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EK COMMANDO KNIVES INTRODUCTION

This site attempts to provide comprehensive information about Ek Knives. It covers the period from the start of John Ek Commando Knives in 1941 to the present day KA-BAR versions.

Previous authors have used the terms Gen1, Gen2, etc. which reference the "generations" of Ek knives. I elected to classify the knives in 10 divisions, the divisions being based primarily on the locations where the knives were made.

The divisions are as follows:

  1. HAMDEN CT KNIVES 1939-1949 (15 Models)
  2. GUILFORD CT KNIVES 194?-194? ( Unknown Number of Models)
  3. MIAMI FL KNIVES 1949-1980 (Two Locations In Miami) (15 Models )
  4. PEMBROKE PARK FL AND ST. AUGUSTINE FL KNIVES 1978-1982 ( 19 Models )
  5. RICHMOND KNIVES 1982-1993 & RICHMOND BENCHMADE KNIVES 1993-1997 ( 48 Models )
  6. AMERICAN HISTORICAL FOUNDATION (AHF) (RICHMOND VA) KNIVES 1983-1986 ( 15 Models )
  7. BLACKJACK EFFINGHAM IL KNIVES 1993-1997 ( 38 Models )
  8. RICHMOND II VA KNIVES 1997-2014 (Two Locations In Richmond) ( 32 Models )
  9. BARK RIVER MI KNIVES 2001 ( 3 Models )
  10. KA-BAR OLEAN NY KNIVES 2015-PRESENT ( 4 Models )
Note that there are dramatic differences between some of the divisions. They include differences in model numbering, materials, design and appearance.

I have documented nearly 190 distinct models of Ek knives thus far and I've probably missed a few models.

There is a huge amount of information regarding Ek Commando Knives that was generated over 77 years. Creating a website to try to show all this information was an intimidating task and is still not complete.

Hopefully the information and pictures contained on this site will help you to become a more knowledgeable Ek Knife collector.


John Sabol

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