Customer Reviews

Ka-Bar Bull Dozier Knife

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I can't vouch, one way or the other, for the quality of the knife itself. Although the knife was designed by a famous knife designer, the SHEATH must have been designed by Mickey Mouse. Here's why I say this: For starters, the snaps on the 2 'hold-down-straps' (for the knife handle), are so poorly aligned that it becomes a tug-of-war to bring the 2 straps together and get them to 'snap-closed'. It can take 5-10 attempts to secure the hold-down-straps around the handle. Then, when you un-snap it, the clasping action feels so 'wimpy' that it feels as if the snaps will wear out after (let's say) 50 openings and closing. Then there's the matter of the sheath itself. If you insert the knife all the way down into the sheath to the 'locking position', you get engaged in another tug-of-war to try to extract the knife from the sheath. It's so tightly locked-in-place, that you have to grab-hold of the sheath with one hand, and FORCIBLY (and I mean FORCIBLY!) pull the knife out of the sheath with other hand. (Believe me, I have other Kydex sheaths that lock the knife into place, but none of them require anything close to the strength it requires to extract this Ka-Bar from the locked-in position of its sheath.) As for the sheath size, it's so poorly designed that just a few insertions and extractions of the knife will wear-off the black coating from the wider portions of the knife, leaving visible scrathes on the knife's black coating. Then, as for the 'mounting' holes on the perimeter of the sheath, they are too far apart to accommodate Ka-Bar's standard "1480 Law Enforcement Belt Clip" that fits so many of their other knives. And, I could not find a Belt Clip anywhere online that would match the sheath 'hole positions' on this knife. What would have been so wrong if they had made the holes fit their standard "1480 Law Enforcement Belt Clip"? All-in-all, though, according to the other reviewer, the knife may be of good quality, as to how the SHEATH functions, it would have been better to just make it a plain, standard, leather sheath. [Follow-up: As to the well-intentioned reviewer that later said that some of us should have given the sheath more of a chance by extracting the knife several times to wear-down the tight 'catch', I want to point out that I wasn't about to keep inserting-and-extracting-and-inserting (etc.) the knife, as in my review, I said that "...just a few insertions and extractions of the knife will wear-off the black coating from the wider portions of the knife, leaving visible scrathes on the knife's black coating." In any case, I found another hard plastic sheath from a cheaper knife (on Amazon) that fits this Kabar even better than the cheap knife it was designed for. I think it goes by the name of "jungle master", or something like that.]

I purchased 2 Bull Doziers, one for myself, and the other as a gift for a knife afficienado and Marine (I'm US Army myself). Although an Asian Ka-Bar, the quality level is very high. Full tang, of course. High-quality Aus steel holds an edge well. You can chop down small trees with this beast, with no damage to the blade. Balance is very good, and the knife grips well. You could run over the resin-plastic sheath with an M1 Abrams, and it wouldn't be scratched. Knife was a bit difficult to unsheath at first, but gets easier after sheathing and unsheathing 5 - 10 times. Overall, very pleased with my purchase from Amazon. Oh, my Marine buddy loves his Ka-Bar as well, and he rates it as his fave Ka-Bar, and he owns 6 now.

First off...I completely agree that the sheath is a PITA! I also agree that unsheathing the knife could be dangerous...to oneself and to others. However, the knife is excellent..and has a thicker grip than similar knives..so the user can get a secure grip.

Q: Why is it a common and accepted practice to "break-in" a firearm holster (aka, sheath), if that holster is too tight, but to not break-in a knife sheath? Having said that, I have worked with the sheath and have my worked so that I can remove the knife by pressing against the sheath with my thumb.

Further...the "mouth" of this sheath is good and wide! It's annoying to spend upwards of a hundred on a fixed blade, only to find that the sheath mouth is a sliver of space, requiring the user to look closely at the sheath in bright light just to return the blade.

With it being Ka-Bar, it is a great strong durable knife. The sheath is a pain to work with, but I figured out a way to break it in. You can work the knife a bunch of times in an out to break int the sheath, but a little easier way to break it in is by pulling the knife out just a little bit and leave it there for a few hours a day when you're not using it and it breaks the sheath in real easy.

out of the box it was less than sharp, easily fixed but Ka-Bars normally are crazy sharp. The knife looks cool and handles well but the sheath is marginal. Ka-Bar should make this knife in D2 steel to make it interesting, the way it is it's just another big knife.

As others have said the sheath is mediocre at best.

The knife does have a good size weight and balance to it. If you are familiar with the different functions of different components of a knife this is a well engineered knife. Good ergonomics don't know that I will ever trust it to rely on it as my only knife in the wild due to the fact that the blade is manufactured in Taiwan.

I purchased this knife but ended up returning it. The pictures don't do this knife justice -- it is far bigger than it is made to appear. My hands are fairly large, but I found the handle cumbersome even for me. The balance was a bit off as well. I can't comment on durability. The blade was not very sharp out of the box, but nothing that a pocket sharpener couldn't fix (AUS-8 sharpens easily). I did not have the problems with the sheath that other reviewers mention -- mine was, at best, a little stiff, but seemed to work well enough (though quality was lacking). Bottom line, if you want a backpacking / survival fixed blade, this is not a great choice as it is bigger and heavier than its photo or stats suggest, but too small for machete work. If you want a bigger knife and are not concerned about weight / size, it's a ok non-USA made option for the price.

Wonderfully balanced and great feel in the hand. Also, a very elegant design. The blade is hollow ground and thin and not too hard so you can get it really really sharp. Its perfect for skinning and even fileting. That's why I got it. It is full tang all around the handle. The blade is a hefty 5mm (.197") thick. Full tang all around the handle. I love the handle. The handle is a combination plastic/g10 inserts that sticks to your hand. It has good choils and a top choil/guard so its comfy to use in any slicing cutting slashing etc.

The sheath is wonderful. It is snug enuf to hold the knife in securely without the strap which is tricky to design and I really like. I prefer the kydex so it will stand up in the rain, bilge of a boat, saltwater etc. Note, the sheath is extremely tight at first, but eases up after a dozen repeated sheathings and breaks-in to an excellent snug feel. Obviously this had to been engineered-in by Dozier. Too bad the other reviewers here didn't give it a chance.

I am a scouter in Utah. I have beaten knives to death in the past with scouts and outdoors activities. I was looking for a new knife to use on camp outs and backpacking trips. The other usage would be for survival. I did my homework on many knives and plan on purchasing others, but this one fit all of my expectations. The grip is rather comfortable for a large handled knife. The sheath was definitely stiff to begin with, but after sheathing and drawing it multiple times a day for about a week, it has loosed to the point where it will remain sheathed unless I apply moderate pressure with my thumb on the case while drawing it. It isn't the sharpest out of box knife I've owned, but has dealt with the torturous abuse of young men. It has been dropped off of cliffs, left out in the rain, run over by a few cars. It has obviously lost edge over prolonged usage, but still cuts a rope with surprising ease. I would recommend this knife as one of a set. As an all in one knife, there are many personal requirements that need to be met.

Definitely worth a look into for moderate usage.

I recieved the Knife today and immediately put it to work for I am looking for a knife for a number of upcoming cross country hikes..I have 40 years of hiking experience in the Sierra's Adirondacks and now the Southern Forests. I have over 30,000 miles of trail hiking and untold numbers of cross country which I prefer to get away from the "Club" people...

The first thing I did was to chop down and de-limb a small pine tree in my back yard, it was 4-5 inches thick at the base and about 20 feet tall. I wore leather gloves while doing so, which I normally wear while cross country hiking. A bit sore in the web of the thumb area. I wish the handle was a bit more thicker and rounder..The blade withstood all the punishment with barely a mark other than pine sap on it! I then dug up some Dandelion Roots and cut them up for a salad along with the leaves. A bit more damage to the coloration of the blade but not much. I then cut some hemp and artifical fiber rope, and Parachute cord into lengths and practiced throwing it at a plywood target. Still sharp enough to slice up a home grown tomato and to make a diagonal cut through my Salami and cheese on Rye..

I think that is pretty abusive for the first two hours of ownership...It passed all my tests with flying colors...One down side, well the only down side,,,is the Sheath, as mentioned by so many other posters...Do not plan on taking it out of the Sheath in a hurry, or if needed quickly in an emergency, unless you have a normal pull strength of 10 - 15 pounds.. I only hope it gets easier to pull out with use...That or I will custom make my own Sheath with a Sharping stone pocket included...So far a great overall knife in the same class as my just retired 10 year old K-Bar Quartermaster knife..