What can anyone tell me about this ka bar

PaulBosley

PaulBosley

Joined
Dec 3, 2012
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386
I was helping a buddy move today. loading the last of the stuff from his garage I come around the corner just in time to see him drop a knife in the trash can. Yes KNIFE in the TRASH! I said HEY what are you doing! He said its just a rusty old knife. I fished it out ( of course ) and said dont ever let me catch you doing that again, you got a knife you don't want give it to someone else!
Anyway I know nothing of ka bar and any info at all would be appreciated. Age model anything
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I tried to get a pict with the tang stamp but couldn't take one that you could make out but it says ka bar Olin NY
It is soaking in mineral oil now I will clean on it tomorrow or tues and take better picts
Rusty,epoxy residue, white paint overspray and the stacked leather handle is a little dry but it still has an edge and I'm pretty sure it's NOT trash!
 
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looks like an old ka bar fighting style knife. i have a modern one with a rubberized handle in od green. The modern one looks a little different, so that could be pretty old. blade looks the same, though. That's pretty cool.
 
Sorry for the delay I got side tracked with another project. I cleaned on it a little but nowhere near done. I'll try to make time to finish and photo this weekend
 
Keep us updated on the restoration process. I'm anxious to see it. I'd guess a fairly old variation on the USMC fighting knife.
 
Looks like either a Mark I fighting /utility knife or an older hunter style. I'd suspect the latter simply based on the handle rings that are colored. That's normal for the hunting, edc fixed blades, but not for military knives. Cool either way. I'd keep it as is
 
That is sweet, lucky you! I have broken Pakistani knives I can't bring myself to toss out.
I would also try to keep some of the "weathering", it adds character to a knife. Soak the blade in vinegar and a little oil or sno-seal on the handle and Bobs your uncle.
Whatever you do with it she will be a nice knife though.

I would definitely casually pull it out next time your buddy is around and cut open a box or something, and say "not too bad for a piece of trash.":p
 
I'm agreeing with Jim, it looks a lot like a mk1 navy knife. Google "kabar mark one navy leather" and an image of the current mk1 production should pop up.
 
I'm betting it's a pre-war hunter myself. Just going off the pommel and handle design, it's a traditional styling for hunting knives.

It looks nothing like any mark 1 that I've seen, new or old. Could be a rehandled Mark2, Idk.. Just keep hoping everyday that someone will pop in and tell us what it is.
 
KA-BAR made the Mark1 in many versions. Many of them have no fuller at all. Others have a smaller narrower fuller than the knife in the OP. I'm not saying that this style fuller rules it out. I'm not sure. I haven't seen a KA-BAR Mark 1 with that type of pommel on it before. I'm thinking that this knife was rebuilt. That pommel looks like it was originally attached to the tang by a threaded nut through the end of the pommel. The picture is clear that there is a pin through the pommel and tang holding them together. Maybe the knife was damaged at sometime and repaired. The shape of the leather washers also tend to suggest something different also.
 
That's a nice little restoration project, look forward to seeing it when it is cleaned up.
Mark
 
It's a commercial hunting knife. You will be hard pressed to "restore" it since the pommel has been pinned on and it looks like the threaded end of the tang where the original brass nut was is gone. As Sac said, the handle has also been altered to fit the pommel by pinning, several leather washers have been removed and the ones close to the pommel have been crudely shaved down to meet the pommel.
 
I would say that restoration would not be the right word jut cleaning it up ( removing the epoxy and paint,and knocking the red rust down some) no intention of trying to make it look " new". Going to work on it tomorrow, Sunday
 
I didn't even notice the pommel had been peened on, but yup, that's one of those pommels that originally attached like this:
RurxBzp.jpg

With a brass nut screwed down onto the actual tang itself, which would be threaded.
 
stvpourciau said:
I didn't even notice the pommel had been peened on, but yup, that's one of those pommels that originally attached like this:
RurxBzp.jpg

With a brass nut screwed down onto the actual tang itself, which would be threaded.
Click to expand...

wath i can tell is that knife desserve a restoration,a new sheath,an get ready for outdoors again!:)
(and i really like it; allready)
 
Blade looks like it could be pretty pitted, but I could be wrong. Never really know until you start removing some, make sure though that you use a very very fine abrasive if you need to (800-1000 grit wet/dry) and be careful you keep the lines. Nice find :thumbup:
 
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flexo said:
wat i can tell is that knife desserve a restoration,a new sheath,an get ready for outdoors again!:)
(and i really like it; allready)
Click to expand...

I concur. Trust me, I don't mean to disrespect your knife at all. I really like the thing and it would definitely be great for getting out in the woods with.

If it were me, I'd drill out that pin on the pommel, remove the old moisture holding damaged leather and clean all the rust that is most certainly on the tang, and re-handle But Keep the guard and red spacer as that is my favorite part of this knife.
 
Worked on for a little while going to finish mon and take some Picts.
Yeah the orange spacers very closely match my jeep. Got to love that!!!
 
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