Legitimate Kabar Fish Knife?

The KA-BAR brand originated as a trademark of the Tidioute Cutlery Company. Tidioute was later taken over & renamed the Union Cutlery Company which continued making the brand until Union eventually adopted it as the company name in 1952. Cutco Corporation later acquired the company in 1996.
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zzyzzogeton
Posts: 1722
Joined: Tue Jun 20, 2017 8:47 pm
Location: In the Heart of Texas on the Blackland Prairie

Legitimate Kabar Fish Knife?

Post by zzyzzogeton »

Is this a legitimate Kabar fish knife from way, way back or is it a fake? Just curious is all. The starting price is way beyond what I would pay for an old used folding knife.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Kabar- ... Swo4tZkIVH

2 concerns I have about it are --

1- the lack of a hook straightening hole in the pommel end bolster - every other Kabar folding fish knife I can remember seeing has a hole in the mark side of the pommel end bolster

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2 - the deeply stamped KABAR on the blade way out under the nail nick. I have never seen one stamped like that before.

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I'm more of a fixed blade guy than folder guru so I readily admit there's a ton of Kabar stuff I don't know, re: folders, but these two items raise a red flag in my mind.
Gunsil
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Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2014 5:25 pm
Location: Lower Hudson River valley, N.Y.

Re: Legitimate Kabar Fish Knife?

Post by Gunsil »

Yup, right as rain. It isn't really a fish knife as the seller says, it is merely a tickler and a fairly rare knife. The seller is nuts if he thinks he will get his money for a knife with no snap but he has had it on for at least six months. KA-BAR did put the stamp out on the blade for a short while, nobody I know knows exactly when or why but I think it was likely very early on when the KA-BAR brand was first adopted. I have seen several other models with the KA-BAR out on the blade and have seen a few with the blade snapped off at the stamp so I guess they found out it was a bad place to stamp them.
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