Smallest KaBar I've even seen...

[zzyzzogeton]

Thought I had found an old vintage Little Finn. Then I got it home and started examining it closer. The blade is only 3 1/8 inches long and everything I can find on the Little Finn is that it has always had a 3 5/8 inch blade.

So, any clue?? Did the LFs start out smaller and "grow up" or what?



And the only info

 

[zzyzzogeton]

I keep hoping someone will stop by and tell me "Oh that's one of those experimental failures that were only sold to cops in Connecticut" models.

I actually got the knife from a guy in Connecticut who said he bought it off a retired Hartford-area cop "years ago".

So, any clue as to a model name/number and time frame?

 

[bemo]

Hate to propose a really mundane explaination, but perhaps it was just ground shorter over the years due to sharpening or a broken tip. It's definitely been well-used!

 

[zzyzzogeton]

That was my first thought, but the blade measures 3 1/8" from hilt to tip, EXACTLY 1/2" shorter than the Little Finn, so it seemed to me that the odds of someone needing to sharpen it "exactly" that much were kinda low, but what do I know? I'm a newbie collector. Worst case I have a really different one from everyone else.

 

[stvpourciau]

try measuring one from where the "clip" in the point of the blade begins to the tip of the blade against a standard one to test that sharpening theory.

At least that's my 1st thought.

*EDIT* on 2nd thought, that kind of stuff was probably done by hand so it might not indicate anything, one way or the other.