Ww2 camillus mk 2 knife usn

[Shakey]

What do you think of this guys

[Shakey]

Here's  another couple  of pics with  the rest of my mk2 s.

[Shakey]

You might want to move this topic to the general edged weapons forum

Up to you  thanks  steve

[Shakey]

Do these look original ? Any opinions would be. Good thanks steve

[sactroop]

Sorry for the delay in responding to your question.  

For now I'll skip responding to the one on the far left in the second picture.  I can tell you about the other four with some what more certainty.

These four knives are all post-WW2 examples and most likely Government contract knives for the military.

The knife in both pictures, the first including two different types of sheath is also a bit rare.

It is a U.S./UTICA CUT CO, this is from the first post-WW2 contract awarded for this type knife after WW2.  If my memory hasn't gone too fuzzy yet ,they would have delivered these about 1961.  The knife and leather sheath still conform to more of the WW2 standards than the knives that follow it will.  This includes the bent guard and the 9 rivets assembled into the sheath.  The plastic sheath is left over from WW2 production.  I say left over as we in the U.S. had some very large stock piles of many supplies for our military when the War came to a sudden end.  One of those abundant items were the MKII plastic sheath and even during the Viet Nam War many of those got issued to G.I.'s .

So for that knife and both sheaths are correct for it, and it's unusual to find one with both.  The correct leather sheath is more rare, however the WW2 plastic sheaths are also getting hard to find now.

Your last three knives follow the updated general configuration for the Government contracts issued for the  MIL-K-20277 specification.  Knowing where they fall in chronology of the knife contracts will depend in part on the information stamped into the knife. 

Below I'm including a photo of the models of these knives which would be correct for the Viet Nam War.  They include the two models of the Utica Cultery knives as well as examples made by Camillus and Connetta.

If any of your knives are marked differently we should be able to narrow those down too.

 

 

[Shakey]

Thanks for replying  but there is some confusion here  forgetting the first  new k bar all the rest are camillus. Pic 1 camillus ny and 

Usn  mark 2 on other side came with both sheaths.  The others are us camillus   NY. Vietnam era I think

Main concern is the knife in pic 1 . And sheaths Genuine

[Shakey]

The condition of this knife is excellent which is why I’m asking. The colour of the  blade is dark and a little bit patchy is best to describe it

what is your opinion 

[sactroop]

The Camillus NY, USN MARK 2 is a WW2 knife in a Viet Nam era sheath.  It's entirely possible that it was issue NOS with a new replacement sheath.

The two CAMILLUS NY knives are Vietnam era knives with the expected sheaths.

I'm personally aware of a WW2 new old stock fighting/utility knife  being issued from a supply depot in Okinawa as late as the early 70's.  Who's to say that there weren't more?

I realize I'm speaking here as if you have a third ox blood colored sheath.  I'm not sure which sheaths came with which knives or if some of them were obtained secretly.

[Shakey]

Yes correct there is another ox blood  sheath  for the nam knives. The plastic sheath has a nord number opposite usn mark 2

concerning the leather sheath with 9 rivets doesn’t that make it a ww2 item ? 

[sactroop]

NORD stand for Navy ordinance the number is one of several contract numbers for these sheaths.  

The 9-rivet sheath is not one made during WW2, but was made at the time the knife contract was fulfilled.  About a year later the specifications for both the MIL-K-20277 knife and it's sheath were updated to what you have with the others.

 

Here are contract numbers with some information;

 

NORD    Dollar Value     Date of Order                      Approximate Number

4723     $521,000.00      November 1943                     592000

6581     $240,000.00           July  1944                         280000

6804     $79,000.00            June 1944                          90000

8114     $592,000.00         March 1945                         672000

8676     $125,000.00         March 1945                        142000

 

These contracts often combined sheaths for the Nay's Mark 1 and Mark 2 sheaths which are not interchangeable.  Regardless I hope at least some of this proves helpful.

[Shakey]

Thanks for that  great information much appreciated. Finally to stop me getting burned could you tell me precisely what difference  is between the sheath in picture 1 and a similar one ww2 production. To me they look very similar your eyes are much more experienced than mine. Is it because no u.s n stamp ???

[Shakey]

Anyone ?…

[Shakey]

Any comments at all  appreciated 

[Shakey]

Hello. 

[SKIPH]

Shakey- Check out the number of rivets holding the sheaths together. The tan #1 has 9 ,  the later production have 7. That will give you an idea. The first is better quality, and the extra rivet for safety on the curve.  It is a post WW2 sheath, Utica had a post war contract for MK2s.   SKIP