In my apartment complex it is common to find things of value in the dumpsters, found an old and in rough condition KA-BAR knife with sheath yesterday.

It is partially blued in finish, I had to cold blue areas where it was ground to make it look nicer, the leather handle is totally loose, the frame of the knife is still welded to the end from the blade though, seems to be missing one of the steel handle spacers. The sheath is very old looking and has a loosening of the threads near the tip, rivet is gone too.

It says "KA-BAR" on one side of the blade near the hilt, and "USN" on the other side of the blade. Is it worth trying to restore it or should I just leave it alone? Sorry, no photos as of yet. I know that the US marines carried these in the island fighting, and that the Army may have used them, also, KA-BAR still makes these knives.

must be they got enough of the blood stains off of it.

Fellow on ebay supplies cut leather washers, and what steel spacer are you talking about...same question as to the welding (pommel should be pined).

Please post some pictures of this one.

ps...good find, and terrific project to play with.

As they say, this thread is useless without pics...,

Ok guys, you convinced me. Attached are the photos, I was comparing it to my Dad's old Navy pilot knife that he carried made by Camillus and there is a metal part near the pommel that is missing, just need to install a replacement and the handle should tighten up.

Nothing missing on that at all, just knock the pin out of the pommel and replace the shrunken washers, compress washers and reset pommel and pin.

Shape, and Bob's your uncle.

Upped the estimation, really really good find.

"must be they got enough of the blood stains off of it."

ha ha brilliant!

exactly my thoughts!

Very good find and if you aren't interested in it yourself it would sell quickly on fleabay.

These were issue knives in 1095 steel, to seabees and frogmen. There are cheap knockoffs but it looks to be an original.

That is pretty cool. My Dad found a large Buck 307 Stockman stuck into a tree in his yard about 4 years ago while doing yard work. He carried it until he passed and now I have it and have got a lot of use out of it. Sometimes you get lucky and find worthwhile stuff.