military knife ??

[cbnutt]

a friend gave me a fixed blade knife this weekend, prety rough and rusted, on the tang it says, U.S.N. MARK 2, is this navy ?? looks to be round leather rings on the handle, blade is about 7in. overall is about 12in. any one know any info on it mabe ? thanks........

[Miller Bro's]

CB,

let`s see a picture of it.

Sounds like a WWII era USN knife

[deanmm56]

Does it look like this :

http://www.gundersonmilitaria.com/knife ... asticA.jpg

[cbnutt]

yes just about like that , only dosent say camilus, handle is more black in color than brown.

[johnnierotten]

Maybe a KaBar...

[orvet]

a friend gave me a fixed blade knife this weekend, prety rough and rusted, on the tang it says, U.S.N. MARK 2, is this navy ?? looks to be round leather rings on the handle, blade is about 7in. overall is about 12in. any one know any info on it mabe ? thanks........

That is US Navy.
The Mark II was made by a number of companies.
As I recall Camillus made more of them than any other company.
Other makers were:
Kabar, Pal Blade, Robeson Shuredge, Conetta, Utica.
As far as I can tell from M.H. Cole's book & a couple Knife World articles by Frank Trzaska;
these companies were the suppliers of government contract MK II up to about 2000 (date of last Trzaska article). Ontario Knife introduced the MK II in their line in the 1980s, but as of 2000 they were not supplied to the military, though that may have changed since 2000.

There is much written on this knife.
Someone will be along who knows more about it than I do.

Hope this helps,
Dale

[coffeecup]

As Orvet already confirmed, it is a US navy knife. The handle is made of stacked leather washers (like on many other knives of the period). The steel washer is either threaded onto the tang, or peened in place, or pinned in place.

Not being marked as to maker, we can try to narrow down the manufacturer/date of manufacture a bit (keeping in mind it could be from any maker and have just slipped by without marking).

How is the pommel washer attached?

Are there any colored spacers in the handle? If so, where are they and what color are they?

Is there enough original finish left to make a gues as to how it was finished--blued, parkerized, or bright?