Mark I Fixed Blade Knife 5.125" Clip Point 1095 Cro-Van Black Blade Kraton Handle Black

Being a huge Ka-Bar/Becker fan , I just had to give this one a try . First impressions found it decently sharp out of the box , nicely packaged . Not a huge fan of the scabard type sheath ( but is still solidly built with 3 retention points ) No fear of losing this one with the given sheath ! The size and feel / balance are excellent and the Kraton handle is quite "grippy" and don't suspect it will be an issue if wet either . The 5" blade is nicely designed and will lend itself nicely to many tasks , whether hiking , fishing , camping , etc... The blade is of nice thickness and is full stick tang construction and the end cap would be great for light hammering tasks ( e.g. Tent pegs ...) A hefty little knife and not too heavy for carrying whether on a belt or pack . Would certainly feel right at home carving , cleaning fish & game , light chopping , carving , food prep or any camp / yard chores you can give it ! This paired with a larger Ka-Bar / Becker would certainly take care of any field chores ... My only gripe is the sheath ( but have since replaced it with a custom leather sheath from Savage Sheaths )and is certainly my new fave "All-Around" knife . If your looking for a medium size knife ( Made in USA too ) ...Look no further as this knife is superb in all aspects . Thanks Ka-Bar and Amazon !!!

This is just a review of my initial impressions regarding this knife. At first touch, WOW!! I've had the similar K-Bar knife the "Short Marine Fighting Knife", for quite some time now and just loved the way that thing performed. Not too big and not too small, just right for an all around outdoors knife. My only gripe to that knife was the thinness of the handle, never really felt hand filling to me. When using it hard it would start to hurt your hand, kind of like a hand cramp because you were squeezing it soo hard to make sure you had a solid grip on the thin handle. Well maybe I had two gripes with the knife (for my uses, outdoors not fighting) was the hollow ground blade, always like full flat ground. Yea these are just nitpicks because like I said earlier it's still an awesome knife. Now this knife solves all my previously mentioned gripes making this knife in my mind, perfect! Same kraton handle only thicker with a better palm swell, losing the cutout rings for a more light pebble type finish and a full flat ground blade. I have a size large hands and this thing fits like a glove in my hand, the purchase is perfect on the kraton handle and long enough where the pommel is not in the way or obscured. The other difference is there is only a blade side hilt, no double hilt on this knife. This is a plus as now you can use your thumb on the spine of the blade for better control of push cuts, I believe this also adds to the "Fighting" ability of this knife in the Filipino type grip (Kali). Lastly we have the GRN (kydex) sheath which retains the knife very well and utilizes a snap type of retention on the knife. You can't just rip the knife out of the sheath you actually have to use your thumb to push away and pull to release the knife. Sounds more complicated than it actually is, it's really easy and makes for great knife retention in any orientation. The sheath has a couple of straps for the handle one crossover and another higher on the handle. It secures by a belt loop which a D-ring is also attached, but there are holes all over the edges that will fit paracord allowing for all kinds of options. I'll finally add that the sheath is slim and narrow not cumbersome at all, large drainhole is nice. I highly recommend this knife for any outdoorsman!

The Ka-Bar Mark 1 United States Navy knife is a good all purpose knife. I appreciate the Kraton handle especially when wet. A real plus for a field knife. I also like the clip point blade for versatility and strength. The knife has a steel hilt and pommel which I prefer in a knife as well. This model is new out last year and comes with a Kydex sheath. The sheath also has holes drilled on the sides of it for the installation of 550 parachute cord that is so useful in the field for survival. I bought mine to hang on my gun belt because it is short enough to not be in the way when I get in and out of my SUV vehicle while hunting the back roads here in Western Oregon. I also don't want to ever be caught with out a straight bladed knife, as once I was in SE Oregon, when hunting deer. After having knee surgery, I was forced to use a 4" folding knife to gut and skin a deer, since I was not able to walk far back to the truck and would have much preferred to have had this short but effective knife hanging from my pistol belt ready to do business. So I recommend this knife to anybody that needs a easy to carry strong field knife while hunting or other outdoor activities. The price of Ka-Bar knives is very reasonable, especially for American made quality. Enjoy!

Love it! Perfect size for my hand, fits like a glove. Decently sharp out of the box. The overall fit and finish is absolutely perfect. Not a flaw to be found. Super grippy handle. The sheath is pretty decent as well! A perfect US made knife at this price point is a no-brainer.

First off: this is a perfectly finished, sharp out of the box knife with a grippy handle. The sheath is cleverly designed and rides nicely on the belt. I especially like the ambidextrous design so that I can switch the carry to my left side to avoid interference with my handgun. The snap-in feature of the sheath is a brilliant and simple idea which easily holds the knife without the need of the two retaining straps. Now, triple retention is probably great if your are airborne, but it's a bit much for a guy like me who is just truck-borne. Of course, either of the nylon straps could be easily removed. The knife is light and fast in the hand, and the blade shape is attractive and useful. The handle is just large enough for my medium-sized hand, which is comfortable and secure if I am cutting forcefully straight down or stabbing straight ahead. BUT if I try to hold the handle to do delicate cutting I find the butt of the knife to be a pain in the...base of my hand. This great little fixed-blade would be a whole lot handier if the top of the butt were simply straight (I'm thinking something like the Schrade model 42).

Leider ging dieses Messer zurück, was hauptsächlich an 3 Punkten lag : 1. Bereits bei Lieferung blätterte die Farbe der Parierstange ab. 2. Die Klinge war sehr dünn, alles in Allem zu biegsam und zudem am Ricasso völlig asymmetrisch verschliffen. 3. Der kurze Griff ist geeignet für Handgröße 9 abwärts. Ich mit meinen 10-11 fand darauf keinen Platz. Ich besitze noch zwei alte USMCs der Firma Ka-bar und muss sagen, dass mich die Qualität der aktuellen Messer schwer enttäuscht. Ich hatte mir von einem alten Klassiker wie dem Navy Mark 1 deutlich mehr erhofft. Einen Stern gibt es für das klassisch zeitlose Design, den anderen für die funktionale Scheide, diese gefiel mir ganz gut.

The Shorty is out, I just bought a 2nd copy of this knife. I decided to modify my first one by filing a flat on the spine for ferro rod fire starting, folded the hilt hasp under the webbing loop. The sheath has adequate retention and with the thumb strap it is secured more than adequately to meet my needs. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I chose the USN Mk I for the shorter blade but retaining a full size grip (rather than the shorty's 75% in every dimension comparted to a Mk II). No regrets on that choice. The Kraton G is well regarded as a good grip material, no hot spots and good feel and grip even when wet. It is also well regarded for it's longevity, some knives have been in use for 20 years and are as good as new. I like the hard scabbard though I have little need for the 3 point retention system as I don't plan on leaping out of an airplane or helicopter anytime soon. The scabbard by itself has good retention, the thumb strap adds extra security and I fold the hilt strap behind the webbing's first layer to get it out of the way. A large drain hole for water is provided on the back of the scabbard. Most of my uses for any knife are utility: opening packages, cutting some cardboard, making some feather sticks to start a fire and so on. A shorter and lighter knife is more useful for 99% of my tasks. 1095 CroVan steel has a lot to recommend it. Far from being a modern super steel, it nonetheless has many good features. Tough, easy to sharpen and takes a keen edge with decent edge retention. It is however, nowhere near to being stainless so a bit of mineral oil after use is a good rust prevention measure. I keep a large aluminum pill cannister (sealed with an o-ring), to store some mineral oil and keep several handy. In the car, in my daily carry bag for camping etc. A few drops goes a long way. I cut a section of large bicycle inner tube as a Ranger band to hold a ferro rod or two and also filed the finish off a section of the spine to make it sharp enough to throw sparks from the ferro rods. A small silky saw makes firewood processing easier than carry a much heavier hatchet in the wood. i will likely buy both Mk I and Mk II models with the more traditional leather grip and sheaths to satisfy the purist in me. They will also look great to some Estwing hatchets and splitting mauls of similar construction.

Excellent general purpose knife with ''Kabar'' quality as an assurance of dependabilty. Excel in cutting slicing or chopping lot of materials (and keeping and edge!). It is a pretty good hunting knife if sharpen adequately, not as good as a Buck (119 for moose or bear, 105 for deer or smaller ame and 102 for rabbit, grouse or cleaning fish) but close (you can use your thumb or finger over the blade for delicate cuts and the shape of the blade is on par with most clip point knives). I used it on a regular basis for fishing or hunting in backcountry as it is strong enough for any survival task unless you asked it to do some thing outside its league (like batonning a 10'' log, which by the way is totally unneccessary). I own many good knives (bigger like USMC or more specialised like Buck 105 or CRKT Kommer and some good folders like Cold Steel Recon, Spyderco Delica, Sogzilla, Kabar Dozier...) and the only one that, IMO, can compete for a jack of all trade job in backcountry is the Becker BK15 (another Kabar) which is better for cleaning fish and small game and is an outstanding slicer altough I wouldn't hesitate to use it with utmost confidence in a survival situation. As for most of Kabar knives, you have to pay a lot more to get a more useful or dependable knife.

This is the first knife I have ever purchased and I'm more than impressed. After doing a lot of research, I was torn between buying the MK1 and the BK16. What sold me was the kydex sheath that comes with the MK1 and the kraton handle. I have large size hands and the knife fits perfectly, although if my hands were any bigger this knife would be too small. Razor sharp out of the box and very comfortable to carry.

Solid knife overall. I cant find any faults with the knife at all, which is why I buy KA-Bars in the first place. The sheath is total over kill, it has a snap in place lock and two buckle overs. I removed one of the buckles to make it easier to draw from my belt and it still locks in place firmly.