Dog Head Ka-Bar restoration

[orvet]

Here is a recent project I finished after I got my new glasses. It is a Dog Head Ka-Bar coke bottle that had bad celluloid handles.

Here are pics of the knife as I received it:

Here is what the pile side handle looked like with the handle removed:

These are the parts of the knife after cleaning:

There was a lot of cleaning and polishing that went into the repair. My goal was not a knife that looked pristine, an impossible task IMHO, but a knife that looked like a ole dog head Ka-Bar.

There were a number of problems encountered in the project but I am reasonably pleased with the results.
I hope you enjoy the pics.

[orvet]

For those of you interested in the tang stamps I scanned them at as high s resolution as I could with my old scanner.

The mark side tang stamp appears to say:
KA-BAR/REG U.S. PAT and then it is worn away.

On the pile side I can see part of the stamp.
I think the bottom line says OLEAN N.Y. the EAN and N.Y. are fairly legible but there appears to be a line above that which is pretty much gone.

Perhaps someone more versed in Kabar than I am can say what the top line should say.
I expect is once said UNION CUT CO or something along that line.

[btrwtr]

Turned out looking really nice Dale!

Wayne

[whitebuffalo58]

I'd say, "mission accomplished"!! Very nicely done, Dale!!

I have 2 or 3 of those old Kabar blades from the folding hunters that I picked up in a parts lot a couple of years ago. I've thought several times about building frames and backsprings for them. I'd have to start from scratch and just never have gotten around to it yet. I'm a bit more inspired now.

WB

[FRJ]

Nice job, Dale. Talk about extending the life of a knife.

[zed6309]

Perfect dale I would be too scared to take a old knife apart,you defiantly have skills

[wazu013]

Reasonably well? I think it's a beauty Dale

[glennbad]

Another nice save, Dale!

Did you mention what the cover material is? Is the shield inlet, or just glued to the surface?

Very nice work, as usual...

[orvet]

Great question Glenn, I can’t believe I forgot those details.

The shield is inlet into the jigged bone, glued and pinned. The pin is visible in the middle of the dogs ear.

Normally I would have tried to polish up a shield after pinning it, but to do so would have taken away what remains of the Ka-Bar name on the shield as well as some of the other detail of the dogs face.
These details were, I felt, more important to the identity of the knife than having a polished shield and no visible pin.

[Bloodhound]

A beauty for sure...Very nice work! What a classic knife