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Good Evening!
I just acquired a USN MK2 knife a couple of days ago. The grip's leather discs were horribly dehydrated, and the guard was a bit bent; but for the most part, it was in pretty good shape. It really needed some cleaning and just a touch of tweaking to get it back into good shape.
Here are some photos of the result. I do hope you enjoy. (Thanks Lars for the encouragement to post these!)
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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.
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!
Wow. Great find and really good results.
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. :)
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!
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!
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