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Fairbairn~Sykes Fighting Knife (commonly known as the British Commando knife)

My dad always carried a gentleman type knife on him when i was young and he gave me my first knife when i was a boy. It was a Victorinox and i felt real grown up and loved it.

Talking about the knives he had own and about how to be careful with them as he had some scars to show how easily accidents happen, he told me he, as a little boy, got a knife from a British commando at the end of WWII when Eindhoven was liberated. It was used heavily and the tip was broken off and the handle was loose when he got it. But he grinned a new tip and replaced the nut that held the handle in place.

After some searching in the shed he found it and showed it to me, i think that is when my love for knives started. That beautiful knife and the story made a big impression. Years later he gave it to me and i still cherish it.

Mine is like the bottom one on the picture only less tapered due to the new point, leaving the blade only 6.1" long.

from top to bottom: Original WW-II 1st, 2nd, and 3rd pattern knives.

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Comment by Richard van de Laarschot on October 17, 2014 at 15:50: I didn't know they where still made.

Thanks for sharing

KnifeMaker Comment by M. Carpenter on October 16, 2014 at 11:19: The 3rd pattern are still made in Sheffield and some by the same firms that made the originals. A distinguishing mark on recent ones can be 'Made in Sheffield' whilst the originals came blank. The 3rd pattern are freely available and some you might see some in auctions and sold at militaria fairs might have been recently made. We are in the process of completing folding knives with grips made from Lee Enfield butt walnut. Stored for about 80 years. Walnut was the wood of choice for the British army until early WW2. As the Centenary of each of the WW1 battles comes we will issue the knives with engravings commemorating each battle. We were at the Tower in London yesterday and the moat is filled with thousands of red poppies and it was an amazing sight. I remember when I ran battlefield tours in France i had the descendant of the brother of John McCrae stay with us 'In Flanders fields the poppies blow'