All About Pocket Knives

A couple of weeks ago I spent two days scrounging at the huge Brimfield Massachusetts outdoor antique show. There was a crush of people when this one particular field opened...in the first tent I ducked into, this amazing little knife was sitting there on a table with a $30 price tag on it. It was the only knife that the guy had, and I did not try to talk him down on price. It has the KA-BAR stamp but not the UNION CUTLERY stamp. Just over 8" OAL with a 3" blade.

Brings back memories becuase my late father had one either identical to this one or perhaps a smaller size. He had had it since he was a kid. Thinking about it, I HOPE that my brother still has it.

Awesome find and a steal of a deal, Steve.

Your really nice little knife was called "Little Trading Post" in the old brochures and they were lightly etched with that name when new. They were available in stag/Stag as yours and also with celluloid handles and a stag pommel and leather handles with a stag pommel. Yours is a pre war model. There were a few made during the war with wood pommels and steel butt plates and I have one with a stag pommel with a steel butt plate. as John says, you got a fantastic deal on it!

Gunsil wrote: ↑Thu May 29, 2025 8:58 pm Your really nice little knife was called "Little Trading Post" in the old brochures and they were lightly etched with that name when new. They were available in stag/Stag as yours and also with celluloid handles and a stag pommel and leather handles with a stag pommel. Yours is a pre war model. There were a few made during the war with wood pommels and steel butt plates and I have one with a stag pommel with a steel butt plate. as John says, you got a fantastic deal on it!

Thanks Gene; great to hear about the history and variations. Yeah I love finding them that way.

Yeah Steve, you did well at Brimfield! I can no longer hike the big shows would have loved to find one for that price. There are a lot of variations in the stampings, the spacers, and there are two sizes of pommel nuts. If you collected all variations you could amass probably twenty or more knives. I used to hunt Brimfield, found some nice knives but no real bargains like that!