KA-BAR History

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...

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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

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Please please please post more of those old advertisements. I love that stuff. It's always so interesting!
 
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.
 
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official company historian for the Original Camillus Cutlery Company and still has in his possession a lot of unique historical documents for the company.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.

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OKB - Is there any kind of Kabar Model Reference Book listing/depicting all the various knives made by Kabar with descriptions so that people can ID early Kabar/Union knives with no model numbers?
 
Please tell us about the KA-BAR name.
rolf
ok, I did Wikapedia. The KA-BAR name comes from a story about a guy who killed a Bear with knife?
 
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Lycosa said:
Please tell us about the KA-BAR name.
rolf
ok, I did Wikapedia. The KA-BAR name comes from a story about a guy who killed a Bear with knife?
Click to expand...

Lycosa, that is true. A fur trapper wrote a letter in explaining how his gun jammed as a bear charged him. He took out his knife (a Union Cutlery) and "k a bar", shorthand for "killed a bear". The company was so taken by the letter that they adopted the name "KA-BAR" as a trademark, which would letter be adopted as the official company name after WWII.

-OKB
 
zzyzzogeton said:
OKB - Is there any kind of Kabar Model Reference Book listing/depicting all the various knives made by Kabar with descriptions so that people can ID early Kabar/Union knives with no model numbers?
Click to expand...

There are really rare catalogs, very hard to find, and only a few are known to have survived. These are illustrated and show most of all the hunting knives produced before WW2 and list all the optional blade lengths and handle materials.
 
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