Help with Kabar with wood handle?

S

signchaser

Joined
Feb 14, 2012
Messages
3
Hello, I bought this knife this weekend from an elderly lady. She said her uncle pappy sent it home during the war because he had 2 and wanted it kept unused! She said he was a decorated pilot...
Any how it's a 7 inch blade, marked USMC kabar olean NY...The sheath is also marked kabar usmc....The handle is made of WOOD and NOT leather!
Inside the belt loop I found the name Greg Boyington MFS 214...
Any info about this would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance for your help!!!
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I looked with a magnifying glass and I guess it is leather??? sorry...I thought it was wood....
Thats why I brought it here LOL Thanks for the help!!!
 
signchaser said:
I looked with a magnifying glass and I guess it is leather??? sorry...I thought it was wood....
Thats why I brought it here LOL Thanks for the help!!!
Click to expand...

Welcome to the Kabar Forum and Bladeforums, sign. Glad you're here.

Yeah, that's a leather handle, just well worn and lookin' good. :D

I'm an idiot sometimes.

Moose
 
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Two things to note.

1) The handle IS leather. Kabar compromises the leather so hard that when it's machine it leaves chatter meters around the handle from the shaping operation just like wood. And the sweat and grime from use age it to a dark walnut color so It's not wonder you thought it was wood.If you look at the grain in the handle layers in the top pic closely you can see it's clearly a leather washer handle. I had a girl friend about 15 years ago who constantly called Cowboy boots with natural colored stacked Leather heels "wooden heeled" boots. I tried to explain to her they were actually stoked leather, but her brain could not comprehend who that was done..

2) The name written on that sheath is a bit interesting. Gregory "Pappy" Boyintgon commanded a Marine Fighter Squadron- VMF-124 in WWII as well as being a Flying Tiger and a Medal of Honor recipient . He was a childhood hero of mine..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pappy_Boyington
 
WOW!!! That is really interesting! When she said her uncle Pappy, I just thought it was her dad or grandfather?(pappy?)
But Pappy is his knickname!!! That is so cool! Thanks Jim!
 
Jesus Christ, you telling me that you got "Pappy" Boyingtons Kabar!?!?!?!

Shit man, that thing belongs in a museum.

Jim, it caught me off guard, MFS 214, oh snap.

With their renowned squadron leader Greg “Pappy” Boyington, Marine Fighting Squadron (VMF) 214 was one of the best-known and most colorful combat units of World War II. The popular television series Baa Baa Black Sheep added to their legend—while obscuring the truly remarkable combat record of the Black Sheep and Boyington. A retired naval flight officer and former historian for the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation, Bruce Gamble provides a highly readable account that serves to both correct and extend the record of this premier fighting force

Moose
 
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This piece is either a complete fake or else something Boyington signed not long before he died in 1988, but even that is doubtful because he would not have written "MFS 214" - he would have written VMF-214. This knife is now on ebay and it clearly shows this is one of those Kabars made beginning in the 1970's for the civilian market. The sheath clearly has large USMC letters stamped on it as well as the Marine Corps emblem and that is 100% NOT a WWII piece.

Sadly this thing is on ebay with naive bidders buying into the story. Hopefully none of them will be enticed to bid much than the $31 it's up as of this writing on Apr. 29, 2012. That's about what the knife's worth without the writing and since it's almost certainly not Boyington's, it could be argued the writing lowers the value. If you look at Boyington's autograph, he used "Pappy" not "Greg" or used both, and I cannot find any examples where he did not use Pappy. And, again, he would have never used "MFS" instead of "VMF" Someone cooked up this fraud - on another knife the person who started this thread said "I paid 100 for it...I will take it back to her and get my money back!" after being presented with the facts.
 
Here is the current listing. The seller has been contacted by several already telling him that the knife is not period. The seller has been telling them that he is willing to refund if the buyer isn't happy, and that others tell him the knife is genuine. He also states that since the posters who question the authenticity of the knife can’t establish their own qualifications as experts he feels he is proceeding properly.
The first thing that jumps out at me is that no questions or comments have been added to this auction. It’s my understanding that there is nothing in the Bay’s rules to prevent this from happening during an active auction. So why don’t we see the questions?

I can only assume at this point that Signchaser was able to return this knife and hope he will come by and verify this. The seller has 1340 transactions with 100% satisfaction. That doesn’t give me confidence in the Bay’s process.

It bothers me that many buyers would likely feel confidence on bidding on this item due to the sellers many transactions and perfect rating.

IMHO if I were selling an item that I believed to be as I was advertising it to be and several questions arose as to it’s authenticity I’d feel compelled to do further due diligence verify what it was.
This should be a life lesson for us. Don’t buy the story buy the item. Don’t rely on the kindness of strangers.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/WW-II-Milit...864?pt=Collectible_Knives&hash=item20c5068b28
 
Definitely a fake. What a shame people have to be such thieves. Here's a page that shows Pappy's sig: http://www.leisuregalleries.com/boying.html

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If you Google image Pappy Boyington signature, you'll see other examples. Notice how the y and g stay together in a fluid motion, while the fake stops, then resumes on the y and g. The sig on the leather looks more manuscript than cursive, however.

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Btw, the magic marker was invented in 1953, by Sidney Rosenthal. As stated before, it could have been signed at a later date, but, I'm not buying it.
 
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That's a late 70s or early 80s Ka-Bar. Thin black spacer, large font, pinned heavy pommel (late WWII Ka-Bars had a pinned THIN pommel), offset blade, embossed sheath. I owned one exactly like it last year.

If you ask the experts over at http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/, they will confirm this. Frank Trzaska is over there, among others.
 
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If it sounds to good to be true.....Also, some of the e-bay photos look to be the same as the OP's. E bay says bought a few weeks ago, this post says last weekend. Which is it?
 
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