CUK & MFK lets show em and talk about them

DeSotoSky

DeSotoSky

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These are two little talked about Phrobis knives. The CUK (Combat Utility Knife) and the MFK (Modulear All-Purpose Field Knife). For future reference I would like to create thread specifically for those two knives. Let's show some pictures and pull together what we do know about them. I think Rich Neyman (?sp) is doing a book on the M9, hopefully these two knives will be covered there. Some of the information out there is a little confusing as I found a post by Hubbard saying he did not think Buck made them and one by Houser saying they did. There was a recent Phrobis photo thread started by Makael where he does show a picture of both a CUK and MFK.

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/lets-see-your-phrobis-knives-184s-188s-and-others.1523749/.

I'll start, I have a MFK. To me it looks like a short M9. It does not have a bayonet attachment on the handle. I believe the MFK to be the commercial retail version of the CUK. I do not know if any were military issued like the CUK. I found reference that about 4,000 blades were made by Buck about 1991. Mine is marked "Pat Pend/USA", etched not stamped. there is also the dolphin etched on the blade. My plastic sheath is without any markings. I wonder if these were about the last blades Buck did for Phrobis before they went separate ways. At separation, Buck bought out Phrobis's inventory and sold it off. My box shows that the Phrobis address was covered over with stickers. Later MFK's were made by Marto in Spain. Other pictures I have seen of the MFK show that it came with 3 different guards the user could interchange to suit. The knife breaks down easily into 4 parts. The handle, guard, and rod/nut on mine are lightweight plastic and feel kinda "cheap". Not sure how durable they are.

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I don't have any of the CUK or MFK Phrobis knives and really don't know anything much about them so I don't have anything to add. Great thread for me to learn a bit about them though.

Roger - Your knife looks like it is etched and not stamped. A few years back I purchased 2 Phrobis NIB knives from a distributor and both are etched and not stamped. I listed one for sale online and
shortly after received a message from someone stating it was a copy so I ended the listing and have never sold them. I called the distributor about them and told him what I had been told and he stated they came from a high end collector and doubted that they were copies and did offer to give me back my money but I decided just to hold onto them anyway. I took one to the BCCI 25th Anniversary event in Post Falls and showed it to
Rich Neyman and in quick glance he said it was a copy and handed it back to me. I am guessing because of the etched blades because he didn't give the knife a glance except for that. I still have them so I will post a picture later. I have been hesitant to do anything with them because of not knowing for sure and am now hoping Rich's new book might shed some further light on them. Maybe I will send Rich a couple pictures of the knives and ask him if in his research he has came across anything about them or not.
 
Yes, the tang and Dolphin are etched. Are you saying Neyman thought yours were copies because of the etch?
Can't prove my box and knife left the factory together (eBay purchase) but the box has a period correct Buck barcode label on the bottom.
 
gedlicks said:
I don't have any of the CUK or MFK Phrobis knives and really don't know anything much about them so I don't have anything to add. Great thread for me to learn a bit about them though.

Roger - Your knife looks like it is etched and not stamped. A few years back I purchased 2 Phrobis NIB knives from a distributor and both are etched and not stamped. I listed one for sale online and
shortly after received a message from someone stating it was a copy so I ended the listing and have never sold them. I called the distributor about them and told him what I had been told and he stated they came from a high end collector and doubted that they were copies and did offer to give me back my money but I decided just to hold onto them anyway. I took one to the BCCI 25th Anniversary event in Post Falls and showed it to
Rich Neyman and in quick glance he said it was a copy and handed it back to me. I am guessing because of the etched blades because he didn't give the knife a glance except for that. I still have them so I will post a picture later. I have been hesitant to do anything with them because of not knowing for sure and am now hoping Rich's new book might shed some further light on them. Maybe I will send Rich a couple pictures of the knives and ask him if in his research he has came across anything about them or not.
Click to expand...
I don't know why Rich said yours was a copy? Post some pictures. I have one that was given to the guy I got it from by Mickey Finn himself and it looks almost like Desoto's. I'll get some pictures and post in a bit.
Don
 
Mine are the regular bayonet models. Came sealed in bubble wrapped bags in a white box. They look exactly in every way to the others I have seen but they are etched and not stamped. I'll try to post some pictures later tonight. At the time Rich was done with his 184 book for some time which only touched a bit on the Phrobis and buck 188's. By now I am sure he has done much more research on them since he is near completion of
his new book on them.
 
Here's a link to some info on the MFK and pictures of mine. Preston

http://www.m9m4.com/pages/m9-bayonet-collection-survival-knives.cfm?currentpage=16

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The guy I got this from worked for Mickey Finn and received this from Mickey personally. As far as I can find out Buck made all of the Phrobis Knives.
After looking at Preston's link maybe I should say Buck made all the USA Phrobis Knives.
Thanks for the link Preston.
 
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I'm under the impression that the CUK blades aren't etched and the scabbards are sterile? I don't know for sure. I have only seen one CUK but didn't see both sides of the blade.
 
Test reply, had a question about a glasses icon on this thread. Anybody having that come up ?

I know less than zero on these models.

300
 
I don't see any glasses icon, Craig, where do you see that? Preston
 
He's talking about when I would post a reply in a thread, the main Buck page would show a pair of glasses. DP77 was getting the same thing and he figured it out. It turns out it was a symbol to let you know that you were watching that thread. To turn them off go into the thread at the top and select "unwatch thread" and that would turn it off but as soon as you replied again they would show up? I'm trying to find out how to get rid of it permanently and 300 was seeing if anyone else was having the same problem? The glasses are kind of annoying it makes you think you are being watched.
Don
 
OK, I get it, thanks...I'm not watching any so don't have that symbol showing. Preston
 
I remember seeing a few blades only on ebay over the years and was impressed by how dangerous they looked. .Thanks for bringing this into the spotlight as I too know very little about the whole series.
 
ok talking about glasses---figured it out---hover over yer name at top--click on preferences---then you can unclick the boxes you want to to get rid of the watching....
then refresh page and yep that worked---real easy....
 
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