All About Pocket Knives

A very solid and heavy British WWII knife. There are many knives out there made in this style... even modern ones. This one was made by George Butler. The broad arrow mark (3 lines of equal length) indicates that this was a genuine government issue knife. This mark originates all the way back to the late 1600s. Look for this mark when collecting British military memoribilia (knives, guns, swords, bayonnets etc.). I think one of the attachments is for opening canned rations. s-k

Very cool, is the main blade a wharncliffe or a sheepsfoot. I'm a newbie & still a bit fuzzy with proper terms.

Hi Adam, welcome to the site. I think it is a sheepsfoot blade. I am relatively new myself but I would say that the wharncliffe blade has a longer more gradual curve to it. Perhaps I will be corrected. s-k

Here is a Warncliff Whittler from Bulldog. This model is the 3 7/8 inch Viking. Etched on the back is 1 of 33. It also has a pen blade and a coping blade. The Warncliff blade is very thick along the spine. Hope this helps.

I really like the handle on that knife Hukk. s-k

Thank you s-k, Ive grown rather fond of the Warncliffe blade and this knife is one of my favorites. It took me a few years to enjoy the abalone handles. I used to have piles of abalone shells in my backyard so seeing abalone just wasn't a big deal. Now it may become a very scarce commodity; there is no longer a commercial fishery for abalone in California. This was the main source of shell coming from the Red Abalone and Green Abalone for jewlelry and knives. The Paua Abalone in New Zealand is in trouble now. Illegal poaching gets about 90% of the yearly take according to estimates and many undersized are taken also. All 3 main species for knives are in trouble which is why you see manufacturers going to laminated products. Well I went a mite off track.

Hey S-K;
Heres the single blade I told you about. The only marking is barely legible Sheffield/England on main and the numeral 6 or 9 on marlinspike depending on which way is up.

In reference to the British WWII pocket knife, these popped up on the military surplus market a couple of years ago. I was able to obtain and sell a few before they dried up. There was also a similar patterned Dutch knife that popped up on the market about the same time.

The ones I sold were packed in cosmoline.

The way things dry up in the surplus market, and as hot as WWII collecting has been in the last five years, I would hold on to it.

Lord knows they won't be making any more any time soon.

The ones I sold were packed in cosmoline.

This has nothing to do with the above topic but is cosmoline still used today??? I remember about 25 years ago when I worked at John Deere everything we got seemed to be packed in cosmoline and it was my job to clean it off the new parts...I guess if you were going to try to pack up and store your knives for large amounts of time it would work on knives as well!!??

Just a question..?

Hey Sunburst;
Cleaned off much from aircraft parts in the 60's,a real pain.
Dont know if it's still around, wonder how a bucket of axle grease would work. Keep the air and elements away and stay pliable with the top on can. ???? Hmmmmmmm.
wb


Edit; you wouldn't even have to add pickling spice.

It is a can opener. I have a similar knife and have opened a few cans with it. Works pretty good too.