KA-BAR History

[OFFICIAL_KA-BAR]

This section is home to historical items and information of note

[OFFICIAL_KA-BAR]

KA-BAR Knives World War II Advertisement

KA-BAR WWII Advertisement.jpg

[MrKnifekid]

Sweet!! That's interesting.

[OFFICIAL_KA-BAR]

Local legend said knives from the factory that didn't pass inspection were buried under the sidwalks in Olean, NY. In the 1970s the myth was tested. Below is a photo of what became known as "The Dig". The Dig unearthed a treasure trove of old Union Cutlery knives. Are there more buried under sidewalks in Olean? Perhaps...

The Dig.jpg

[MrKnifekid]

Now i've got to travel to New York with a pickaxe.

[OFFICIAL_KA-BAR]

This is a 1925 KA-BAR Advertisement. There is an excellent article on this knife and subsequent advertisement in the latest installment of Knife World Magazine.

-OKB

KA-BAR 1925 AD Photo.jpg

[hawaiianhawk]

Please please please post more of those old advertisements. I love that stuff. It's always so interesting!

[djonzim]

Hello, everyone!

I just joined Blade Forums. My name is Dwight Jon Zimmerman and I am a military history author with 10 books to my
name (and counting), one of them being THE BOOK OF WEAPONS. I've also written more than 100 articles on military
history. My editor has asked me to write a series of articles on military knives and I am doing research on the Ka-Bar. I
would appreciate hearing from anyone with particular stories (preferably military themed) about the use of a Ka-Bar.
It does not have to be a combat--that is, killing--story. You can check out my military history articles at the Defense
Media Network website: www.defensemedianetwork.com. Click on the "Military History" tag and you'll be directed to a
section that has my articles; presently writing a series of World War II 70th anniversary articles. Any help you can provide
will be greatly appreciated and acknowledged in the article.

[scrteened porch]

When was Kabar chrome-plating their blades?

[sac troop]

I’ve been corresponding with Tom Williams recently on a few subjects. For those that may not know he was the official company historian for the Original Camillus Cutlery Company and still has in his possession a lot of unique historical documents for the company.
Below are some scans of what Camillus called “S-Cards”. These were used to process orders. It looks like Camillus was used by KA-BAR to help them launch the Collectors series of the 1217 pattern knives. I imagine this was done to help them get stock in the supply chain while KA-BAR was busy getting their tooling set up to get a knife they hadn’t made for 30 years back into production. After all Camillus had been suppling these knives for the Government and commercial markets for almost 15 years by that time. Note that the dates on the S-Cards are for the early second quarter of 1975.