KA-BAR 1245, fake or real?

W

Winefrog

Joined
Dec 22, 2022
Messages
7
Hello there I’m new to here, I’ve recently purchased a KA-BAR Tanto 1245 however had some concerns about its authenticity. Just a few things I’ve noticed after watching some unboxing videos and having looked at reviews of the knife which are a bit different to mine, first thing is the stamps on the knife itself. Mine does have the “KA-BAR OLEAN NY” on one side however the other side is completely blank, and from looking at photo’s and videos of the knife it should have “USA 1245” stamped on the other side. Second of all I know KA-BAR knives are usually quite sharp fresh out the box, mine doesn’t seem to be that sharp if I’m being perfectly honest. And finally the actual box that the knife has arrived in, I know that’s the standard KA-BAR box however from looking at unboxing videos of the Tanto 1245 it usually comes in a different looking black box.

Anyway below is a link to some images of the knife I’ve received:
KA-BAR Tanto 1245

Would just prefer to know if it is fake so I can send it back straight away and purchase from somewhere else, I know what you’re thinking and that’s why don’t I contact the official KA-BAR support? Well for some reason it seems like here in the UK we’re unable to actually access the official KA-BAR website, or even send an email to their customer support email address. I don’t know if this is because you can only access the website in the USA or whether it’s just an issue for me, any other UK lot here let me know if you’ve had any luck getting on the official KA-BAR website or getting in contact with them?

UPDATE:

So, after some thinking I looked more into why it unable to access the official KA-BAR website. In the end I decided to download a VPN and run my network through a USA server, and bingo! It worked. So it definitely is an issue with being in the UK and for some reason not being able to access their website, anyhow I used the opportunity whilst on the website to dig a little deeper. I’ve sent a message using KA-BAR’s internal customer support service and will hopefully receive a response back from that soon, but I also looked at the product listing for the KA-BAR 1245 on the site. In the description it actually says the following:

“The Tanto blade shape, of Asian influence, has a thick pointed blade that's good for penetration. Coupled with a glass-filled nylon sheath this knife is designed for the toughest of tasks. Hard plastic MOLLE compatible sheath included. Please note a rolling change has been made to the markings on the Black Kraton G Fighting/Utility Knives. The "USA" marking has been removed and you may receive a knife without this marking. Only the marking has changed; this is not a change to where or how these products are made.”

So they have in fact removed the “USA” marking from the knife, however it doesn’t say anything about removing the model number, in this case being the “1245”. I’m assuming if they remove the USA stamp then they would remove the model number too? However hopefully when I get a response from their customer service this will be fully clarified.
 
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It's my understanding that, since there is some rule/law that states that something has to be a certain percentage of "U.S.A." materials/labor before it can be labled "Made in the U.S.A.", Ka-Bar abandoned the "U.S.A." blade stamps/markings a few years back. If I'm not mistaken, it had to do with the source of their steel.

I'm gonna' go dig through a few boxes and see if the Ka-Bar boxes have changed within the last few years. I seem to remember that ESEE's boxes have gone from a basic white to a printed version. However, I can't recall if Ka-Bar has made any changes to their boxes.


If you bought from a reputable Dealer, and for the above reason (*concerning the blade markings), I think you're fine. However, as usual, pics are always a good thing. (*EDIT- Disregard, I just noticed your link. Sorry)
 
Alone said:
It's my understanding that, since there is some rule/law that states that something has to be a certain percentage of "U.S.A." materials/labor before it can be labled "Made in the U.S.A.", Ka-Bar abandoned the "U.S.A." blade stamps/markings a few years back. If I'm not mistaken, it had to do with the source of their steel.

I'm gonna' go dig through a few boxes and see if the Ka-Bar boxes have changed within the last few years. I seem to remember that ESEE's boxes have gone from a basic white to a printed version. However, I can't recall if Ka-Bar has made any changes to their boxes.


If you bought from a reputable Dealer, and for the above reason (*concerning the blade markings), I think you're fine. However, as usual, pics are always a good thing.
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Ah thank you, that’s good news then. There’s a link on my original post to some images of the knife I’ve received but I’ll stick them here as well:

https://imgur.com/a/aWFCsaX
 
Winefrog said:
Hello there I’m new to here, I’ve recently purchased a KA-BAR Tanto 1245 however had some concerns about its authenticity. Just a few things I’ve noticed after watching some unboxing videos and having looked at reviews of the knife which are a bit different to mine, first thing is the stamps on the knife itself. Mine does have the “KA-BAR ORLEAN NY” on one side however the other side is completely blank, and from looking at photo’s and videos of the knife it should have “USA 1245” stamped on the other side. Second of all I know KA-BAR knives are usually quite sharp fresh out the box, mine doesn’t seem to be that sharp if I’m being perfectly honest. And finally the actual box that the knife has arrived in, I know that’s the standard KA-BAR box however from looking at unboxing videos of the Tanto 1245 it usually comes in a different looking black box.

Anyway below is a link to some images of the knife I’ve received:
KA-BAR Tanto 1245

Would just prefer to know if it is fake so I can send it back straight away and purchase from somewhere else, I know what you’re thinking and that’s why don’t I contact the official KA-BAR support? Well for some reason it seems like here in the UK we’re unable to actually access the official KA-BAR website, or even send an email to their customer support email address. I don’t know if this is because you can only access the website in the USA or whether it’s just an issue for me, any other UK lot here let me know if you’ve had any luck getting on the official KA-BAR website or getting in contact with them?
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Looks OK to me. I am no expert on KA-Bar by any means.

Why would you think it's a fake?

I can not imagine why you would be blocked form getting on there site. Try this link. https://www.kabar.com/

Rich K.
Philadelphia PA, USA
 
rustyspike said:
Looks OK to me. I am no expert on KA-Bar by any means.

Why would you think it's a fake?

I can not imagine why you would be blocked form getting on there site. Try this link. https://www.kabar.com/

Rich K.
Philadelphia PA, USA
Click to expand...
I think what added to my suspicions was that it took a full month before the knife was eventually delivered to me, now the seller I did buy it from did tell me it was out of stock at the time of my order but only after I got in touch with them to tell them it hadn’t been delivered, instead of asking for a refund I said I’d wait until it was back in stock which is why it has only just arrived now. It does look and feel like what I’d expect a real KA-BAR to be like, however it’s my first KA-BAR so I don’t really know what to expect. I’ve only seen unboxing and review videos which all obviously showed the “USA 1245” stamp on one side of the blade.

Just tried that link to the official KA-BAR website and still not working! It begins to load a page but just gets stuck on a white screen and doesn’t load any further, been trying to get on their website for a while now with no luck. And can’t even contact them to see if they’re aware we can’t access their website in the UK unfortunately.
 
Anyhoo, I went and looked at a couple of empty boxes. From what I could tell, yours looks similar to all of mine.

As has been posted, your knife seems legit to me, but (*as was also stated) I'm definitely no Ka-Bar expert.

Despite that, I know how frustrating it can be when you begin to think you may've gotten a fake. So, despite the fact that these two Beckers aren't a 1245, I thought this might illustrate the "U.S.A." thing. The first is my BK-2 and the second my BK-10...





 
Alone said:
Anyhoo, I went and looked at a couple of empty boxes. From what I could tell, yours looks similar to all of mine.

As has been posted, your knife seems legit to me, but (*as was also stated) I'm definitely no Ka-Bar expert.

Despite that, I know how frustrating it can be when you begin to think you may've gotten a fake. So, despite the fact that these two Beckers aren't a 1245, I thought this might illustrate the "U.S.A." thing. The first is my BK-2 and the second my BK-10...





Click to expand...
Hello and thank you for that! It definitely makes me feel a bit more confident in the one I’ve purchased then, yeah just with it being my first KA-BAR and having waited so long for it to arrive I think has maybe made me a bit paranoid about it’s authenticity, but makes sense the whole no longer stamping “USA” thing anymore if sometimes they source materials from outside the USA now, would just be great if I could get a clear cut answer from an official KA-BAR representative, this obviously making it even more frustrating that I’m unable to send them an email, or even access their website for that matter!

Anyhow I appreciate your input, seems to me this a great community to get involved with :)
 
My gut reaction is that the knife is NOT a Kabar made knife. The two problems I see are --

-- you say that the stamp says "KABAR ORLEAN, NY". If it really says "ORLEAN" then the knife did not come from Kabar. The company is located in OLEAN NY. A knife made by Kabar would NEVER have ORLEAN as the company address.

-- all 1245s I have are marked USA over 1245. All 1245s that I have seen have been marked in that manner. All 1245s I can find on fleabay that have pile side pictures show USA over 1245.
 
zzyzzogeton said:
My gut reaction is that the knife is NOT a Kabar made knife. The two problems I see are --

-- you say that the stamp says "KABAR ORLEAN, NY". If it really says "ORLEAN" then the knife did not come from Kabar. The company is located in OLEAN NY. A knife made by Kabar would NEVER have ORLEAN as the company address.

-- all 1245s I have are marked USA over 1245. All 1245s that I have seen have been marked in that manner. All 1245s I can find on fleabay that have pile side pictures show USA over 1245.
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Sorry that’s a simple spelling mistake on my post, it says OLEAN not ORLEAN. Just look at the photo’s.

Previous commenters have stated they no longer print the USA on the blade any longer, and I’ve also read somewhere they no longer print the model number which in this case would be the 1245.
 
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I just received a message back to a query I made to Kabar before Christmas. They replied that they have removed USA from all their knives because, although the knives are made in the USA, the steel being used is made in Germany.
 
zzyzzogeton said:
I just received a message back to a query I made to Kabar before Christmas. They replied that they have removed USA from all their knives because, although the knives are made in the USA, the steel being used is made in Germany.
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Ah yeah same here, finally managed to get through to them! But yeah the exact same response that you got as well, however I don’t know they also no longer stamp the model number on the blade either. I read somewhere that it’s got something to do with leaving one side of the blade blank to leave room for personal engravings, if that’s something people that buy one of their knives want to do anyway.
 
My Kabar fighting knife has a blank side because it is the (single mark civilian version) produced a couple of years ago, so it's a thing. They did it with THE kabar, maybe now extended to other models? Check their most recent catalogue.

My other kabars , modified tanto & fighting knife kraton handle do have the numbers on the tang.

The boxes do have numbered stickers( knife made in USA, plastic sheath in Taiwan, leather sheath in Mexico)

Hope this helps..
 
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