USMC Ka-Bar and variations

G

gfbu

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Jul 8, 2011
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Ka-Bar and variations

I recently picked up a couple of surplus military Combat Utility knives and thought I would take some comparative photos with my other two.


One more





One of the surplus ones is an Ontario Knife and the other is a Camillus. Both of unknown date of manufacture.

My other two are an Ontario Spec-plus Marine (early 90’s) and a recent production (2010?) Ka-Bar.

Interesting to see the variations. The Ka-Bar with the oval shaped grip is the most comfortable.



The Ka-bar and the Camillus have the best build quality out of this sample of four.



Nothing most of you have not see before. Hope the photos post.
 
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ok one out of four links posted and no actual photos. I will try again. I must be missing it in my search but if there is a "How to" for photos can someone post a link.

Ill search again.
 
Images are fixed now.

I think I will strip the finish off the handle of the Ontario Combat /utility and clean it up.
 
The Ontario Spec Plus looks as if the edge angle is 10-15 degrees rather than the 20 degree edge that utility knives are supposed to have
 
The spec plus has had the most use and most sharpening. I was not always as precise at holding a particular angle. they are all working knives. I'm looking forward to doing some tinkering on them. The handle on the spec plus is loose (probably from throwing it a lot) and the cross guard and buttcap on the other ontario are loose. Should be good projects on a snowy day.
 
Should be good projects haha id love to have those knives
I'm new to the wonderful world of knives so the only way I could think of the blade being wobbly if the pin was missing fractured or cracked lol
 
This will be my first effort an tinkering with knives but these seem like simple projects and the knives are not expensive of one of a kind so I can't do to much damage.

First step is going to be getting the handles off both of the Ontario's. I'll figure out the rest after that.
 
The U.S./CAMILLUS N.Y. is from 62-early 74 production. For Camillus the color of the sheath is known to have changed, (to more of a black), similar to the color of the Ontario sheath, before the color of the handle changed.
Ontario didn't start making the 1219C2 pattern knife before the 80's.
Both knives have the correct sheath for the knife and could be government contracted and issued knives.
 
Thanks for the info on the production dates. Vietnam era Camillus is interesting. Both are verified as being actual military issued knives. No way to know if they were actually issued out to anyone or used in the field. Both show light use on the blade and plenty of "character" on the sheaths and handles from being carried, packed, and or rattling around in an armory.

I am going to mod the Ontario a little, but the Camillus will just get a through cleaning.
 
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