Ulster WW2 10th mountain

[Shearer]

This knife appeared on Ebay Australia if anyone is interested.It looks like new condition

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Ulster-Knife ... _DefaultDo

Grant

[Mustanger]

If I were only rich. That is the holy grail of utility knives in my mind. Thanks for the looksee anyway.

[tongueriver]

A lovely and interesting knife. Two thoughts: I wonder when the Phillips screw began its lowly existence, which has become almost ubiquitous today. I would not have thought they were using them in the 1930s, but apparently they have been around awhile.
Second: I see that the tang stamp on that knife is from the pre-Baer purchase of Ulster, which occurred in 1940, I believe. So apparently they were using old stamps or old blades or newly-stamped shackles, or had a contract with the government BEFORE WWII????? Thoughts?

[Mustanger]

I had the same thoughts about the phillips head screw driver. Especially scratching my head over the phillips bit on the clevis of the type 3 model. How much torque would that handle? Maybe it had a specific task contected to a piece of gear they carried? I notice that the phillips is absent on the USMC knives, demo knives and such. There is a veteran and knife collector of 50 years that dates this knife at 1939 - 1945. He has two of them, but I don't know where he gets his information.

[djknife13]

I think I read somewhere that the phillips screwdriver was for skis or something like that. I can't get used to the prices knives are going for these days. I bought mine in 2001 for $22 and although it's not quite as nice as this one, it's probably excellent plus. ____Dave

[JAMESC41001]

The Phillips was used to tighten tension on ski bindings used by the 10th mountain division. At some point it was mounted on the bail. I don't know if that was the first version or not by I think it was. I've had a chance to bid on two such knives but the prices just went to high. Thanx for the pic. Great knife.
Jay

[jerryd6818]

It sure looks all new and shiny.

From Wikipedia:

"An engineer, Henry F. Phillips (born 1889) was an acquaintance of John P. Thompson, who sold his self-centering design to Phillips in 1935 after failing to interest manufacturers. Phillips formed the Phillips Screw Company in 1934, and after refining the design himself (U.S. Patent #2,046,343, U.S. Patents #2,046,837 to 2,046,840) for the American Screw Company of Providence, Rhode Island, succeeded in getting the design quickly adopted by industry. One of the first customers, in 1936, was General Motors for its Cadillac assembly-lines. By 1940, 85% of U.S. screw manufacturers had a license for the design. Due to failing health, Phillips retired in 1945. He died in 1958."

[tongueriver]

Good information, Jerry! The Phillips screw presented some clear advantages in some applications, as do some of the more recent innovations. Aesthetically, there is nothing like case-hardened slotted screws all aligned in one axis on a mint pre-war firearm.