Dog's Head Knives

[zfJames]

Does anyone have any history regarding the Dog's Head that is featured on the KABAR knives? Best thing I have found is "20th century, but we don't know what the symbol means." I thought I would post here to see if there was anything at all about them.

 

[Tanker 1/66]

Does anyone have any history regarding the Dog's Head that is featured on the KABAR knives? Best thing I have found is "20th century, but we don't know what the symbol means." I thought I would post here to see if there was anything at all about them.

This is a Question for the all knowing G gunsil

 

[gunsil]

Sorry, I do not know the origin of the dog head shield. Case made a hunting knife with a dog head pommel, and there are dog head belt buckles supposedly made for Anson Mills Remington ammo belts back in the late 1800s which have a dog head similar to the KA-BAR/Union logo.

 

[zfJames]

Sorry, I do not know the origin of the dog head shield. Case made a hunting knife with a dog head pommel, and there are dog head belt buckles supposedly made for Anson Mills Remington ammo belts back in the late 1800s which have a dog head similar to the KA-BAR/Union logo.

Well, it was certainly worth a shot! Thanks for looking! I wonder if it has some kind of military connection...

 

[gunsil]

I would not think there would be any military connection. Why would one think that?? The original dog head shields on Union cut and KA-BAR knives is a hunting dog head, and all were made well before the Famous KA-BAR 1217 WW2 fighting/utility knives. The original series of dog head knives by Union Cut were all large folding hunter type knives with the smallest at about four inches closed length and most five inches or better. One was a knife/fork combo and one was a knife/fork/spoon combo but big and over five inches closed. One was a switchblade (very rare), the rest were one or two blade folding hunters. They did not make any after WW2 until the late 1970s and then they started putting dog head shields on all kinds of smaller folding knives although I think most were actually made for them by Queen. NONE of the later dog head knives have anywhere the same quality of build as the pre-war original dog head knives which are some of the best and most respected folding hunters ever made.

 

[zfJames]

I would not think there would be any military connection. Why would one think that?? The original dog head shields on Union cut and KA-BAR knives is a hunting dog head, and all were made well before the Famous KA-BAR 1217 WW2 fighting/utility knives. The original series of dog head knives by Union Cut were all large folding hunter type knives with the smallest at about four inches closed length and most five inches or better. One was a knife/fork combo and one was a knife/fork/spoon combo but big and over five inches closed. One was a switchblade (very rare), the rest were one or two blade folding hunters. They did not make any after WW2 until the late 1970s and then they started putting dog head shields on all kinds of smaller folding knives although I think most were actually made for them by Queen. NONE of the later dog head knives have anywhere the same quality of build as the pre-war original dog head knives which are some of the best and most respected folding hunters ever made.

Thanks for more history! I think I just need to keep making factually impossible statements so that I can glean more knowledge from your plentiful supply... Yes, I was (obviously) incorrect to suggest that it could have had a military connection considering that the Dog's Head predates the KABAR 1217. I may have asked you this somewhere else, but do you know of any resources (books, online articles, magazines, historical references) that I could find in order to learn more about KABAR's history? I love reading about historical topics and who doesn't like KABAR history?*

*That was rhetorical, by the way.