Marine Corp MIL-K knife.

(One of the knives from Mike's Box of Knives.)

The Stainless Steel Utility knives used by the U.S. Military are known as Milk knives because they were designated (MIL-K-818-D) The MIL stands for Military, the K for Knife.  The rest was military jargon for utility knives and year of make and such. (actually when the first came out the were Mil-J Knives,  The J stood for Jack as in Jack knives -  It was a navy thing)

When I first got the knife, the only blade that would open was the spear master.  As you can see the blades is at about 75-80% full.  There was no tang stamp on the knife. All I could really tell was it was old. The handle was stamped “U. S. Marine Corps” and not USMC.

Rust was all over the knife, with the exception of the slab sided handles.  It took a day of soaking in oil to get the other blades to eventually open. I slowly began the clean up work.  Some buffing along the spine revealed some pretty brass liners being used on the knife.

After cleaning, the knife began functioning quite well.  All of the blades were tight and when closed and opened one at a time they worked smoothly. Only the can opener has a slightly weakened closing snap. The knife had some interesting features.  First, the funny screwdriver/caplifter with the thumb stud. I had never seen one of these on a Milk before.  At the same time it had a modern era can opener, so I figured it couldn’t be that old.  And then there was all that brass.  I had never seen this on this type of knife before.

It was time to hit the books.

After going through three or four books I found the  answer in Military Knives, A Reference Book, Published by Knife World.

They nailed it, describing my knife to the tee.  The blades at the top of the knife (the spear master and screwdriver caplifter fall into the middle channel of the knife while the blades on the end drop to the outside of the blades.  I hadn’t even noticed this until I read the entry.  The knife has stainless steel slab sides brass liners along with carbon steel blades, pins, and springs!   No tang stamp as the maker put its name on  the bail! (this has since rubbed off)  These were the first knives to feature the new “Safety Can Opener” that would eventually be patented by Imperial.  The knives were made by Kingston; a war expedient company that was formed by a partnership between Imperial and Ulster in order to meet the Military contract demands. It only existed from 1943-1947.

According to the book, the original Milk knives were made by Kingston and the first ones produced for the Marine Corps were stamped U.S. Marine Corps and not USMC.  Very few of them survive and it is rare to find one in good to excellent condition because all production went to active duty personnel and none were made for the civilian or even the PX market.  They were issued to Marines. 

First production was made in 1944 and these were the ones that were stamped U. S. Marine Corps.    So basically what I’ve got is a first production run of a new style combat utility pocket knife! And the blade wear is because it wasn’t made to collect it was made so that a Marine could do his job!   For All I know this knife could have been on Peleliu , Iwo Jima  or Okinawa.   It may have been there when the Philippines were liberated.  Or maybe some homesick Marine busily sharpened this knife with a piece of coral or volcanic rock while he prepared for the invasion of the Japanese Homeland?   

What once was a poorly sharpened blade is now a well-worn blade that is a monument to a job well done. The knife was moved from the EDC junk drawer to the wall of honor where it now hangs with my other war vets.  Thanks, Mike!  You may not have known it, but you rescued a good one!

My buddy, Mike (Michael R. Garcia, 1958-2012.)  Love you, man.