KA-BAR Knives – Brief History and Knife Reviews

The history of KA-BAR knives actually began in England in 1800 when a when a group of blade-smiths from Sheffield, England (one of the major cutlery production centers of the time) bandied together and immigrated to New England where they promptly set up shop and began producing much higher quality cutlery than the average American was used to. Most American knives at that time were made by local blacksmiths and surgical instrument makers.

Then, in 1897, 38 men made the decision to from a Limited Partnership named the Tridioute Cutlery Company in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania with the intention of manufacturing and selling high quality cutlery and this Limited Partnership is widely considered to be the beginnings of KA-BAR Knives, Inc.

However, the name KA-BAR actually came about as a tribute to a testimonial written in the 1900’s by a fur trapper who wrote to thank KA-BAR for saving his life. In his letter, he wrote that while checking his traps, he came under attack by a large bear but, after firing the first shot, his rifle jammed; leaving him with nothing but his knife to kill the wounded and angry bear that was attacking him!

Consequently, he wanted to thank KA-BAR for making the high quality knife that enabled him to kill the bear that was trying to kill him but, due to the trapper’s poor penmanship, all that was legible in his letter was “k a bar”.

Thus, in honor to this testimony, the company adopted the name KA-BAR as their trademark. Today, KA-BAR offers more than 100 quality cutlery products and accessories sold through independent retailers, distributors, mail order catalogs, and their online knife store.

Click here to view all the available KA-BAR folding knives on Amazon.