KA-BAR Question

[227thcrewchief]

I have a KA-BAR, Union Cutlery, Olean, NY hunting/skinning knife. KA-BAR is on one side of the hilt and Union Cutlery, Olean, NY on the obverse. The blade guard is marked 472-4. C an anyone tell me what those numbers signify. Thank You and I hope to get a response.

[zzyzzogeton]

472-4 >> Model 472, 4 inch blade. Pattern is 72. Handle material 4 ==>> Plasticized Fiber,

5 == Leather
6 == Mother of Pearl

[Gunsil]

Cool very hard t find knife in the 4" blade, most are 4&1/2" or 5&1/2". ZZZY is close on the handle code, 6=bone and 7=pearl but the 72 series never had a pearl handle option. How about a nice photo of whole knife and sheath??

[zzyzzogeton]

Hey, Gene - Could you post the entire Kabar handle code set? Everything I have is what I have gleaned from tidbits you have dropped over the years and obviously I have not gotten them all right.

[Gunsil]

OK Wayne, I'll give it a shot, but this only applies to Union Cut Co era hunting knives and may change after the war.

1 ------- the "thistle top" knives which are some kind of hard black plastic

2-------- Genuine stag

3--------Wood

4--------Colored fiber spacers

5-------Leather rings

6-------Bone stag (jigged bone0

7-------Genuine mother of pearl, only found on the "Faithful" model 762

9-------Smooth natural cow bone

Note 8 is missing, 3 may have been used on some wood slab handles, It was definitely used on the one-piece wood handles of the "Bearcat" model 338 but I have to look through more literature, and I don't think there were any with the 8 designation. 1 may also have been used on wood handles for a time. Celluloid handled hunters may have a prefix of P, A, or R depending on the celluloid. The pearl 762 models are very rare, and the smooth natural bone handles have only been noted on model 72 as in 972.
When looking at numbers marked on guards, an 0 indicates stainless steel as in 4720-4, and if a knife has a stag pommel it will have a G designation as in 272G-4, a stag handled model 72 with a 4" blade and a stag pommel (I have never seen one, but do have one with a 4&1/2" blade).
One funny thing about the guard marks is that 4&1/2' blades will have a 5 as in 272-5 being a stag handle model 72 which actually has a 4&1/2' blade and some with 5&1/2" blades will have a 6 as in 272-6 which is a stag handle 72 model with a 5&1/2" blade. Knives with real 5 or 6" blades will be correctly marked.

The 2, 6, and 7 are also used on pocket knives.

[conslade]

Hey Gunsil, Great information. How about putting it over on the tang stamps page also. that's some good info to have on hand.

[Jacknifeben]

Just bought a 472-5 KA-BAR on eBay and hope it is a good one.