All About Pocket Knives

Hello all. I searched countless forums including this one and couldnt find this exact knife on my possession. I have some questions if anyone cares to help. The things that stand out to me are...

1. The handle appears to be pearlescent/mother of pearl (nacre) and ive seen some model called the "sportsman" that matches it, but most other slot knives like this are bone/celluloid. Can you tell? Could the old handles have been replaced?

2. It came with a leather button sheath that perfectly fits if the spoon is the right way, I havent seen any examples with sheaths and im not sure if union made them for this model. Is the sheath a custom job?

3. The "O" in "Cut Co" is a dot. Is that all thats left from the O being rubbed away or is this some kind of engraving error?

Truthfully im not a collector and my plans are to sell it once I know what I have, but I want to make sure this isnt historically significant and should be in a museum or something. As I understand, these union hobos are some peoples dream find so id like to get it to someone who would appreciate it much more than myself. Thank you for your time.

Welcome to the forum

The handles are celluloid not real pearl.

The sheath is not original to the knife.

Does not belong in a museum but I am sure a collector of this brand or pattern knife would be interested in it

There’s a sold Sportsman model on eBay (#127470744115) with yellow celluloid but the spoon side dimensions are different:
1.The covers are synthetic and do not appear to have been replaced?
2. I have not seen a sheath with a Union/Ka Bar.
3. I would say that this hobo is not historically significant nor museum worthy.

Nice knife. I like it. Harold

@Miller Bro's, @bestgear Wow thanks so much guys! How can everyone tell its celluloid?

I thought it was nacre because it looked shiney internally and most pictures of celluloid scales with these are super milky/yellow. I guess this has just been protected by the sheath all these years?

Glad its not historically significant as thatd be too much heat on me haha. Hopefully a true collector will appreciate it, maybe ill list it here first so AAPK members can get first dibs

Armadon1 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 02, 2025 4:45 ammaybe ill list it here first so AAPK members can get first dibs

just know that to sell in the forums you’ll need a premium subscription found here: https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/ca ... scriptions

Very nice looking example and one that many collectors would be interested in. You see these Union hobos in bone or yellow celluloid more often than with the imitation pearl celluloid on your knife. Union - KA-Bar had quite a few variations of the hobo knife.

You can post your knife in this thread of other Hobo and tool kit knives.

https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/kn ... hilit=hobo

btrwtr wrote: ↑Tue Dec 02, 2025 2:57 pm You can post your knife in this thread of other Hobo and tool kit knives.

Thanks for sharing sir, just posted.

Welcome to AAPK. Nice find! I believe that’s the first one of that pattern I’ve seen with imitation pearl (aka Cracked Ice) handle covers. I have the same knife with yellow celluloid covers https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/kn ... 9#p1202809

Just a “heads up” - unfortunately the knife appears to have signs of what’s known as “celluloid outgassing”. Hard to be sure without having the knife in hand. The earliest signs are typically seen in rust and corrosion around the handle cover pins, and on the frame. Brass and nickel silver are the most susceptible so that’s typically the first places it manifests on a knife. Sorry to say there are no known remedies. For more about celluloid outgassing see https://www.allaboutpocketknives.com/kn ... mit=Search Once it starts it progressively worsens and will eventually destroy the entire knife. If it is outgassing I’d recommend removing those covers and replacing them. You can find modern acrylic material that looks very similar to the old celluloids. For example https://knifemaking.com/products/antiqu ... 0221016200

Ken