Original Item: Only One Available. This is a wonderful WWII Issue Ka-Bar style fighting knife, made by the Western Cutlery & Manufacturing Company of Boulder, Co. The knife is 13 inches in overall length, with an 8 inch clip-point blade, with a broad fuller towards the spine. The ricasso of the blade is marked WESTERN / PAT'D., and the knife is in very good condition. The blade retains a lot of the original polished blued finish, with areas of wear and oxidation.

The knife features a stacked leather grip, with plastic spacers at the end, much like a knife by PAL. Unlike most knives however, the WESTERN design has an interesting tang design, with a full tang that features a 1/4" wide channel down the middle, which is used to hold the grip in place. The bottom of the disk pommel shows two peened over posts, one for each side of the tang. The leather grip is in good shape, but does show wear and oxidation.

The knife comes complete with its original leather scabbard, which is in good condition, with some repairs near the top of the belt loop. The leather has aged to a nice dark brown color and it looks like the securing strap has fallen off. The owner of this knife was apparently in the Pacific theater of WWII, and marked the various locations they went to on the front of the scabbard, along with their name:

We have not been able to find any information on Ramsey, and it is possible that we have misread the initials, as they are somewhat faded. However being able to trace the owner and his knife across the Pacific Theater is really something.  An excellent display item with some great research potential. Ready to display!

More on Western Cutlery:

Western Cutlery was originally founded as Platts & Sons Cutlery in Gowanda, NY, in 1896. Charles Platts, who was an immigrant from Sheffield, England, founded the company. He had been employed in the knife making trade in Sheffield and knew the manufacturing process well. Charles Platts died in 1900, but his sons continued to run the company until 1905, when his son H.N. Platts bought out all of the family owners and moved the company to Bradford, PA. In 1911, Platts moved the company to Boulder, CO, with the intention of taking advantage of the continuing western expansion in the United States. At this time he re-established the company with the new name: Western Cutlery & Manufacturing Company. With the coming of World War II, Western Cutlery’s business expanded dramatically due to wartime production needs. Western Cutlery received a number of US government knife contracts during World War II and produced thousands of combat knives during the war years.