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It would be interesting to have a site where we could put different facts, trivia,tidbits on knives in general. I was reading "Romance of Knife Collecting" by Dewey Ferguson and ran across this:

STANDARD KNIFE COMPANY: founded in Little Valley, NY by Elliot and Dean Case. This company did not stay in business long enough to gain a wide popularity.

"With their knife these two Case Brothers put out an unusual guarantee. This guarantee stated that anyone found dead with a standard knife on their person would have their funeral expenses paid for by the company".

Your turn.

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Permalink Reply by Ken Spielvogel on July 10, 2013 at 12:43

"It is very interesting to note that Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd carried many Cattaraugus knives on his expedition to the North Pole. Cattaraugus knives also went with him on his expedition to the South Pole."

""Romance of Knife Collecting" - Ferguson

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Permalink Reply by Ken Spielvogel on July 11, 2013 at 7:28

In The Bible - Jeremiah 36:23 - King Jehudi burns the Scroll

"And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the PENKNIFE, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth , until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth"

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Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on June 27, 2014 at 9:52

Okay, How about this Tidbit,

While the Marine Corps Mk. II Combat knife is commonly called a KaBar; Camillus received the original contract and produced the bulk of them. The original nomenclature was 1219C2.

The knives were known by the Marines as the Mk II combat Knife and the Navy as the MK II Utility knife. While Camillus made the bulk of the knives, outstripping Kabar almost 2 to 1 in production, The early Kabar knives were better finished and were prominently stamped Kabar/USMC and had red spacers at the top and bottom of the stacked leather handles. These were some of the best finished of the MkII knives and were the ones most coveted by the Marines.

Now this part is just speculation on my part, but I think this is why the knife eventually became generically known as the Marine Corps Kabar. Marines didn't want just any MkII Combat knife, they wanted the Red Spacer KaBar made Fighting knife that was stamped USMC. Over time, all of the MK II were simply called Kabar (generically) regardless of who produced it.

Me personally, I like my Camillus.

My Camillus Mk II Fighting knife with my CCM-GAK, German Army knife. The knives I carried.

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Permalink Reply by Ken Spielvogel on June 27, 2014 at 10:44

Great Tidbit Tobias - when I was in Marines, I didn't know the difference, I carried a "Kabar" while in Vietnam but it was made by Camillus. I now have that original "Kabar" and two others - 1 stamped Camillus and the other Kabar, Olean NY.