, it's an ASEK (Aircrew Survival Egress Knife), it was designed to cut through aluminium aircraft skin. Gerber make the LMF II to the updated specifications but with an insulated handle for being able to cut through electrical cables without shocking yourself, there's a story of one being used in Iraq during a firefight, where a SFC used it to cut 220V power cords to disable lights that were illuminating the group's position.
Good heat treatment is important to. Full tang is one thing, but the molecular structure of the steel is very important as well. Good steel with good heat treating makes really good tools like knives.
I have one of these Ontario knives. I bought it from an Army/Navy surplus store back in the late 1970's when I was a kid. The guy made my mom come in to okay it before he'd sell it to me. I still have it but I did break a tiny tip off the end. I think it was $10, maybe $15. If I want to chop wood I'll bring an axe.
Youd love to hear that over in finland, the most popular work knife is called a puuko. It has been made largely the same for hundreds of years and are ALWAYS rat tail tang. Very durable and they tend to beat them to shit. One thing though. You should never apply sideways stress on a knife especially not at a focused point like when you fold it around a corner.
I've used this knife to dig arrows out of a pine tree behind my archery target. You are so right,this guy would probably use his knife for a screwdriver too
Damn man I’ve got 3, 1 is an OKC my dad carried in Vietnam, 2nd is Japanese made and the last an OKC I bought at Walmart, I’ve put so much time into sharpening,bluing, and the leather…. You done broke my heart with this video
I hope you read this. These are fine knives if you don't abuse the hell out of them like I do. I'm stress testing and not using it properly. Take care of you heirlooms and they'll be around forever.
I had the tang of one snap in my hands separating joints on a blacktail deer ... Thats not even abuse... Ive honestly broken 4-5 through general use ... Mora knives are worse tho ive never had a mora that didnt break out of a dozen or so
Binging on your channel, man. It chills me out. Some major life changes lately and I’ve been thinking I need to go camping to help relax and found your channel. Cheers, Simo!
While I can’t speak for this knife specifically, the Kabar has a similar problem. Depending on who you ask it was very poorly designed and/or not intended to be utility tool. I believe it was designed for combat because the amount of problem it has as utility knife are shocking.
I also think the kabar is weak but a lot of military cosplayers have a problem with that opinion. This was designed for survival and is still currently packed in many ejection seat MDSs.
New ka-bar does have problems. My marine DAD'S ka-bar he brought back from Vietnam can be driven through most modern knives with a hammer. Saw him do it a couple times.
@@jansonharris2937 the problem with the kabar isn’t the steel. Although we’re spoiled by really good steels now. It’s more the design and construction. 1095cro-van is tough but sharpenable. But it’s thin and the rat tail isn’t very tough.
Used one for years. First issued in AF SERE school. Never broke, nor bent. Still using it for camp/woodsmanship/bushcrafty chores . Works like a champ.
@@GruntBurger That's a fair point about the philosophy of use, like...obviously, if you took a Gerber Mark 2 or a Fairbairn-Sykes dagger and you tried chopping wood or prying with those, they would break. But this is a knife commonly issued to pilots, its philosophy of use, by textbook, is as a pry bar (for the pilot to cut their way out of a vehicle) and as a bushcraft knife (if the pilot escapes/ejects and land somewhere in the wilderness where they just might need to hunker down for a while, they should be able to moderately chop wood, baton, etc. - for building a fire, making tent pegs, that sort of thing. Yes, I know how divided people are on batoning, but it would, more often than not, be impractical for pilots to carry hatchets). It'd be one thing if FTCN was showing something one would never do with a knife like this, something way outside of its POU, but here's the thing...it's actually quite likely that one may do something like that. As for grahamsteamer3419's comment, his was probably made from a better steel, but still...there are some design traits that are to be avoided in a serious survival knife, like the rat-tail tang or the awful serrations that are more to look cool than to do anything with. That's the thing about sawback knives - they generally don't work. The sawteeth essentially function like a pre-cracked place for the blade to break, they're too short, too straight, nothing like you'd see on a worthwhile saw. Not to mention, survival knives are often made with high-carbon steels, and that's very bad for a saw. A saw is usually made from a flexy, stainless steel. I'm not saying there aren't quality sawblack blades out there, like the Marto Explorer or the Gerber Gator, but very often, knives and any kind of equipment, honestly, when one tries to make them a "multifunctional" tool, they end up not fulfilling either function to any satisfactory degree. I'm not sponsored by Ka-Bar, I don't even have this knife yet myself, but the Ka-Bar BK10 Becker Crewman is a perfect example of an improved version of the pilot knife concept. Full tang, you can pry and stab with it, no sawteeth, the pommel is much more comfortable to use, and while all pilots must wear gloves as part of their personal protective equipment, so friction and blistering of the hands isn't a problem, the Crewman's handle is smooth and ergonomic, "locking" the user's hand in, preventing override and being comfortable to use even without gloves. It's not that...overbuilt, for a lack of a better term. Even the Gerber LMF 2 is better designed than the pilot knife in the video, and that one doesn't have a full tang, either.
@@petervitkov361 I can agree to an extent. Yes, there are better hard use knives, but if you understand it's limitations then almost anything (within reason) can be a very effective survival knife. Big blocky prybar knives have their tradeoffs as well, it's just about which compromises you're willing to make and working within those limitations, but also knowing the proper techniques. But you make a good point, a pilots survival knife will almost certainly be abused and used for all kinds of things outside of basic cutting tasks, which is why they moved to different models. However, I don't think it makes it a bad woods knife/bushcraft knife if you know what you're doing and you are aware of it's limitations.
The "pilot" survival knife is / was low cost short term tool. It only needs to last for few days as there is teams (PJ's) locate and recover crew. I've got one back in early 80s it worked good for cleaning game, fish and sharpened easy softer steel than most. It will rust. The tang isn't that great for batten. Like a low cost Mora knife... use until needs replaced low cost it only cost less than $20 back in 80s. But not the choices available like now.
I think it's fair to say people incorrectly equate survival knives with bushcraft knives. The latter is the kind you expect to be abusing for a long time without failure, used for high stress tasks like batoning. A good survival knife is gonna be the smallest, lightest tool that can get as many jobs done as possible for a brief amount of time, and then be replaced once the survival situation has been escaped, and durability should be expected to suffer. This knife isn't expected to be used for the kind of work that will stress the tang like shown. It's meant for rope and cloth cutting, preparing small game taken with a survival rifle, and hand to hand combat in the worst case scenario. It doesn't make sense to spend a lot of money creating a super durable knife when it's not likely to ever actually need to be used. The problem isn't the design or construction of the knife, it's the misunderstanding of the people who but them and expect them to be something they're not.
@@keegans5695 Well, no I don't equate a survival knife with a bushcraft knife but I do agree with you to a point. A survival knife is not made for specifically heavy betoning work but on the other hand it should be durable enough to keep you alive for perhaps a week or more, which in my opinion is far more important than a camper out with his bush knife, you need something that you can trust to keep you alive when you might be stranded behind enemy lines. I'd say this is not that. Certainly would put more trust in a Fällkniven F1 or even a cheap Mora for 5 bucks.
I would recommend traditional Finnish "Puukko". Or an "Sissi Puukko" for your basic survival knife. Sissi is the Finnish word for guerilla, and SissiPuukko can handle rough stuff too, like cutting firewood.
@@lycan6432 Almost, it's siSSi, with an long S. You also emphasize the i at the end. Like saying "sis" and spanish "si" together. Also say it with drill sergeant attitude. Or you can use "Finnish querilla knife" too if it's more convenient.
I still love that knife. Every kid had one of those knives. Just know it's weaknesses. They used to cost between 10 and 20 bucks back in the 80s. I still think it was and is a great value and I never saw one fail like this. But let's be real, it was never intended to be anything more than a short term temporary multi tool.
@@FollowTheCompassNorth in Russian army we have AK bayonet knives. They are: extremely solid, impossible to sharpen, fragile (you can brake it by dropping on the ground) and they get blunt faster than the cheapest chinese copies of them
"And this knife, is gonna let you down. " And then will make you run around since you'll get probably hurt because it broke, And desert the knife. And then it'll make you cry, Then you'll say goodbye to the knife. The company that made the knife told a lie, And hurted you.
Mora does an injection molded grip on a rat tail type tang too, and its the gold standard bushcraft knife. A full tang isnt necessary, but it can make a crap knife preform better. I place more blame on the choice of steel, but thats the start of the list of problems for this knife.
I believe these were initially included in aircrew survival gear, usually on the flight suit or vest. I’m pretty sure they were meant as a temporary tool to get you out of a bad situation. Bushcraft has come so far, there’s really not many pieces of kit that haven’t been completely revamped.
That is literally what they are used for. We are meant to survive for hours or days, not weeks or months. We used them to cut slivers of wood for tinder, cut up a squirrel, rabbit or similar small animal you could catch with a snare, or dig small holes with them.
The novice "survival-oriented" guy is often misled by the term; "mil-spec". This is especially true for weaponry. (Especially AR-15 hardware). Folks need to understand that our military will typically go with a contract that offers the best quality for the lowest bid. This doesn't necessarily mean that your mil-spec gear is absolute trash, it just means it is intended for the immediate job at hand. Military gear is disposable.
Pretty much, it won't always be the cheapest option, but they prioritise "can you make X number of these and get them in the hands of troops in X amount of time?". Some custom rifle builders keep saying "I could make a better rifle for half the price" and completely miss the point of scale. Similar with camo, you can really dial in custom camo to work perfectly in the woodland next to your hometown, but the military usually needs a camo that will perform "good enough" over the widest range of terrain they're likely to be fighting in.
@@G1NZOU with most "builders" utilizing factory assembled uppers, they clearly arent building great rifles at budget prices... like savvy shopper/builders are, who are selecting each individual part for a good price... basing their build upon the parts that make an actual great rifle. I always shake my head at builders spending hundreds on upper and lower receivers. A PSA stripped upper and lower, with a quality BCG, FCG, LPK, and barrel... can produce a total beast of a rifle. That weapon wouldn't be "good enough", or "as good"... It would be fucking badass.
Thanks for the video! I find it useful in general as well, since I don't know much about knives and didn't even know that I should be looking for knives with blades that you can see throughout the handle as well so you can be sure it's the same width.
I gave my son this very knife. I used it for fishing and have cleaned two huge snapping turtles with it, batoning through the under shells with it. It always worked, but I have only used it as a knife, I never tried to destroy it.
I feel like it’s made by multiple manufacturers I have my grandpas nam one and I got my own I’ve used a good bit and worked well the tang def feels solid
I used a knife like that for 18yrs when I was in the Army. Never failed me, pried open ammo boxes, cut branches and commo wire. Best five bucks I ever spent.
@@FollowTheCompassNorth That’s probably because you’re not supposed to try and break them. I don’t think many people get their knife stuck in 3 inches of solid wood and then try to get it out by bending it to the side
I was issued an M-7 bayonet and a K Bar which wasn’t too bad for an all purpose knife but all of us who were from Texas bought the large Case Bowie knife and it was extremely tough and good for fighting and camp chores. It was very large and heavy though.
We had those issued to us for years in our flight vests, but the last few years I was in, they started putting SOG knives (specifically the SEAL Pup) instead. The SOG was lower maintenance, especially if you ever work around salt water
I remember when they did that. I've actually broken one of the SOGs too. I don't remember what I was doing exactly but the blade snapped. Surprising because generally these things are really good
Here’s the thing the knife isn’t designed for heavy work it’s designed to split small logs and then strap it to a stick with some rope and get you out of a seat
Well you bent the knife at least 3 times , both times you show the bend the blade is facing the same way. I don't doubt that it isn't a high quality knife but I'd present it accurately.
Yes! You're the first person to notice this in 30 thousand views! In my full video you can see that it takes a few bends that's the problem with shorts, never enough time for context! Thank you for your sharp eye.
@@FollowTheCompassNorth ill have to check out the full video, thats what I get for being observant but taking it at face value darn our short attention spans lol
@@NinjaSushi2 you didn't see him bend it 3 times. But because the blade faces the same way in the two times you do see it and because it was bent in the same direction there had to be at least 1 additional bend. The additional bend or bends were edited out.
My dad had this knife when I was a kid, it was issued to him in basic training when he joined the military. I remember the blade had insane wiggle and I was always so sure it would break if you used it.
I have this knife for over 20 years . It's my most used knife. The metal is hardened to cut through aluminum. Aircraft is made of aluminum. So yes it is more brittle and difficult to sharpen at first. It holds an edge well. I've only used it for batoning a little. It's not made for batoning anything large smaller sticks only. It's a good knife if used as a knife and not a pry bar.
It's a decent knife. I teach aircraft egress and we definitely do not use the bolt knife to cut out of aircraft. Our heavys use the crash axe and in our fighters this is in the seat kit and you can not get to it without ejecting.
Found this out long ago. Bought one as a young paratrooper at Fort Bragg. Was told it would be needed when I attended Recondo school. It broke while in the field doing what young grunts do with their cool knives bought at surplus stores on Bragg blvd. and Yadkin road. Throwing it at trees to try and make it stick. Went to the PX and bought a Buck folder. Almost 40 years later still have it.
The same could be done to a Randall knife, the best advice is to know the limits of your tools and use it accordingly. You’re not going to torque a nut to 200 ft/lbs with a 1/4” drive ratchet. SERE school doesn’t teach you to baton through dried oak.
The Air Force survival knife was made by Camilus out of New York City and was manufactured in the thousands, it’s a rather good knife actually and not designed to be jabbed into things and bent but rather it was to be used to cut through the aluminum that old 50s and 60s era fighter jets where made of. And thousands of these knives where sold to civilians as well and become one of the most popular hunting and survival knives in America from 1960 till the 90s so it couldn’t be that bad
It works well enough, but the stress tests don't lie. I would trust this knife with skinning and gutting game but I doubt I would want to rely on it as a survival knife, no doubt it was popular though.
it was popular because A. there was a shitload of them available cheap and B. they're "military" so people think they're good. Popularity does not equal quality.
It’s like people forget that things are made for a specific purpose. It’s like saying a top of the line kitchen knife is a terrible knife because you can’t baton wood with it. Same here. It was never made to be a bushcraft knife, it was made for a specific purpose and it is quality in that regard. Most military gear is quality.
I got this knive from a professor who had it and was selling it along with old tools and such. Was rust/water damaged but cleaned it off and hand sharpened on whetstones. I mainly use it as a letter opener.
Square shoulders on a narrow tang are always liable to cause failure. If you're going to do an old fashioned tang rather than a full width tang you must radius the shoulder where it meets the blade and your temper must be fully to blue throughout the tang and shoulder area. Hot block tempering after giving the blade and tang a temporary rough polish after hardening so you can see the colours is a good way to do this. This method also allows you to only let the blue grow toward the edge when drawing a temper on the blade and stop it at the edge at straw so as to have spring in the back of the blade but a harder edge. It takes a little practice. I use a piece of 2 inch thick mild as the tempering block. It does also mean you have to not let it get hot during edge grinding so I do at least half of that before hardening, but don't take it too thin or it'll crack on quenching during hardening. I only use old steel - no modern stuff - mostly from old files you find in grandad's drawers - that sort of thing, but also sometimes very old leaf springs.
I'm quite fond of mine and it has served me well, although I haven't used it very heavily. I know there are stories of soldiers who used this knife for all sorts of things.
I have tons of knives, some would say far too many knives, and I love the esee 4. It's perfect in everyday and their warranty is unmatched. You can literally hammer it into a post, use a sledge to snap it in half, and esee will no questions asked replace it for you.
The knife might be junk but the sheath is pretty well built. If they would have put as much time and expense into the knife as they did the sheath it would have been a butter knife
except for cutting edge technologies. like in computer and robotic fields. military grade of these stuff are the most updated version of that field. about tools and stuff, yeah military grade just mean like that. cheap
@@DBT1007 except the military uses mostly outdated computers and electronics in most of all its equipment and its servicing equipment. In comparison to modern civilian accessible tech the military gear is (outside of maybe special forces?) 10+ years out of date. Hell ive worked on jets still in service that use cathode ray tubes for the displays.
novice Smith here, I've seen alot of these blades hit the market in the past 10 years. alot of the time they harden the entire hunk of steel, making it very brittle. you hit the nail on the head with this.
@@FollowTheCompassNorth no problem man. I talked about this topic once to a buddy and he really didn't get how it would do that. He just didn't fully understand how metal is a crystalline like structure. And if you have a small tang like that, and if it's quenched, especially in water the bond is just way to tight. Leading to the snap lol 🍻
@@JacksonDunnoKnows Its also the steel they use. People say 1095 and D2 are super hard, so they're prone to break. Never had any problems with those two types of steel. RAT 5 I own is almost indestructible, worked it like 1800's farmers wife. Leatherman Sidekick also was a good tool too.
I've got this exact knife, it was a Christmas gift from my parents. Now, considering I'm not out in the woods camping or doing survival exercises, it's done me very well. It's an excellent box, tape, and shrink wrap cutter. Which are all things my utility knife does, but this looks cooler and is more fun to use.
I've discovered the Swedish Morakniv knives are absolutely incredible. They are very affordable so you can be really rough with them and they are actually very durable from my experience. I have like five at this point.
they're great until the point snaps off, so you can't throw them around like you can some other grinds. Damned if that flat grind isn't a dream to maintain though!
I spent 15 years as aircrew, not only will that knife break at the tang, the steel is so soft it will not hold an edge. I replaced mine with a Cold Steel Master Hunter. My last 5 years was as a SERE Instructor, these were issued to the students for the survival portion and we averaged 2 broken knives a class.
Starting to see why Will Smith slapped you.... if you're the real Chris Rock then seriously I'm on your side. It blew my mind that your humor wasn't appreciated as the good nature fair game that it was. I guess the difference is that you're a comedian and Will is a joke.
@@FollowTheCompassNorth That’s just a humor account with 3 subscribers lol… Many joke accounts with him and Will Smith people make on this website after what happened.
Those Ka Bar and fighting style knives where designed to do that. In WW2 it was prioritized to have a tang that would bend rather than break after a knife fight or through the roughness of combat. That way the knife could be continued to be used even if a little bent. Also it saved carbon steel which was an incredible valuable material at that time, more useful in other things for the war effort. You are right that they are not good for bushcraft (especially batoning) but that doesn't mean they are bad knives.
I was thinking the same thing. If your knife broke on Iwo Jima you could probably go find another one. War and the wilderness have somewhat different needs.
1958, for that model, and it was supposed to be replaced in 2003. Don't know how strong the ASEK is, but the fragility was one of the problems they were supposed to solve.
Never defend sloppiness, my friend, especially if your tax dollars are paying for it and people's lives might depend on it. Cut enough corners and things start rolling downhill.
How many times have you had to use a pipe or a screwdriver as a hammer because the hammer you were issued snapped the head off the handle immediately on first use out of the package? Most military gear has specific purposes, but is never made to standard, so it never fulfills that purpose. I learned that the hard way as a private back in 2003 setting up an antenna in Iraq.
A combat knife is meant to be lodged into a man's body (the word combat hints at this), whereas a survival knife can be stuck into wood and maintain its integrity
That wouldn't really make sense in the first place, but he also said this was an air crew survival knife... Yknow, one of the things a downed airman would HAVE to rely on to survive
@@wanderingmercurymarauder761 YES, yes they do. And use it as a carving knife, a hammer, a prybar, a screwdriver, and even once in a while they even use it to cut things. Survival school teaches you to get creative with the few tools you get in your kit.
U.S. Airforce Survival Knife. Carried one in the U.S.M.C for 20 years. The steel is hard as diamonds. Difficult to put an edge on but once done it lasts. I've Buchered many a deer 🦌. Cannot deny nor confirm I cut a few ears off. Still carry it as my primary Knife... Best Damn junk I've ever owned.
Not all bush craft knives have a full tang, because a knife gets REALLY COLD when out and about in the winter - At that point you really don't want your hands on cold metal - In other words, don't use full tangs in the winter.
You can just wrap something around the handle then, paracord or leather would do just fine. Leather maybe not so much in super cold temps but can't go wrong with a tight paracord handle. Also if it's super good you would have gloves on anyways...
@@Faolan_Grey Paracord will indeed work, though it's usually better if the handle is made to cover the steel from the beginning. Also, when doing knifework with gloves on, it can be difficult to get a proper grip.
Depends, with a dull knife you are more likely to slip and cut yourself but if you are careless and cut yourself a sharp knife will do more damage. A butter knife is very dull and I would be far more people cut themselves with sharp carving knives than dull butter knives.
@@phillhuddleston9445 A dull blade is actually more dangerous to use than one that is sharp. Here's why: A dull blade requires more pressure to cut, increasing the chance that the knife will slip with great force behind it. A sharp knife "bites" the surface more readily. Sharp knives are significantly safer than dull ones, and there are studies to prove it. The reason has to do with a physics phenomenon known as force exposure. The sharper your blade, the less downward force you must use to cut whatever it is you're using the knife to cut through. In an accident scenario, a blunt knife is not so blunt to be safe -. And The cutting edge of a knife that has been sharpened has a smaller surface area than a dull knife. Wounds from sharp knives heal quicker and are less likely to get infected. When you have a sharp knife you tend to be a little more careful. But when you have a dull knife you tend to be less careful about it because you think it's just a blunt dull knife. Don't get me started on partial tang knifes.
Being deployed in the early 2000s I had a kbar I thought was the coolest thing since all my brothers and sister in arms before me had one. And in tradition I also had one too. Used it a few times for cutting and opening things never for combat. But the day came when I needed it for something utility related. A wedge between a metal gate. It worked but at the cost of the knife. Broke in the same spot. I picked up what was left in disappointing and never bought one again.
I buy cheap, high carbon, full tang, 1/8" min thickness knives. And by cheap I mean I won't pay more than $50. I have a couple of stainless Mora knives that I use for food when I go camping. Those things are hella sharp right out of the box
funny back in the mid to late 70's this us air force combat survival knife was popular not only because it was very affordable but it proved it self in the hell fires of south east asia ( the nam to those that were their) and the other thing was that for knife street fighting which was a big growing no one cryed or bitched about uncle scammy's govt surplus the quality of the hand tool is important , but to the skillful and knowledgeable anything sharp works
Military grade: " The cheapest supplier we could find"
Such cheap, much wow
And able to mass produce in large numbers.
I mean he’s not wrong.
However sometimes the cheapest supplier ends up making something very valuable, durable, and a work of art. It’s not often tho
. Mine doesn't and has never BENT. Edited because military GRADE does not mean GOOD
For the most cost *
It's worth to remember that a lot of military hardware, especially older stuff, would have been made to be quite cheap, since it was mass-produced to meet minimal requirements.
I have military equipment that's going on 100 years old and is in like new condition with daily use. I have rifles that are reaching 200 years old and still like new.
@@danvondrasek 200 years?? The fuck kinda "halt or thou shalt be fired upon" type guns are you packing?
@Jake Sanchez the 1820s-1840s is not the "halt or thou shall be fired upon" Era, its the "yal wanna go invade Mexico? YEEEEHAWW" period
It was mass produced to a minimum because there plenty of man resources in relation to budget for equipment. This puts the situation into better perspective because the military usually has more budget than it needs at the sacrifice or other useful infrastructure in the country.
@@danvondraseklol more like I don't give a f what the Slave Master say Ill call that C Word to his face
Slave Masters : Get that N Word! 😂
This is one of Murphey's laws: "Remember your equipment is made by the lowest bidder."
Dang, I only heard the one law until now but I agree in the message.
P
You are saddly a very true and wise man. Why has the world turned its back on real craftsman and real quality and . . . oh yea . . . $ . . . more important then life itself . . . Do Not GO CHEAP!
@@ElohssArehtonAtsuj I did 10 years (89-99)with 4 deployments. I'm very well acquainted with Mr. Murphy, he followed us around constantly.
The lowest bidder, things that must be together to work usually can't be shipped together. This was so true especially using AF cargo planes, it was a major pain in the ass! No plan survives the first contact, (more like, no plan survives once you walk out of the brief)
Radios will fail as soon as you desperately need them, were so true. We also had the "No training fairy" She was with us always too.😉
Woody 5326 thank you for your service!! We are free because of men and woman like you!!! The 2 things we have to have to stay free and fed is soldiers and truck drivers!! And both are out there doing what they do and spend too much time away from their family so thank God for both!!
You see this is why I use a bayonet off a carcano rifle because not only is it strong, it’s rusty so it does poison damage and it is basically as small sword
Idk what you mean bro, I live in the states and I just carry my balisong with me everywhere
The bayonet off my Romanian akm is pretty good quality, looks like a knife also is detachable
@@ELSENIORBACONAnd it can cut wire with the sheath
If you use wires, connect them to the bayonette and plug into 220V outlet, it will add 10 thunder damage on top of the poison from rust!
If you also put pink and purple paint on it and a few unicorn stickers it can do psychic dmg as well.
“Stop. Buying. This. Knife.”
Me who has never bought a knife: “Ok”
Oh good! I got to you in time then!
Its the best machined version I have found. Search around you might find one that suits you better.
You cannot go wrong with this knife. Been around since 1865 with the only changes being steel, different name (K55K Mercator cat knife was first), and way better machining.
Otters are stainless hence water and the name.
You should get one, just not this one.
"Stop buying this knife"...
I can't it is a compulsion, i have 42069 of those!
Better to have a coat in hot weather than no coat in cold weather
As someone who had been buying this knife twice a day, every day for the past 10 years,
I want to thank you for the opening line. I knew I should stop buying it, but I just needed to hear someone else say it.
Lmao😂
Goddamnit
😃🤣🤣
😂
You call that a knife? This is a knife 🔪
Military Grade just means "These things are cheap enough to pass out to 1,000,000 guys."
#shitidiotssay
basil?
@@siamwse 'Sup, Sunny?
@@CrayonEater2003 OH so it is i like ur pfp
I need to remember this for the next time I hear someone whingeing about "military grade firearms".
Being in the military has taught me two things about the term "Military Grade.
#1. It is built by the absolute lowest bidder.
#2. It is left over from WWII.
Uh, no, quality is absolutely a factor. You cannot wage war with shitty equipment.
@@redtube8667 they sent a man to the moon with equipment built by the lowest bidder.
The military does have exacting standards and will get those standards met while spending the least amount of money possible.
We aren't going to war with junk.
@@redtube8667 Could be, but keep in mind, wars in history are matters of mass production. Serviceable enough to perform, but cheap enough to produce. Case in point, the M3 "Grease Gun". It's not terrible by all means, but it is a downgrade compared to its older counterpart which is the Thompson with its lower fire rate, simple furniture and fire selection capabilities. Really, a lot of wars were won because the other side had more stuff to lose or play around with.
Get me that knife give me the knife
yeah my 2 friends in the military told me "military grade" really just means really cheap mass produced items that barely work
Because it is. Trust me ik.
Yup
@@kyleschafer6275 thanks for you service
Military grade = lowest bidder that just meets minimum spec...
Commerical grade high quality equivalents are almost always going to be a superior product.
"Military grade" is the single dumbest fucking marketing word out there. What the fuck does that even mean. And this is coming from a soldier XD
"A knife is something you should be able to trust with your life" Spoken like a true Londoner
Unless the police are watching because if you have a knife in public, they know some idiot will use it for criminal activity
The irony is that the UK is so particular about *Challenge 25* for Knives... yet Hammers... anyone can buy them XD.
(to say nothing about all the other stuff that even a kid could buy, that's as lethal in the wrong hands, as a knife)
Better idea: we shouldn't waste time trying to micromanage ownership of knives, we should be instilling and encouraging personal responsibility.
"You own a knife?, who cares!?... *unless you do something stupid or illegal with it* "
Don't bend it then
That's one of Murphy's Unwritten Laws of Combat.
@Thisis Gettinboring 💀
There's a reason "military grade" is a major meme in the forces lol.
Insightful and educational content, really like it!
Thanks man!
“Military grade just means the cheapest that Uncle Sam can get it for”
@@DoktrDub it's also about the standard/requirements. If it can achieve the same standard for less money, it's a reasonable choice. But if you set that standard too low, you get shitty stuff. The bar should be set higher and then you get the cheapest option and everyone's happy
@@dimitrijekrstic7567 That's basically what they do, the military just has a really bad habit of not looking into why something is so cheap. If it does the job on paper, that's good enough for them
@@filmandfirearms yeah...unfortunate for the men depending on that equipment. But people should really be educated better when it comes to their countries military exploits and think whether or not they want to put their life on the line for such morally ambiguous causes
Those leather disks also seem like they'd trap moisture, it already appears to be rusting
true. can vouch for that. also will never not smell like fish.
It's a problem for a knife made of stainful steel
@@Gameplayer55055 Stainful steel is actually hilarious
In jungle climes, the leather handles would get slimy and rot.
Lovely.
Its a maintenance issue. If you use a beezwax/linseed oil mixture leather rounds are fine. It seals them and the knife against moisture. Any kind of base will do. Olive oil, tallow, parrafin.
Happened to my ka bar
I've seen this happen to three ka bars as well. Even when not being abused like I am doing in this video. They aren't even the issued knife for the USMC anymore. They now get M9 bayonets. It's just the meal team six cosplayers who think the ka bar is cool. Disappointing frankly.
Idk why he pinned but he's gonna get likes automatically, and so his replies
@@Mono_Autophobic so?
@@mattpassos5689 so what
@@Mono_Autophobic Exactly
I made my own knife around 5 years ago, still going strong. might do some stuff for the handle, but the blade itself is great
Nice!
@wilson yeah making knives can be addicting.
@wilson it's sort of true almost every one makes a knife in school here but it's not mandatory
@@derteater I started making knives a couple of years ago just to see if I could actuality get one finished.
I made my own knife aswell out of a file it's a great knife best thing about making your own is the design is up to you and you can make it what you need
Me, who works in a cubicle all day:
🤔✍️
You should do a “Stop buying this pen” tic toc
@Duffelbag Drag He needs a good knife...
CUZ HE LIVES IN A VAN, DOWN BY THE RIVER.
That's sad
Who says a office man cant have a reliable knife
But you clearly dont need a bushcraft one
@@sillygooberment It is sad he doesn't have a knife. But that problem can easily be solved by buying one.
Full tang just means the tang extends the full length of the grip-portion of a handle, not that it's as wide as the grip. when the tang is as wide as the grip it's called slab construction.
*Stares at my fork and knife *
You guys better not be "military grade"
Then bends with thumb
if they are out of plastic it is military grade
@@dergunter1237 *imagine getting shanked by a MRE spoon*
Actually, even dollarstore table knives are full tang. Weak metal though
So old and barely working then?
One of the first things I learned in the army was if you can get away with buying your own, do it.
there is a surplus shop in london called silvermans.
longterm squadies soon learn to replace essential kit with silvermans stock, right down to popsticks and boots, army kit is poo.
@Why do you try? look a troll that gets on the internet and tries to get negative reactions from people they know nothing about. Get a life.
Military grade is more of a warning than it is a statement of good craftsmanship
*A few years back, I won a knife like that and decided to throw it into a tree. The knife broke instantly and I was glad that I won it and not bought it*
thats why you make sure to test your knifes before taking them out anywhere.
Dont throw your knives.
Throwing knives are made of soft steel so the bend, but the dont sharpen well.
Field knives like this one are made of hard, brittle tool steel. They hold a cutting edge longer, but they snap instead of bend.
You destroyed a perfectly good fighting knife, and the next time you throw a good knife it will happen again.
If a knife survives a tree throwing, chances are its cheap soft steel, or you got lucky.
This is more than likely a Vietnam War-era military surplus knife. Don't butcher it. Don't even try and use it. It's a collectible at this point.
@@malicioussigmaape7432 doubt that dude. Collectabilities of knife are greatly depandant on various factors and I dont think he randomly got his hands on a 'nam knife
@@gagida1829 To my knowledge, they never manufactured pilots' survival knives after Vietnam.
Returning my gear to supply:
“Yea I can’t find the knife”
Supply-“okay that’ll be $459.98”
Sounds about right
Not really 1977 MA-1 jacket. They said was obsolete. So I sent it home. $25 or35 dollars. Next to the full parka and field jacket some of the best clothing Uncle Sam bought.
@@CSltzExactly. Jacket bought in the bushcraft survival tactical internet store from beard guy: 600$. The exact same jacket from the military: 20$
Messed up at my 1st duty assignment, they issued the old M7 and mine was dull.
So I sharpened it, then ended up having to pay for it. Received and signed for another dull one.
Put the sharpened one in my Kimchi Cabinet and used the issue bayonet as a pick to soften or break up dirt and to pop the metal bands, mostly on ammo crates.
I still have the sharpened one.
"Know your weapon to know your chances."
I don't try to view this as a weapon, more of a tool but your message is wise.
@@FollowTheCompassNorth anything can be a weapon or a tool, it all depends on how you use it.
Indeed
@@zoruatricksta0408 if you intend to do harm or kill something with anything, it is now a weapon.
So yeah your right.
@@Zanophane_Gaming I find seeing how every object in a room can be used in different ways an excellent way to pass the time. Most of the time things can be weapons, but that's just the human nature talking
Anyone in the military knows to stay away from military grade.
In the usa... in spain had the extraordinary aitor black bear knife....
I see "Skilcraft" and I shutter.
“Military grade” equals made by the cheapest supplier, without shock absorbers and air conditioning.
Not necessarily. The german army knifes were made by victorinox and are quite amazing, especially for the price. Other stuff….not so much 😁. I think this is the case with everything from the military. You have to separate the good from the bad 😉👍
Trash military grade m4s and m16s is another example.
We learned this in culinary school. This is why you don't buy those shitting infomercial knifes for your kitchen even when they claim "it can cut through anything". Yeah, I'm sure it can till that handle falls apart. Everyone is gangsta till that handle breaks and the blade is still stuck in that dry ass turkey.😂
Kiwi brand Thai knives have always been my go to. And under $10 each!
man I worked in a kitchen owned by a cheapass boss. When I heard a loud clang and saw the cook's shocked expression I immediately asked him what happens and he shows me the handle of his ex-knife. Turns out he tried to cut a fishbone but got his knife cut instead and flies over his head
@@batu5180 what? A FISH bone?
@@tehpurplepills yeah, like the main bone of a fish, he wants to separate the head from the body. It's not even a big fish, just 50cm long fish which he caught when fishing the day before
Honestly, anything can be able to theoretically cut anything, since its a matter of having a sharp enough edge. The problem is retention of that edge, with many of those shit infomercial ones don't do.
Funnily enough my survival instructor was an army veteran and survivalist. And he showed us one knife that you could put your entire body weight on, with it only flexed slightly, and another one that snapped in two instantly. Guess which one was the military knife
The one that stabbed yer chest when you tried to put your weight on it! 👍
I have used an ESEE 5 Survival knife as a stepping stone to climb up a tree. It passed that test with flying colors because it has the thickest tang of any blade I own. Much thicker than an ESEE 6.
@@zay0_n4ra11What?
@@matthewjones39The one that stabbed yer chest when you tried to put your weight on it!👍🏻
@@generalmarkmilleyisbenedic8895 The one that stabbed yer chest when you tried to put your weight on it! 👍🏻
As a knife maker, watching that knife bend that much that easily made me feel a way I don't like
Yes, it is a very uncomfortable thing to see a supposedly ready to use knife to.
As a knife maker, I'd think watching him use a knife in that way in the first place would make you cringe lol
"Military grade" really just means "As cheap as possible."
Military grade = "We can make you a knife using this random aluminum can I found in the dumpster out back. It honestly just costs $0.9 to make it but we'll charge $100 because marketing."
oh thanks but i wanna share my curiosity about that word cuz ive been hearing it since i was a kid. doesnt "military grade" means heavy duty, superior, very reliable, etc.? and so now i dont get why peoples are saying military grade is cheap and trash?
@@amberrr6651
That's what it's supposed to mean when they use it in marketing, but anyone who's been in the military knows better.
@@amberrr6651 that's what I always thought too
@@amberrr6651 but things in the military have to be cheap to be affordable. Its true that we make most things quality(at least in the U.S.), but in the military they are trying to get their stuff to be as cheap as possible so they can manufactute millions of units to arm tons of soldiers
I always laugh when companies rave something is “military grade” 🤣 veterans and ACDU now how shitty that really is haha
They use the term to get tacticool guys money.
Facts bro
Military grade stuff LAST. Like really last. I'm a computer geek and asus makes their tuf and msi makes their military style stuff claiming they are tough and strong.
Dude, a military laptop might not be a gaming powerhouse, but it can handle operations in a sandstorm.
@@CSEabdulalimkhan That’s if the weather doesn’t block signal from the antennas.
@@migultantamco good thing you mentioned network. Can we talk about how garbage the networking chips on everything is? Bro i am using the main ship's wifi from like 600m away, while my phone doesn't get a full signal if I'm 15m away from my home router.
My dad bought one in the late 70’s, because he said it was the closest he could find to the knife he was issued in Vietnam in 1966. I think the knife he was issued was a Camillus M2, a Camillus made version of the Ka-Bar USMC design. There is a slight chance it was a Cattanaugus, but I don’t think it was.
"Why military gear isn't always good"
Anyone that's been in: trust me, we know pal
Right! I don't understand how there are people defending military gear 😂
@@FollowTheCompassNorth one of my friends said military stuff is quantity over quality. Haha
@@FollowTheCompassNorth they’re another example of “the less they know, the more they think they know”
@@FollowTheCompassNorth armchair commandos. 🙄
A dime a dozen.
@@FollowTheCompassNorth cuz sometimes they get a lucky batch and assume all military gear is like that. Anyone who's actually been in knows half the time it's broken or on the verge of breaking. Unless your lucky and get issued experimental shit that's halfway decent
I have an original camillus from 1967. I've not used it - was brought back from Vietnam by my uncle. More of a family heirloom. 👍
Very cool, I'm all about heirlooms. Take care of it. If you need to beat something up buy a coldsteel and keep that heirloom safe! :D
I feel things like tools and cars and whatnot are meant to be used, maintained, and should be out there turning heads and being appreciated. I'm not saying go beat up your heirloom, rather don't forget it's a tool as, to me, it shows utmost respect to maintain and use it as a tool, even if it's only the most meaningful times where it gets used. That may or may not be a popular opinion, but historical significance or not, every thing is simply a collection of chemicals.
Me too
I have the same one. Except a 69. It was a pilots survival knife.
@BEATING NCP93 I just returned the axe saw combo because I couldn’t chop a stick in half, didn’t even leave a dent. I got an ozark trail axe and I’m literally going through wood like it’s nothing.
People don’t understand that “Military grade” is awful. The quality is way too bad. People think “oh it’s military it must be strong.” No
That's right in most cases.
Ehh. Some military gear is good quality.
I wouldn’t say this is the case across the board. Some material takes higher priority than others. Each soldier is carrying 20k worth of gear, so obviously the military is gonna cut corners somewhere.
Military grade just means that it’s the cheapest that Uncle Sam can get it for, but it’s not to say that a lot of military equipment isn’t going to be good, like an abrams tank, or some of the most durable rifles in the world that were produced and/or mainly used for military purpose, stuff that’s made to handle the abuse for the military is better than stuff just blatantly labelled “military grade”
@@DoktrDub I guess you haven't heard of all the mechanical and reliability issues that the Abrams has, or how many of them have been lost in combat.
It is called an "Air Crew Survival Knife" but the word survive here just means, maybe make fire starter or clean some game/cut herbs and roots for food, but its primary purpose was to cut rigging on parachutes and maybe silently kill pursuers.
It is a stabby knife, meant to be light and hopefully never be used, and if used, to kill people and take their stuff.
It is not a heavy duty knife.
Even then id expect better. What is issued these days?
@@JoshWallace-i3l The Aircrew Survival Egress Knife was not exactly replaced but Gerber designed the LMF II to be ASEK-compliant and it was approved for purchase
It still has only a partial tang but there's a good reason for that, it's designed for cutting through aircraft skin and acrylic windows, with holes to tie it to a stick to make a makeshift spear, the partial tang means the polymer and rubber handle is electrically insulated, so you can cut through electrical cables.
With the intended use for the knife, you don't really need a full tang as you're not going to be batoning firewood, as if you're a downed pilot you don't want to build a fire and draw the enemy to you if you go down near or behind enemy lines.
@@G1NZOU i hate gerber so much.
@@JoshWallace-i3l Try a BK=10. I own both knives and it is going to be a heck of a lot more durable. It was designed to be a survival knife.
@@dwightehowell8179 i have lots just despise gerber. Cheers man
That's why on Forged in Fire they put these things through brutal strength tests.
I'd hardly call "the bare basic requirements" a brutal test.
@@enriquecabrera2137 id say banging blades on wood and flexing them to almost 90 degrees is pretty extreme, most blades are going to incur damage with that. You are completely correct that a good blade shouldnt break in half but even many decent weapons are going to chip and warp from those tests.
@@theredcinder7437 yeah. Those aren't "extreme tests" those are retarded tests. It's like saying that the special forces need to get shot with a 12 gauge on the shoulder and walk away calmly in order to pass the last test. That's not extreme, that's retardedness.
@@enriquecabrera2137 Basic requirements does not include cutting into wooden logs. Forged In Fire tests are meant to determine the strength of the competitor’s blades in the most extreme conditions.
@@thelouster5815 "but it's not MEANT to do that!" Doesn't mean it shouldn't be able to do that. Tool knives are meant to be used as tools not weapons. So yes. Being used as a tool is basic requirements.
Relatively a good knife when used properly, I have had mine for over 30 years and it’s still in great condition (26 years military service)
I don’t think this is a real ka bar
I dont believe this knife was ever made by kabar
This particular knife hasn't been issued for quite some time, and any that were made in the past 20 years are absolute trash. Even when it was issued it was never really meant to be a bushcraft knife, but a tool for escaping a downed aircraft, with features supporting that purpose. The sawback on the spine is meant to cut through aluminum aircraft skin, not wood. The bolt on the pommel is intended for breaking through windows or cockpit canopies, not crushing rock or pounding the the blade into wood like a chisel, etc...
That said, it never was a particularly great knife even when it used good materials and was made properly. It's stupidly heavy and unbalanced for what it is, making it slow and unwieldy in combat and limiting the fine control that's desired for carving, while being too short to use that weight and balance point effectively for chopping. Even if it doesn't snap, the tang has sharp angles that create weaknesses, and it's prone to twisting and flexing which causes the leather handle to separate and loosen, further reducing control and letting moisture reach the tang to corrode it and weaken it. It could maybe pry decently with that extra weight and thickness, but the flawed tang makes doing so a coin flip that you may damage the knife.
The style became popular so the companies contracted to produce it continued to make them for the civilian market. Unfortunately, since they're not being made for the military, they aren't held to the standards set by those contracts, so now they're made with subpar materials and heat treatments to be sold at milsurp stores marketing to LARPers, airsoft players, and history buffs who want a wall hanger they'll never actually use.
I have one from 1984 do you think it's worth any money? I paid $60 at a knife/gun show. Id never seen one before but I thought it was cool.
@@charles597 It's not supposed to be a Ka-Bar, it's an ASEK (Aircrew Survival Egress Knife), it was designed to cut through aluminium aircraft skin. Gerber make the LMF II to the updated specifications but with an insulated handle for being able to cut through electrical cables without shocking yourself, there's a story of one being used in Iraq during a firefight, where a SFC used it to cut 220V power cords to disable lights that were illuminating the group's position.
Good heat treatment is important to. Full tang is one thing, but the molecular structure of the steel is very important as well. Good steel with good heat treating makes really good tools like knives.
I have one of these Ontario knives. I bought it from an Army/Navy surplus store back in the late 1970's when I was a kid. The guy made my mom come in to okay it before he'd sell it to me. I still have it but I did break a tiny tip off the end. I think it was $10, maybe $15.
If I want to chop wood I'll bring an axe.
Apparently the old ones were much better made. The one shown in the video is likely a post 2006 production.
Youd love to hear that over in finland, the most popular work knife is called a puuko. It has been made largely the same for hundreds of years and are ALWAYS rat tail tang. Very durable and they tend to beat them to shit. One thing though. You should never apply sideways stress on a knife especially not at a focused point like when you fold it around a corner.
I've used this knife to dig arrows out of a pine tree behind my archery target. You are so right,this guy would probably use his knife for a screwdriver too
Always get the right tool for the job.
Exactly! Why is he using the knife incorrectly? It's like not buying a car because it can't cross a muddy river
@liam Anderson it's abusing the tool
Moraknives are the modernized version sweet sweedish knives much recommended and affordable
Me, who watches forged in fire: “i have known this for years”
Edit: OmGggGgG iM fAmOuS
Good!
😆 It will cut! We know everything!
Forged in fire is badass
Lmao your a master In knife building from watching 1 season 🤣
(Light hearted poking)
I see, you accept your weapon is purpose!
Damn man I’ve got 3, 1 is an OKC my dad carried in Vietnam, 2nd is Japanese made and the last an OKC I bought at Walmart, I’ve put so much time into sharpening,bluing, and the leather…. You done broke my heart with this video
I hope you read this. These are fine knives if you don't abuse the hell out of them like I do. I'm stress testing and not using it properly. Take care of you heirlooms and they'll be around forever.
I had the tang of one snap in my hands separating joints on a blacktail deer ... Thats not even abuse... Ive honestly broken 4-5 through general use ... Mora knives are worse tho ive never had a mora that didnt break out of a dozen or so
He doesn't care about your feelings, he cares about your life
I felt it while sharpening the knife the steel isn’t the best
Ontario Knife Co makes good knives 🔪
There are also Gerber LMFs, that are truly great.
Binging on your channel, man. It chills me out. Some major life changes lately and I’ve been thinking I need to go camping to help relax and found your channel. Cheers, Simo!
While I can’t speak for this knife specifically, the Kabar has a similar problem. Depending on who you ask it was very poorly designed and/or not intended to be utility tool. I believe it was designed for combat because the amount of problem it has as utility knife are shocking.
I also think the kabar is weak but a lot of military cosplayers have a problem with that opinion. This was designed for survival and is still currently packed in many ejection seat MDSs.
That’s why the kukri is the superior knife
@@bbaker7467 the kukri is better at chopping and has a sharper edge since it is sharpened every time it’s out since it’s a tradition to do so.
New ka-bar does have problems. My marine DAD'S ka-bar he brought back from Vietnam can be driven through most modern knives with a hammer. Saw him do it a couple times.
@@jansonharris2937 the problem with the kabar isn’t the steel. Although we’re spoiled by really good steels now. It’s more the design and construction. 1095cro-van is tough but sharpenable. But it’s thin and the rat tail isn’t very tough.
I was convinced you were going to work the "You call that a knife...?" quote in somewhere.
I thought I was the only 1 thinking that , mate😂
Used one for years. First issued in AF SERE school. Never broke, nor bent. Still using it for camp/woodsmanship/bushcrafty chores . Works like a champ.
Probably because you know what a knife is and what it's purpose is. It's a survival knife, not a pry bar or hatchet.
@@GruntBurger That's a fair point about the philosophy of use, like...obviously, if you took a Gerber Mark 2 or a Fairbairn-Sykes dagger and you tried chopping wood or prying with those, they would break. But this is a knife commonly issued to pilots, its philosophy of use, by textbook, is as a pry bar (for the pilot to cut their way out of a vehicle) and as a bushcraft knife (if the pilot escapes/ejects and land somewhere in the wilderness where they just might need to hunker down for a while, they should be able to moderately chop wood, baton, etc. - for building a fire, making tent pegs, that sort of thing. Yes, I know how divided people are on batoning, but it would, more often than not, be impractical for pilots to carry hatchets).
It'd be one thing if FTCN was showing something one would never do with a knife like this, something way outside of its POU, but here's the thing...it's actually quite likely that one may do something like that.
As for grahamsteamer3419's comment, his was probably made from a better steel, but still...there are some design traits that are to be avoided in a serious survival knife, like the rat-tail tang or the awful serrations that are more to look cool than to do anything with. That's the thing about sawback knives - they generally don't work. The sawteeth essentially function like a pre-cracked place for the blade to break, they're too short, too straight, nothing like you'd see on a worthwhile saw. Not to mention, survival knives are often made with high-carbon steels, and that's very bad for a saw. A saw is usually made from a flexy, stainless steel. I'm not saying there aren't quality sawblack blades out there, like the Marto Explorer or the Gerber Gator, but very often, knives and any kind of equipment, honestly, when one tries to make them a "multifunctional" tool, they end up not fulfilling either function to any satisfactory degree.
I'm not sponsored by Ka-Bar, I don't even have this knife yet myself, but the Ka-Bar BK10 Becker Crewman is a perfect example of an improved version of the pilot knife concept. Full tang, you can pry and stab with it, no sawteeth, the pommel is much more comfortable to use, and while all pilots must wear gloves as part of their personal protective equipment, so friction and blistering of the hands isn't a problem, the Crewman's handle is smooth and ergonomic, "locking" the user's hand in, preventing override and being comfortable to use even without gloves. It's not that...overbuilt, for a lack of a better term. Even the Gerber LMF 2 is better designed than the pilot knife in the video, and that one doesn't have a full tang, either.
@@petervitkov361 I can agree to an extent. Yes, there are better hard use knives, but if you understand it's limitations then almost anything (within reason) can be a very effective survival knife. Big blocky prybar knives have their tradeoffs as well, it's just about which compromises you're willing to make and working within those limitations, but also knowing the proper techniques. But you make a good point, a pilots survival knife will almost certainly be abused and used for all kinds of things outside of basic cutting tasks, which is why they moved to different models. However, I don't think it makes it a bad woods knife/bushcraft knife if you know what you're doing and you are aware of it's limitations.
Do you know the brand and name of the knife that you are talking about.
bet you're really good at sharpening, since the pot-metal won't keep an edge
The "pilot" survival knife is / was low cost short term tool. It only needs to last for few days as there is teams (PJ's) locate and recover crew. I've got one back in early 80s it worked good for cleaning game, fish and sharpened easy softer steel than most. It will rust. The tang isn't that great for batten. Like a low cost Mora knife... use until needs replaced low cost it only cost less than $20 back in 80s. But not the choices available like now.
Exactly!
Kind of odd to skimp out on a survival knife though.
Funny how it was cost pennies more to just make the tang a little thicker
I think it's fair to say people incorrectly equate survival knives with bushcraft knives. The latter is the kind you expect to be abusing for a long time without failure, used for high stress tasks like batoning. A good survival knife is gonna be the smallest, lightest tool that can get as many jobs done as possible for a brief amount of time, and then be replaced once the survival situation has been escaped, and durability should be expected to suffer.
This knife isn't expected to be used for the kind of work that will stress the tang like shown. It's meant for rope and cloth cutting, preparing small game taken with a survival rifle, and hand to hand combat in the worst case scenario.
It doesn't make sense to spend a lot of money creating a super durable knife when it's not likely to ever actually need to be used. The problem isn't the design or construction of the knife, it's the misunderstanding of the people who but them and expect them to be something they're not.
@@keegans5695 Well, no I don't equate a survival knife with a bushcraft knife but I do agree with you to a point. A survival knife is not made for specifically heavy betoning work but on the other hand it should be durable enough to keep you alive for perhaps a week or more, which in my opinion is far more important than a camper out with his bush knife, you need something that you can trust to keep you alive when you might be stranded behind enemy lines. I'd say this is not that. Certainly would put more trust in a Fällkniven F1 or even a cheap Mora for 5 bucks.
I would recommend traditional Finnish "Puukko". Or an "Sissi Puukko" for your basic survival knife.
Sissi is the Finnish word for guerilla, and SissiPuukko can handle rough stuff too, like cutting firewood.
I agree with this comment.
I endorse the agreement with this message.
I appraise the endorsement of the agreement of this message
Please don't tell me it's pronounced 'sissy' I cannot tell my friends I bought a sissy knife no matter how good it is.
@@lycan6432 Almost, it's siSSi, with an long S. You also emphasize the i at the end. Like saying "sis" and spanish "si" together. Also say it with drill sergeant attitude.
Or you can use "Finnish querilla knife" too if it's more convenient.
I still love that knife. Every kid had one of those knives. Just know it's weaknesses. They used to cost between 10 and 20 bucks back in the 80s. I still think it was and is a great value and I never saw one fail like this. But let's be real, it was never intended to be anything more than a short term temporary multi tool.
All true. I still keep one myself.
@@FollowTheCompassNorth in Russian army we have AK bayonet knives. They are: extremely solid, impossible to sharpen, fragile (you can brake it by dropping on the ground) and they get blunt faster than the cheapest chinese copies of them
I had one in the 80’s and loved that it too , but at that age , did not need to trust it with my life.
@@LunaPal1 how is it fragile and solid at the same time? What 🤣
@@Sina-rw3bl diamond is both fragile and solid as well
Thank you for passing this on.
My pleasure!
"And this knife, is gonna let you down. "
And then will make you run around since you'll get probably hurt because it broke,
And desert the knife.
And then it'll make you cry,
Then you'll say goodbye to the knife.
The company that made the knife told a lie,
And hurted you.
Did I just get reverse Rick rolled?
oh boy....
This is the most creative Rick-Roll I have ever seen. Bravo 👏👏👏
You know the rules, and so do I. Say goodbye 🔫👺
take my like and never return.
Mora does an injection molded grip on a rat tail type tang too, and its the gold standard bushcraft knife. A full tang isnt necessary, but it can make a crap knife preform better. I place more blame on the choice of steel, but thats the start of the list of problems for this knife.
I believe these were initially included in aircrew survival gear, usually on the flight suit or vest. I’m pretty sure they were meant as a temporary tool to get you out of a bad situation. Bushcraft has come so far, there’s really not many pieces of kit that haven’t been completely revamped.
That is literally what they are used for. We are meant to survive for hours or days, not weeks or months. We used them to cut slivers of wood for tinder, cut up a squirrel, rabbit or similar small animal you could catch with a snare, or dig small holes with them.
They’re still on most people’s vest, though some have Spiderco folding knives instead
I can tell you we currently still have this knife I go out every day knowing this knife is garbage and I'm better off using my multi tool
The original purpose was to enable a crewman to bust out of a downed aircraft. Particularly helicopters. And that's it.
The novice "survival-oriented" guy is often misled by the term; "mil-spec".
This is especially true for weaponry.
(Especially AR-15 hardware).
Folks need to understand that our military will typically go with a contract that offers the best quality for the lowest bid.
This doesn't necessarily mean that your mil-spec gear is absolute trash, it just means it is intended for the immediate job at hand.
Military gear is disposable.
Pretty much, it won't always be the cheapest option, but they prioritise "can you make X number of these and get them in the hands of troops in X amount of time?".
Some custom rifle builders keep saying "I could make a better rifle for half the price" and completely miss the point of scale.
Similar with camo, you can really dial in custom camo to work perfectly in the woodland next to your hometown, but the military usually needs a camo that will perform "good enough" over the widest range of terrain they're likely to be fighting in.
@@G1NZOU with most "builders" utilizing factory assembled uppers, they clearly arent building great rifles at budget prices... like savvy shopper/builders are, who are selecting each individual part for a good price... basing their build upon the parts that make an actual great rifle. I always shake my head at builders spending hundreds on upper and lower receivers.
A PSA stripped upper and lower, with a quality BCG, FCG, LPK, and barrel... can produce a total beast of a rifle. That weapon wouldn't be "good enough", or "as good"...
It would be fucking badass.
a knife is something that should never give you up but this one is gonna let you down
how the fuck did I just get rickrolled on a knife video
@@BeetleBunssame tf
Never gonna turn around and desert you!
Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye!
And this knife told a lie and hurt you...
Thanks for the video! I find it useful in general as well, since I don't know much about knives and didn't even know that I should be looking for knives with blades that you can see throughout the handle as well so you can be sure it's the same width.
Glad it was helpful! It's great when viewers can adapt the lessons to apply to themselves. I have to spoon feed some of these guys.... ;)
Schrade makes a mean bush knife that’s sharp as a sharks tooth. Bought one for my dad too.
I was on a camping trip with some homies some yrs back, one of my buddies had this knife, was so proud. Broke the first day.
I gave my son this very knife. I used it for fishing and have cleaned two huge snapping turtles with it, batoning through the under shells with it. It always worked, but I have only used it as a knife, I never tried to destroy it.
I feel like it’s made by multiple manufacturers I have my grandpas nam one and I got my own I’ve used a good bit and worked well the tang def feels solid
Yeah now do the thing where you stab wood and then take it out
I used a knife like that for 18yrs when I was in the Army. Never failed me, pried open ammo boxes, cut branches and commo wire. Best five bucks I ever spent.
Well I've only been in 16 years and I've snapped half a dozen but supply keeps issuing them to me.
@@FollowTheCompassNorth That’s probably because you’re not supposed to try and break them. I don’t think many people get their knife stuck in 3 inches of solid wood and then try to get it out by bending it to the side
@@c15a not all knives are made equal, not even if they're manufactured by the same factory with the same materials and the same QC.
I don't know why people complain about 5$ knifes you get what you pay for
my dad bought me one years ago works fine
As Dom once said in Gears of War 1- "Military equipment always works." Ofc he was sarcastic about it lol
W game ref bro
I was issued an M-7 bayonet and a K Bar which wasn’t too bad for an all purpose knife but all of us who were from Texas bought the large Case Bowie knife and it was extremely tough and good for fighting and camp chores. It was very large and heavy though.
Got my grandfathers old bowieknife. Never let me down. In use since over 40 years, still well maintained and gets any job done.
got my great grandfathers, need to sharpen it but still seems good, granted I don't use it, it's just a momento of him
We had those issued to us for years in our flight vests, but the last few years I was in, they started putting SOG knives (specifically the SEAL Pup) instead. The SOG was lower maintenance, especially if you ever work around salt water
I remember when they did that. I've actually broken one of the SOGs too. I don't remember what I was doing exactly but the blade snapped. Surprising because generally these things are really good
"Stop buying this knife"
Me: Ok. Scrolls away.
Thanks!
Here’s the thing the knife isn’t designed for heavy work it’s designed to split small logs and then strap it to a stick with some rope and get you out of a seat
Well you bent the knife at least 3 times , both times you show the bend the blade is facing the same way. I don't doubt that it isn't a high quality knife but I'd present it accurately.
Yes! You're the first person to notice this in 30 thousand views! In my full video you can see that it takes a few bends that's the problem with shorts, never enough time for context! Thank you for your sharp eye.
@@FollowTheCompassNorth ill have to check out the full video, thats what I get for being observant but taking it at face value darn our short attention spans lol
Where did you see him bend the knifr three times in this short?
@@NinjaSushi2 you didn't see him bend it 3 times. But because the blade faces the same way in the two times you do see it and because it was bent in the same direction there had to be at least 1 additional bend. The additional bend or bends were edited out.
I mean… I knife shouldn’t snap at three bends anyway
My dad had this knife when I was a kid, it was issued to him in basic training when he joined the military. I remember the blade had insane wiggle and I was always so sure it would break if you used it.
I have this knife for over 20 years . It's my most used knife. The metal is hardened to cut through aluminum. Aircraft is made of aluminum. So yes it is more brittle and difficult to sharpen at first. It holds an edge well. I've only used it for batoning a little. It's not made for batoning anything large smaller sticks only. It's a good knife if used as a knife and not a pry bar.
It's a decent knife. I teach aircraft egress and we definitely do not use the bolt knife to cut out of aircraft. Our heavys use the crash axe and in our fighters this is in the seat kit and you can not get to it without ejecting.
All knives are hardened to to hold an edge better.
@@moshunit96 Hardening is not an on/off switch.
Buy a better knife. You can use it as an axe, knife or pry bar and it won't break.
Found this out long ago. Bought one as a young paratrooper at Fort Bragg. Was told it would be needed when I attended Recondo school. It broke while in the field doing what young grunts do with their cool knives bought at surplus stores on Bragg blvd. and Yadkin road. Throwing it at trees to try and make it stick. Went to the PX and bought a Buck folder. Almost 40 years later still have it.
See that knife on every “tacticool” ad.
The same could be done to a Randall knife, the best advice is to know the limits of your tools and use it accordingly. You’re not going to torque a nut to 200 ft/lbs with a 1/4” drive ratchet. SERE school doesn’t teach you to baton through dried oak.
I can't bend a randall knife by hand without tools. But your message is correct.
A randall knife huh?? I’d love to see you do this with a randall knife
I find your comment rather shallow and pedantic
That's why I bring a torque multiplier.
@@CarsonRH ha ha good one
The Air Force survival knife was made by Camilus out of New York City and was manufactured in the thousands, it’s a rather good knife actually and not designed to be jabbed into things and bent but rather it was to be used to cut through the aluminum that old 50s and 60s era fighter jets where made of. And thousands of these knives where sold to civilians as well and become one of the most popular hunting and survival knives in America from 1960 till the 90s so it couldn’t be that bad
Lol whatever
@@scotthalvorson1161 to be fair, he may have a point if he's right about the origin of the knife
It works well enough, but the stress tests don't lie.
I would trust this knife with skinning and gutting game but I doubt I would want to rely on it as a survival knife, no doubt it was popular though.
it was popular because A. there was a shitload of them available cheap
and B. they're "military" so people think they're good. Popularity does not equal quality.
It’s like people forget that things are made for a specific purpose. It’s like saying a top of the line kitchen knife is a terrible knife because you can’t baton wood with it. Same here. It was never made to be a bushcraft knife, it was made for a specific purpose and it is quality in that regard. Most military gear is quality.
I got this knive from a professor who had it and was selling it along with old tools and such. Was rust/water damaged but cleaned it off and hand sharpened on whetstones. I mainly use it as a letter opener.
Square shoulders on a narrow tang are always liable to cause failure. If you're going to do an old fashioned tang rather than a full width tang you must radius the shoulder where it meets the blade and your temper must be fully to blue throughout the tang and shoulder area. Hot block tempering after giving the blade and tang a temporary rough polish after hardening so you can see the colours is a good way to do this. This method also allows you to only let the blue grow toward the edge when drawing a temper on the blade and stop it at the edge at straw so as to have spring in the back of the blade but a harder edge. It takes a little practice. I use a piece of 2 inch thick mild as the tempering block. It does also mean you have to not let it get hot during edge grinding so I do at least half of that before hardening, but don't take it too thin or it'll crack on quenching during hardening. I only use old steel - no modern stuff - mostly from old files you find in grandad's drawers - that sort of thing, but also sometimes very old leaf springs.
Yeah, I trust mine with my life, cuz my onions and tomatoes are out to get me.
Watch out for those amazon deliveries you better slay them before they get you
I'm quite fond of mine and it has served me well, although I haven't used it very heavily. I know there are stories of soldiers who used this knife for all sorts of things.
Question: would a good substitute for metal be accomplished by mixing crushed seashells and rubber tree resin? 🤔
Esee knives are pretty affordable. I think the one with the full tang here is the Esee 4
I have tons of knives, some would say far too many knives, and I love the esee 4. It's perfect in everyday and their warranty is unmatched. You can literally hammer it into a post, use a sledge to snap it in half, and esee will no questions asked replace it for you.
I like ESEE. I’ve got the Izula II. It’s a nice little knife, but my main is a custom knife a coworker made me.
The knife might be junk but the sheath is pretty well built.
If they would have put as much time and expense into the knife as they did the sheath it would have been a butter knife
That's true I keep the sheaths!
😂 lol you must have meant a "better knife"
@@alanbrownjohn4854 ultimately a butter knife
Butter knife. Classic. That deserves a Thumbs Up. :)
"military grade" means "good enough and cheap"
except for cutting edge technologies. like in computer and robotic fields. military grade of these stuff are the most updated version of that field.
about tools and stuff, yeah military grade just mean like that. cheap
@@DBT1007 yeah, anything that can be easily replaced is usually cheap and mass produced.
@@DBT1007 except the military uses mostly outdated computers and electronics in most of all its equipment and its servicing equipment. In comparison to modern civilian accessible tech the military gear is (outside of maybe special forces?) 10+ years out of date. Hell ive worked on jets still in service that use cathode ray tubes for the displays.
These were popular in the Army , always sold at the Px lol
novice Smith here, I've seen alot of these blades hit the market in the past 10 years. alot of the time they harden the entire hunk of steel, making it very brittle. you hit the nail on the head with this.
Thanks! Maybe I'll heat treat one in my paragon kiln and see if it's better.
@@FollowTheCompassNorth no problem man. I talked about this topic once to a buddy and he really didn't get how it would do that. He just didn't fully understand how metal is a crystalline like structure. And if you have a small tang like that, and if it's quenched, especially in water the bond is just way to tight. Leading to the snap lol 🍻
@@JacksonDunnoKnows Its also the steel they use. People say 1095 and D2 are super hard, so they're prone to break. Never had any problems with those two types of steel. RAT 5 I own is almost indestructible, worked it like 1800's farmers wife. Leatherman Sidekick also was a good tool too.
I've got this exact knife, it was a Christmas gift from my parents. Now, considering I'm not out in the woods camping or doing survival exercises, it's done me very well. It's an excellent box, tape, and shrink wrap cutter. Which are all things my utility knife does, but this looks cooler and is more fun to use.
I've discovered the Swedish Morakniv knives are absolutely incredible. They are very affordable so you can be really rough with them and they are actually very durable from my experience. I have like five at this point.
they're great until the point snaps off, so you can't throw them around like you can some other grinds. Damned if that flat grind isn't a dream to maintain though!
I found Mora knives steel sharpen to an incredible edge, possible due to the high carbon, but not for hard use.
I spent 15 years as aircrew, not only will that knife break at the tang, the steel is so soft it will not hold an edge. I replaced mine with a Cold Steel Master Hunter. My last 5 years was as a SERE Instructor, these were issued to the students for the survival portion and we averaged 2 broken knives a class.
Thanks for the video. I kept buying this knife and I have hundreds of them laying around. This was a great wake up call. Epiphany level.
Are you me? I literally have a sack of these but we're destroying them at work right now as we upgrade to a better knife.
I started buying them after watching this 🙃
So hundreds of failed knives just didn’t register in your mind, it took a TH-cam video? Geez. You must be an ex-marine.
Buy a kabar knife.u will never need another knife again
“Stop buying this knife”
*ho-ho-ho. no*
Starting to see why Will Smith slapped you.... if you're the real Chris Rock then seriously I'm on your side. It blew my mind that your humor wasn't appreciated as the good nature fair game that it was. I guess the difference is that you're a comedian and Will is a joke.
@@FollowTheCompassNorth why would the real Chris rock comment on this lmfao
@@Ifuckinloveranch nah man this is the real Chris Rock.
@@FollowTheCompassNorth That’s just a humor account with 3 subscribers lol… Many joke accounts with him and Will Smith people make on this website after what happened.
@@Ifuckinloveranch For advice on self-defense measures against the next guy who wants to slap him
Those Ka Bar and fighting style knives where designed to do that. In WW2 it was prioritized to have a tang that would bend rather than break after a knife fight or through the roughness of combat. That way the knife could be continued to be used even if a little bent. Also it saved carbon steel which was an incredible valuable material at that time, more useful in other things for the war effort. You are right that they are not good for bushcraft (especially batoning) but that doesn't mean they are bad knives.
I was thinking the same thing. If your knife broke on Iwo Jima you could probably go find another one. War and the wilderness have somewhat different needs.
It was built for airman to use during WW2 to cut themselves out of the canopy and wasn't made for stupid use.
1958, for that model, and it was supposed to be replaced in 2003. Don't know how strong the ASEK is, but the fragility was one of the problems they were supposed to solve.
Never defend sloppiness, my friend, especially if your tax dollars are paying for it and people's lives might depend on it. Cut enough corners and things start rolling downhill.
How many times have you had to use a pipe or a screwdriver as a hammer because the hammer you were issued snapped the head off the handle immediately on first use out of the package? Most military gear has specific purposes, but is never made to standard, so it never fulfills that purpose. I learned that the hard way as a private back in 2003 setting up an antenna in Iraq.
A combat knife is meant to be lodged into a man's body (the word combat hints at this), whereas a survival knife can be stuck into wood and maintain its integrity
That wouldn't really make sense in the first place, but he also said this was an air crew survival knife... Yknow, one of the things a downed airman would HAVE to rely on to survive
Does it work with woman's bodies too?
@@leadkiss7262 Do downed airmen regularly stab their knives into trees?
@@wanderingmercurymarauder761 YES, yes they do. And use it as a carving knife, a hammer, a prybar, a screwdriver, and even once in a while they even use it to cut things. Survival school teaches you to get creative with the few tools you get in your kit.
I was saddened to see that a K-bar fighting knife also doesn't make a good bush knife for the same reason- no full tang. They are pricey knives, too.
I'm glad you made a video about this
“Stop buying this knife”
Me: sure my gun never disappoints
Gun: (Runs out of bullets)
You: Gun, I am disappoint.
You cut firewood with a gun?
@@robbiecale3327 you need an ax for that not a knife
@@robbiecale3327 you cut firewood with a pocket knife?
but can your gun play CS Go?
Thank you for showing us these deficiencies in this knife.
U.S. Airforce Survival Knife. Carried one in the U.S.M.C for 20 years. The steel is hard as diamonds. Difficult to put an edge on but once done it lasts. I've Buchered many a deer 🦌. Cannot deny nor confirm I cut a few ears off. Still carry it as my primary Knife... Best Damn junk I've ever owned.
That's fair, as long as you don't abuse it like me it'll be fine.
You talking about deer or Iraqi ears there bud
Lmao the only ears you cut are corn
@@collllllqeirknf C'mon man.... hahaha... I hate it when you're right.
@@Broncainous corn 🌽
Not all bush craft knives have a full tang, because a knife gets REALLY COLD when out and about in the winter - At that point you really don't want your hands on cold metal - In other words, don't use full tangs in the winter.
I've done a few weeks out in barren land arctic and this wasn't a consideration because you're never barehanding your tools.
Can't you just have a full tang be slimmer but covered by wood?
You can just wrap something around the handle then, paracord or leather would do just fine. Leather maybe not so much in super cold temps but can't go wrong with a tight paracord handle. Also if it's super good you would have gloves on anyways...
@@Faolan_Grey
Paracord will indeed work, though it's usually better if the handle is made to cover the steel from the beginning.
Also, when doing knifework with gloves on, it can be difficult to get a proper grip.
New invention I’m calling gloves.
As a former cutco knife salesman would say: the dullest knife in your kitchen is the most dangerous
Depends, with a dull knife you are more likely to slip and cut yourself but if you are careless and cut yourself a sharp knife will do more damage. A butter knife is very dull and I would be far more people cut themselves with sharp carving knives than dull butter knives.
Not really. Dull blades tear and rip. Wounds from a razor sharp blade are easier to stitch and heal better
@@phillhuddleston9445 A dull blade is actually more dangerous to use than one that is sharp. Here's why: A dull blade requires more pressure to cut, increasing the chance that the knife will slip with great force behind it. A sharp knife "bites" the surface more readily.
Sharp knives are significantly safer than dull ones, and there are studies to prove it. The reason has to do with a physics phenomenon known as force exposure. The sharper your blade, the less downward force you must use to cut whatever it is you're using the knife to cut through. In an accident scenario, a blunt knife is not so blunt to be safe -. And The cutting edge of a knife that has been sharpened has a smaller surface area than a dull knife. Wounds from sharp knives heal quicker and are less likely to get infected. When you have a sharp knife you tend to be a little more careful. But when you have a dull knife you tend to be less careful about it because you think it's just a blunt dull knife. Don't get me started on partial tang knifes.
Being deployed in the early 2000s I had a kbar I thought was the coolest thing since all my brothers and sister in arms before me had one. And in tradition I also had one too. Used it a few times for cutting and opening things never for combat. But the day came when I needed it for something utility related. A wedge between a metal gate. It worked but at the cost of the knife. Broke in the same spot. I picked up what was left in disappointing and never bought one again.
I buy cheap, high carbon, full tang, 1/8" min thickness knives. And by cheap I mean I won't pay more than $50. I have a couple of stainless Mora knives that I use for food when I go camping. Those things are hella sharp right out of the box
Carried one for 15 years doing search and rescue and countless other events I love mine
This thing seems like something that represents me. It lets things down.
funny back in the mid to late 70's this us air force combat survival knife was popular not only because it was very affordable but it proved it self in the hell fires of south east asia ( the nam to those that were their) and the other thing was that for knife street fighting which was a big growing no one cryed or bitched about uncle scammy's govt surplus the quality of the hand tool is important , but to the skillful and knowledgeable anything sharp works
Good info 👍 full tang always. Even if you lose the handles you still have a fully functioning knife. Repairs are easier too as you can just wrap it.
Agreed!