Could Someone Please Identify and Date this Knife for me?

sassafrassdogs

sassafrassdogs

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Jul 21, 2016
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I have 2 of these. I believe 1 has been polished to remove coating the other 1 is has a blackened blade otherwise they are identical, sheath included...This is the 1 that is polished, I think it has been polished, anyway...

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sassafrassdogs sassafrassdogs Beautiful blades. What you have are Kabar Commandos. These could be bought at the PX during WW2. The polished one is chrome plated and was for ship board service to resist corrosion. The other blade is parkarized and quite a bit more desirable. The condition looks excellent but what is really nice is the condition of the sheath. Very nice examples for sure. One of the other more knowledgeable members should be along shortly with more insite. P.S. The Kabar guard mark is upside down which is normal on the Commando. Tanker
 
You guys should also note that the parkerized non-fuller knives also have very different pommels than the chrome versions. I have never seen ANY evidence that the chrome ones were meant for shipboard use or that there were more of them offered in Naval PXs than army PXs. Parkerizing is also a good corrosion inhibitor, it was not done simply for concealment. Note that all of the USN MK 2s and most of the USN MK 1s have parkerized blades. Levine (although he is not always right) says that around 500,000 of these "commando" knives were made. It is also not known how many of each version were made but the chrome ones seem to be more plentiful yet I have seen at least as many mint parkerized ones as mint chrome ones. Neither version had a sheath that would fit on an issue pistol belt but I have seen sheaths modified with the wire hanger to fit those belts. Seems a little strange to me that sheaths were made so they would only fit on a more regular civilian type of belt, I can't imagine anyone wearing two belts in a combat situation.
 
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Sass, I seriously doubt the park has worn off from going in and out of the sheath. The blade is fairly worn and sharpened down, I think the loss of finish was more due to a lot of use and consequent cleaning. Parkerizing is a very tough and durable finish and would not be worn off from simply going in and out of a leather sheath even if done so a thousand or more times.
 
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Here are a couple of unsharpened, likely unused ones. Note that the proper sheaths for the chrome ones have larger rivets and snaps and also are better made with an extra layer of leather so the blade will never hit the sewn seam or rivets. The proper sheaths for the Parkerized ones have smaller rivets and snaps and are more cheaply made with no leather barrier for the blade. Both sheaths will have fully finished shiny leather backs as opposed to rough leather backs. I have examined near 100 of these knives and own five or so of each and the sheaths when original all fit these criteria. They are surely handsome knives!
 
open
open
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qYiuqFv6gaPgKIhOJd_v9qgQOefHRort
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1xhLb2uNOmyduUkaGSG9oBgdGbL5wUXsv
Can anyone help me identify these KA-BARs?
Thank you for any help!
 
Tanker 1/66 Tanker 1/66 The first has Camillus, New York U.S.A stamped into the blade, and USMC on the sheath. The second has USMC stamped on one side of the blade and KA-BAR Olean, N.Y. on the other side and USMC on the sheath. The third blade has U.S. Camillus on the blade and no marks on the sheath.
There is also https://www.flickr.com/photos/162887077@N08/28162313857/in/dateposted-public/
The Blade on this one says USMC and the Sheath says Howard, Marines, 1944.
Thank you!
 
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