A friend of mine just graduated High School and is joining the Marines.  For a graduation gift, I was thinking about getting him either a Ka-Bar or a SOG Powerlock.  Does anyone on here have any thought on which would be better?  Thanks for your input.

 

Josh

I personally like SOG better then Ka-Bar but it depends honestly on what you are getting him the knife for.  Display/novelty or use and functionality. 

 

Ka-Bar has some nice commemorative USMC knives such as OIF, OEF, 9/11, POW/MIA.  These look really neat and would make a really cool gift.

 

I can't speak on Ka-Bar folding knives because Ive never owned one but I love my SOG! This is what I carry with me daily (sog trident in acu camo)  both are great companies so I dont think you can wrong with either choice...

 

Depends. Is it a commerative gift or functional. For his pocket or deployment in the field...when my son came out of PI his uncle gave him a gorgous 10" kbar with USMC commerative inscriptions all over it but too nice to use! For infantry deployment he, and others, picked up the Ontario pilots knife.5" blade and very solid and durable. Just food for thought....congrats to your friend.

I would suggest a multi tool. He will get a lot of use out of it during his enlistment. The KA-Bar would be a cool gift as said above but if your looking to get him something for functionality purposes I would go with a multi tool or a good folding knife.

Just make sure if you are buying him a knife to take with him on deployment, there are restrictions for what is allowed on the planes to and from deployments.... When we left Afghanistan last year, SOOOOOO many knives were taken by Customs both in Afghanistan and if they got past customs there, the customs in Kyrgyzstan (gateway to afghanistan for the military).  Bear has a great point the multi tools are fantastic. 

One other note, the preference among the guys with my son was for black finishes not shiney metal. One less thing to reflect a sun flash in the field.

For function and value I would definitely look at Ontarios lines. Even the RAT series is great. Like a RAT 5.

 

If you want to stay with function or for deployment also look at ESEE knives. They were the first developed and then the designs were licensed to Ontario. Ontario by the way makes many of our current military knives.

from experience get him a real, full sized Ka-bar.  Hajji is a blade oriented culture, they respect the blade.  If they see you with a blade they respect you.  When I was in the sandbox I carried a Real Ka-bar and a tomahawk, yup a tomahawk.  If you can find one look for a WWII vintage Ka-bar, they are higher quality steel with higher carbon content.  They were made for use not display like today's modern made ones.  I am heading to a shop today that normally has a bunch of them and will find out the price if you are interested. 

19 years in the Infantry and the only knife I ever used was a Gerber multi-tool. 

 

I never fell into that whole : "Well, if I have to fight with my knife" mentality.  If it was that bad, I'd probably be swinging around my entrenching tool.

 

It wasn't until about a year ago that someone gave me an Carson Design M16-14ZSF that I started carrying a real knife and quite honestly, I use it more for opening MRE's and cutting 550 cord than I do for opening up Haji from gut to gullet.

 

I can see useful situations for a Tomahawk, though.  Especially if its flat on one end for hammering and has and ax blade on the other.  Not that I would use one- I'm a platoon sergeant.  I'm going to sit in a camp chair, smoke a cigar and drink coffee while one of my hard-charging privates uses the tomahawk.  

 

One possibility would be to Gungrips.net and order a custom set of Beretta92FS / M9 gun grips with the Eagle, Globe and Anchor emblem and his initials.  But he may get ragged for that if he just enlisted.  That's the sort of thing I can get away with - not him.

 

Quite honestly, the best gift you could give him is Under Armor sock liners.

I was downed aircraft recovery so a tomahawk was one of the most useful tools I could ever have. 

I was downed aircraft recovery so a tomahawk was one of the most useful tools I could ever have. 

 

I could see lots of uses, especially in Cordon and Search for opening doors - or just as a useful hammer.

Ontario Knives Aire Force Survival knife on sale...  This appears to be a great price.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Ontario-Knives-Force-Survival-Sheath/dp/B001C443VA/ref=sr_1_2/175-5284024-9697647?ie=UTF8&qid=1372260987&sr=8-2&keywords=ontario+knives+air+force

thank you all for the great advice.  In the end, I decided to go with the SOG powerlock EOD.  It seemed like thats what he'd get the most use out of.

Now you'll have to get something for yourself! haha
 
I just got a batch of handmade Damascus blades in. Nothing I like more then a nice blade... Actually I can think of a couple other things, but blades are surely nice!!!

 

Get him a a Ka-Bar. Lot's of tradition there. This one was supposed to have been on Omaha beach

(the knife not the M1) on the first day of the landings. Can't prove it either way, but it feels like it has a lot of stories to tell.

 

But we all know the Ka-bar originated for the USN........

 

Had to fire up my time machine for that bad boy.  Nothing like having a 70yr old knife that is brand new.

But we all know the Ka-bar originated for the USN........

 

Had to fire up my time machine for that bad boy.  Nothing like having a 70yr old knife that is brand new.

But you know we made it famous haha

 

Very nice KA-Bar by the way.