Knifemaking | WW2 KA-BAR | USMC Vintage Fighting Knife 

I have a knife with a similar handle! My Uncle was a SeaBee in WW2 serving in the pacific, Saipan, Okinawa, Munda, and many others. His knife was made by a Seabee Blacksmith on Okinawa. The blade is from a Jeep leaf spring. the handle material was stacked plastic from a Japanese Zero crashed on the beach of Okinawa. The pommel and guard are aluminum from parts of the same Japanese Zero. He told me that that that blacksmith made many knives and other items while based on that island. He also mentioned that this blacksmith re-handled Kabars and Quartermaster knives. This was because the tropical climate on the island rotted the leather on the original handle prematurely.

I love it, great video I'm like you wish she could tell us where she has been and seen. Brother I loved your "snowflake " comment. Man I laughed and laughed about that. Keep them coming. That's awesome.....

id grab a kabar with a pommel spike immediately if they made one, that looks awesome

U should make ur own version of that knife

It’s a great knife !!! And I would say that’s it’s gotta be custom made !! Whether on a ship, ( Don’t forget, Navy ships have complete machine shops in the hull ) I’ve never seen a pummel crafted like that one !! I’ve gotta duplicate it !! I really like it!! I’m a blade smith , since I’ve retired I’ve taken my 40 years in the machine shop and am using it to make knives now and I’m lovin it !! But I think I know how they fastened the .50 cal projectile to the pummel , the full tang has a 5/16 threaded end , probably 1/2 inch long and then the projectile is tapped for a 5/16-18 machine screw then drill a hole in the pummel cap and thread the projectile on to it !!! A pretty cool idea! Like i said I can’t wait to duplicate it on the next knife I build !!

For all you snowflakes out there, I’m dying of laughter. Well done, WELL DONE!

How about that being the base of a Pool Cue from Shore Leave..i know after breaking it i would need another use for it lol

That is a beautiful knife, sir. I personally wouldn’t do anything but maintain its current condition. My dad used to say these were often made by Seabees with the tools they often had access to. He said the acrylic parts came from shot up airplane canopies. Some discs are red and those come from the part of the canopy that was marked for target sighting. Thanks you your family’s member for their service.

It's a theatre made knife..the leather handles on most of them knives rot due to wet weather and salt water from the sea...they used aluminum,acrylic glass from aircraft...

Stored in the leather scabbard for years will damage the blade some-But Still a cool historical knife. Lotta sentimental to that one. I have never seen a Ka-bar with a trench Art handle ! Trench Art Military knives are out there. Soldiers often used aircraft cockpit windshield material to make stacked handles like yours. I picked up a WW-2 trench Art knife weeks back. Blade stock is not as thick-probably a Heavy saw blade.

Handle was from the plexiglass of fighter plane windows......bullet is a skull crusher.

I have one like that. The sheath has engraving with the owners initials, some native Māori artwork and a lightly ground down 1932 New Zealand 1 Shilling coin near the end of the sheath. The blade appears to be the same as yours. The handle is of similar but thinner sections of brass, red plastic, clear plexiglass? and leather. I assumed the The end cap is diamond shaped, of aluminum with nicely engraved palm trees, stamped lettering “So. Pacific” “1943”. I assumed the plexiglass was recovered from an aircraft.

Interesting knife I’d leave it as it stands in my opinion .

What must be a feeling to hold this blade?!😊

The knife that you have is a ka bar setup with a handle made either in the field or on a boat between battles it was fairly common to replace the leather handle on ka bar due to jungle rot or salt water causing the leather to rot. I have seen them done in the style or aluminum with or without knuckle dusters. Love the knife

Aircraft armours glass Perspex up to 40 mm thick

Once the K-bar hilts that were originally leather stacked pieces wore or rotted from the tropical weather, they were often constructed of parts salvaged from downed aircraft, including Plexiglas from canopies, metals like brass and aluminum and Bakelite in many colors (used as electrical insulation in planes & boats).The knife was re-hilted in the field and the very attractive theater made grip is constructed of numerous washers made from clear Plexiglas, aluminum and burgundy colored Bakelite. Ypur knife could have been reworked in a number of locations in Asia. If I was to take a wild guess, i would say it was done in the Philippines.

this a plane cockpit plexyglass

I have a ww2 fighting knife same kinda handle, not the pommel, but that has got to be the coolest handle i have ever seen, thank you so much for sharing such wonderful history, don't worry about restoring it, bring it back to her glory, and the trench art handle and pommel is awesome

My father was in WW2 and was in the Pacific Guam and Saipan. He was an avid knifemaker and made knives in the 50's that had handles like yours. but no spike on the end. By the 60's he was making them with stag handles. Some of these knifes are still in the family. I think there are plexiglass. He put thin plastic colored material and even think brass layers in the handle between the plexiglass.

Very cool knife. I have a number of these "theater-made" knives. Some were surely converted during the war mostly by SeaBees because they had access to the equipment. Others were done on board ships by skilled sailors. The story I've heard mostly is the clear plastic came from the plexiglass canopies of downed planes. In my opinion, I think a lot of these knives were converted in the States after the war ended. Either way, they are some of the coolest knives you can find.

That look when you put on your glasses… I felt that. Daily. 😂

I know some of the marines would take pieces of plane windows and make grips for 1911 pistols. They would put pictures of their wives or girlfriends under the grips. That handle looks pretty good for something done in the field though.

Are you going to "make" your own version of that fighting Kabar only with proper upgrades..such as thicker blade stock, full tang, fully sharpened swedge etc.

It’s called trench art the handle was made somewhere in the pacific or where ever the owner was at

...ahhh, ya got me with the reverence word. That looks like a cattaragus sheath. All blessings and love forever whatsoever.

a lot of those knives were custmomized in the army machine shops and the clear is made from airplane plexiglass/lexan windshield scraps. I have that same model kabar knife without the bullet but the handle is very similar and so is the sheath.

Sir that back part is called ..... ( A Skull Breaker ).

That knife Yes make your own replica of it

I imagine someone similar to you put that grip on that ka-bar many years ago.

That handle was more than likely made onboard a ship that the Marines were embarked on in the machine shop. During WW 2 ship's had all types of shops to do field repairs at Sea or in forward bases. Great knife. 🌟🌟👍🏻👍🏻⚓⚓🇺🇲🇺🇲

The factory only made stacked leather handles for the Ka-Bar Marine fighting knife back in the day. All the ones like yours with a custom handle were done by the soldiers that owned them. Your dad's uncle must have been quite handy to customize it so well.

Trench art looks like that handle sometimes

I did 20 years in the Corps... never seen a handle like this. I'm thinking it was added after the war.

Yeah most knives are not used in actual combat and yes I'm an Army vet. Cool story though.