Diamonds and Rust

Here is a welcome new addition to our collection. When you look at it you will wonder why, with a large collection of knives, I bothered to spend money on a relic like this. It is a genuine WW-II Wilkinson, although it is hard to find the shadows of the etchings. The seller said the knife was "dug-up" and was unsure if it was genuine or not. To me knives like this deserve some recognition and respect, like a tired old veteran. Incredibly the knife is tight and could still perform its job. Whoever cleaned it up did not ruin it by using power tools and did a fair job considering what it must have looked like. We always wish we knew the rest of the story with knives like this. Our other relic was found on the beach at Dieppe, France. This one.....well who knows. It still remains full length and its a tribute to the quality of the knives Wilkinson Sword Co. produced during WW-II. I bet whoever lost it was heartbroken at its loss. Like all of our adopted stray cats, its got a good home now.

lucky penny

A Lucky Penny: Every once in a while, no matter how closely you look at the photos, you will get fooled by a knife. I bought this knife off of Ebay and, based on the photos, I was sure it was a bayonet knife. It may still be but comparing it to a Metford Bayonet I have pretty much ruled that out. The good news is this knife is of superb construction and design. It came from England and was described as a “theater knife.” So I cannot fault the seller. I bought it for a pittance and do not regret my action. The handle is, like so many were, made up of multiple washers of various materials. Some are phenolic, some are aluminum. The brass guard is a little thin but well-shaped and tightly fitted. Underneath the guard there is a very narrow brass band similar to a Japanese habaki. A heavy brass pommel tops the four and a half inch, comfortably shaped handle. The broad blade is six and three quarter inches long, precisely ground and nicely sharpened. On top of the pommel is an English copper penny with the bust of King George the sixth. The bust has nearly been worn away over the years. To cap off a perfect set, the sheath is a professionally cut-down bayonet sheath complete with the original canvas frog. Over the years I have owned a few theater knives and sold off most of them. This one though is a keeper.

finally another post

I know there have been long gaps between my posts lately. I have been very busy with work, travel, researching the S.O.E. and writing on my Commando Knife book. The writing and editing is slow going because I want it to be right. I have discovered several stories of the development of the British Commando Knife that are previously unwritten

and will shake up a few people. The path to discovery has been a confusing one and I am still trying to work out some of the snags and tangles. The text alone is over 190 pages now and editing it in spurts is driving me nuts. I have added over a dozen new knives in the past few months. This meant more examples to write about and even more material to edit. Also I was provided with a huge selection of photos of French daggers and text. The text is in French and Mes Amis I am working at sorting that out. I can tell you that online translators do not do some things well, bayonets and daggers for one. During this period I purchased two French daggers (of the Vietnam era) and one that is probably a WW-II resistance dagger. In addition I bought a rare Wilkinson and a Canadian marked knife. It has been a fruitful first quarter of 2015 for collecting although an expensive one. I have sold a few knives off the website to help offset the costs of my new additions. I have also listed a lot more nice knives for sale as I further refine my collection. Politics and meetings, and fighting for restitution of our gun rights and more meetings, has also consumed a lot of my time. Seems like now I spend more time fighting the good fight than I do actually shooting. Maybe this is what the government intended. We must never give up though because “they won’t.” Lose our gun rights and soon we will lose all of our rights. Free men own guns, slaves do not. Its really that simple.