Original Item: Only One Available. This is a great example of the legendary WWII Production USMC "Ka-Bar" fighting knife with a personalized leather belt scabbard. Overall length of this Mk2 is 12 inches, with a 6 3/4 inch clip-point blade. The markings on the blade ricasso are as follows:

Under the blade is marked:

The Mk2 Knife was developed as an improvement over the Mk1 design, which had issues with blade snapping due to the thinner design. Working with Union Cutlery, USMC Colonel John M. Davis and Major Howard E. America contributed several important changes, including a longer, stronger blade, the introduction of a small fuller to lighten the blade, a peened pommel (later replaced by a pinned pommel), a straight (later, slightly curved) steel crossguard, and a stacked leather handle for better grip. The knife was officially known as the 1219C2, but it was commonly called the "Ka-Bar" after the trademark of Union Cutlery that was on the blades of early examples. The first production order went out to Camillus Cutlery Company, who produced the largest number of knives during WW2. The design was subsequently adopted by the Navy as the US Navy Utility Knife, Mark 2, and the USMC adopted it as the USMC Mark 2 Combat Knife, or simply the Knife, Fighting Utility.

This PAL-produced version of the Mark 2 "KA-BAR" combat knife is in excellent condition, and does not appear to have seen much use at all in the field. The PAL version does differ a bit from the knives produced by Camillus and Union Cutlery, mainly in the style of grip, as well as the attachment of the pommel. The grip has the standard stacked leather with "ribs", but also has the trademark PAL black and red hard plastic layers next to the crossguard and pommel. The leather shows very little wear, and still has a great color.

The blade has pretty much all of the factory phosphate finish, except on the edge where it was sharpened. This does not appear to be the factory grind, but it is very well done, and also very sharp, even now.  The Peened pommel and markings on the blade would usually indicate early production, however PAL knives do not strictly conform to the pattern.

The standard leather scabbard is in good condition, though there is definitely some dry rot and deterioration to the leather. The securing strap is broken, but still present. The front of the scabbard has tooled markings, and reads MARCO / PEGGY, most likely the name of the Marine and his Sweetheart. Scabbard is still soft and pliable, but definitely not fit for service due to the dry rot. 

An exceptional example of the hard to find USMC-marked "KA-BAR" knife by PAL, in excellent condition. No knife collection is complete without an example of a "Ka-bar".

According to The Official Price Guide of Collector Knives by C Houston Price & Mark D Zaleysky, PAL was originally used as a trademark by the Utica Knife & Razor Company of Utica, NY from about 1924-1939. PAL marked knives of that era used blades imported from Germany, and the blades typically bore the word “Germany” as well. Another company using the name PAL was established in Chicago in 1934. This company was known as the Pal Blade Company of Chicago, and was started by Otto Kraus. In 1935 the two “PAL” companies merged into one, known simply as the PAL Blade Company, and opened a manufacturing facility in Plattsburg, NY. Around 1940 PAL purchased the cutlery division of the Remington Arms Company, including of their existing stock of completed knives and knife parts.

While PAL was originally a manufacturer of pocketknives, but after the Remington acquisition they expanded their range of products to include a variety of fixed blade knives as well. PAL received a number of US government knife contracts during World War II and produced thousands of combat knives during the war years. Pal went out of business in 1953.The USN Mark 1 combat knife was produced by a variety of manufactures during World War II and was issued to Navy personnel by the thousands. It had a 5 ¼” long blade and was patterned after typical hunting and sideknives of the era. The subsequent Mark 2 knife had a longer 7” blade.