KA-BAR John Ek Commando Knife Co. - EK44 a 6.625 inch 1095 Cro-Van Steel Blade sets in a Glass Filled Nylon Handle 12.625 inch Overall. 56-58 HRC Made in USA

Just got my KA-BAR / John Ek Commando knife today. Within five minutes I'm sold. The knife, the blade, the handle, guard ... even the sheath, all are awesome. This is definitely a 21st century evolution of a World War II classic. I'm no expert, but I am experienced and have an lifelong appreciation for nice knives. Among my double edged blades, I've an old Fairbairn Sykes, a 1970s Gerber Mk II and the Boker version of the V-42. I've even got an Effingham Ek Model 5. This new collaboration may not be as elegant as the F-B Sykes or the V-42 or be as pretty as the Model 5, but it has a style all its own. It's not polished like the old Model 5, but the black finish and etched John Ek signature, iconic Ek symbol and "commando knife" logo are subtle and classy. The blade's grind and edge geometry -- in 1095 Cro-Van -- lend it to stabbing and slashing. The F-B and V-42 are not known for their slashing abilities. The edge of my example easily shaved my arm clean. The blade is so stout, I wager you could even chop a 2x4 with it. The tip looks strong enough to stab into a 2x4 and pry away. Once I get past the newness of the knife and mix it up, I'll let you know. The handle's ergos are versatile and feel great in hand; the full tang evokes confidence. Some will complain about the "S" shaped guard. Get over it. Instead, appreciate the smooth fit and finish of the glass filled nylon scales and lack of burrs or rough edges where they shouldn't be. How many knives do you own that you've had to go over the handles with sandpaper so you don't get blisters or abrasions? Also, the singular Ek handle geometry allows for tight, close to the guard grip, middle or long distance. The sheath is near perfect. It holds the knife tight, there's no rattle, movement or anything. There are plenty of grommets suitable for lashing and stashing. The back of the belt loops features a small label with the John Ek / Commando Knife logo. Again, subtle and classy. The pommel is classic Ek. In this case a solid protrusion of 1095 Cro-Van. You can crush skulls, jaws, pound nails, pry and otherwise amuse yourself with it. Releasing the knife from the sheath took me a moment to figure out. In addition to a retention strap around the handle, it's got a snap lock feature near the mouth of the sheath that grabs the guard. Pulling straight up, it's difficult to near impossible to release the knife. HINT: Pull the handle slightly AWAY from the belt loop as you pull out the knife and "snick!" it works! Or if that confuses you, pull the belt loop away from the knife as you pull and it works. Either way. My only complaint is what if you don't wanna carry your cool new commando knife on the belt? What if you wanna carry it inside your waist band? That could be a problem, considering the unique release mechanism. A little judicious filing/sanding of the locking bumps might be in order, as would be a little surgery on the belt loop interface. Best suggestion: Invest in quality kydex. I predict if this blade takes off -- and it should! -- there will be a lot of creative kydex available. I'm not a shill: I bought my knife on my own from Amazon. Got it in record time for $99.99, no shipping. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Great knife. Perfect construction and sharp.

As an enthusiast in the knife world I know good steel, bad steel and okay steel. KaBar uses a more than decent steel for their knives that will hold up to tough use if used properly. The steel will take an edge and retains it fairly well but is easy to re-sharpen. Could the material quality be better? Certainly. But do they make a solid product for the price point? Absolutely. From my personal perspective, what we have here is supremely better than KaBar's general 'USMC-style' knife offering for one specific reason: this knife has an actual full tang, not the typical 'rat tail' tang KaBar is known for. This knife has a confident weight to it, and the handle design fits amazingly in the hand--it's a very ergonomically designed knife. The tang even extends beyond the handle for a 'skull crusher' pommel design or could be used as a so-so prying instrument. The blade is surprisingly thick, has a great grind to it and is shaped in a way where I'm confident in its design to be a sturdy knife. The double-edge of this knife more or less is designed for killing, as opposed to being a 'work knife' but it would work well as a camping knife all the same if the user exercises a little extra caution to account for accidents that could present themselves that a single edged knife would not present. That said, the sheath is fine--it's of the same quality as any other KaBar sheath BUT my knife seems to catch a little on inserting due to the angle. Still no big deal, it's a solid sheath. If I could suggest anything it would be making the handles a bit more rigid for gripping texture but even without it you still get a good grip purchase on this thing, the handle is massive anyway. Either way, this was a good purchase, I would buy again and may even buy a 2nd one just so I'll always have one if the first one breaks.

After reading a lot of reviews here, a few things I'd like to add to the input on this knife. I wish I could rate the knife & the sheath separately. I would give the knife a 5 star rating and the sheath a 3 star...thus I gave the set a 4 star. The knife is a self-defense type design, aka the Dagger. It is most like the Fairbairn Sykes fighting knife the Brits had in WWII. It is also very similar to the recent Applegate designed by a contemporary of Fairbairn and Sykes. John Ek took a classic 500-1000 year old design (dagger) and modernized it in a way very close to what the brits did for their "Commando" knife. Double edged, guard, heavy duty pommel ended.... it is designed for use as a fighter for the soldier, LE, self-defense minded person, etc. Why the large handle is the most bizarre question I've read here on the reviews. The answer is that a fighting knife is designed to be held in many configurations; the French grip (fencers grip or saber grip), Ice pick (reverse) and modified reverse grip. This knife is designed to thrust forward as a fencer, or reverse in defensive grip or for sentry removal which is nasty but true. Kabar's version is amazing! I love the single bar stock, the grind, the pommel, the guard, the handle .... everything!!!! I almost despise the sheath. I like the light weight and the holes for lashing to gear, but I hate the lame thumb break and the ramps to secure the knife. I immediately ground these off with my dremel. Once that is done it flies into the hand once the snap is released. You do risk losing the knife easier if you are jump qualified so I would lash with some ranger bands or electrical tape (if you grind off the ramps). Note: if you don't have a dremel you can whittle the ramps off with a small pen knife, file, or even sand it off with a sander. I might make a leather kydex sheath for this as this scabbard is pretty horrible. Hopefully someone will make an after market one? Anyway, it will work for now. It does protect the blade quite nicely. It sucks I had to modify it. Many people on amazon complain the knife is too big or the handle is to big..... you bought a fighting knife!! A real one not a little cute spyderco. If you have been taught knife defense, knife fighting, etc you will immediately appreciate this splendid knife. Is it legal to carry? NOPE, probably not anywhere in the USA unless you are a soldier, LE, or hiking camping and even then its a dagger not a survival knife. Would it work as a survival knife? Yes but the single edged version with false edge would be much better. For a lot of people this will become a safe queen in their collection. It is indeed nice enough for that! I have a small collection of Cold Steel, Blackjack, etc that this would go in but its going right in the survival kit. I have the Kabar soldiers knife for camping which BTW is also really nice with a partially serrated edge and false edge. This Ek will go right next to my other kabar.

Wow, American craftsmanship at its best!

Like many who bought this, I am a knife enthusiast, and own all different types of knives. Most of my knives fall into either EDC folding knives, work knives, or camping/survival knives. The EK 44 is none of these things: it is a self-defense tool, and probably inferior for pretty much anything else. The long, thin-profile, double-edged blade is meant to stab and penetrate, not to chop food, cut rope, or baton wood. If those things are what you want to use a knife for, this knife is not for you. If you want a KA-BAR that does these things, stick with the standard KA-BAR fighting knife (with many models to choose from), or go with the EK 45 if you like the EK models with the thick, full tang. I purchased this knife because I do not own a handgun, and it gives me a better chance than nothing against an attacking predator when hiking. The 1095 Cro-Van steel is proven strong, and I wanted to be confident I could pierce through a bear hide effectively and won't break the knife (again, not the type of situation you want to be in, but I'll take some chance over none, and I feel this knife gives me the best chance over others on the market). Now to the components: Edge: the blade came very sharp (paper-slicing, though not hair-shaving sharp) on both sides. I could probably get it sharper, but as this knife is really meant for stabbing, I feel it is plenty sharp for what it needs to do. The edges comes to a very nice tip, which you need to be careful with because it's very easy to hurt yourself with, or make a stab hole in something if you bump into it. I haven't tested the knife for its intended purpose (for obvious reasons, and hope I never have to), but since it easily pierces wood and thick cardboard boxes, I have no doubt it would work great. I love KA-BAR knives, but a few I have bought have come with unevenly-ground edges. This one however, is perfect, and both edges appear straight and symmetrical as far as I can tell. Blade finish: the blade has a nice black finish on it (parkerized, I believe), which I prefer over the powder-coated black finish of the Becker knives (not to say those knives aren't awesome though: you should own at least one). Along the flat of the blade on one side is stamped "John Ek Commando Knife Co" with the brand symbol, and lower toward the crossguard, "KA-BAR, Olean, NY." On the opposite side near the crossguard "EK 44" is stamped. My finish came with a few scratches, and judging by the color of the blade, taking it in and out of it's thin kydex sheath causes wear over the flat of the blade over time. This wouldn't be a problem for me, however, as if you use the knife frequently, it's going to get scratched and worn, and if you don't, you won't take it out from the sheath enough times for it to make a difference. Hilt: the hilt of all the KA-BAR EK model knives is the same, and I think it's excellent. It has a *real* full tang, that goes all the way through the handle and out the bottom of the pommel. The handle scales are comfortable and very grippy, and can be removed with a screwdriver to clean and oil the tang. The handle is quite long, but this makes it appropriate for even the largest hands, and accommodates a wide number of fighting grips (hammer, fencing, etc.) The balance is also toward the hilt because of this, but it make the edge of the knife extremely fast to maneuver and gives you a lot of control. I'm sure it would be a superb fighting knife, if one ever had to use it this way. Sheath: the kydex sheath is very high quality and fits the knife like a glove, so it basically won't move at all once secured. A common complaint about the sheath is that it has two plastic ramps that lock down over the crossguard to secure the knife, which can make the knife fairly difficult to remove quickly (particularly with one hand, though it gets better with practice). Apparently, people have been pretty easily able to remedy this by filing down the ramps, after which the knife comes out quite easily- though you'd be sacrificing a bit of security for ease of removal. It should be noted that this is a rare factory sheath that is made in the USA (it is stamped "KA-BAR, U.S. EK" on the front, and "Made in U.S.A., Olean, New York" on the back). One reviewer of the EK 43 (which uses the exact same sheath) reported that his sheath had a "made in Taiwan" tag on it. However, I contacted KA-BAR, and a representative told me the sheath is indeed made in the U.S., so I believe this buyer must have been given an aftermarket sheath by the seller instead. You shouldn't have this problem if you buy from an official KA-BAR dealer. Overall, if all remains well and safe, I will never have to use this knife (besides to occasionally stab a box open happily to justify paying for it). However, I am confident in the build and feel of this knife, that if I were ever in serious trouble, it would hold through and protect me better than most other knives on the market. *5 out of 5 stars*

The knife: solidly built, good heft, excellent grinds, great balance. The blade material seems the same as a Ka-Bar USMC knife I've had for 40 years, which has held up well to hard use. Out of the box, the point was needle sharp, but factory edges were on the dull side. A few minutes honing brought it to shaving sharpness. Balance point is in the handle, on the lower half of the first handle screw from the guard. The only gripe I have is the S-shaped guard. For me, it would be better if both quillons bent towards the tip, rather than one towards the tip and one towards the butt. It's a double-edged knife - there is no reason to have to figure out which side the edge is on in the dark, hence no need for an S-shaped guard. It fits tightly in the sheath, probably too tight. The retention lugs on the sheath which grab the guard make it a pain to draw, and impossible to draw quickly in an emergency. I'll probably let it ride with the guard outside the lugs until I can have a proper sheath made for it. That leaves about a half inch or so of the ricasso unsheathed, but it's a better option than getting dead because the knife wouldn't come out of the sheath when you need it to.

Love the Ek. My favorite knife. Not a fan the sheath/scabbard. But, most from the factory sheaths/scabbards aren't great. I need to get better with Kydex.