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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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