The Kabar 2-1282-6 D2 Extreme fighting knife comes with a great pattern, shape and size. Being an update of the once popular Ka-Bar Marine Combat knife, this knife brings with it new features and thus offers great advantage over a bunch of other fighting knife designs. All the new features of this knife such as the thicker and sturdier stilt are positive and thus make it one of the best fighting knife.
The very first Kabar knife I bought and field tested was Kabar D2 – Extreme Fighting Knife. Before purchasing it I spared sometime in rest hours to think about it on internet for a whole month. The reason for that delay was because I was very satisfied with Kabar USMC knife version. I borrowed one traditional Kabar USMC from a friend, kept it for few days. I didn’t find a reason why I should pay almost double price for a same design knife. But after making my decision, I found it was a waste of time worrying about its quality.
Kabar D2 Extreme Fighting Knife is produced by the legendary Ka-Bar cutlery. The famousKa-Bar brand gained its reputation for quality and reliability when the knives were first used by the military during the Second World War.
The Ka-Bar 2-1282-6 D2 Extreme fighting knife is made with a clip point shape and a 20-degree blade that is 7 inches long. The 11-7/8 inches long blade of the knife is made of D2 steel. This makes the blade much harder than most fighting knives available in the market.
As I said before I’m living and working for my own business in South East Asia. This area has got almost all of the hardest trees in the world ! Some kinds of wood here are incredibly hard ! against these hard woods, the super tough and excellent edge holding ability of D2 steel is really an advantage. The Kabar D2 Extreme Fighting Knife can do anything as chopping, digging, cutting, prying, fighting, hammering,...Yes, it could handle almost any hard test that you can think of. It went through all my tortures and become one of the best fixed blades in the market I put my trust on. It is perfect for heavy duty use in outdoor activities.
A tough knife has a great advantage that you do not have to worry about sharpening it frequently. I went for survival trips by myself 5 - 6 times after I purchased Kabar D2. In the forest, with this knife I could do anything. I could chop down small trees to build a shelter, cut hard branches to build a fire, dig into ground to find worms for my fishing, and much more…
The D2 steel is sometimes referred to semi stainless steel as it can resist corrosion better than carbon steel does. This is one of another big plus because in such humid weather of South East Asia, moisture in the atmosphere is always high. And there are also a lot of rivers and waterfalls. Going to the wild in this area means you usually get wet .Semi Stainless steel of Kabar D2 Extreme Fighting Knife really helped. It kept me away from many potential issues.
Although Kabar D2 steel is semi stainless, its blade is usually coated with some special paint that helps make it more resistant to rust. I found that this coating got lost after a few survival adventures. Just like everything else, special care is required to make your knife last longer. But I have to say that, the blade and the coating are both OK in general.
Although the blade is razor sharp, durable, has excellent edge retaining ability, it would becomes dull after hard use such as batonning pieces of wood, chopping bamboo trees (very hard) and more… To sharpen it, I used some cheap Japanese wet stones to. The stones cost about 5 – 10 USD per unit. I kept them in my package along with Kabar D2 Extreme Fighting Knife. Those stones have never let me down.
I also want to tell you about the Kabar D2’s very durable handle. It is made of Kraton G. The handle is usually in black, making the whole knife look beautiful as the blade is also black. “All black” brings the knife a “dangerous” impression along with its fighting/utility design. Like Kabar USMC, Kabar D2’s handle is made to fit our hand perfectly well with greatest grip. Being an outdoor knife, the handle has finger grooves which can increase friction and improve grip. I can easily use this knife even when my hands get wet as it can hardly slip off my hand.
Warning: you should add a paracord tying your Kabar D2 knife with your wrist if possible. The producer designed a small hole at the end of handle for this purpose. One day I used this knife to chop a very big hard tree to make way, it accidentally slipped off my hand and flew toward one of my friends nearby.
Thanks God he still alive. But he never get closer to me when I chop something again.
I chose Ka-Bar 2-1282-6 D2 version. The knife also comes with a kydex sheath. In comparison with a nylon sheath or leather sheath, Kydex sheath does not trap water or vapor inside the sheath when you use it in a wet environment, thus it prevent the blade from getting rust. Believe me, choosing kydex sheath will makes you totally satisfied carrying your knife around.
My Kabar D2 Extreme Fighting Knife surely offers me numerous benefits. I can use it to cut and chop firewood to build a fire on hunting trips. I can also use it for cutting; cleaning and skinning and even fishing. I admit there aren’t many wild animals to catch here in South East Asia today. Sometimes with good luck I can catch a small deer but I release right after that. Wild animals have disappeared rapidly in South East Asia because of over exploitation. In my trips, the main food source often comes from fish and wild berries. As you may know, catfishes are easy to catch with a simple fishing rod built with some bushcrafting skills and my Kabar D2 Extreme Fighting Knife.
If you love camping, then this is the perfect knife for you. On a camping trip you can use it to set up your tent by hammering tent stakes and clearing small bushes. You can also use it to open food cans and do some wood processing game. It also important to remember that Kabar D2 is not merely a survival knife, it’s a kind of fighting knife. There are some other survival knives that can outperform Kabar D2 in fighting, but if you can’t get them then Kabar D2 is an excellent alternative – I’m sure!
If you are in the army then this knife is an ideal weapon for self-defense. They said USMC is hard to wrong you know. I personally don’t 100% trust anything until I test it by myself. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any grizzly bear in here for my Kill-a-Bear knife exercises.
As a great fighting/utility knife, I can use Kabar D2 Extreme Fighting Knife for digging holes to build fires or defending myself against an enemy. As one of the best Kabar knife ever, this knife is made with the right length that enables it to fit any military cutting needs. It is heavy, strong and always stays sharp for a pretty long time.
“The knife is also a little bit light for ordinary survivalist. In fact it was too light in my opinion. This may or may not be an advantage depending on your point of view, but for someone who has to carry everything on his back, it’s perfect.”
Kabar D2 Extreme Fighting Knife is not a full tang knife and therefore you should not baton it. But if you want – just did it! It’s hard as hell ! One summer day I tried to baton it into a coconut tree. The blade was ¾ inch into the tree trunk. Then I stepped on the handle and stand there for 2 minutes. I want to see whether it was cracked or not. It wasn’t. I also want to say I’m 140lbs, 67”8 from head to toe. And Kabar D2 knife can bear me with its rat tail tang!
All in all the Kabar D2 Extreme Fighting Knife is an excellent all round knife for outdoor activities. It is excellent for fighting, digging, cutting, prying, chopping and hammering. This is a kind of knife that all military, paramilitary and civilian who love survival expeditions should get. Of course the main design of Kabar D2 is a fighting knife design. However I found it can be an ideal survival knife.
So after much deliberation I chose this knife for my primary tool knife. It becomes one of my best friends in the jungle. It’s trustable, durable, hardcore and fit to my needs. Of course as other best friends it’s not perfect. However, I love it. It always has a slot in my survival bag. If you like this knife just like me, you can get Kabar D2 Extreme Fighting Knife here on Amazon. I'm sure you'll love it!
