A Trio of Sharks or not???

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Mossdancer
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A Trio of Sharks or not???

Post by Mossdancer »

While sitting at a roadside sale a few afternoons ago, The traffic was light, none! To entertain myself and to pass the time I started perusing thru various totes of My old Military knives. I narrowed the search down to three I had never paid much attention too. They are all marked Western with no further ID than the state and a patent number on each. There was also some help from a message on two of the sheaths from previous owners. Turns out that the patent was the same on each. I am just guessing than it is regarding the split and exposed tang on each. I have found what I believe to possibly be three examples of the WW II Western Shark military all purpose knife. I am posting a few side by sides and you can form your own opinion and offer your thoughts, conjecture and knowledge on the group. If it turns out to be true I think it was time well spent. The condition is not great but the cutting of rope, prying open rations or any of the other mundane situations they have found themselves in is certainly not unusual. Have fun and enjoy the knives. The day generated no coins for the grocer but a bit of
info for myself.
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eveled
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Re: A Trio of Sharks or not???

Post by eveled »

Sharks are not quite my area of expertise, so I'm looking forward to the responses you get.

But I think you are on the right track. If not actual sharks, they are "of the type", and look to be of the right vintage. So many private purchased hunting knives ended up seeing service in the military.

The one with the flat pommel. Is it steel or aluminum?

I am amazed that the "H" washers held up so well on the old Western knives. I would expect them to open up some over the years, but they are usually in decent shape. The double tang must be stronger than the single tange.
Mossdancer
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Re: A Trio of Sharks or not???

Post by Mossdancer »

It is ferrous. I am without knowledge of it's type.
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zzyzzogeton
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Re: A Trio of Sharks or not???

Post by zzyzzogeton »

The top one is the Shark, aka G46-6. Not made before the WW2 in this configuration.

The middle one is a Baby Shark, aka G46-5, also not made before WW2 in this configuration.

Before WW2, the G46 came with 4, 5 or 6 inch blades, but had what I call a mushroom pommel, as opposed to the bird beak or knight head as these are sometimes called.

The third one is kind of a mystery. The flat pommels are called Sharks and Baby Sharks by some folks. In TKMWWW, this style of knife is called a G46, but has no name assigned to it. Th 5 inch version is designated the L71 with no name on the 1945 page in TKMWWW, but is elsewhere called the Seabees knife due to the numbers made for them.

When Western brought the L71 back in the 1980s, they marketed it as the Seabees.

The L71 is FFG. Some folks call it Western's USN MK1, but Western never marked any with the USN stamp that I know of.
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Re: A Trio of Sharks or not???

Post by zzyzzogeton »

Been thinking about this off and on during the day and it finally hit me what was bugging me a little -

Does the Baby Shark have a brass guard and brass spacer rings in the handle?

If it does, then it is still a G46-5, but a post-WW2 version.

The post-war G46-6 and G46-5 were made until about 1952.
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Re: A Trio of Sharks or not???

Post by Mossdancer »

The answer to your ? is yes. Here are a couple of enlargements that may show up a bit better.
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