Well well well, we’ve got back-to-back KA-BAR stories here at KnifeNews. Earlier this week we talked about the Les George-designed Cool Name Knife; today we’re taking a look at the Slabby, an overbuilt tribute to the most famous KA-BAR release of them all.
The USMC Fighting Knife is to KA-BAR as the 110 Folding Hunter is to Buck: it is the knife that comes to mind when the company is mentioned, and, just like the 110 gets called the “Buck knife,” the USMC is sometimes called simply a “KA-BAR.” With a history that goes back to the World War II, where it earned its legendary reputation on the belts of soldiers on fronts all over the globe, the USMC is to this day the bestselling model in KA-BAR’s lineup.
As the name implies, the Slabby is a beefed up version of the USMC knife, with a jump up in thickness across the board – in other words, it’s a much more slab-like piece of hardware, although it’s on a near parity blade length-wise with its predecessor. But the name also refers to the fact that, unlike the stick tang USMC, the Slabby has a slab construction, otherwise known as a full tang. As KA-BAR themselves point out, this opens the door for much easier modification in terms of pimping out the handle scales and other handle elements.
Speaking of the handle elements, beneath the Slabby’s 6.8-inch 1095 Cro-Van blade, there are large GFN handle scales affixed with a pair of big bolts. They have a curved, barrel-like sculpting to them that echoes the profile of the stacked leather grip on the USMC, and it’s easy to see how knife modders could have a field day with this particular knife. Other candidates for “field day-having” with the Slabby include soldiers and outdoorsmen of all stripes – anybody in need of rock-solid reliability in their cutting tool, or with a penchant for the overbuilt.
The Slabby is available now.
Knife in Featured Image: KA-BAR Slabby
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