Kabar Trapper

A place to discuss & share pictures of counterfeit knives. Please be sure to alert the AAPK community if you spot one. Also make sure to ask questions if you are not certain about the authenticity of a knife you are considering buying or selling. There are plenty of great people here willing to help.
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Whitneyrifle
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Kabar Trapper

Post by Whitneyrifle »

I'm posting this one because I am not really sure and want to find out if it is legit. The thing that concerns me the most is the handles. I have never seen scales like this before on a Kabar, but I most definitely could be wrong. The Olean stamp looks funky also, but I would like to hear others opinions. Always willing to learn more!!
The seller states the knife has never been used, but the blade looks like it was sharpened at one point.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/255810513133?h ... R6K_26afYQ
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You have to be trusted by the people that lie to you. So that when they turn their backs on you, You'll get the chance to put the knife in….
Desert Golfer
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Re: Kabar Trapper

Post by Desert Golfer »

Looks VERY Counterfeit. Yuk. ::td:: Mike
Gunsil
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Re: Kabar Trapper

Post by Gunsil »

JO, I hope more than the scales bother you. The blade have no top grinds (swedges to some), and the nail nick location and size is atrocious. Handles certainly are ugly!!
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btrwtr
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Re: Kabar Trapper

Post by btrwtr »

Whitneyrifle you are right to question this knife. If you read the knife there is no need to look at the stamps. Kabar marketed a Khyber brand that was made in Japan but this knife does not have such a pretigoius lineage. Not Kabar and not from Japan.
If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.

Wayne

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Gunsil
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Re: Kabar Trapper

Post by Gunsil »

Wayne, Khyber was not a KA-BAR brand. Khyber was a brand of Cole National who also owned KA-BAR at the time but it was not a division of KA-BAR. Khyber did not pass to Alcas when Cole National sold KA-BAR. Cole had other brands too which are sometimes incorrectly referred to as KA-BAR brands but they were not.
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Whitneyrifle
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Re: Kabar Trapper

Post by Whitneyrifle »

::tu::
Gunsil wrote: Sat Dec 10, 2022 3:01 pm Wayne, Khyber was not a KA-BAR brand. Khyber was a brand of Cole National who also owned KA-BAR at the time but it was not a division of KA-BAR. Khyber did not pass to Alcas when Cole National sold KA-BAR. Cole had other brands too which are sometimes incorrectly referred to as KA-BAR brands but they were not.
You have to be trusted by the people that lie to you. So that when they turn their backs on you, You'll get the chance to put the knife in….
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Whitneyrifle
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Re: Kabar Trapper

Post by Whitneyrifle »

::handshake::
btrwtr wrote: Sat Dec 10, 2022 2:34 pm Whitneyrifle you are right to question this knife. If you read the knife there is no need to look at the stamps. Kabar marketed a Khyber brand that was made in Japan but this knife does not have such a pretigoius lineage. Not Kabar and not from Japan.
You have to be trusted by the people that lie to you. So that when they turn their backs on you, You'll get the chance to put the knife in….
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btrwtr
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Re: Kabar Trapper

Post by btrwtr »

Gunsil wrote: Sat Dec 10, 2022 3:01 pm Wayne, Khyber was not a KA-BAR brand. Khyber was a brand of Cole National who also owned KA-BAR at the time but it was not a division of KA-BAR. Khyber did not pass to Alcas when Cole National sold KA-BAR. Cole had other brands too which are sometimes incorrectly referred to as KA-BAR brands but they were not.
I knew it was Cole but didn't know it wasn't Kabar. Thanks Gene.
If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.

Wayne

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zzyzzogeton
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Re: Kabar Trapper

Post by zzyzzogeton »

Most, if not all, of the Khyber knives were direct copies of Kabar models, just with the Khyber name on them. Some of the Khybers MAY have been direct copies of other lines Cole owned, in addition to Kabar.

Since Cole National owned both, it was not illegal nor were they "counterfeit Kabars" as some have called them. Cole just didn't bother with getting any new, non-Kabar designs for the Khyber knives during the period Cole owned both names.
Reverand
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Re: Kabar Trapper

Post by Reverand »

I am no expert on Kabar tang stamps and blade profiles, but here are the few things that glare out to me:
1) Those ugly gouged and torched bone handles are straight from Pakistan. I found a couple of similar examples online. I don't think that any other group of manufacturers ever made anything so ugly. These pictures are not an exact match, but they are similar enough.
011684C4-FABD-4B49-A32B-9159A95107F6.jpeg
739CDCE9-EB5A-4BF8-92C3-5AAB58CEFC22.jpeg
2) the tang stamps looked cold stamped. The steel is slightly "mounded up" around the letters, rather than being crisply stamped into the steel.

3) the upswept grind line on the choil shows that the tang has been ground down prior to being cold stamped.
I have drawn a line on this one to show what I mean:
E77ACFCC-A12C-4361-BD93-2E9B9FD20C94.jpeg

I am sure that there is more, but in my limited experience I would look no further than those handles! Egregious example of bad counterfeiting!
Jesus is life.
Everything else is just a hobby.

~Reverand
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