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Military Knives

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Permalink Reply by Ken Spielvogel on January 3, 2014 at 19:03

Tobias, really nice Christmas presents.

Permalink Reply by Ken Spielvogel on January 10, 2014 at 9:22

Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on January 11, 2014 at 7:27

I see a trend in your knife collecting, Ken. Excellent selection!

Permalink Reply by Ken Spielvogel on January 18, 2014 at 18:06

Thanks Tobias, I have been picking up some fixed blades lately.

Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on February 9, 2014 at 19:50

Converted SKS Spike Bayonet.

A while back I bought an SKS Spike Bayonet. Now the SKS bayonet is normally spring mounted on an SKS carbine and doesn't have a hand grip. The one I bought is Chinese made, so I decided to turn it into a piece of trench art from Vietnam War.

My thought was perhaps something a VC solider would've made or perhaps a bored GI or maybe even just something you'd find sold in some shop in Saigon.

From the get go, I wanted to make it out of items you could easily find in a combat zone and in Vietnam. This led me to consider Bamboo for both the handle and the scabbard. It also convinced me to use a piece of coat hanger for the pin to hold the handle to the tang and a simple steel washer for the cross guard.

Currently the Frog is made of 500 mile an hour tape. (Before you laugh, I used this tape to make special straps for a gas mask case so I could suspend it from my web belt instead of strap it to my leg. The straps were still going strong after 3 years of service in the Infantry.!)

Assorted parts.

The handle glued and pinned in place. The holes for the pin have been filled with wood putty. The handle has also been filled with marine epoxy. It ain't going anywhere.

Ready to be laquered and sealed.

Laquered and sealed, 500 mile an hour frog attached with leather cord

The leather tie is knotted on the insied to prevent it from falling out. A bread tie is used to pull the cord through the other side of the bamboo. Drilling the holes was not easy. Bamboo is not easy to work with.

Pulling the cord through with the bread tie.

The field expedient frog is okay, but I'm working on one made from a nylon tie-down. We'll see which one I prefer when I get it done. The leg tie has been neatly tied up.

In the end, if nothing else I have a very functional SKS pig sticker! The bamboo handle is surprisingly comfortable and easy to grip. I'm still thinking of adding a stome or something as a pommel. We'll see.

Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on February 9, 2014 at 20:10

Great job Tobias. I like the frog! It is more than functional, it is goos looking

Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on February 9, 2014 at 20:16

The most expensive part of the whole project was the shipping on the blade! $2.99 for the blade. $9.99 for shipping! The Bamboo was scrap. The washer was five cents. The other supplies don't count as they were left over from other projects! So $13.03!

In MemoriamPermalink Reply by Robert Burris on February 9, 2014 at 21:23

Great job.

Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on February 9, 2014 at 21:39

I bought this thing on amazon back a while back. I wrote a reveiw for it back on December 10. ( Amazon Review )

Reveiw reads:

I gave the blade 5 Stars: Terrific, exactly what I expected, more or less,

This is an SKS bayonet. It is exactly what the picture shows. The mount for the rifle is missing (as described by the seller). All you have is the triangular shaped blade and a tang that is used to mount the blade into the bayonet mount.

My plan from the get go was to modify this blade into a trench knife similar to those used in World War I. Being a triangular blade, I felt it would be perfect for the task.

For those not familiar with this bayonet, it is triangular in shape and is designed specifically for poking and making triangular shaped holes that are hard to repair. IT IS AN ABSOLUTELY LETHAL WEAPON!

The edges of the blade are not sharp. They don't have to be. The tip of the blade is not extremely pointy. Again it doesn't need to be. If it is thrusted at an object, especially an object of flesh and bone, it will penetrate and could easily cause major damage. The reason the edges of the blade are not sharp is to allow it to be removed more easily. The same goes with the blade's point. If it had a needle like point it could get lodged in bone or bend more easily and get stuck inside what ever it poked.

The only purpose of the blade is to poke things in a most deadly way and then be reomved quickly so it can poke again. It was designed to kill! That is what it does! As the other reviewer says, it is great for sticking pigs (like the ones bacon comes from!) The blade would indeed make an excellent spear point as well as hand held pig sticker.

Definitely check local laws if you plan on carrying this thing anywhere. I can't imagine any law enforcement agency considering this as anything but an offensive weapon deserving confiscation if not carried with a proper permit! You've been warned.

A great blade with historical value, and wonderful possibilities for conversion project, but extremely lethal just the same!

In MemoriamPermalink Reply by Robert Burris on February 10, 2014 at 8:46

I love a project that comes out good.

Permalink Reply by Steve Hanner on February 11, 2014 at 18:20

It sure does look great, and pointy and sharp!!!

Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on February 11, 2014 at 19:32

Sharp is an overstatement. The SKS is triangular in shap but has three false edges. The point is about what you would find on cheap ball point pen. It is made this way by design. The blade is not made to cut but to puncture things. With very little effort you could poke it through a can or a watermelon or a person chest cavity. It would take a little more effort to puncture a skull.

The reason it lacks a sharp edge or point is because if it were sharper it could get get lodged in bones or cartilage and not be easy to extract. Extremely pointy blade are also known to bend, get lodged in joints or bone fractures making it hard to pull out. This blade is designed to be thrust inside the body and removied quickly with little chance of getting hung up anything. It is really designed for one thing and one thing only. Poke someone in the chest, pull it out poke them again and move on to the next body in less than a second! It's only purpose is to kill!