The full length Kabar-bar history video - a question

Joined
Aug 14, 2009
Messages
107

When viewing the full 4 part video at about the 43 minute mark (would be in episode 4, coming home) two individuals are looking at some design drawings of a “knife” as labeled on drawing that looks very similar to a woodsman’s pal with the D ( hand guard) handle - did ka-bar ever produce the knife in the drawing? Anyone out there know anything about this?​

 
all I can say is "probably" -- it was an Army issue item in WWII & Korea starting with the signal corps and then for a lot of units operating in the jungles.
supposedly around 1/4 million units were produced across all the different contractors making them.
I don't know who all of those were or how many were made by each.
 
We have some very interesting blue prints in the company collection, many of which were (allegedly) only made by certain companies. It seems Union Cutlery did a fair amount of contract work for other companies during the war. With the need to expedite some products this inevitably lead to the "sterilized" versions getting in to the hands of soldiers as companies did not have time to mark them and Union Cutlery would produce products unmarked as to not limit who they would be sent to. Stories would emerge that these unmarked products were made for special units, but this is a myth. Having a close relative that was in an OSS Operational Group and working at a WWII museum before KA-BAR, I have had the opportunity to talk to many members of these units. That was one of the first questions I liked to ask and was always told they preferred marked items as it helped their chances of not being executed on the spot as a spy if they could prove they were soldiers. Many of the OSS units would leave behind distinct American calling cards such as a pack of American cigarettes after attacks. Though we may be lacking in documentation for the early years of the company, there is an abundance of WWII-era paperwork and documents for Union Cutlery.
 
To tack on to the above comment - this is not an endorsement that we made the Woodsman's Pal at any point. We have the blueprint and at the very least explored what it would take to make this knife. There are other knifes in which I eluded to above that we not only have the blueprint, but additional information on Union Cutlery producing these products for others.
 
Thanks to all for replies. I have a few of the pro tool industries era woodsman pals made in Boyertown PA USA. I appreciate that Skyline Toolworks continues to make these in Malvern PA USA. I’m just glad I built up my inventory at the Pro Tool pricing ;)
 
Back
Top