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Opinions please on this KA-BAR (1219C2)


usmce4
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A guy put this on ebay as a BIN for a reasonable price. For once I saw it within an hour of him listing it. He didn't ask for offers but I took a shot and made one pointing out the sharpening and he took it.

What I'd appreciate opinions on is how much the sharpening hurts it. I didn't buy it for resale or dollar value, simply for my tiny but growing collection. I like to think of it as a "been there, done that" and being the romantic I am, I can see some kid sitting on the deck of an LST sharpening his knife and bayonet the night before a landing. (And he made it home with his KA-BAR)

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Sharpening effects value A LOT. Still a wonderful piece of history and deserves a good home like yours!

 

Agree but the scabbards will bring fair money on their own.....I have a couple nice versions of these and one is in a BOYT USMC 43 marked scabbard

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Nice mid War kabar with the fat handle and bonderized finnish which is like a lite parkerizing

 

Thanks guys

Good eye, doyler - I didn't notice the fat handle till you spotted it in the pic. I thought the thin pinned pommel made it late war, is the fat handle what makes it mid-war? (I invested in a copy of Cole III, but he doesn't mention handle size at all)

Now this makes the 3rd variation I have - still a ways to go.....

Art

PS.... This is the one I have I'm thinking is late war. Is that correct?

post-168413-0-71052900-1500174614_thumb.jpg

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realize something guys----- a blade that is sharpened is a combat used knife. doesn't mean its no good or undesirable. may go for less but, it is part of history. I have some and they are good ww2 keepers.

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realize something guys----- a blade that is sharpened is a combat used knife. doesn't mean its no good or undesirable. may go for less but, it is part of history. I have some and they are good ww2 keepers.

I totally agree with you, that's why I bought this one - but being new at this I wanted to see how you guys felt.

The mint ones are great, I'd love to get a few, but they are kind of like the WWII Vet who spent the war shoveling s**t in Louisiana in my eyes.

Pardon my French - Art

 

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I was wondering how you can ascertain that a WWII knife with a sharpened blade was combat used? How can you tell it was not sharpened last week?

 

My Dad gave me two mint WWII KA-BAR MARK 2 knives when I was a stupid 7 year old kid, I am 68 now. I threw them at trees until I broke the tip off of one and subsequently lost it. I still have the other one that I sharpened poorly back then. Those two knives might have looked like they were used in combat but the only combat they saw was in my back yard.

 

Maybe I don't get it but unless there is proper documentation on a sharpened knife I don't think it can be said it was combat used or it was just used by a Boy Scout or hunter.

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I was wondering how you can ascertain that a WWII knife with a sharpened blade was combat used? How can you tell it was not sharpened last week?

 

My Dad gave me two mint WWII KA-BAR MARK 2 knives when I was a stupid 7 year old kid, I am 68 now. I threw them at trees until I broke the tip off of one and subsequently lost it. I still have the other one that I sharpened poorly back then. Those two knives might have looked like they were used in combat but the only combat they saw was in my back yard.

 

Maybe I don't get it but unless there is proper documentation on a sharpened knife I don't think it can be said it was combat used or it was just used by a Boy Scout or hunter.

 

I agree with you as well.

BUT - While a sharpened one may very well have been in combat, a mint one most certainly was not (but I still want some).

Art

 

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You can never say never with WWII KA-BAR MARK 2 variations but I think the blade finish on the knife you first posted is Parkerized, not Bonderized. I have never seen a late war, fat handled, pinned thin pommel, small USMC, WWII KA-BAR MARK 2 USMC knife with a Bonderized blade finish. If it is a Bonderized finish you have something special.

I attached a picture of the 3 blade finishes for comparison. Left to right, Bonderized, Parkerized, and blued.

 

The first knife has a USMC stamped BOYT 43 sheath.

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Some sharpening I've seen is CRAZY,STUPID. Did they have bench grinders to use? :(

 

I was wondering how you can ascertain that a WWII knife with a sharpened blade was combat used? How can you tell it was not sharpened last week?

 

My Dad gave me two mint WWII KA-BAR MARK 2 knives when I was a stupid 7 year old kid, I am 68 now. I threw them at trees until I broke the tip off of one and subsequently lost it. I still have the other one that I sharpened poorly back then. Those two knives might have looked like they were used in combat but the only combat they saw was in my back yard.

 

Maybe I don't get it but unless there is proper documentation on a sharpened knife I don't think it can be said it was combat used or it was just used by a Boy Scout or hunter.

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jw517 - I saw one at a flea market couple weeks ago and 1/4" or 3/8" of the blade was gone (the blade, not the tip) from just as you say "bench grinder" sharpening. And to boot, of course there were several people looking at it and one guy asked the dealer why it said KABAR on one side but there was nothing on the other side - the "dealer" replied "the ones they sold in the PX came that way".

I'd been collecting about an hour and a half then, but even with as little as I know I had to cover my mouth so he wouldn't see me laugh!

Art

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A couple years ago I saw a almost mint Roneson on eBay . I say almost because exept for the blade being ground on a real coarse wheel,allowed to jump around while being ground, gouges all over like a drunk,blind man ground it,it was mint. I bought it cheep and tried to help it on my grinder but it still look like hell! Smoother,but looks like hell. :(

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