I was a combat engineer/tunnel rat and was not issued a hand gun so I only has the knife for "protection" in the tunnels until I "relieved" a corpsman of his 45. That knife has never left my side in over fifty years.
My dad fought the Battle of the Bulge. Was seriously wounded soon after that, while on the road to liberate Dachau. I remember handling hi KA-BAR when I was a kid but have no idea of what eventually became of it. Glad you have yours.
I have my father's Ka-Bar. He served as a Gunnery Sgt. USMC at Gudalcanal and was also at Iwo Jima. I would never ever consider changing a thing as it represents what he went through to preserve our freedom and liberties that we too often take for granted. Thanks Dad Gunnery Sergent Thomas C. Lee United States Marine Corps.
I love this restoration. I have my best friends KA-BAR, he lost his life serving this great country. May he Rest In Peace. This KA-BAR will never leave my side.
FANTASTIC JOB!!! As I watched this video I couldn't help but think back to a very sad time in my life and at the same time found myself smiling at the possibilities of this ol' knife's history. You see I had a k-bar in Nam and I absolutely loved that knife. It had a lot of history to it that I don't really like to go into anymore. One of the saddest things in the history of that knife was when I was medivac'd and ended up in a hospital for the last five months of my Marine Corp career. During that time my gear was all stored away in supply. When I was discharged from the hospital I was also discharged from the Corp. At that time I proceeded to supply to reclaim my gear....which no one could find. My k-bar was one of my most cherished possessions and it truly floored me to find out that it was nowhere to be found. But not only that...also missing were my personal items like pictures of my Mom & Dad and family. Those were the only pictures of my family that I ever had and the absolute only picture of my Mom. THAT, needless to say, broke my heart. There are no other pictures of my Mom. Many things I lost that can never be replaced...but the pictures of my family were the absolute hardest to overcome and always will be. One little note about the k-bar, and after all this time it may not have been noticeable anymore...I, feeling like a young badass Marine had attempted to carve two notches in the handle with my bayonet confirming my first and only two kills with my k-bar (this happened when our perimeter was being overrun)....but only after a time of being "in country" and only when I was feeling like a salty badass with an attitude. My buddies in Nam and I used to set up targets when we came out of the bush and do target throwing (among other more civilized things). I won a few mpc and lost a few mpc, but it took our minds off of much heavier thoughts. Anyway, great job on the k-bar.
Oh-MY-Goodness! I cannot thank you enough for sharing this amazing story about your life and your time in Vietnam. Thank you so very much for your service. If you would like this old veteran Ka-Bar featured in this video I will be more than glad to ship it to you free of charge. Just send me your address to andrewandwilla@hotmail.com.
GOD bless you...you have a great heart. But no thank you; I didn't post this to have you part with all the love and devotion that you have put into your find. If it hadn't been for you it might never have ever seen another day of life...thank you so much for caring. I would love to know if maybe you might have noticed, or were even able to notice, any such markings on the handle. A few years after I was discharged I managed to buy another one and I have it still today. It wasn't the same k-bar, and yet in ways I made it the same. But thank you so very much for the offer. I know you can't possibly do anything about what I really wish for...which was my pictures of my family that I still long for even to this day. But again thank you so very much and GOD bless you. SEMPER FI !!!
Foothills Trail Hiker ...Thanks, I appreciate the quick feedback. Great job on reviving this k-bar...I'm sure it more than likely has a past that will probably remain for only GOD to really know of. Again, GREAT JOB! ....................SEMPER FI !!!
I've built three KaBars as a knife maker. I carried one in Vietnam and luckily it came home with me when I was medevaced. As for the grooves in the handle, you do them after you compress all the leather disks and sand it to proper profile, then you use a small chainsaw sharpening file to file the grooves after marking them with a black Pilot pin. When the grooves have been filed out I dye it with Fieblings Leather Dye, then use Linseed oil to rub into the leather and buff with your hands by holding the handle in one hand and turning the knife round and round with the other until it is smooth . Then with the blade in a vice you can buff the handle with a polishing cloth like shining a shoe. I also use Axe Wax blade wax to give it additional smoothness and hard shine.
Loved the restoration project. I have one just like that. I’ll do the same thing but while I have it totally stripped down I am going to force a nice dark patina with white vinegar before I reassemble. Good job !!
So glad I came across your video. I just Found my grandfathers old Ka-Bar knife he had it’s in bad shape but restorable. It was behind a shelf in his old workshop and I was lost on how to restore it to its fullest but you have shown me how to and I can not thank you enough cause anything he carried in his time of service is a treasure in my eyes. ❤️
I like what you did with the knife. I restore some of these sometimes and I use glue to get all the rings to stay fit. Just a little bit of out of security. Yours turned out really good.
Very nice to know that they sell that stack leather handle material for handle repair, I may need them one day. Thanks for sharing. And that is a real old one with the markings on the guard.
Me snd my dad found mine in an field about 15 years ago. I pulled it out 5 years ago buffed most of the just a couple pits. Just now found a sheeth gonna our end edge back on it. Although mine seems to have a serrated edge I haven’t seen anyone else’s have that
This was a work of love. Some observations as I routinely restore/modify used knives and tools. 1. Because you were not going to retain the handle material, just soak it overnight in vinegar. This does an initial rust removal, allows consideration of the true condition of the blade, and cleans/loosens the leather handle material. 2. After removing the handle material, soak again in vinegar overnight. You may want to lightly sand and then soak again. 3. sharpen the blade and lube the handle before putting on the stacking material. 4. dealing with pitting requires some decisions. If the pitting is really bad, you may decide that the best that you can do is something short of totally polishing the knife. In any event, after you think that you have completed the project and have lubed properly, put the unit aside and double check your protective coating/lube about a week later.
I have a K-BAR my Dad brought back from WW2. To make extra money (New Zealand soldiers weren't paid much) Dad would swap fake Japanese flags to American soldiers for their knifes. The flags were made from American parachutes and red medical solution. Dad would remove the handles from the knife and then replace them with hand crafted handles made from crashed B17 Bombers. Alternating the duralium from the fuselage and perspex from the windows and assembled just like the cork in your video and he would cast duralium bottom guard and a threaded top piece. Prior to assemble he would colour the tang somehow with Brilliant Green medical solution before assemble so the green reflected through the perspex. Once finished, it was sold back to the GI's for US$15 and the process would start again. Lance Corporal Jack Newby; NZ Army Medical Core 1914 - 2007
Nice job on restoring your kabar knife this video is really helpful I have a old roberson shuredge kabar knife with a red spacer. The handle was falling off so I removed it I do plan on restoring it the only problem is the pommel is peened not pinned and I need to get a replacement red vulcanized rubber spacer.
When I was a teenager I found my Dads ka-bar. As a teenager I thought it would be a good throwing knife. "NO". Broke the palmmal off. Thanks for the restore. Plus when my graduated from boot camp I bought a new one.
I have a Kabar knife, USMC. Acquired it back in the early 80's. The blade, guard and pommel are all brown powder coated, leather handle is a nice dark brown for being used. Oh and the "False" edge on mine is very sharp. A good close in fighting knife. An excellent design for a Combat & Utility knife.
To Clean Any Knife Blade So It Looks New. Sounds Weird but Use Maybelline Eye/Lip Makeup Remover {It Must Be This Brand} Shake Well and Rub with a Clean Cloth. It Also Dissolves Adhesives Left By Tape On A Blade Or Damn Labels That Don’t Come Completely Off Products. This One Your Wife Will Love You For. Put A Few Drops on Your Kid’s Band Aid, Rub Lightly and It Will Lift Right Off. This Is Not A Joke.
Hello I loved your video, I'm Brazilian and I have an equal knife, my father bought two for ebay one for me and one for him, I'm proud to have that knife and I'll take good care of it. Thanks for the video
Nice job bringing it back to life! It’s always fun when you know an item has history to it and then you get to spend some time making it your own. I’m sure it’ll be a treasure for many years to come.
I was looking for a knife and came across your video,I just wanted to say AWESOME JOB!! KA-Bars are a Beast/Workhorse of a knife and seeing you bring it back to life made my decision to buy one a no brainer.Really enjoyed watching you Restore it.Again,Great Job!!!!
I have my grandpas knife and stitch and rivet sheath. He served as a us navy combat engineer in ww2 in some of the early pacific beach invasions. He also said he set up the explosive charges to scuttle the USS Lexington in the battle of the coral sea. He was sent to Europe towards the end of the war. He passed away in 2001 when I was young so I didn’t get to ask him about his service. All information I have gotten have been from my dad when he gave me my late grandpas knife and shotguns a couple months ago.
Great Job, It's been Two years, but you could refresh her with the sander, reapply the Stain and finish off with some danish oil. She would look fantastic. Other wise looks awesome.
Nice to find this video. I just began a restoration on a Camillus one that belonged to my grandpa. And yeah. Those pins never want to come out. I just drilled mine out.
Great info. My Kabar is in poor shape the tip broke off opening a C rat can on Saipan. The leather handle and scabbard need care too. BTW I still have my similar knife from the Army(45+ years ago). We called them MK IVs. Thanks for showing the info.
Thanks for taking the time to record this I really enjoyed it. I love all kinds of knives and really love any old treasures like you've got there. Awesome job, enjoy it!
Excellent video & a very nice restoration. I did not know that the K-Bar had a leather handle, goes to show that we all can learn something new when least expected. Thank you for sharing.
Working on my own exactly what yours looked like. Im reordering another kit. I touched the sander a few times on the pommel and my guard is a little loose so going try again. If im not mistaken you used one less leather ring. So did I. It wouldn't fit. Wish me luck
Looks great I restored my uncles I ended up bluein the blade came out nice .You can order a replacement leather sheath on K-BAR’s web page he’ll look on amazon they sell em cheap too.
just an excellent video!!!!An excellent video!!!! I found an old KA-Bar in my parent’s basement, there was NO leather on the handle at all. The only thing I found was the knife (Tang of course) and guard. I ordered the stack leather handle set from KA-Bar just like you said I could. EASY AND CHEAP $7.00 + S&H. Anyway, two questions, I see a lot of other videos where people use glue to hold the handle together, 1) "DO YOU RECOMMEND GLUE? I noticed that you got 22 pieces of leather on the tang of your knife. I can only fit 16 on the tang of my knife. 2) AM I REALLY SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO FIT ALL 22 PIECES ON THE TANG OF MY KNIFE? The additional 6 pieces are about 1.25” tall. I can’t imagine how I could compress them enough to get them to fit.
I did not use glue but you can if you want. Second, I put as many leather handle pieces on I could them compressed them, add another and compressed again. I couldn't get all of them on that came in the kit. Just remember that leather may shrink some over time so get them packed on there tight.
So, why did you not Parkerize or blue the blade and cross guard? I have reconditioned several Ka-Bars, and when done right are worth more money than just something to hang on the workshop wall. I keep a Ka-Bar in my Harley's saddlebag and have split firewood and then still be able to slice a tomato. They are wonderful knives, don't waste one.....RooDog
The blade was rusted pretty bad when i first got it. I had already cleaned on it a lot before making the video. I wanted to kill the remaining rust in the pits so wipped it down with Rust Kutter which does blue it a little. I have never done any bluing or parkerizing. The old knife was pretty rotten when i got it. The leather handle was literally crumbling away. Im happy to have gotten it before it was dropped into the trash.
Yep, trashing the knife would have been a bad option. But now there is nothing protecting the blade from further corrosion. I would have, and have done to some of my knives, sand blasted that puppy to help obscure the pitting and done a Park job before assembling it. Also, you have no soft jaws for your vice?
Good job! You should have come to bladeshow with me this past weekend. You could have met Eathan Becker from K- Bar. I saw hundreds of those washers at a few different Knife supply booths.
Yes sir...those pommel pins must be drilled...I restored 2 kabars and learned that nothing will drive those things out...a note to first timers...you absolutely must drill dead nuts on those pins if you plan on reusing the original pommel...good luck, newbies..and thanks for the vid...
thanks for the great comment I discovered that those pommel pins is actually a blind hole That's why you can't drive them out. You have to drill them and in my case I damaged the original pommel a little bit and went ahead and used the replacement.
Hey good work! I have a WW2 era MkII that has been sharpened so much it's lost about 1/16" of the blade. It's starting to look like a fillet knife. Is there anything I can do with it?
Crazy!!! I just found an old WW2 ka-bar that belonged to my dad in my workshop yesterday, found your video today and you're in upstate sc!!! I live in walhalla! What are the odds? I'd love for you to take a look at the ka-bar and a few other blades I have since questions about!
Very nice. Your blade could use a little work. It'll look great once it's smoothed out, blued or parkerized. Didn't know you could buy restoration kits. THANKS !
Thanks for a great video on the Ka Bar knife. I still have my Ka Bar from Vietnam and it is precious to me. Unfortunately I broke the pommel off which snapped off the end of the tang so I can't merely replace the pommel because there is nothing to attach it to. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Semper Fidelis.
I inherited my late brothers knife sometime during the '80s he replaced the leather stack with aluminum and I think the tang is too short It looks like the pommel is welded on. So I think I need to cut the pummel off and reweld metal to make it the proper length but I don't know what that length should be. Any chance you have the dimensions of the tang?
How feasible would it be to instead of restoring the leather on the tang, you put an antler handle on? I’m thinking of getting another kabar and doing that but I wanted an answer from an experienced person.
