Plowshare Forge

Welcome

2009-07-26T11:59:00.000-07:00

"Shivs, shanks and pigstickers and things too fierce to mention"
Welcome to the new-and-improved, Blogger version of my old website, formerly found on .Mac.
If you've seen my work there then you should know what I'm about.
If I'm new to you, it's nice to make your acquaintence. What I make are high-quality, use able reproductions of historic fighting knives.
I started out making large Bowies from the period of "The War for Southern Independence" and since branched out into knives from the two world wars.
I avoid "Milspec" knives such as the M2 or M3 or either of the US, WW1 trench knives as I find them far less interesting than the stuff the boys made themselves or brought from home.
I don't make fakes. Each knife is dated. The year is stamped; ie "o9" on double-edged blades while those with a spine have the year filed into it in Roman numerals.
The ricasso of each is stamped with my mark, crossed monkey wrenches.
The way this is set up, you can either scroll down endlessly, covering all three periods consecutively.
Alternately, on the left is a list of everything in order.
Click on the image for the category or on the names of the individual knives listed beneath.
Good hunting and thanks for stopping by.
Dan Brock

"File Knives"

2009-07-23T13:00:00.000-07:00

Being that this knife is the first in the list of "Custom Work", I'll line out my made-to-order protocol.
If we've never done business before, I ask for 50% up front. Otherwise, the total is paid on completion.
The 50% is refundable in case a decision is changed if it's a knife that will be saleable otherwise. Anything too oddball and that won't be the case.
You would be advised in advance if your request fits this category (they rarely do).
The money for custom work is similar to the prices posted for something comparable in size and/or complexity, plus 20% or so.
Ballpark: A big Bowie (14"+ blade) $175 to $200.
19thc
These two knives were commissioned by an old customer from my E-Bay days. He wrote that he had some of his Granddad's old files he wanted made into knives. He mailed me a Black Diamond, farrier's rasp and a beautiful 14" Kearney and Foot, coarse mill file that was 5/16" thick. Both files are visible in the background of the picture. The rasp became the spear-point at top along with the handle-with that bitchin' rectangular brass ferrule-from the other file. All it needed was a cross guard.
The K&F became the Lone Star, C-guard with the antler handle.
I'd like to add that I considered it quite a priveledge to work on these knives. I like the idea of things from the past being made into something meaningful.
That being said, If anyone were interested, I'd be happy to make a knife out of Grandpa's old hay rake tine, saw blade or one of the springs from his old Studebaker. Just let me know via the "Send Me a Message" button below and we'll work something out.

Musso Bowie

2009-07-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

19thc

Spanish Bowie

2009-07-22T10:16:00.001-07:00

19thc

General Stand Watie, CSA Bowie

2009-07-22T10:07:00.000-07:00

19thc
This knife is a revised version of one commissioned by a customer whose great, great grandfather had fought under General Stand Watie, CSA, a Cherokee chief. The Cherokee volunteers were formed in late 1861 after the Cherokee nation had been brought into the Confederacy,
They created their own battle flag by modifying the Rebel "Stars and Bars". In addition to the eleven white stars on the blue field, they added five red stars to represent the five civilized tribes. In the middle, white bar they added the words "Cherokee Braves".
Although Cherokees also fought for the Union, Watie was the only Native American to achieve the rank of Brigadier General. He was also the last Rebel General to surrender, two months after Appomattox.
Gen. Watie's personal knife resides in the Cherokee Museum in Tahlequah, Oklahoma and it is on that knife that this one is based.
It's a large heavy Bowie with an unusual blade shape, almost like a bolo and a cast brass cross guard and pommel cap. The handle scales, like the original are Osage Orange, held on with steel rivets.
$180 shipped
To order e-mail me
dbrock76@yahoo.com

Rifleman's Knife

2009-07-22T10:06:00.000-07:00

19thc
I've got to admit, I kind of guesstimated on this one, but I think I got close. The customer wanted a French and Indian War, Rifleman's knife. After dilligent research and looking at what lots of other folks are selling as such, I came up with this: An overlarge, tricked out, butcher knife. I like it. The handle is Fiddleback Western Maple, the blade has been left with the tempering colors in place. There's filework on the spine (along with my date - the year in Roman Numerals MMVI) and one of those cute curlicue ricasso thingies. I should probably find out what that's called,and a brass guard and binding.
$175 shipped
To order e-mail me
dbrock76@yahoo.com

Antler-Handled Bowie

2009-07-22T10:05:00.001-07:00

19thc
This was a recent commission for an old customer, one of my first customers as a matter of fact.
It's a reproduction of a Sheffield produced Bowie, circa 1840.
The short clip blade is 12" long and 2' wide, hand forged from spring steel. As requested by the client, the clip was left unsharpened.
The guard and pommel cap are forged from wrought iron. They were cut from an antique picket pin I picked up in Montana where my great, great grandfather and his brothers raised horses for the U. S. Cavalry.
The handle is deer antler, the sheath, cowhide.
To duplicate this knife would cost $150 shipping included.
To order e-mail me
dbrock76@yahoo.com

Boarding Axe

2009-07-22T10:04:00.001-07:00

19thc
Now for something completely different... For the past two hundred years, right up to end of the days of "wooden ships and iron men", fire aboard ship was a dreaded occurrence.
Space on a wooden warship being at a premium, many artifacts of everyday life were downsized to fit the new reality. Swords became cutlasses, pikes became boarding pikes and axes became ... these.
First and foremost a tool; a firefighting tool, the boarding axe was invaluable in the heat of battle as well. Grappling lines could be chopped loose, downed spars and lines cut away and, if boarding rather than being boarded, hatches and bulkheads could be smashed in and, if it came to it, the axe was a fearsome weapon.
This oft-overlooked piece of our material heritage lives on in our world as the modern fire axe.
This is a design cobbled together from several sources. It is most like the boarding axes the USN issued from the war of 1812 up until the War of Secession.
Essentially an over-sized tomahawk, this axe has a turned hickory handle, 18" long with a ball at the end. The head, reinforced at the eye by steel langets, has an axe edge and a pick head opposite. Forged of high-carbon steel is tempered such that the pick point and cutting edge retain full harness while the body, especially around the eye, is annealed.
Includes a cowhide sheath.

$140 shipping included in US
To order e-mail me
dbrock76@yahoo.com

Antler-Handled D-Guard

2009-07-22T10:02:00.000-07:00

19thc

"Barn Find"

2009-07-22T10:01:00.001-07:00

19thc

Middle East Commando Knife

2009-07-22T09:59:00.001-07:00

ww2
These knives show other places as well but they're generally associated with the Middle East Commandos.
They were small, elite units raised locally and under the command of the British Army.
They formed up in mid'1940, then some months later, they were absorbed into a larger commando force, called Layforce" intended to help rein-in Rommel.
This knife, inexplicably named "The Fanny" has a blade of high-carbon tool steel, 6" long and sharpened along the curved edge.
Like the Clements, this knife has the blade mounted "up-side-down".
"Death's Head, knuckleduster grip of cast brass.
Overall length; 11 3/4"
Includes the sheath pictured.
$165 shipping included
To order e-mail me
dbrock76@yahoo.com

Private Purchase Knuckle Knife, North Africa

2009-07-22T09:58:00.001-07:00

ww2
This is a variation on an original knife, carried by a member of Rommel's DAK.
That knife had a shorter and more Bowie-shaped blade.
On this one, I've stretched the blade out (7 1/2") and given it a little more "sweep".
The single-loop, knuckle-duster handle is cast directly onto the blade and can also function - given the narrowness of the loop - as a conventional fixed-blade knife.
This makes this a truly useful (for other than killing) knuckle-knife.
Overall length is 12 1/2".
The blade is hand-forged from high-carbon steel and is differentially tempered.
Includes a hand-stitched cowhide sheath.
$140, shipping included
To order e-mail me
dbrock76@yahoo.com

"The Spike"

2009-07-22T09:57:00.001-07:00

ww2
I know nothing about this wicked little tool.
It was described as an Everitt knife but I suspect it was just because the paint colors were similar.
Triangular stabbing blade, 5" long with a cast-on handle of aluminum with a finger loop for grip retention.
Includes cowhide sheath.
$90 shipping included
To order e-mail me
dbrock76@yahoo.com

Montana Power Co. Knife

2009-07-22T09:56:00.001-07:00

ww2

Montana Power Co. Knives

"We received from correspondent Steven Briggs a copy of the "Energizer" , a Montana Power Employees Magazine that is undated. In the company newsletter is an article on knives made by the employees in their spare time during World War Two. The article goes into some details from the guys who made the knives and where they were made, it is great reading. The knives have been attributed as Anaconda Copper Knives in the past and some of the work was performed there on them. The knives are actually Montana Power Co. knives as these are the guys who made them. Anaconda Co. employees stamped out the blades from power saw blades but all the rest of the work was performed in various Montana Power Co. shops. The knives were distributed to the troops through the many troop trains that crossed Montana. The knives were distributed directly to the troops. Overall they, the men, stated they made close to 1200 knives in 1942 & 43 and every piece of the raw material was "bummed" to do it. Great Americans!"

From Frank Trzaska's website, militaryknives.com

Blade 7 1/2" long with cast-aluminum handle.
Includes cowhide sheath
$160 shipping included
To order e-mail me
dbrock76@yahoo.com

Lt. Clarence Tierney's Knife

2009-07-22T09:54:00.006-07:00

This is a recent commission with some personal connection for me.
Pictured is my reproduction of the personal fighting knife of one Lt. Clarence Tierney, First Special Service Force.
That having been my Dad's unit, I was fortunate to own a copy of the same book as that of the customer.
A double-edged blade, 10" long with a stacked leather handle and cast brass fittings.
Photographed on the photo of the original in the book; "The Supercommandos First Special Service Force, 1942-1944" by Robert Todd Ross.
Includes cowhide sheath
$175 shipping included
To order e-mail me
dbrock76@yahoo.com

Shanghai Fighting Knife

2009-07-22T09:54:00.005-07:00

ww2
Long ago, before the Germans overran Poland, before Britain was threatened with invasion and the Home Guard began to equip themselves with what they called "Commando Knives". Before Fairbairn and Sykes designed their famous and much copied FS stiletto. Before that knife's American cousin, the Case V-42, considered the most beautiful knife of WW2 and the issued blade of the First Special Service Force, before all of those, there was the Shanghai fighting knife.
This knife was designed in 1933 by Capt. William Fairbairn, chief of the Shanghai Municipal Police Force. He'd been stabbed in an earlier attack and, while convalescing, decided that such should never happen again. His aim was to produce a knife exclusively for knife-to-knife combat against the gangsters and smugglers of the city's criminal underworld.
The prototypes were ground from the blades of Lee Metford bayonets left over from the Boer war, a double-edged blade 5-6" long with an aluminum cross-guard and a brass pommel.
My version - and there were several, surprising, given that there were less than ten made - of this famous knife has a 6" double-edged blade. forged from file steel, hardened and tempered, a handle of turned hardwood with a brass ferrule, an aluminum cross-guard and a brass pommel.
$120 shipping included
To order e-mail me
dbrock76@yahoo.com

BC 41

2009-07-22T09:54:00.003-07:00

ww2
This is a knuckle knife from early in the war and was reputedly made for the British Commandos prior to the introduction of the F/S.
Obviously based on WW1 knuckle knives, it was produced with the grip cast in either iron or brass.

My version is cast in brass with a blade 5 1/2" long and a cowhide sheath
$140 shipping included
The knuckle-dusters pictured are of the same origin. One with pointed finger loops - the other, rounded.
$40 each
To order e-mail me
dbrock76@yahoo.com

Fairbairn's Cobra

2009-07-22T09:54:00.001-07:00

ww2
Back by popular demand.
After the development of the Shanghai Fighting Knife, the many variations on the F/S stiletto design came and went with little input - or interest from W. E. Fairbairn.
He went into a completely new direction in knife design. He came up with a smaller version of the Smatchet called the Fair Sword and this item.
During the 1950's, Fairbairn went to Cyprus to instruct the local constabulary in point-shooting and riot control.
At that time he designed what he considered his favorite knife. Based on several Middle Eastern and Asian, incurved blades, it was called the Cobra.
There's no telling how many were actually produced as there is only one photograph, a poor one at that, in existence.
11" high-carbon, hardened and tempered blade, sharp for the full length on the inside edge and for half of the back.
Overall length is 16" and includes the handle which in the case of the knife pictured, is purpleheart.
Comes with a hand stitched cowhide sheath.
$160 shipping included
To order e-mail me
dbrock76@yahoo.com

Sgt. Bob

2009-07-22T09:52:00.001-07:00

ww2
This marks the triumphant return of the famous (it could be famous) Sgt. Bob.
Named for its designer, CMsgt. Bob Anderson, USAFR (Ret) and my own Papa, the late Staff Sgt. Robert D. Brock, FSSF, it's based on a second-war, brass-handled knuckle-knife made by Smith's of New Zealand.
The blackened, 8", double-edged blade is hand-forged from high-carbon steel, hardened and tempered.
The cast aluminum knuckle-duster handle - as well as the steel cross-guard are painted OD.
Overall length is 13" and a hand-stitched cowhide sheath is included.

$150 shipped
$75 shipped for any serving member of the active armed forces - Federalized Guard and Reserve included.
To order e-mail me
dbrock76@yahoo.com

V44's

2009-07-21T13:28:00.001-07:00

First of all, to clear up any confusion, the real V-44 was a fixed-blade, bolo tip knife, intended as a survival machete.
It was preceded by many, many Bowies and somehow all the Bowies have the name V-44.
So be it.
ww2
On the fourth of November, 1942, as part of America's first offensive of the war, the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion landed on Guadalcanal. Their exploits over the next few months earned them a place in history and their commander, Lt Col. Carlson his third Navy cross. The M2, "Kabar" utility/fighting knife wasn't yet available so the Raiders were equipped with the Collins #18 Machete. This knife had a 9 1/2" Bowie style blade, a brass cross guard and green handle slabs of horn. It was adopted initially, in 1935, by the Air Corps as a survival machete. It ultimately came to be associated with Carlson's Raiders and was afterward referred to as the "Gung Ho" knife. The above is not that knife.
An aside to this story (and the reason I'm writing this at all) is that one of the young officers serving under Carlson on Guadalcanal was Evan C. Carlson, the Colonel's son. The younger Carlson was transferred in Feb of 1943 to the 1st Battalion, 21st Regiment in New Zealand where he ordered for his Marines 1000 knives designed to mimic the Collins #18 almost exactly. The exception being that the brass and horn handle was replicated in cast aluminum painted OD.
It was probably not specially designed by the good Colonel's son as it was also the issued "bail-out knife" of the RNZAF and belongs to a group of WW2 Bowies erroneously referred to as "V44's"
My reproduction of this famous knife is the same size and profile as the original. The blade is 9 1/2". It was hand forged from 1095 steel, is hardened and zone tempered.
Includes a cowhide sheath replicating the original.
$160 shipping included

My time in the Seabees makes me nostalgic over any WW2, "theater knives" - that is - knives made or modified "in theater".
Having acess to skills, materials and shop space, many knives in the Pacific were produced by "The Bees" such as the jolly gentlemen pictured.
To this end, as time permits, I put together a theater V-44 on spec.
Each example pictured would include the same sheath as above.
$160 - $180 shipping included.
To order e-mail me
dbrock76@yahoo.com

Ek Knives

2009-07-21T13:13:00.001-07:00

ww2
John Ek was a remarkable man living in Hamden, Connecticutt at the outbreak of the war. He was a machinist by trade and had begun making knives in 1939. Unable to serve actively due to a disability he channelled the resultant frustration into making fighting knives unlike any others. He also employed up to 40 people at one time, many of whom were disabled themselves.
He obtained special permission from the War Procurement Board for the use of his high-carbon steel, a stategic material and also sought the okay from the British high Command for the use of the term "Commando".
His knives were simple, rugged and a perfect example of form following function. A blade ground from 1/8" stock with either a one piece handle, or handle scales of hard maple, attached with poured lead rivets. The intent of the rivets being to add heft to the handle while providing a field-expedient means of tightening the handle.
My humble imitations of these American icons are forged from new 1095 steel and, like the originals have handles of hard maple held on with lead rivets. At present, I'm only suppying a generic sheath that fits either of the knives shown. However, it is based on an actual Ek design.
The top knife is a reproduction of Ek's #4, "New Guinea Brush Knife" while the lower replicates the wartime Ek #7.
Since Mr Ek would only sell to active duty personel, I'm going to follow suit in a small way by offering either of these knives, to active duty Soldiers, Sailors and Marines at Ek's original price, adjusted for inflation.
$95 shipped. Others can purchase them for $150 shipped
To order e-mail me
dbrock76@yahoo.com

Smatchet

2009-07-21T13:11:00.001-07:00

ww2
"The psychological reaction of any man, when he first takes the smatchet in his hand, is full justification for its recommendation as a fighting weapon. He will immediately register all the essential qualities of a good soldier-confidence, determination, and aggressiveness.
Its balance, weight, and killing power, with the point, edge, or pommel, combined with the extremely simple training necessary to become efficient in its use, make it the ideal personal weapon for all those not armed with a rifle and bayonet."

W. E. Fairbairn from "Get Tough" his WW2 vintage self-defense manual (see link below)

That pretty much sums it up. Additionally there is this quote furnished by my good friend Kevin, attributable to a person unknown:

"The smatchet was designed at Lochailort. The first ones were made in Glasgow by a man who was, by all accounts, a thoroughly insane Scot (he insisted that the blade be tempered in the piss of red-headed boys from Glasgow) and brought by train up to Ft. William. They were delivered to the local hotel ...and then sent out to Lochailort."

This is an example of the earlier British model with the smaller brass pommel. The blade is 11 1/2" long and is sharpened on one edge and 3 1/2" on the other. The handle is African Rosewood and included is a cowhide over leather scabbard.
Inset is one with the later, more common-and-chunkier, aluminum pommel option, available for $5 less than the brass.
Guards of both are steel.

$180 shipping included in the US
To order e-mail me
dbrock76@yahoo.com

Robbins of Dudley Push Dagger

2009-07-19T17:08:00.000-07:00

Here's a particularly wicked little piece of trench weaponry that English industry produced during the Great War. Robbins was a metalworking concern operating in Dudley, Worcestershire from the 1870's until the mid '20's. Fans of industrial history may be interested to know that Dudley was also the home of Peter Wright's forge, the maker of the first "built-up" forged anvils. Little is known about the company's wares other than that, except during the war, they didn't produce knives at all. At one point they were registered as "fender makers", the fireplace kind. When they did made knives they specialized to the extreme. They produced a line of knuckle knives, push daggers as well as more conventional blades all of which comprised an aluminum handle cast onto the blade.
Like the original Robbins knives, the aluminum handle is cast onto the blade, which in this case, is hand forged from file steel and blackened. Blade length is 3 5/8".
Includes a sewn leather sheath.
$90 shipped
To order e-mail me
dbrock76@yahoo.com

Robbins Punch Dagger

2009-07-19T17:07:00.001-07:00

This may count as one of Robbins of Dudley's more bizarre designs. In that it was extensively copied by other manufacturers during the Great War, it must have been a popular design as well. There even exist some homemade examples, cobbled together from scrap brass and at least one hollow cast iron one. Another non-Robbins knife has the knuckle bow cast in aluminum integrally with the handle.
The Robbins originals comprised a cast aluminum handle cast onto a steel knuckle bow and a double-edged 5' blade resulting in a weapon whose design makes it almost impossible to drop while being nearly idiot proof in action. And yes, you CAN stick it through a car door. See link below.
I've made this knife from aluminum with a blade of hand-forged file steel, hardened and tempered. The blade is blackened as is the steel knuckle bow. Includes a sewn cowhide sheath.
$120
To order e-mail me
dbrock76@yahoo.com

Robbins Knuckle Knife

2009-07-19T17:05:00.000-07:00

Here's another bash and slash weapon from those sensitive souls at Robbins of Dudley. This is a reproduction of a two stall knuckle knife with a blackened, dagger blade 5 5/8" long. The blade was hand forged from a file and the aluminum handle was cast in place. I should note that the pattern with these British knuckle knives was to engineer them to be used to best effect in the overhand, "icepick" style of grip. The idea being that if one is punched in the jaw, on the follow-through the blade slashes their throat. Lovely thought. This example in particular, is only really comfortable when held in this manner. Includes a sewn and riveted cowhide sheath.
$100
To order e-mail me
dbrock76@yahoo.com

Clement's Knuckle Knife

2009-07-19T17:04:00.001-07:00

A\change from the standard dagger, this type of knife, often called "the throat cutter" because of its "upside down" blade, was produced by many Sheffield firms although it's referred to as the Clements knuckle knife after a large London retailer. They were a popular private purchase item particularly for officers and the design proved so effective that it was revived with a few modifications as the Second War, BC-41 British Commando knife, precursor to the Fairbairn-Sykes daggers.
Blades are forged from file steel and measure 5 3/4" long. They're riveted to a cast aluminum handle and include a sewn and riveted cowhide sheath. Overall length, 9 3/4".
$110 shipped
To order e-mail me
dbrock76@yahoo.com

Clements "Death's Head" Spike

2009-07-19T17:01:00.000-07:00

This knife is based on another of the Charles Clements firms offerings from the first war.
The six inch, carbon-steel blade has a triangular cross-section similar to that of the US M1917/18 Trench Knife.
This style of stabbing blade was supposed to leave a wound that closes less readily tan that of a conventional dagger. Furthermore, I suspect that The spike is far easier to withdraw than a flat blade.
It's riveted to an aluminum handle, cast in the shape of a stylized "Death's Head" with spiked knucks (the "teeth" of the skull so to speak).
Overall length: 10 1/2"
Includes a hand-stitched cowhide sheath.
$125 shipped
To order e-mail me
dbrock76@yahoo.com

French M1916 Trench Dagger

2009-07-19T16:58:00.001-07:00

Like every continental power in the First World War, France responded to the realities of trench warfare by developing a dagger. After the first few years of improvised, field-expedient blades the M1916 Trench Dagger was introduced. Produced by several different French cutlery firms, it consisted of a 7" double-edged blade with a steel cross guard and a turned wood handle. This knife was popular both with French troops and the Americans. The blade shape, with its waisted ricasso was copied by the Americans for the McNary pattern M1918 Mark I trench knife.
This replica has been hand-forged from new 1095 tool steel, hardened and tempered. The handle is of a very French wood, pear and included is a cowhide sheath.
$120
To order e-mail me
dbrock76@yahoo.com

McNary/Bolo Prototype

2009-07-19T16:56:00.001-07:00

This is a replica of a fighting knife that was never in a fight - probably.
The original is in the collection of one Bill Stone and seems to be the only one of its kind.
However another collector, Adrian Van Dyk, listed one in a sale catalog several years ago. That example had been discovered at the defunct Springfield Armory where it had been produced. The only distinguishing feature between it and the steel-bladed, Stone knife is that the Springfield Armory knife was cast entirely in brass - including the blade.
This leads me to believe that the all brass knife was a casting pattern, made to enable the casting of the brass handle of the tang. That's how I would have done it.
Apparently this is as far as the experiment went. Now of course the final version of the M1918 Mk 1 Trench Knife is recognizable to virtually anyone.
But, the designers apparently went down a few rabbit trails before settling on the familiar pattern of the pointed, screw pommel and the blade from the French, M1916 dagger (WWI 6).
The blade for this particular version was taken from the M1910 Bolo, also produced at Springfield.
Like the Bolo, the blade is 10 1/4" long, hand forged from 1095 tool steel, hardened and tempered.
The solid brass handle (The knife alone weighs in at 24 oz.)is cast directly onto the tang and retains the wicked, talon-shaped pommel spike.
Includes a cowhide-over-wood scabbard based loosely on that of the Bolo.
$175 shipped
To order e-mail me
dbrock76@yahoo.com

Knuckle Knife in Brass and Ebony

2009-07-19T16:47:00.001-07:00

I found a photo of the original of this knife in "British and Commonwealth Military Knives" by Ron Flook.
Mr. Flook wrote that, although the knife had supposed second world war provenance, it looked to him like First War instead.
It's a more up-scale version of the knuckle knives favored by British troops with a one-piece brass liner, cross-guard and knuckleduster cast onto the tang.
It has a Bowie type, rather than the conventional dagger, blade which is mounted "rightsideup" (see Clements).
Handle scales of ebony complete the grip.
With its 6" high-carbon, tool steel blade, it measures 10 1/2" long overall.
$140 shipped
To order e-mail me
dbrock76@yahoo.com

The "Trench Cleaner"

2009-07-19T16:45:00.001-07:00

During the early years of WW1, the powers that be were caught completely unprepared for the realities of the first "modern war". Actually the American Civil War gave all of them fair notice but... they were idiots.
The lads living in their muddy holes in the ground, however, were unwilling to go along with the higher command's vision that the spirit of the troops, the rush of the cavalry and the "terror of cold steel" would carry the day.
They came up with their own solutions to the deficiency. Every army (except the Germans - the advantage of being in the defensive position) devised "field expedient" knives, whether reground bayonets, worked-over files or forged barbed wire pickets, the boys made do.
This knife is based on a French example, made on site, probably at a facility similar to that of the background photo (a British tank repair truck with on-board forge, drill press, lathe and welder). The original had etched upon its blade the following:
"Le Nettoyeur de Tranchees" "The Trench Cleaner".
$80 shipped
To order e-mail me
dbrock76@yahoo.com
The blade of this reproduction is 7" long, forged from O1 tool steel, hardened and tempered. All is blackened.
No sheath is included because part of the design of this simple, elegant knife is an integral belt loop.

Canadian Tunneller's Dagger

2009-07-19T15:27:00.001-07:00

movie day?

World War Two Knives

2009-07-18T09:47:00.000-07:00

My knives from this period begin in the 1930's with the Will Fairbairn designed Shanghai Fighting Knife.
My wartime examples tend toward home-front production and/or small localized manufacture, ie "theater knives".
As always the private purchase knives are most interesting to me.
W. E. Fairbairn brackets this selection with his final knife design from the 1950's, the Cobra.
Click here for the knives.
And here and here for a couple of new ones.

"Great War" Knives

2009-07-14T13:57:00.001-07:00

Unbelievable as it seems now, at least to me, the British army went through the entirety of the first world war with no standard-issue, fighting knife. This fact, coupled with the realities of trench warfare, left the lads needing something to fill the gap, a situation exploited by many manufacturers.
Sassoon said that the war had been merely a "...matter of holes and ditches".
Thousands of miles of holes and ditches, calling for different techniques, necessitated by an environment where having one's head above ground was suicide.
The new tactics, for the infantry, took the form of nocturnal raids into enemy trenches and nighttime patrols of no-man's-land.
All of this required weapons that were a bit more up close and personal.
See left: A group of raiders - rather dressed-up, I should think - sporting clubs and, on the dapper fellow to the right, a Robbins Punch knife.
Click here for the knives.