Hello, things seem to be a bit slow so I thought I'd throw out a question. I picked up a like new USMC at a pawn shop several years ago. It has the phosphate finish and the sheath has white stitching with staples. Anyone know approximately when those were manufactured? I'm assuming it's a pretty broad time range. Thanks!
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USMC manufacture date?
- Thread starter bemo
- Start date
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2011
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- 1,185
Is it even made by Ka-Bar?
I have not heard of one with a phosphate finish.
And, pics!!!
please.
I have not heard of one with a phosphate finish.
And, pics!!!
please.
Yeah I knew there'd be a call for pics, I've never posted pics on this forum, we'll see what I can do. Oh yes it's a Ka-bar, and phosphate finishes used to be refered to as "parkerized" way back and were used starting at least back in the 40's (not saying my knife is that old mind you). I remeber a ka-bar catalog back in the 80's where parkerized version were offered. But heck, I could be wrong. It's definitely not the coating that's on my Beckers.
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From around 1976 through 80's they were park'd. The sheath had staples, white stitching, black coated snap. They also seemed to have a longer top clip and typically the grinds never matched. The guard was painted black not parkerized. They were bulit more like a Camillus or Ontario contract model. The sheaths were heavily oiled staining the box and paperwork.
The newer ones are MUCH better made, higher quality product. Here is a pic of the first production model after 1976:
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Hey thanks DRE, that looks exactly like it. Out of curiosity, what makes them inferior to current 1217's? Is it metalurgy, heat treat (as it was pre-Toooj), fit and finish? Must say the oval cross-section handle is far superior to me than the Ontario round version. Thanks again for the info!
I cannot comment on the heat treat but you will notice the difference in the fit and finish. The new ones are all consistently done well. Kabar is very proud of their version of the FU knife and it shows.
I agree on the cross section of Kabar's handle verses the mil spec version. The flattened cross section is a better grip than oval.