Scabbard or Sheath

J

JamesofArc

Joined
Apr 19, 2016
Messages
310
Today I was in a local pawn shop and they had two older KA-BARS that were in old scabbards. Me and some other guy checked them out and the guy behind the counter said that the plastic sheath was used by the Navy while the leather sheath was used by the Marines.

I replied back that it was not Navy or Marines that determined if it was a plastic sheath or a leather sheath but it was a time period and by the way it is a scabbard not a sheath.

After saying that I realized I really did not know when scabbards and sheathe were issued.

What determines scabbard or sheath? Were they all once only in scabbards or what? Was he right in saying that the Navy used scabbards and the Marines used leather sheaths.
 
JamesofArc said:
Today I was in a local pawn shop and they had two older KA-BARS that were in old scabbards. Me and some other guy checked them out and the guy behind the counter said that the plastic sheath was used by the Navy while the leather sheath was used by the Marines.

I replied back that it was not Navy or Marines that determined if it was a plastic sheath or a leather sheath but it was a time period and by the way it is a scabbard not a sheath.

After saying that I realized I really did not know when scabbards and sheathe were issued.

What determines scabbard or sheath? Were they all once only in scabbards or what? Was he right in saying that the Navy used scabbards and the Marines used leather sheaths.
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I believe that the Navy was issued the modern style of mk1 ( smaller version of the mk2 ) with the plastic scabbard at one point in I think 80's ( never asked my uncle about his naval career ), and the marines were always issued the mk2 . I'm not sure if the marines still issued the mk2 by the time time they were available in the modern krayton handle plastic scabbard version, so he may not have been totally wrong there ( the fact that the plastic scabbards aren't sold with USMC on them may mean something ). I believe that most branches of the service had stopped issuing combat / utility knives by this time though.
Maybe it's not a matter of issue, but just which branches they were marketed to for private purchase at the bx ? ( in the mid 80's with the army my dad was issued an m7 bayonet when he was supposed to deploy, and not a knife so I really think knife issue was pretty much gone at this point )

I'm sure someone here will show up and confirm or disprove this stuff 👍
 
Hickory n steel said:
I believe that the Navy was issued the modern style of mk1 ( smaller version of the mk2 ) with the plastic scabbard at one point in I think 80's ( never asked my uncle about his naval career ), and the marines were always issued the mk2 . I'm not sure if the marines still issued the mk2 by the time time they were available in the modern krayton handle plastic scabbard version, so he may not have been totally wrong there ( the fact that the plastic scabbards aren't sold with USMC on them may mean something ). I believe that most branches of the service had stopped issuing combat / utility knives by this time though.
Maybe it's not a matter of issue, but just which branches they were marketed to for private purchase at the bx ? ( in the mid 80's with the army my dad was issued an m7 bayonet when he was supposed to deploy, and not a knife so I really think knife issue was pretty much gone at this point )

I'm sure someone here will show up and confirm or disprove this stuff 👍
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I was always under the impression that the Navy used the MKI and the Marines used the MKII also but when was the MKII issued in a scabbard and when was it issued in a leather sheath is the question of which I bet here most don't know including me but I hope that somebody who does know will tell us.
 
Can someone shed light on the difference between scabbard and sheath? My unschooled understanding is that they are the same thing, but scabbard is used to describe the sheath for a sword or very long knife. What am I missing?
 
I don't know if there really is a difference, but for me a scabbard is ridged while a sheath isn't.
 
Bill1170 said:
Can someone shed light on the difference between scabbard and sheath? My unschooled understanding is that they are the same thing, but scabbard is used to describe the sheath for a sword or very long knife. What am I missing?
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This is one of those things that get bandied about quite a bit in collectors circles. Generally, scabbards are used for weapons and knives used in combat/military service. So bayonets, swords, daggers, Bowie knives, machetes/bolos carried into combat, etc... are carried in scabbards. If a knife is carried for a peaceful activity, it's carried in a sheath.

They are more or less interchangeable now, but the older delineation between them was something like the above.
 
I always believed that if a MKII is carried in a fiberglass carrier then it is a scabbard and if it is carried in a leather carrier it was a sheath.

But this don't answer the question as to when the fiberglass scabbard was issued and was it issued to Navy only while the Marines was issued a leather sheath?

You would think the leather sheath would get ruined fast after just one beach landing thru the ocean.
 
what knives are you talking about? The Mark II is a dagger. The USMC Mark 2 is the 1912C2 "Kabar." The Mark 1 is the brass knuckles 1912 Army trench knife. The USN Mark 1 came, for some variants, in a plastic sheath.

I think you are talking about that vs the "classic" Kabar USMC? :confused:
 
Scabbard: a protective case for a sword that covers the blade. Full definition: a sheath for a sword, dagger, or bayonet. (Merriam-Webster dictionary.)
 
marcinek said:
what knives are you talking about? The Mark II is a dagger. The USMC Mark 2 is the 1912C2 "Kabar." The Mark 1 is the brass knuckles 1912 Army trench knife. The USN Mark 1 came, for some variants, in a plastic sheath.

I think you are talking about that vs the "classic" Kabar USMC? :confused:
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We're talking about The USN MK2 ( kabar ) pattern combat knife , and it's little brother the USN MK1.
I always knew the kabar as the MK2 fighting knife, and since the USMC are just the ground forces of the Navy ( originally just the Navy guys who had to leave the ship ) I felt no need to worry about what each branch called the same knife.

BTW I didn't actually realize that there was a fg scabbard for the MK2 fighting knife, and thought it was only for the MK1 ( also thought it was the modern version of kabar being talked about )
 
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