Mark 1 USN Sheath Question

[thorin6]

I picked up a leather sheath for a Mark 1 knife marked USN for $5 at an antique store in Florida recently. Most of my Mark 1s are in the plastic scabbards. What Mark 1 knife (or knives) would be appropriate for the USN marked leather sheath?

[sundance]

No clue on the correct knife but great sheath. It's always nice to find a good sheath since you can always find (and buy - at least I do) plenty of sheathless knives.

[sactroop]

I posted this in the past, Camillus records report that for the Mark1's they switched over from leather sheaths to the plastic sheaths on 9/13/44. Interestingly they reported the change over to plastic sheaths for the Mark 2 knife sheaths for the Navy as 12/17/43.

[dustin]

Sheaths for the Mark 1 were not proprietary to any one knife contractor, there were approved sources by the BuOrd. Knife contractors could then buy sheaths from anyone on that list.

 

Be careful about those Camillus dates for the plastic sheaths. The first contract for those scabbards weren't even awarded until November 1943, their production didn't even commence until after January 1944. I suspect that date of 12/17/43 noted by Camillus is more of an Approval or Authority date to switch to the new type of scabbards. Even when production started in early 1944, the production line was plagued with delays. That date of 9/13/44 is more reflective to when the plastic scabbards actually became available. The date that Camillus cites was likely from a BuOrd letter letting them know that the new scabbards are ready for shipment, or from a letter that states they can be expected for receipt at their factory at that date.

[sactroop]

Thanks dustin. When I was looking up the dates on the Camillus document I also pulled up the contract list that Gary Cunningham provided in his book for those Beckwith sheaths. So with no more than one month between the first contract date and the reference date under the Mark 2 information I was wondering much the same as you pointed out above. This was the reason I posted both pieces of info from Camillus. Sometimes we can read too much into general information we run across when specific details aren't included.

Before now I wasn't aware of the start of production date of January 44, another pertinent little nugget.

[thorin6]

My Camillus Mark 1 came in a leather sheath and is my oldest Mark 1. My Ka-bar came with a leather sheath but I don't think it was original (very flimsy). My Boker came without a sheath so it went into a plastic one. My Geneva Forge and Colonial came in plastic scabbards. I have two PALs, both in plastic scabbards, although one has a replaced grip and sits in a black painted scabbard. My Robeson ShurEdge I believe has a plastic scabbard. I don't have the Western 5-inch "Seebee" but I don't know if that one qualifies as a Mark 1. Bill Walters has this type sheath associated with the Boker and the Geneva Forge. In lieu of anything else, I will probably match it with the Boker, as I bought that one off ebay for $20 without a sheath a couple of years ago. I'll then put the Ka-bar in the plastic scabbard.

Now if I can just find them all.