Pilot's knife made in Japan?

[303lithgow]

Were any of the Vietnam Pilot's Knives made in Japan?

 

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Valor-Japan-Jet-Pilots...=item43a4269a86

[Bob Hudson]

Another Valor knife is discussed here: http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...showtopic=38830 = one post indicates that some Valor knives, at least, were sold in base clothing stores.

 

I would imagine the one on ebay is worth at most $20.

[gunbarrel]

They were made in Japan, but they were not Government Issue. Like Bob says, they were PX items. He is also right on the money with the price:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/USMC-AIRCREW-FOOT-POUN...N-/140492397177

 

The Japanese also made replicas of the Mark 2:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Japan-Japanese-WW2-M2-...r-/250736477128

 

And in addition to Valor, Kiffe also sold Japanese replicas of U.S. military knives and bayonets:

 

http://www.usmilitaryknives.com/bayo_points_14.htm

 

HTH.

[303lithgow]

The Japanese also made replicas of the Mark 2:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Japan-Japanese-WW2-M2-...r-/250736477128

 

HTH.

 

We were fighting the Japanese during WWII. Who would want a WWII M2 knife replica made in Japan?

 

Thanks for the info.

[gunbarrel]

We were fighting the Japanese during WWII. Who would want a WWII M2 knife replica made in Japan?

 

Thanks for the info.

 

They were made in the 60's, 20+ years after the end of WWII. Young men in the service who were not issued an American made one, but could buy a Japanese made one at the PX, or get it through other commercial means, bought them. Japanese made knives were very popular in Vietnam; take for example the SOG knives.

[Pacwar]

This is an old thread but people will find it decades later so facts should be made clear.

The "Japanese" never made a copy of the MKII or any other military/civilian knife.

These knives were manufactured in Japanese factories in Seki, on orders from

American knife companies, Frost, Valor, Parker, Kiffe, Imperial, etc etc who put their brand names

on the knives. In the 1980s Seki Japan had replaced Solingen Germany as the place to manufacture

high quaiity price competitive knives, and there isn't a single US knife company with any history that hasn't

sold Japan made knives.The biggest names like Spyderco, A Mar, SOG, Cold Steel still do.

This is important to understand in 2015 because we are now inundated with "counterfeit" knives being

made in Yangjiang China that are the thorn in the sides of legitiate Knife companies on a global scale.

As for Japanese manufactured MKIIs, Japanese factories were pumping out Kabars on US miitary orders to fill the short supply

in the Korean War, which was just 5 years after WWII ended. That should raise an eyebrow much more then the MK IIs.

The current knives in that category are the SOG knives eing made in China by Boker Germany under the "Magnum" brand.

This is China as in the Red China that supported the VC/NVRA against us in Vietnam.

[Boy Howdy]

On 3/17/2015 at 9:49 AM, Pacwar said:

As for Japanese manufactured MKIIs, Japanese factories were pumping out Kabars on US miitary orders to fill the short supply

in the Korean War, which was just 5 years after WWII ended.

Are you saying some Korean War Kabars / MK2's were made in Japan? Is there any way to ID these knives?

Has anyone  seen / owned one?

[thorin6]

9 hours ago, Boy Howdy said:

Are you saying some Korean War Kabars / MK2's were made in Japan? Is there any way to ID these knives?

Has anyone  seen / owned one?

I don't think that is correct.  There is evidence that Japan was involved in refurbishing M3/M4s during the Korean War, but as far as I know, they were not involved in any of the USMC Fighting Knives (aka Ka-bars) or Mark 2s.  Frank Trzaska is the expert on these, and I haven't read any of his articles that suggest Japan was making "Ka-bars" during the Korean War.

[Boy Howdy]

OK. Thank you.