British and Commonwealth Military Knives

A place to discuss & share pictures of military related knives and tools. Conversation relating to objects of war and peace from all eras welcome.
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wornoutwrench
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Re: British and Commonwealth Military Knives

Post by wornoutwrench »

Not quite a pocket knife but here is an Australian combat knife from WW II. They ended up with Americans too. Its a bit out of line with my collecting.. wouldn't mind trading it for a nice old 5165 or similar.
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danno50
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Re: British and Commonwealth Military Knives

Post by danno50 »

Here is a Camillus made Canadian WWI knife. Orvet posted one similar in the Camillus subforum. Closed length is 5". It does not appear to have the regular broad arrow stamp, however, there are a couple dings in the marlin spike which may be a misstamping of the broad arrow (pic 3).
Dan
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danno50
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Re: British and Commonwealth Military Knives

Post by danno50 »

Hit submit when I meant to add another photo. Showing the dings in the marlin spike which may be a mistamped broad arrow?
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Miller Bro's
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Re: British and Commonwealth Military Knives

Post by Miller Bro's »

Nice find Dan ::tu::
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danno50
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Re: British and Commonwealth Military Knives

Post by danno50 »

Thanks Dimitri.
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cody6268
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Re: British and Commonwealth Military Knives

Post by cody6268 »

Alex K. wrote:M346; W.R. Case & Son made this pattern knife for Canada during WWII ....According to Mr. Flook's book : "The World War Two period US Navy knives were made by W.R. Case...between 1940 and 1942 and bore the mark CASE XX on the blade. The knives made by Case during the war for the Canadians carried the CASE XX METAL STAMPINGS LTD mark...The early POST-WAR Canadian made knives were produced between 1948 and 1949 by the Case subsidiary W.R. Case and Sons of Canada Ltd, Pictou, Nova Scotia. These knives bear the M.S. LTD XX mark."

Closed Length: 4 7/8 inches

1) Sheepfoot: 3 3/4 inches
2) Marlin Spike 4 inches
3) Punch Blade 1 5/8 inches
______
Alex

Here's the M.S. Ltd. Canadian Navy Knife. Paid $20 shipped for it off Ebay and it arrived today. Problem is, instead of leaving it up the buyer, the seller cleaned it a little too roughly. He used coarse steel wool or a wire brush, as scratches abound. He did an awful job, as the "punch" as you refer to it (I thought it was a can opener), bail, and spine of blade still have signs of rust. I didn't know this until arrival, but the backspring on the blade is cracked, but doesn't affect snap that much, but may be why the marlinspike is wobbly. Thanks for the info, I'd thought it was made during WWII, not after.

Marlinspike does an awesome job at what it's intended for--made quick work of a bootlace that was in a knotted mess. I won't be using it for anything other than that, it will be going into the collection. I'll get another British Navy Knife (I prefer those with the black checkered handles) to use, which was what I was doing when I came across this one. Like the electrician's pattern already has, the British Navy Pattern I presume will multiply quickly in my collection, as I plan to get another I can actually use. This one's too rare.

It's quite large compared to a Case electrician's knife
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Closeup of "Broad Arrow" inside of the letter "C" stamp.
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Sheepsfoot Blade:
Photo0578.jpg

Closeup of tang stamp:
Photo0579.jpg

Punch blade:
Photo0581.jpg

Marlinspike:
Photo0582.jpg
sakoblade
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Re: British and Commonwealth Military Knives

Post by sakoblade »

I'm a new member from Sweden and I thought I'd start out here with my only military issued knife so far, a British one made by W&S Butcher Sheffield.

It is marked as such and has a Broadarrow and 1943 but has no marlin spike.

They did a sloppy job when marking the blade but the knife is in decent shape for being over 70 years old.

I am not sure which forces they issued these knives to?

Thanks for looking!

Jim
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W&S Butcher WWII issued knife
W&S Butcher WWII issued knife
W&S Butcher markings
W&S Butcher markings
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smiling-knife
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Re: British and Commonwealth Military Knives

Post by smiling-knife »

Hi Jim, Welcome on board. That's a nice example of a WWII British Army knife. There were a number of variation on this pattern. There were two piece patterns, like your knife, and three piece models with a marline spike. Some, especially earlier in WWII, had steel bolsters.
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sakoblade
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Re: British and Commonwealth Military Knives

Post by sakoblade »

smiling-knife, thank you for the welcome! :)

Do you happen to know to which units these two piece patterns were issued to? And why the two patterns? Was it simply the fact that they wanted a less expensive knife and omitted the marlin spike?

Nevertheless, I really like this one and it fits very well in my small Sheffield collection and I hope to expand that section when I can.

Have a great weekend!

Jim
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smiling-knife
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Re: British and Commonwealth Military Knives

Post by smiling-knife »

Hi Jim, No sorry I don't know about the specific units. I think they were widely distributed. This is the three piece version.
Hope you have a great weekend too.
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sakoblade
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Re: British and Commonwealth Military Knives

Post by sakoblade »

smiling-knife wrote:Hi Jim, No sorry I don't know about the specific units. I think they were widely distributed. This is the three piece version.
Hope you have a great weekend too.
Thanks for sharing!!

As a former Naval officer I have a thing for Navy items and I might, eventually, focus my collecting on such knives. For now, I'm just a hoarder! :mrgreen:

Jim
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smiling-knife
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Re: British and Commonwealth Military Knives

Post by smiling-knife »

Hi Jim, As you mentioned Navy knives, these are the standard British Navy patterns from WWI and WWII respectively. The WWI era knife is the Admiralty pattern 301 and was in service from 1910 to the 1930s. In the 1930s they went from stag to metal alloy handles. The pattern evolved and became smaller in WWII.
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sakoblade
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Re: British and Commonwealth Military Knives

Post by sakoblade »

Now I'm smiling too Mr smiling-knife! :D

Thanks for the pics and the history! I will certainly keep looking for British knives but they are not easy to find over here.

By the way, is there any good reference litterature out there?

Cheers!

Jim
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tjmurphy
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Re: British and Commonwealth Military Knives

Post by tjmurphy »

I posted this one in "General Knife Discussion" but I think it would feel right at home here also.
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sakoblade
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Re: British and Commonwealth Military Knives

Post by sakoblade »

tjmurphy wrote:I posted this one in "General Knife Discussion" but I think it would feel right at home here also.

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tjmurpjy, it is awesome!! :shock: Congratulations on a great find!

Jim
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smiling-knife
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Re: British and Commonwealth Military Knives

Post by smiling-knife »

Yes, nice Wostenholm. Thanks for adding it to the thread. :-)
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tjmurphy
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Re: British and Commonwealth Military Knives

Post by tjmurphy »

Do you know if this knife is common or not? This is the very first one I've seen in all my searches.
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smiling-knife
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Re: British and Commonwealth Military Knives

Post by smiling-knife »

I've seen a few but they are rarer than some of the common patterns shown earlier. You did well to find that one. Congrats!
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smiling-knife
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Re: British and Commonwealth Military Knives

Post by smiling-knife »

sakoblade wrote:Now I'm smiling too Mr smiling-knife! :D

Thanks for the pics and the history! I will certainly keep looking for British knives but they are not easy to find over here.

By the way, is there any good reference litterature out there?

Cheers!

Jim
Hi Jim, Ron Flook's book British and Commonwealth Military Knives is an excellent resource. :-)
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sakoblade
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Re: British and Commonwealth Military Knives

Post by sakoblade »

smiling-knife wrote:
sakoblade wrote:Now I'm smiling too Mr smiling-knife! :D

Thanks for the pics and the history! I will certainly keep looking for British knives but they are not easy to find over here.

By the way, is there any good reference litterature out there?

Cheers!

Jim
Hi Jim, Ron Flook's book British and Commonwealth Military Knives is an excellent resource. :-)
Thanks a lot! Will try to find it ASAP!

Have a great weekend!

Jim
mac657
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Re: British and Commonwealth Military Knives

Post by mac657 »

Hello all,

I've just received this Wostenholm knife from my father. It belonged to his father who served in the British army during WW2 with the Royal Engineers.

My limited research would indicate that it is a Canadian knife, which would be possible as he served alongside the Canadians in 30 corps in NW europe, is that right ?

Also, what is the number stamp on the marlin spike for ? My initial thought was that it is a soldiers service number.

Thanks for looking,

Mac.
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jerryd6818
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Re: British and Commonwealth Military Knives

Post by jerryd6818 »

Welcome to AAPK Mac. I have very little expertise regarding British Commonwealth military knives.

Do you see a MoD ownership stamp on it anywhere (see image below). I think you're on to something Re: the service number. It appears to be stamped with individual hand stamps. The two I have are stamped with the year (1943) and the MoD broad arrow on the main blade tang.
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CommonwealthGovernmentOwnershipMark.jpg
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mac657
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Re: British and Commonwealth Military Knives

Post by mac657 »

Thanks for looking and reminding me Jerry !

I did mean to say that there is not an MOD 'crows foot' on it, although i believe this was not that unusual ?

I'm going to post on a WW2 forum that i use regarding the possible service number.

Mac.
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Eustace
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Re: British and Commonwealth Military Knives

Post by Eustace »

As far as I know, until 1964, the British Army and Navy are separate structures. The knives ordered by the army are stamped with arrow and year on the blade or the can opener, and the knives ordered by the admiralty are stamped with number on marlin spike.
Another thing I've read somewhere is that the knives ordered by the navy never have a can opener because the ships have a galley, and the sailors have not given cans.
Regards,
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Eustace
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Re: British and Commonwealth Military Knives

Post by Eustace »

My British army knives
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