US Combat Cutlery of the 20th Century
BY Herschel Smith
Strange as it may seem, the U.S. Marine Corps entered the jungle campaigns of World War II without a decent combat knife. Their first attempt was a double-edge dagger based on the British Commando knife, but it quickly proved to be a very poor utility blade for infantry combat. Going back to the drawing board and working with Union and Camillus cutlery companies, they came up with an all-purpose sheath knife, the USMC Knife/Fighting-Utility Model 1219C2. Camillus is said to have made the first deliveries to the Marines on January 27, 1943. Maybe “Knife/Fighting-Utility 1219C2” was just too big of a mouthful, and Camillus just didn’t have much of a ring to it. In any case, Leathernecks quickly unofficially labeled all knives of this pattern “kabars” after the trademark stamp of Union cutlery.
The rest of the article is very informative. I have two.
I happen to like a partially serrated edge for mine, finding it has more utility in the bush and elsewhere. If you don’t, you can get them without the serrations.
For those who are shaving grams in the bush, a large utility/fighting knife may be too much weight. For me the perfect compromise is also a Ka-Bar.
It’s called “The Mule.” It’s a folder with serrated edge, and it’s the heftiest, beefiest folder I’ve ever owned. It can be used for virtually anything, up to and including chopping at wood in case I needed it for shelter, but at a reduced weight compared to the large fighting knife.
The sheath is kydex with cordura on the outside, but was very hard to find. I didn’t like the leather sheath sent with the fighting knife. The sheath for the folder is very nice, comes with the knife, and has straps that can hang on molle or pack straps.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd will today propose to make possessing them illegal everywhere, whether in public or at home.
A long list of dangerous weapons that glamorise violence will also be included in the total ban, putting them on the same legal footing as unlicensed firearms.
They include sword sticks, butterfly knives and blowpipes, as well as a range of martial arts weapons such as deathstars and handclaws.
Only people having the weapons for bonified ceremonial or religious reasons will be exempt from the ban.
Ms Rudd is also looking at making it compulsory to buy all knives in person rather than ordering for delivery to keep them out of children’s hands.
A new offence could be created of delivering them to private property.
Writing for The Sun today, Ms Rudd dubbed knife crime “a scourge on our society”.
[ … ]
Last year, selling zombie knives and possessing them in public was made illegal.
But the police are still powerless to confiscate or arrest suspects who keep the large blades with serrated edges at home.
The proposals come after police called for more powers to tackle spiralling incidences on knife crime, despite earlier crackdowns such as longer jail terms.
More than 32,000 knife offences took place last year in Britain – a 14% increase from 2015.
A scourge on the society, or a recognition of God-given rights for self defense. But citizens there are subjects of the queen, and have no rights. So the government is preparing, planning for, and even as we speak, actively engaging in the destruction of the culture and society with immigration and removal of means of self defense, even at home.
Remember my British readers. Jesus quite literally was commanding His disciples to become criminals when He ordered them to obtain swords. Such things were illegal in Roman-occupied Israel at the time.
Do the same. Jesus says so.
USA Today: The TSA is set to allow “knives” on board airplanes.
Then the “knives” are worthless and there is no need to carry one anyway.
I have had my eyes on a knife at the MCX (Marine Corps Exchange) at Camp Lejeune for a while, and Sunday it was purchased for me.
This is considered by Ka-Bar to be a utility knife (at least, it is included under the rubric “utility” on their web site). But I must admit that in a long history of ownership of knives I have never held such a solid, hefty knife with such close machining precision in the action. It has a stainless steel blade with a partially serrated edge, and it is extremely sharp. Its folder is heavy enough that it has the feel of something special – something different than the simple camping and hiking knife. It has a no-slip grip.
The sheath shows that Ka-Bar knows that this is more than a utility knife. It holds the knife tight and has a belt loop or two loops for molle strap attachment to a tactical vest, vertical or horizontal orientation with Velcro and snap closure. This would be a good gift for a Soldier or Marine deploying to Iraq or Afghanistan.
Ka-Bar has their own description. They call it the Mule Folder, Serrated Edge. I’m not saying anything about the price at the MCX compared to commercial price.