Ka-Bar compariosn
- Thread starter superc
- Start date
I too like the WW2 Commando. [I am wearing it now as I prep to do some wood chipping in the back pastures.] It has a 6" blade and the top and bottom spacers are a red Bakelite. Everything I have read indicates it was a WW2 Armed Forces issue "hunting" knife most often packed away with period life rafts and survival kits with the Navy and the AAF (i.e., an early Pilot's knife), rather than being individually issued. Coast Guard, Sea Bees and some state's Home Guard got them too. Ka-Bar made about 500,000 of them, but they are often confused by listeners with the later MK2 (primarily used only by the Navy and USMC), when an old Army veteran mentions their old Ka-bar saving the day, so the MK2 gets the glory. I know it was also sold in PXs and GIs in Europe liked them more than the cheaper Camillus M3 that followed, but Ka-Bar, for whatever corporate reason, had dropped both it and the shorter (5.25") Navy MK1 after the war ended. I see all 3 Ka-Bar types on Ebay from time to time (but never together). Prices for the MK1 and the Commando vary depending on how they are listed. When the seller knows it is a US military knife and lists it as such, or uses the 'antique' word, the sold at price is usually too high for me. However, I note both types are occasionally sold by the unknowing as 'old hunting' knife and I have seen them go for about $20 as mil surplus peddlers and collectors tend to ignore ads with those words. In the last 2 months I paid $27 for a Commando and $31 (with shipping) for a Navy MK1 (waiting for delivery) on Ebay, both sold as 'old Ka-bar hunting knife'. I personally think Ka-Bar disconnected from reality by introducing their 5" shorty Mk2, with a 'vaguely reminiscent of the Commando hilt' and a skinny blade and should instead have simply brought back their original 6" Army Commando knife as pictured, possibly in stainless or with a brass (instead of war time aluminum) crossguard. [I would even accept day-glo orange or bright lime green for the spacers, as a dropped Commando is hard to find in the woods.] Yup, it is sweet.
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Ka-bar's marketing department put them in. The Commando came with both a black blade with no grooves and a polished version with the grooves. My understanding is back in the days of designing the Navy/USMC MK2 someone requested grooves for it too. They seem to serve no purpose beyond adding a recognizable look to the MK2 and other early Ka-bars.
