Posted 4 years ago
Young_coll…
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I need help identifying what era this ka-bar is from I was given it from a friend for my birthday I have no idea what era it is from so I'm looking for answers it would be great for a respond
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Easiest way is to look at these stamps on the knife. And also look at the bottom of the knife and the Tang shape.
https://officialkabar.wordpress.com/historical-information/ka-bar-tang-stamps/
One way to tell the WW2 versions is if they are guard stamped and mainly show up with thin (1/4") thick pommels that are through-pinned (the pin shows on both sides. Those were only made in 1944 and 1945.
The 1943 and early 1944 versions had thicker (3/8") pommels and were peened on only. The first ones had round tang stems peened at the pommel and the latter-half 1943s had square tang stems peened at the pommel.
If you see a thick (3/8") pommel Kabar that is blind-pinned (pin is visible on only 1 side) and unpeened, it is a reproduction/post-1976 version.
Info copied from here..
https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/knife_forum/viewtopic.php?t=56061
My quickie questimate is 1950s with that sheath.
Just reading over the information I provided I went back and looked at my two knives. I realize that one knife is much newer than I thought it was. But the other knife is much older than I thought it was. So that's a good thing.
Very similar to the one I was issued during the Vietnam War by the USMC. See origins of the Ka-Bar name: 1920 - 1944
1920s
Wallace Brown receives a package that forever alters the history of the company. The story, as first published in a training manual written years later by M.L. Brown, Vice President of Sales, Union Cutlery, is as follows: "Years ago an Alaskan hunter had shot a bear who then attacked him and knocked his rifle from his hands. In order for the hunter to protect his life, he took a knife made by Union Cutlery company and successfully killed the bear, which was the Kodiak bear species. The hunter in appreciation of the knife having saved his life sent the bear skin to President Wallace Brown. The thought then occurred to the management of the company that if the Kodiak bear is the strongest of the bear species, and the word bear is pronounced "bar", and further, if the cutlery produced by the Union Cutlery Company was the best and strongest of its kind, then it should be very significant that "Ka-bar" might truly represent the qualities of the company's products. Thus the Ka-Bar trademark was adopted.
And.....According to company records, the letter was only partially legible; "ka bar" could be read, as fragments of the phrase "kill a bear".