Navy Mk I Kabar

[AZAndy]

I'm completely ignorant about military knives, but recently inherited one of these. The hard-shell sheath says NORD-4723 over B. M. Co., with an overlined 4 and VP with a star under each letter. The knife itself says U.S.N. MARK I on one side, and a PAL logo on the other with RH to its left and 35 to its right.

Any idea as to its era? Tips on safely cleaning the blade?

Thanks!

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

PAL was a knife company that made a lot of knives for the military in WW2 and yours would appear to be an excellent example.
The MK1 was the shorter Navy utility knife and the MK2 was the one that most of us refer to as the "Kabar".
Tho not all were made by Kabar...

 

[Jerry M]

Blade looks parkerized, just wipe it down with oil and store it.

 

[AlexanderA]

The hard-shell sheath says NORD-4723 over B. M. Co., with an overlined 4 and VP with a star under each letter.

NORD stands for Naval Ordnance. B. M. Co. is Beckwith Manufacturing and VP is Victory Plastics. Beckwith / Victory Plastics made a lot of the sheaths for bayonets, etc., during WW2. New England Pressed Steel Co. was the subcontractor for the metal throat assemblies.

 

[lemaymiami]

If I ever bought a sheath knife (folders or plain fixed blades without sheaths are my usual tools...) that particular classic design would be very high on my list... and, as noted, you might be surprised what one on original condition might fetch today on E-Bay... Enter USN Mark one knife there and take a look at what originals are going for now...

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

That original issue sheath might be as valuable as the knife.
Maybe even more since the sheaths seem to be harder to find.

 

[CapnMac]

Specification on the Mk I (and Mk II, for that matter) are for parkerized blades, so use that for your standard of care.

That original issue sheath might be as valuable as the knife.
Maybe even more since the sheaths seem to be harder to find.

Very astute observation.
Mk I 'plastic' sheaths are going to $45-70; the leather ones about half that (as usually they are in less good condition 70-75 years' later).
Mk I blade by itself is $45-90, and better marking get better values (and you have to really botch the spelling in auction listings to not get a lot of attention, and bids).
Mine:


Mk II--all too often sold as Marine KBAR, without attribution--go for even more. The plastic scabbards are going for $75 by themselves, the blades for $75-150, and not much discount for buying them as a set, either.

 

[hso]

The knife itself says U.S.N. MARK I on one side, and a PAL logo

Not to be too pedantic, but that's a PAL MkI (and a very nice one)...not a KaBar. Boker, Camillus, Colonial, Geneva Forge, Kabar, Pal, Robeson, and Western made Mk I knives under contract for the USN.

Here's good history on the USN Mk. I. https://www.colonialknifecorp.com/blogs/news/history-of-mark-1-navy-knife-part-1-of-3

As to care? Oil, soft cloth, store outside of sheath in same environment as any collectable firearm. For the leather handle, Ballistol or pharmacy mineral oil wipe down occasionally.

 

[AlexanderA]

Notice how the metal throat is attached to the plastic scabbard body: there are notches in the body and little tabs on the throat are bent up into the notches.

As a side note, Beckwith was contracted to make the M3 plastic scabbards for the long 16" M1905 bayonets. They made tons of these. Then, when many of the bayonets were shortened to the 10" standard, there was an excess of the long scabbards. So, Beckwith was again contracted to shorten the scabbards. At first, they cut new notches and unbent and rebent the tabs. Of course, in many cases this resulted in the tabs breaking off. Beckwith developed a new process that did away with the notches and tabs entirely. The entire throat was swaged (crimped) onto the scabbard body. The swaged vs. notched attachment is something of interest to collectors.

 

[mokin]

That's a very cool knife. Thanks for the pictures.

 

[BWS]

Pretty minty MK II here,from a relative's estate. We keep it on top of the fridge,kids used to call it the,"Nazi Killer" when growing up. Used to use it for camping a little when they were young but,the dang things have gotten so $$$ was afraid it might "walk away" from camp..... which is a shame. Oh well,kids got to use it which is all that matters now.

 

[Drail]

Very well designed and very useful knife. Probably 1080 or 1095 steel so it will take a scary edge pretty easily and quickly. Numbah one G.I.!

 

[lemaymiami]

And for those not aware, there's modern versions of that exact same Mark One being made today and on the market for only about $60 if I remember correctly with your choice of handles (the old stacked leather or the new molded kraton style) and all from Kabar/ Becker if I'm not mistaken... Very useful design as others have already noted.

 

[hso]

Mark One being made today

https://www.tomarskabars.com/2221_INFO.html

https://www.tomarskabars.com/2225_INFO.html

 

[Drail]

IMO the best thing about that knife is it has no serrations and it's good old carbon steel.

 

[JShirley]

As hso said, common cheap mineral oil (NOT spirits) works great for gently cleaning and protecting old knives.

John

 

[hso]

https://www.amazon.com/Swan-Mineral...1738641&sprefix=mineral+oil+ph,aps,192&sr=8-7 Should be available locally or you can always order it.

 

[Speedo66]

Here's mine, also a PAL, with some closeups of the markings. When I was younger, that company used to make razor blades, not sure if they still do.

 

[rust collector]

PAL acquired Remington's knife business in 1940, sold many knives to Uncle Sam and many sports of the era, and passed into history about 1953. Case, Western, Ka-bar, Camillus and many others joined in to establish or follow this pattern for sportsmen's knives for decades thereafter. Stacked leather was the standard in those days, but as we later learned subject to rot or shrink if not properly cared for. Still evokes memories of my first sheath knife, a tiny Western with fancy design on the sheath.