WWII Navy Ka-Bar with wrapped handle

R

Revhardheaded

Joined
Jan 11, 2018
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ZHPkDxf

Got this on ebay. It's a 5" Navy Ka-Bar. Thought the wrapped handle was very interesting.
 
It is really a model 637-F hunting knife from before the war which somebody at some point put some rope on the bone handle. Doesn't look as well done as it should if it were done by a true sailor, could just be a handle improvement if the bone broke off. I don't see any evidence that it saw any navy use although they are cool hunting knives.
 
While the Navy does use "small stuff" (the Navy term for any kind of line less than 1/2 inch in diameter) similar to what is on the handle, the same line was and is available to this day, especially in farming areas.

That looks more akin to a "line wrap" done as a "field expedient" repair for a broken handle, as Gunsil alluded to.

"Fancy work", the use of small stuff in a decorative manner in the Navy, usually involves a Turk's Head knot or two as well as some braided work.
 
I can’t see the picture.

I often wonder when I see ww2 stuff. If it was used during the war at all. I hear if it could only talk.

If it could would it be about the beaches of Normandy or the sands of Iwo Jima or the Boy Scout jamboree in 1955? Who knows?

I agree ww2 and earlier Navy rope art is always exquisite very detailed and amazing.
 
eveled, you can see the photo by right-clicking on the IMG and selecting "view image". It isn't a MK1 or MK2 or any other military issue knife, and likely just advertised on ebay as a "Navy KA-BAR". It is a bone handled "bowie hunter" type of knife which somebody did a simple thick twine wrap over the bone handle.
 
Well it was advertised on ebay at WWII Navy Vets Ka-bar knife. You all are probably correct. The wrap, while not decorative, is certainly tight as all get out though. It's possible it belonged to a Navy Vet but it wasn't a Navy issued knife. Lots of guys brought their own knives with them. I appreciate everyone's thoughts on this. The bone thing makes a lot of sense looking at the butt of the knife. That did make me pretty curious about it.
 
ZHPkDxf
wwii-navy-kabar.jpg


Step 1 - I got your picture to show up by going to the picture in your album and clicking on it to get it to show up "full sized".

Step 2 - The I right clicked on it, and selected

"Copy Image Address".

NOTE - I am SUBSTITUTING
"{" for "[" and "}" for "]"

If I used the "real" characters, i.e., "[" and "]", then the forum software would display the picture as shown above and NOT the text I actually needed to type in to get to work.

Step 3 - The text I typed into the new post first was {img} (remember to replace the { and } with [ and ])

Step 4 - Then I pasted in the image address copied in step 2

Step 5 - I then typed in the text - {/img}

The end result was a string that looked like this, except the actual string had square brackets [ and ] , NOT curly braces { and }

{img}https://i.ibb.co/XygvRtW/wwii-navy-kabar.jpg{/img}

That's it - now your picture should show. Hope that helps.
 
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