Ka-bar Fixed Blades

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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chorizotaco
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Ka-bar Fixed Blades

Post by chorizotaco »

Picked up a couple of sweet fixed blades. The top green handled one I believe to be wood with the clear coat of something. The "ring" in the picture looks like layers of wood but I may be wrong. The two stag are gorgeous with different pommels. The top and bottom ones are almost unused. Someone scratched their name in the bottom one inside the groove. All three are Ka-bar / Union stamps. The old early 20s ad shows a model 271 which I think is the bottom one.....maybe!
Fixed Blades.jpg
Fixed blade ad.jpg
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Re: Ka-bar Fixed Blades

Post by kennedy knives »

Very Nice ::tu:: ::tu:: ::tu::
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Re: Ka-bar Fixed Blades

Post by clockman »

Hi Sir, Very nice knives. The handles on the top knife are celluloid. I have one just like it. Nice! best regards, Randy
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Re: Ka-bar Fixed Blades

Post by steve99f »

Those are some beauties 'taco, nice old stag. I agree with clockman that top handle is cell. I think all three are model 71's, Pathfinders but Gene will tell you for sure when he sees this.

And thanks for posting the old ad! I hadn't seen that before. ::tu::
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Re: Ka-bar Fixed Blades

Post by steve99f »

Forgot t mention that the model numbers and blade lengths might be found stamped on the guards.
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Re: Ka-bar Fixed Blades

Post by Gunsil »

Nice group Dan. I believe they are all the same model (71) with only the top one having a full blade. The center one's blade is quite worn down compared to the top one. The bottom one has been well cleaned, the blades on model 71s should come straight out from the ricasso without any "step" as yours has. Again, like the top knife. The bottom one is the oldest. It has the single thick black spacers and single brass spacers and the fat pommel of the earlier knives. The top one is cell, no doubt. Bot the stag ones are 271s, you can probably find the handle code for celluloid in your brochures to get the proper prefix, it is also a 71. Like Steve says, look on the front of the guard for model numbers, they don't all have them, but I'd bet the one with the fat pommel has 271-5 on the guard.
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chorizotaco
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Re: Ka-bar Fixed Blades

Post by chorizotaco »

HA!! I checked all three and sure enough the bottom one had "271 5". Thank you.

Gene I'll dig those brochures out, I always forget about those.

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Re: Ka-bar Fixed Blades

Post by Gunsil »

Dan, always look on the front of the guards on all your KA-BAR Union Cut marked hunting knives. Many of the early ones will have the model numbers there. They also show blade length but they do use a -5 on knives with 4&1/2" blades and -6 for knives with 5&1/2" blades as well as the true 5 or 6" blades. Stag pommeled knives will have a -G as part of the model number. For instance a 5" 271 with stag handles and a stag pommel (rare knife) would have a guard marked 271-G-5. These numbers definitely help ensuring the knife has original handle configuration. You can also see the sheath the 271 originally came in in your posted ad. That is proper, although I have had folks tell me it wasn't, they didn't think the knife would come in a "V" pointed sheath but they did.
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Re: Ka-bar Fixed Blades

Post by steve99f »

Gene do you suppose the use of the more extensive spacers and the stopping of model marking coincided, more or less? I ask as these are two ways to identify an early from a later knife based on your commentary. You should do a book. ::tu::
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Re: Ka-bar Fixed Blades

Post by Gunsil »

Steve, it seems that the change from one black and one brass spacer at each end coincides with the change from what I call "blob" or "fat" pommels to the more refined mushroom pommels. Some of these with the larger spacer packs and mushroom pommels will also have the guard model marks. In other words a knife with a mushroom pommel should have multiple spacers. I have a very early stag/stag 72 (272-G-5) that is not marked on the guard but it is a salesman's sample knife with those numbers in ink on the blade. So what we know is kind of like what we don't know. Early knives show more examples of guard marks but it is not known if all models began with those marks or if that marking system began after some models had been produced. The old brochures also show quite a few models having their model names etched on the blades but there are precious few seen these days with the etch. Did they only etch models for a year or two as they came out? We will likely never know that or when they began or ended the guard markings. Brad Wood and I have been working on a time machine so we can go back and positively identify all the changes but we haven't been making much progress (LOL).
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steve99f
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Re: Ka-bar Fixed Blades

Post by steve99f »

I'll turn the crank if you guys build one. :D

Pommel changes are another feature to look at, hmmmm. This can get complicated. Thanks for sharing your knowledge Gene.
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1967redrider
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Re: Ka-bar Fixed Blades

Post by 1967redrider »

Just saw this on Ka-Bar's Twitter, patented exactly 41 years before I was born. Anyone know what's up with that shield? Looks like the Frog King.
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Re: Ka-bar Fixed Blades

Post by steve99f »

That's the famous bear as in kill a bar or KABAR. A Model 81 and a nice one 67RR. Is it yours? Think one of these was on the bay recently.
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