KaBar Dogs Head Knife Experts - I have a question

[Rockstars Artifacts]

Hey all. We buy and sell items non stop and are constantly coming across different knives etc. I did a little research on kabar union cutlery dogs head knives and found quite a bit of information but I also found out that they are heavily reproduced as reproductions. I wanted to check here before I went about pricing and listing these knives to make sure that they are A okay.

There are 3 of the two blades folding hunters. Two are marked differently and one does differ slightly.
There is also a swing guard style.
A two bladed hobo style knife.

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Matt.

[doglegg]

Don't have answers to your questions but that hobo is awesome. Thanks for sharing.

[RobesonsRme.com]

Not a Ka-Bar/Union Cutlery guy, but I do collect old knives.

All of those look good to me.

There used to be a series of collector books written by Parker/Voyles, Parker/Price, Parker/Voyles/Zalesky, etc that had a very nice section on Ka-Bar Dog's Head jacks.

I think its title was simply Collector's Knives or similar.

Find a copy from the late 80's or early 90's.

Charlie Noyes

[Rockstars Artifacts]

Thanks for the responses! I will have to see if I can snag a copy of that book.

Keep them coming!

[RobesonsRme.com]

https://www.amazon.com/Official-Price-G ... tor+Knives

[Gunsil]

As a KA-BAR kind of guy I can say all your knives look original albeit with some condition issues. The KA-BAR Club stag folding hunter knives with two blades and dog shields have a date stamped on the back of the main blade like 11/77, and all the later (1970s-1990s) KA-BAR knives with dog heads have a dog that looks different from the originals so do the fake KA-BARs out there. It may take a keen eye to see the difference between the original dogs and the late model KA-BARs dogs and the fake dogs but there is an easily noticeable difference.

[LongBlade]

Be helpful to see photos of the different dog heads Gene so one can learn to discriminate between them...

[Rockstars Artifacts]

None of the folding hunters have any stamps on the backs of their main blades that I can find. Neither blade is stamped on the back.

Also. Here are pictures of the dogs in these knives.

[Pile Driver]

Awesome knives, I'd love to own one of the stag clasp knives and the swing guard.

[Gunsil]

Be helpful to see photos of the different dog heads Gene so one can learn to discriminate between them...

Lee, I don't own any of the newer dogs or any of the fake ones so I cannot take photos of the differences.

[knife7knut]

I'm curious about the third picture of the Dogsheads;it appears that there is a cutout on the handle for the nail nick on the secondary blade. I don't recall ever seeing this on any of the KA-BAR folding hunters;at least not the ones I have. I don't know whether it is variances in distance from the subject but in the second picture it looks like the handle is smaller in width right behind the bolster. Maybe just an illusion. The knives all appear to be legitimate but as was said before have some condition issues. Still nice knives though.

[LongBlade]

No problem Gene - just didn’t know if there was an online reference with photo examples... just looking at the 3 dog head photos that Rockstars Artifacts posted it looks to me the middle one differs from the top and bottom dog heads in terms of eyes and mouth (and don’t know if it is a repro or original) - I’m not at all knowledgeable in Kabar knives so just looking to learn - one never knows when that knowledge can become dangerous ...

[Rockstars Artifacts]

There is a nail nick cutout in one of the folding hunters. Definitely not an illusion.

[knife7knut]

No problem Gene - just didn’t know if there was an online reference with photo examples... just looking at the 3 dog head photos that Rockstars Artifacts posted it looks to me the middle one differs from the top and bottom dog heads in terms of eyes and mouth (and don’t know if it is a repro or original) - I’m not at all knowledgeable in Kabar knives so just looking to learn - one never knows when that knowledge can become dangerous ...

There is a variant in the eyes of the dogs that is normal. KA-BAR references show both styles but don't say whether they are early and late or not.

[LongBlade]

Thanks Ray ... that no doubt shows the difference seen on the 2 different dog head shields above - but as you note are they early or late or what?? ..,,

[Rockstars Artifacts]

Thanks Ray ... that no doubt shows the difference seen on the 2 different dog head shields above - but as you note are they early or late or what?? ..,,

That would be my next question. What sort of dates would be on the knives. The swing guard has a pat date of 1923. The hobo has 1907? The 3rd number is quite faded.

The 3 folding hunters are only stamped on the front Ricardo’s. There is no date or 11/77 or anything in the backs.

[Mumbleypeg]

Here's a link to a recent thread on this same topic. It has some good pictures of early dogs and more recent dogs. viewtopic.php?f=78&t=56403&p=681096&hilit=Angry#p636618

Ken

[Gunsil]

And now the knives shown are for sale on the bay with opening prices of mint examples.

[peanut740]

As usual.