View Full Version : How many Yarborough knives were made?
Shark Bait
11-30-2024, 15:39
It seems there are a lot more of these than I thought. Some resources say that about 1000 Yarborough knives were made in the first run. The second run had SF before or after the serial number. I saw one on another forum with a serial number over 4000 and it was supposedly made 2 weeks after my knife, which is in the 800s.
Mine is 2550 and I graduated in August 2005….
I’m not sure when / if they stopped issuing them?
Shark Bait
12-01-2024, 12:10
Mine is 2550 and I graduated in August 2005….
I’m not sure when / if they stopped issuing them?
Does yours have SF before or after the number? I had seen some that did and thought those were from the 2nd run. I have sent an inquiry to Chris Reeve Knives to see if they have production numbers.
I saw another thread here that mentioned the first 1000 were kept for sale to the "old guys" like me. I graduated in 1984. I had to get an authorization memo from JFKSWC so I could buy it from the SF museum. Mine is number 0844.
The Reaper
12-01-2024, 23:27
You should check with the SF Museum Gift Shop. They were running the initial ordering and issuing at that time. Betty A. was in charge. My knowledge is primarily in the area of individual purchases, I have limited info on the process of the free issued knives.
I believe that the Gift Shop did the paperwork, accountability and procurement of the knives as orders came in relatively small batches of a dozen at he time, more or less, being bought by the Gift Shop from TSSI as the initial vendor providing ordering and issuing. The knives eventually were procured directly from CRK.
Later, the price of the knives were held steady as production costs increased and to my knowledge, CRK has never made any money from the project. In fact, I strongly believe that they lost money on every knife they made for the program. To their credit , I have never heard them complain about the financial losses associated with making the knives.
Incidentally, there are markings on the Yarborough blade that prevent the remarking and renumbering of the GB knives and counterfeiting them.
TR
Shark Bait
12-02-2024, 18:04
I heard back from Anne Reeve today and she cleared this up for me. I told her I would pass along the info because what is out on the web is often very wrong.
She said knives numbered 1 to 1000 were held for legacy purchase, like I did as an old guy. Knives numbered 1001 and up were issued to graduates. By the time funding for the knives stopped in 2014, they had produced over 12,400 of them.
The knives with SF next to the number are the knives they made later for more legacy purchases. She said that now only the honor graduate of the course gets a knife upon graduation and it is one of the legacy knives with the SF label. The Special Forces Association now controls legacy purchases.
Hmm, I may pony up for one. I always wanted one.
Only thing we got when we graduated was a full flash. :lifter
sfshooter
12-03-2024, 10:27
The Special Forces Association website has a spot where you can purchase the knife.
Here is the link:
https://www.specialforcesassociation.org/yarborough-knife-application/