Help w/Identifying Ka-Bar Knife

[Dances_wit_phat_chix]

I haven’t had any luck identifying this Ka-Bar knife, I’m looking for the model number and possible year, any help would be appreciated. All I can find stamped on the knife is Ka-Bar USA.

[TPK]

Hello & Welcome to the AAPK!

Have you ever Googled Ka-Bar Tang Stamps? I just did that & found some stamp charts on Pinterest but for some reason my Tablet is not downloading them & it's too early for my brain to function correctly to come up with another way to do it. Anyways, there are charts of stamps out there that should help you put it in a time frame. Can't help with the modle # though.

Maybe some of our other members can be of more help.

[Mumbleypeg]

There is info on Kabar tang stamps right here on AAPK, in the Tang Stamp Charts thread. Also accessible via the search function. viewtopic.php?p=386748#p386748. Click on the chart to enlarge it for easier reading.

I can’t read the stamp on your knife - picture is too dark. Hopefully you can find it on the chart. You can make the stamp easier to see by rubbing it with the graphite (lead) of a pencil. It won’t damage the knife but it will remove some of the dark tarnish/patina. Just rub it like you’re writing on it, then wipe it off with a soft cotton rag.

Welcome to AAPK.

Ken

[Gunsil]

Forget the stamp/date charts for KA-BAR, i have never seen one that was near correct. If the stamp says KA-BAR over USA the knife was made 1947 or 48 up to 1952. Model number I have no idea.

[Dances_wit_phat_chix]

Wow! Thanks everyone for their help, that pencil trick was awesome, that cleaned the blade better than the Flitz polish I had bought. The Tang Stamp identifier is the Ka-Bar over U.S.A. So if I understand correctly it could be 1930-1940, or that is totally inaccurate and could be late "40's?

[Gunsil]

That chart is totally out of whack! So many mistakes as to render it useless. I have a huge collection of original catalogs and your knife was made 1947 or 48 to 1952. No doubt about it. I do not know whether the mark began in 1947 or 1948 but it was one of those two years, and it definitely ran until 1952 when the mark changed to Kabar. Before KA-BAR over USA the mark was KA-BAR over Olean NY which began in 1942 or 43 and ran until either 1946 or 1947. There are some years missing in the catalog collection.