Kabar Johnson Adventure Piggyback Knife Black

My first impressions when I saw the specs on the Piggyback were that there was no way a skeletonized knife this small could be useful. Man was I wrong! I ordered it on a whim ($7.20...at the least I could use it for a paring knife in a pinch) and expected the worst. Out of package, the knife is EXTREMELY sharp! In fact, I'd say at least 3-4 times sharper than my SOG Jungle Canopy, which cost me more than 5 times as much! In addition, unlike the Ka-Bar ZK Acheron, blade retention in the supplied sheath is excellent. The knife is made from 5Cr13 steel, which gives me some concerns about rust resistance, but I'm considering Duracoating the knife anyway, so the point is fairly moot. Just be aware that in normal usage, you will need to take care of the knife or it WILL rust on you. At 3-1/8" long, the handle leave something to be desired, but after cord wrapping it, the knife feels much better in hand. The 2-5/8" modified clip point blade is not large by any stretch of the imagination, but the blade shape more than makes up for this. The blade is wide, with a large amount of belly, making it versatile for a large variety of tasks including skinning, slicing, food prep, cutting rope, etc. The gimping, both on the thumb ramp and on the forward part of the blade spine, have good traction, and the forward section increases agility for fine cutting work dramatically. Finally, the full hollow grind makes it very easy to get a razor sharp edge on this knife, and the overall quality of the blade is obvious just from looking at it. Overall, this is an incredibly useful knife for a dizzying array of tasks, and for under $10, the value is off the scale. If you're looking for a neck knife or bugout bag knife, I'd strongly recommend you give the Ka-Bar Piggyback your consideration. There are certainly better options out there, but almost without exception, they are exhorbitantly overpriced. I could have bought 5 of these for the same price as a Becker Necker and laughed all the way to the bank.

OK, doing some reviews I never got to or forgot about.It's cool for what it is. I've bought a few for gifts and for myself years ago. It's nice for it's purpose, a piggyback. It's ultra-light, thin, small, Ka-Bar, inexpensive and sharp. I love the two location jimping. To be honest though, I've owned them for years now but never needed to use them. I have a few mid to large to ex-large knives and I had these in sheath pouches for small tasks or skinning but, I always have at least one pocket/EDC Knife on me always so it's never pulled out. But, like I said, it's ultra-light, thin, small, inexpensive and sharp. Oh, now I remember, the cheap plastic blade sheath... It's crap! If it actually retained the blade and the lanyard hole was actually useful (too small) I would neck-knife it all the time. I actually looked into getting kydex neck knife sheaths made once but the sheath would have been 2,3,4 times more than the price of the knife. I think I paid maybe $8 each, shipped. I would pay $10 or $12 for this if it had a better sheath... It would than be a great deal.

decent knife, but horrid sheath, very heap feel and the blade gives when pressure is applied. I'm not hercules but I think I could snap it. Get the Columbia rock river knives instead....sorry Kabar lost this time.http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0030IX74A/ref=oh_details_o06_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I bought two at the same time. The knives are sealed in a blister pack with their dedicated plastic scabbard. The scabbard is a one-piece, molded plastic "snap-in" type blade cover, with a molded pilot hole at the tip for attaching to a lanyard for wear as a "neck knife." The blade does positively snap into place and will not 'shake' out of it....although it does appear inexpensively made. It is usable and serviceable, nonetheless.The knife itself is fairly thin and measures 1/8" thick at the spine. The tip appears to be in the center line of the knife, the belly of the blade is wide and nicely rounded. The blade itself is hollow ground from the primary edge to the spine, with the exception of the very small swedge. This type of blade profile is often preferred for game processing. The primary edge is only slightly more sharp than that of a butter knife. It will not shave and crudely tears through paper. At the back of the swedge there is a 3/8" long section of jimping that is very well executed and 'grabs' the finger very well. This appears to be best used with your index finger extended to control the tip. The thumb rise also has jimping that works just fine but the cut is wider than the swedge jimping and not quite as "grippy." It still works though.The handle length and width is small for me, my hands are considered "large" by American glove standards. I can get 3 fingers comfortably around the handle but my pinkie is half-off the pommel end. The grind on the handle gives the grip almost a 90* angle to the spine side as well as the handle belly. This is a bit sharp on the hand and will cause 'hot spots' or 'bite' into your hand under moderate-to-heavy use.The handle is skeletonized for weight reduction. The milling that creates the skeletonization though, is crude and rough. Since your hand/fingers don't actually contact it, it should not interfere in any way.This knife is fine for what it is and to me, it's a "sidekick" blade that is meant to "Piggyback" a bigger blade unsuitable for smaller tasks. For the cost, it's a good deal and I intend to use it. For me to use this blade well, I will definitely need to add a handle. It also needs to be properly sharpened.Would I recommend it for a friend? Yes...so long as he understood the capabilities and limits of this knife. It costs less than $23...don't expect an Al Mar.

The piggyback is an amazing knife all around. I am a knife enthusiast, and cant stand not to have one on me at all times. The Piggyback literally weighs almost nothing, so it is carry-able no matter the attire. It sharpens really fine, and cuts true.The only cons i have are the sheath and the ship dull. It ships literally duller then a butter knife, now it will sharpen really well, however it must be kept up a little more then often. The sheath is basic, holds the knife and accomplishes the job, past that, it sucks.