Ka-Bar Fighting Knife

The Ka-Bar is a combat knife adopted by the United States Marine Corps on November 23, 1942 as the Marine Corps utility knife, Mark 2. It was based on the Mark I trench knife and civilian hunting knife patterns, with a seven inch clip point blade of 1095 carbon steel, a leather washer handle, and an overall length of about 11 and seven eighths inches weighing 0.7 pounds. The Camillus Cutlery Company produced the first knives beginning January 27, 1943, and it was later made by Union Cutlery, PAL Cutlery, Robeson Cutlery and Ontario Knife Company among others. Designed as both a fighting knife and a utility tool suited to jungle warfare, the Ka-Bar has remained in United States military service from World War Two to the present, and French and Polish special forces units have also adopted it.