Submitted by Bar
You know, if you are wanting new technology and newer steels, Ka-Bar now makes the USMC combat knife with D2 tool steel as an option. You can still get it with the stacked leather handle or a new fangled thermal plastic job, and with a partial serration if you must have that. (I prefer the stacked leather! The Corps is all about traditions... like winning!)
The design of the USMC Ka-Bar is a legend and there is no need to change it. It's an all purpose general work, utility and fighting knife that can't be beat.
Just get one with the steel upgraded to the D2 and you have a winner in my book! and it sure isn't $300 either!
ED - Bar, I did some rooting around on the Ka-Bar site for the D2 variant and found this. I assume this is what you're referencing.
For the uninitiated (like me, who had to look this up) D2 tool steel is a high-carbon, high-chromium air-hardened tool steel often used for blanking dies. (A blanking die is a shaped metal punch that is used to cut a specific shape out of softer metal. Think of it as a cookie cutter from hell.) D2 tool steel has a Rockwell HRC "hardness" rating of 59-60. This steel has excellent edge holding ability but is very difficult to process. The standard Ka-Bar is made from 1095 carbon steel, which is somewhat "softer" with an HRC "hardness" rating of 56-58. I would imagine that the D2 version would be more corrosion resistant than the 1095 blade, more durable and hold an edge better than the standard Ka-Bar, but I don't know how easy it would be to re-edge it if you, God forbid, gouged or chipped the edge (I use a mill bastard file on my Kukri, but then it's made from POS leafspring steel too...)
And you're right, it isn't $300, but rather $144 (from the factory) which makes it about twice as expensive as the stock Ka-Bar.
