Ka Bar knife

[Gunslinger27+]

I've attached some photos of an old Ka Bar knife I have and wonder if someone could answer a few questions:
What year would it have been made?
Were there different sizes of this model made? I have a larger one.
What are the handles/scales made out of and where can I guy get some of that material?
On one side of the blade is inscribed: KA BAR Reg US Pat Off
On the other side is inscribed: Union, then illegible letters, then Olean, NY
Thanks for your help/insight.

IMG_1144 close up.JPG (66.8 KiB) Viewed 2238 times

[Gunsil]

Your well worn and used knife was called "Little Trading Post" by KA-BAR when it was new. When new it had a etch with it's name across the blade. They made them from the early 1930s into the 1960s but most of the post war ones had leather handles. Your knife has no pins in the handle indicating that it is very late 1930s to very early 1940s production. Your handles are made of celluloid and would be hard to duplicate and the knife likely isn't in good enough shape to warrant such work. They are scarce but not rare and you could probably buy a nicer one for less than it would cost to restore it. The blade is in such poor shape that if you removed the sharpening/grinding marks you wouldn't have much metal left. Little Trading Post was only made in one size, if you post a photo of your other knife I can likely identify it too. There was a knife they made called "Trading Post" which was a larger knife but it was nothing like the Little Trading Post in design or shape. They are cool little knives and quite collectable.

[Gunslinger27+]

Thanks for the information. I've attached a picture of the bigger knife next to the littler knife.
The bigger knife is a favorite. My dad carried it in WWII.
I know the blade is made of high carbon steel. I would like to make a few of these. What is the modern day steel used?
Thank you.

[zzyzzogeton]

As for steel type used, most cutlery companies used some variation of 1095 as the "high-carbon" steel of choice.

1095 is steel that has 0.95% carbon in its formula. I believe Union Cutlery used a variation of 1095CV. I know Western used a form of 1095CV and Union made fixed blades for Western before Western started making their own fixed blades in 1928

When I say "variation" of 1095, I mean that all 1095 is not the same. Most versions also have some silicon included. Some have vanadium and chromium (hence 1095CV). Other variations might have phosphorus, sulphur, manganese,

[Gunsil]

The larger of the two knives was called Little Hunter by KA-BAR. They made them in many variations of handle material and they are very popular among collectors. I think there were over thirty variations in handles, steels, and markings. They made this model in stainless or carbon steel.