Anyone familiar with the Ka-Bar 1189 folding hunter?

[JimFarwell]

I'm a newbie, never made a knife, likely never will. I have cleaned up and sharpened knives for some time, but the extent of my work has been the replacement of cracked or ugly wood scales with new wood.

I only started collecting in Jan-06, mostly Gerber folders, pre-Fiskars (1968-86). But over time I've picked up knives - one is a big Ka-Bar 1189 brass & wood folder with a single stainless clip-point blade, had it for about 20 years, really don't need it and at the moment I'm really knife-poor. I decided to auction it off on eBay. I've been trying to figure out it's mfg date, and what it's worth.

LGK4 shows seven different "brands" for Ka-Bar -- says that any knife with just "KA-BAR" was made in Olean NY from 1951 to 1966, and is "H" (high value to collectors, no necessary correlation to quality). My knife has just "KA-BAR" on the tang-stamp, so it seems to be in this category.

But LGK4 also says that a knife with "KA-BAR / (number) USA" was made in Cleveland for Cole National Corp., a wholesaler, from 1966 to 1996, and is only "M" (medium value to collectors). My knife has "KA-BAR / 1189 USA" etched on the blade, so maybe it is in this category...but it is such a lovely knife, I hate to think it is just a run-of-the-mill wholesale product, made by God knows who for Cole National.

I wish I knew for sure which it is...but based on recent winning bids for these knives, I suspect it is a Cole National Corp knife, just using the Ka-Bar name by permission of Union. If I knew for certain it was an honest old KA-BAR, made by Union Cut Co, I think I'd just cancel the auction and keep it.

Does anyone know for sure?

Jim

 

[kapt kopter]

Jim,after looking at your ebay listing it was obvious that I own that very same knife.
I had it given to me back in the late 80's and I have never really used mine either, it has a brown sheath though and it is a decent knife.....sorry I couldn't help you other than the time line......don't know why I never really used it.........still have it sitting in the tool box knife drawer with the other beater hard use knives.
I worked at a retail store back then and they carried a fair number of K-Bar knives and the K-Bar rep gave it to me as a perk.
I also was given a nice stone in a wood box with a bottle of K-bar oil.
I haven't even seen a K-Bar knife for sale around here for over ten years.
Good luck, I am sure somebody here has some info on this knife.
Alot of companies have copied the Buck110 over the years and I have the K-Bar a Wenoka from Japan,Case Mako Shark(think thats the name) and a LB-7 Schrade.
Of course the Buck and the Schrade were the most used.
Welcome to Bladeforums!
Kap

 

[longbeachguy]

Not that this helps much, but I've got a KABAR 1183 folding hunter, of the traditional style, with the same stamping configuration as yours, i.e. KA-BAR/1183 U.S.A.

All I know about it is that I paid $30 for it on e-bay in excellent, unused condition, and it's one heck of a nice and well made knife. After posting pictures of it on another forum I got an offer to buy it, which I didn't accept.

I've always considered it to be a really nice well made vintage knife which is only of marginal collector value.

Anyway, here is a pic of the knife, and another of the tang stamp:

 

[JimFarwell]

Thanks to both of you, Kapt Kopter and LongBeachGuy. I note that the model 1183 pictured has the same light red and gold-tone wood that is on my knife. When I slowly tilt and yaw mine, under a lamp, I get the odd natural-wood illusion of being able to see deep into the wood. I've seen this in oak, and a few tropical burl-woods, and birds-eye maple sometimes. It's pretty.

Based only on the low bids for the 1189 knives that have sold recently, I am assuming they are knives made for Cole National, rather than the Olean NY knives actually made by Ka-Bar.

Jim

 

[Dijos]

I own one in not unused condition; they are solid, but for me, hard to sharpen effectively.

 

[JimFarwell]

...yes, I agree. I have an Edge Pro sharpener, which makes it super easy to put a better-than-factory edge on almost any knife, but the 1189 is the hardest of any knife I've done so far, because the manufacturer didn't leave a flat surface on the blade, from the spine down to the tapered bevels. Instead, after the bevels were ground, the entire blade was apparently smoothed on a belt, then buffed, which leaves the entire blade slightly rounded...except for the tang. The trick is, hold the tang flat on a surface with considerable pressure, which maintains the knife in one position, so you can get a flat edge-grind. If you don't hold the tang flat, the knife moves slightly and you get a rounded edge.

Jim