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Military Knives

I have a modest collection of British military knives from WWI and WWII. Does anyone else collect military knives? If so, please post them here. Folders and fixed blades welcome. It would be great to see them.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Lee Saunders on June 26, 2012 at 19:54

Smiling-Knife and Tobias, the amount of knowledge that you guys have about these knives and are willing to share with us just amazes me! I have learned so much from both of you in the last months or so.

You really should write a book about Military knives. I would be glad to help in some way, doing some editing or something or just reading entries. I know that I have never learned so much by just keeping my eyes out for the postings you guys share via iKC and reading them and looking at the pictures! What a knife education this has been.

The first time S-K suggested this discussion topic I thought Great! These are some of my favorite knives and I expected some good stories to go along with the knives, but this has been even better than expected. Everyone that has contibuted their stories and pictures and personal knives! Just excellent.

Permalink Reply by Smiling-Knife on June 27, 2012 at 2:59

Thanks for the clarification Tobias. I wasn't very precise with my previous comment. I imagine the 6353 pattern was used in WWII as well. There would be overlap between this and the newer pattern. I only have Ron Flook's British and Commonwealth Military Knives book. Can you recommend some other good sources of information please. I do enjoy reading about these knife.

Thanks very much for your kind comments Lee. You're welcome.

Permalink Reply by Smiling-Knife on June 27, 2012 at 10:43

Here's a couple of Camillus knives circa WWII. I think the latter is US Army but I'd like to know more. Thanks

Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on June 27, 2012 at 10:45

Smiling Knife,

As for books on the topic there are many and Flook's is pretty much the bible when it comes to Commonwealth knives. I wish I could recommend others but mostly the info I have came from his book or some of the books/articles that Flook cited in his book.

Toby

Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on June 27, 2012 at 10:52

Yep. The first one is the Coast Guard approved rope knife used by the Coast Guard and merchant marines. The second is the camp knife used by the U.S. Army. That is actually what the USA stands for in this case. There were others with different shields. Strange that identical knife with shield were issued during a time of war, considerig this cost a little bit more.

Smiling-Knife said:

Here's a couple of Camillus knives circa WWII. I think the latter is US Army but I'd like to know more. Thanks

Permalink Reply by Smiling-Knife on June 27, 2012 at 10:59

Thanks very much for the information Toby.

I think this knife has no real Army connection despite the shield. Please correct me if I am wrong. Cheers, Steve

Permalink Reply by Lee Saunders on June 27, 2012 at 22:41

Anyone know these?

I bought this from a guy who says it is an Italian WWII marline spike knife. It's in good shape and I bought it from pics only.

He said he did not know the maker.

It was inexpensive....heck it was cheap.

What I did not expect is that it has no makers marks. At all. Anywhere on the knife. Not the tang, not the blade, not the handles or the body.

???

The last time was bad enuff. I posted pics of that knife with strange initia;s on the blade. I haven't figured out the maker yet but at least I feel ok about the knife.

This one....

Permalink Reply by Lee Saunders on June 27, 2012 at 22:43

2 more pics for what they are worth

Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on June 28, 2012 at 6:32

Hi Lee, You have a good looking knife there. this is what I know:

Italian riggers made under government contract often will not have a tang stamp so it is difficult to determine not only who made them but if they were indeed made in Italy. In some instances WWII Italian knives were made in factories in Greece or Yugoslavia during the Nazi Occupation. The knives are copies of the British 317 pattern with a split blade. While the knife often has no visible tang stamp it can usually be recognized by a wide groove or double ring on the top bolster. Occasionally you will find one with the a tang stamp that reads F.lli Turco Napoli or Visconti Canzo. These were definitely made in Italy.

See: http://rigger.hegewisch.net/index.html

I know some people claim these were unmarked British knives that were dropped to resistance fighters by the SOE but I seriously doubt it. The book Secret Warfare: the Arms and Equipment of Resistance discussed numerous stanard weapons made for the resistance and very few of them were sanitized. Mostly the unmarked stuff were things like explosives, the silenced welrod pistols anbd radio equipment.

Lee Saunders said:

Anyone know these?

Permalink Reply by Lee Saunders on June 28, 2012 at 9:51

Thank you Tobias. I understand that during the war there would have been Nazi efforts to provide knives to their forces and Allied efforts to get knives to the resistance. What a crazed time this must have been.

This seller was claiming that these knives (he had a handful) were Italian Navy knives so if that is true the possibility that it was duplicated from the British knife and unmarked because it was manufactured in one of the countries Italy and Germany had taken over.

Again, thank you for the information and for the link.

Tobias Gibson said:

Hi Lee, You have a good looking knife there. this is what I know:

Italian riggers made under government contract often will not have a tang stamp so it is difficult to determine not only who made them but if they were indeed made in Italy. In some instances WWII Italian knives were made in factories in Greece or Yugoslavia during the Nazi Occupation. The knives are copies of the British 317 pattern with a split blade. While the knife often has no visible tang stamp it can usually be recognized by a wide groove or double ring on the top bolster. Occasionally you will find one with the a tang stamp that reads F.lli Turco Napoli or Visconti Canzo. These were definitely made in Italy.

See: http://rigger.hegewisch.net/index.html

I know some people claim these were unmarked British knives that were dropped to resistance fighters by the SOE but I seriously doubt it. The book Secret Warfare: the Arms and Equipment of Resistance discussed numerous stanard weapons made for the resistance and very few of them were sanitized. Mostly the unmarked stuff were things like explosives, the silenced welrod pistols anbd radio equipment.

Lee Saunders said:

Anyone know these?

Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on June 29, 2012 at 18:20

Excellent information guys, thanks for sharing. I honestly did not realize that there were factories in Greece and Yugoslavia that produced for a war effort. Does anyone know if those factories continued to make knives after the war?

Permalink Reply by Lee Saunders on June 29, 2012 at 20:34

And to Jan's question, does anyone know about factories in other countries which were overtaken by Germany and Italy?

I have a knife from the 20s or 30s produced by Solidus. The tang stamp is Solidus in a semi-circule over AF in a straight-line over Registered in a semi-circle.

I was told this is a Czech company that later was part of the Solingen manufacturing companies but I have not been able to nail anything down on this company.

It could just be someones guess.