Early Kabar

[Don L59]

What can you Kabar experts tell me about this Early Kabar. Are the scales Green bone? Thanks

[Gunsil]

Not really an early KA-BAR. Union Cut Co made KA-BAR but these are just called Unions. Not greenbone, which is merely a collector name for a certain type of Case bone and the term is often misused.

[Don L59]

I always wondered why they called it green bone when it doesn’t look green at all

[Mumbleypeg]

I always wondered why they called it green bone when it doesn’t look green at all

You're not the first to be confused by “green bone”. And you’re right, it’s not really green. It’s a term invented long ago by collectors of older Case knives, mostly knives from the Case Tested XX era.

Prior to the advent of Appaloosa bone in late 1970s, to my knowledge no cutlery ever intentionally made, nor marketed different colors of bone. Bone was simply called bone, typically some shade of brownish red, dark brown, tan, whatever shade variation of brown came out of their bone dying process. When they ran out of that dye they mixed a new batch, which probably varied slightly from the previous batch. At that time folks weren’t collecting knives - they were just buying tools. So who cared if the bone used was slightly different in color.

Then in late 1960s/early 1970s along came collectors, some of whom noticed slight color differences, and some started collecting knives of a specific bone “color shade”. So Case collectors invented terms like “red bone”, “brown bone”, “pretty bone”, and “green bone” to differentiate when they were discussing Case knives. Keep in mind those “colors” were all in fact basically some variation of brown. As Gene said, green bone, or greenbone, is a term that originated with Case collectors, to describe bone used on Case Tested XX era knives. (Why they chose to call it green, I don’t know).

Then in the 1980s Case, and others, started dying bone in colors that really were red, green, blue, purple, orange, etc, and marketing them to collectors as such. Now everyone is really confused, because since then there are knives that really are green. Kelly Green, Emerald Green, Blue-green, etc. Especially confusing if you’re not an old veteran collector who was around when the earlier terms were created and used.

Then along came the Internet and sites like eBay. Sellers soon recognized old Tested XX Case knives (usually having “green bone”) fetched high prices. So next thing you know in an effort to get the highest selling price, sellers started to describe every knife as having “green bone” handle covers, regardless who made it. And here we are!

Ken

[Gunsil]

I always wondered if the guy who coined the phrase "geenbone" or "green bone" was colorblind. Very good explanation Ken!

[btrwtr]

Very good explanation Ken.

I think of the Case green bone as indicated in older price guides as being a function of time. Green bone being the predominant bone Case used on Tested stamped knives and earlier XX stamped knives. Being used on a XX stamped knives will normally bring a higher price since it indicates an earlier XX knife. Red bone as used in older price guides was a function of color and in years past the Case XX and early USA stamped knives that were true red in color would bring a premium over other knives of the same stamps with bone that wasn’t true red. Green bone Tested and early XX knives is still pretty well understood by older experienced collectors but the color red bone is now so obscured it seems the meaning is lost as can be seen by eBay listings calling any Case knife as red bone regardless of what the material actually is.

[Mumbleypeg]

Very good explanation Ken.

I think of the Case green bone as indicated in older price guides as being a function of time. Green bone being the predominant bone Case used on Tested stamped knives and earlier XX stamped knives. Being used on a XX stamped knives will normally bring a higher price since it indicates an earlier XX knife. Red bone as used in older price guides was a function of color and in years past the Case XX and early USA stamped knives that were true red in color would bring a premium over other knives of the same stamps with bone that wasn’t true red. Green bone Tested and early XX knives is still pretty well understood by older experienced collectors but the color red bone is now so obscured it seems the meaning is lost as can be seen by eBay listings calling any Case knife as red bone regardless of what the material actually is.

Good explanation. I feel for collectors newer to the hobby. Many if not most get their knife “education” at least partially from eBay, Facebook, etc, from other newer collectors who don’t know any better. The blind leading the blind.

For a long time I didn’t understand why so many struggled with understanding the meanings of terms like “greenbone”, but when I understood their perspective from the time at which they started collecting, it makes more sense. Put yourself in their shoes, and it starts to become clearer.

The fact that “greenbone” is not really green doesn’t help either! But that horse left the barn over 50 years ago, and I’m sure those who came up with it at that time had no idea some future day there would be knives that really are green.

Ken

[Don L59]

Thanks Ken for clearing up what Green bone actually means past and present.