iKnife Collector
Rare Sea Wolf UDT Knife made by Gus Marsh
I have a rare Sea Wolf Knife made by Gus Marsh. Gus was in UDT in the early 1960's. He designed and made 26 of the original pattern knives in stainless steel for his UDT-13 unit and some SEAL buddies. The original Sea Wolfs were made up of three distinct parts that were welded together at the crossguard and had no markings or name on the hilt at all.
When Gus decided to manufacture them, he had the knives cast in one piece of solid stainless steel. He received the rough cast blanks at his home and finished them to the mirror bright configuration in his garage workshop. He produced only about 200 of these second generation knives between 1980 and 1984. He only sold them at gun shows in CA, AZ, & NV. These knives were made from 440C stainless steel and hardened to the Rockwell C scale of 57-58. He has not made any more since 1984.
He later sold the molds to Mike England ( a known knife industry scammer, unbeknownst to Gus), who never paid Gus what he owed him, England then had them made in Asia and passed them off as originals with his own name as the maker stamped on them.
The REAL knives that Gus made are stamped SEA WOLF KNIFE CO. USA. on the grip area.
The PHONIES are stamped with just WOLF KNIFE CO.
This knife was received directly from Gus's patent attorney. It is in it's original box, with the accompanying instructions and guarantee. It has never been used and is in excellent condition. I don't need the knife, and don't normally collect this type, so I would prefer it to go to a 'good home' or into a suitable collection. Asking about $1800.
If any of you are interested, please let me know, Thanks,
Mike
Walter Larsen
Thank you Rick. I love to learn from someone elses experience. I'll tell ya, this looks like the original edge. looking under magnify lens, I can't find a mistake or scratch from a poor edge. Not very sharp and thinking I'd leave it like that. ?
Great input for me though.. thank you.
Would you happen to know if Gus Marsh is still on this site? I wonder if he's keeping track on how many are left out there and who has them. Just interesting. I'd PAY for a signed letter of authenticity. for sure!!! Item not for sale:) I'ts a keeper.
Feb 10, 2019
Rick Queneau
Only problem with a letter of authenticity is that none of the one piece knives have serial numbers on them or any other marking other than the name that signifies they are from the original lot. I have never seen the three piece knife and don't know if those are serialized or not. As for Gus, not sure what his status is. Mike El posted back in 2014 that he got one of the knives from Gus' patent attorney. Maybe Mike can get a lead on Gus or provide the attorney's info at least.
Another bit of advice on the knife is to not use it as a crowbar. You can actually break them if you pry hard enough as one of my commercial dive buddies did with his many years ago. I doubt lifting an abalone off of a rock will break it; I always use kelp to get them to lift up anyway. I always kept my edge pretty sharp so I could cut through whatever I needed to cut through. Worked well on large synthetic hawser rope.
I think I'll make a display case for mine......
Feb 10, 2019
Jan Carter
Walter,
Gus is indeed still with us and active here at iKC. I have let him know about the discussion here. Congrats on finding one of the rare and very much sought after Sea Wolf's
Feb 10, 2019