KA-BAR Knives Fin Folding Tanto Straight Knife

I bought this knife because I figured for $15, worst case scenario is that it would make a nice gift. Luckily that was not the case. This knife feels like a tank, and handles well in the hand. The blade came adequately sharp (nowhere near as sharp as AUS-8 can get, but still decent), and the edge was perfectly set at 15 degrees. The knife sharpened easily, and took an edge like this steel should. It feels like a Spyderco with the nice big opening hole, but even better since the hole came with smoothed edges with the nice epoxy coating on it. My only complaints are that the frame lock is VERY stiff, and that the blade shape itself is very so-so compared to a regular (Americanized) tanto or a drop-point (both in terms of applications and ease of sharpening), but for $15 I can regrind it if I want to.

With this being my second Peter Janda design, I can safely say that his designs are a bit outlandish, but are made to the top-notch quality you can expect from Ka-Bar. I would... Read more

As I write this review, the price of this knife is a meager $15. At this price, this knife is a no-brainer - Buy it, if you want to.

Pros
*No blade play
*Good steel - At this price, the steel is excellent
*Unique hawkbill/tanto blade shape
*Frame lock
*Excellent gripping
*Built like a tank
*Mine came very sharp

Cons
*Frame lock is stiff - May loosen with more use
*Some may find the knife a little difficult to open, because of the overly defined finger guard - I have no difficulty opening this knife. Push the blade outwards and use a flick of the wrist and it easily opens. This knife is so cheap, now, buy it and try it out.
*Heavy
*Small pocket clip - For such a monster of a knife, the pocket clip does look a little out of place - It is a minor negative.
*I do not know what the blade coating consists of, but I think it is paint - I have checked reviews and the coating seems to be able to hold up... Read more

I thought that this knife looked pretty cool, and it was a good price so i decided to order it. I was pleasantly surprised to find how nice of a knife this is. I think that the picture doesn't make it look as good as it does in your hand first of all. It seems to be well made and durable with quality components. You can't tell this from the picture but the knife blade is actually quite wide. Not fat, thick, or long.. just wide. When its closed the blade sticks out quite a bit, the blade doesn't conceal fully under the grip. That's the best i can describe it. Now, I dont think this is a bad thing, I actually like it, but its just a little different than usual. Now the weight of the knife isn't too heavy, but this isn't a lightweight knife either. I think its fine for carry. I like how the grip feels in your hand, very positive grip. I like that you can change the pocket clip to any position. It also looks like if you had to you could use the end as a glass breaker, it has that type of... Read more