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Permalink Reply by Kevin D on August 24, 2022 at 20:50

some information that I probably should have posted initially...

The Mk2 was designed by Camillus as an upgrade to the MK1 which most military battalions found to be unsuited to general tasks and all-in-all not nearly durable enough for service.

Four companies made knives with the MK2 design.  Camillus Cutlery, Union Cutlery (later known as Ka-Bar), PAL Cutlery, and Robeson Cutlery.  The knife was designed November of 1942 and the first shipment of the knives (by Camillus) was shipped in January of 1943.

Union (Ka-Bar) made the highest number of these knives, and Robeson made the fewest.

This particular knife was made by Robeson and from the markings on the sheath, I am estimating that it was made between early 1944 and early 1945.

FeaturedPermalink Reply by dead_left_knife_guy on August 24, 2022 at 21:17

Kevin, you said you had a lot to work with here, but don't undersell it -- you really did a great job on this knife.  Given the specific age, I wouldn't use myself, but it looks fully functional, & I wouldn't blame anyone who chose to put it to use.  Any bend still present in the guard is totally unnoticeable, if it's there at all, & that handle just looks like it wants to be held.  And that blade is in incredible condition.  Nicely done, man!

Permalink Reply by J.J. Smith III on August 25, 2022 at 11:47

Wow.  Great find and really good results. 

Permalink Reply by Kevin D on August 27, 2022 at 5:01

Thank you guys,

I am pretty happy with how this turned out.  One of my nicest WWII era knives.

Moving on to another little project.  Hopefully it will be posted here soon.  :)

Permalink Reply by Lars Ray on August 27, 2022 at 9:08

Oh man...this is awesome! I agree with Dead Left...you have some wicked restoration skills, and it shows! I love blowing up the photo to really capture the details...I'm with JJ ....Wow!

Permalink Reply by Kevin D on January 12, 2023 at 21:47

Good evening folks!

Here is another USN Mk2 that I basically rebuilt.  My father-in-law retired from the Navy a little after Vietnam and from some of the stories and comments he shares, I was pretty certain that he had been issued a USN Mk2.  During the summer, I had the great idea to find him a nice Mk2 knife to give to him for Christmas.  oh my...  The cost of a real intact Mk2 was far too much for this poor soul to handle for a Christmas gift.  So I started to look for other options.  I finally found an auction for a blade only, that was honestly in pretty rough shape.  But the price was right, and I hoped that he would appreciate the 'handmade' by me aspect of the gift when I was done.  This one actually took quite a bit of work as I had to do everything except for forge and form the blade itself.  

Quite a few "firsts" for me with this project.  First attempt at parkerizing, first leather disc handle, first buttcap with pin...

I used the handle of my Robeson MK2 as a reference for getting the handle on this knife correct.  I think that I could have burnished the leather a little better before treating the leather, but overall I think it turned out fairly well.  Always something to improve on next time right?

My FIL did seem to truly appreciate the blade and the work that I put into it, so I am counting this as a 'win'.

Here is a LINK to the photo in 'my photos' which may provide a little more information about the rebuild.  Hope you enjoy!

Permalink Reply by Kevin D on Sunday

Instead of starting a new thread for a new project I am adding on to this one.

I found a first gen MK2 made by Camillus with an original leather sheath.  Stamped USN and everything.  The vast majority of these had the plastic/fiberglass and canvas sheaths.  Unfortunately this needs a lot of work.  The leather discs and pommel that comprise the handle are GONE.  The tang has been shortened a half inch, so the pin hole that held the pommel in place (and thus compressed the leather discs) is missing.

The one piece of leather on the handle is not correct.  But ..  "I can fix it!"   Those words have gotten me into trouble before. 

See the Rapala fillet knife I 'fixed".

Anyway, another MK2 restoration project is underway.  Stay tuned!

Permalink Reply by J.J. Smith III on Monday

Looks to be another worthwhile project.

I'm looking forward to following your progress.

Permalink Reply by Lars Ray on Monday

Ok - let's roll up the sleeves, quit scacking, and crack on! You got this...and remeber, we want to see all the details! Nice "before" pic, now we want to see the tang extension, handle development, blade clean up, and sheath restoration. Oh it's going to be beautiful!

I echo JJ - looking forward to oohing and ahhhing over the effort. Go get'em tiger!

Permalink Reply by Kevin D 10 hours ago

hmmmm....

I learned some new stuff today!  Unexpected good(?) news.  It turns out that this is definitely more rare than a normal MK2.

This newest acquisition is a version 1 MK2 made by Camillus.  Now, from what I have learned (If anyone has information to the contrary please let me know), the version 1 actually failed the field trials and was not ever issued as a service knife.  The version 2 is what we all know as the military issued Mark 2 or "Ka-Bar" in generalized circles.

I knew when I bought it, that it needed some restoration.  After cleaning though, the blade itself may retain enough of the original parkerizing to be left alone.  The tang...  I had originally thought that I needed to add a piece of steel to extend the tang for the pommel pin.  Now I do see evidence that I need to add a threaded piece instead and make a counterbored, steel pommel and split nut.  The nut would also be steel, but similar to the Remington RH knives (those used brass nuts).

The sheath has a shallow cut down the front of it, but I will have to see what I can do to fix that.  Delicate, time consuming work, but I think I can do it.

Right now my biggest 'fuss' is the shipping on my leather disc kit has been raised from $8 in 2022 (it arrived in a padded envelop last time) to $15 in 2024.  It would cost me approximately $5 to ship a padded envelope weighing the same from my house to the vendor.  I am having a very difficult time justifying this increase in shipping cost.  For other items, I can see it; but this little package is easy and cheap to ship.

If all problems were this trivial, right?

Permalink Reply by Lars Ray 6 hours ago

Wait...what? You now have a truely unique piece, and we're holding up progress over a $3.50 year-over-year increase in supply chain costs?

Just a minute...let me bust open my piggy bank here that's full of nickles & dimes....yep...seven dolllars and fortyfive cents. Need me to send you the money? 

Dude...  :-D