More knife stuff

[SA1911a1]

Buying WWII knives on ebay, it is not unusual for them to come with the keepers either broken or holding on by a thread. I want the sheaths to be functional so I called the nearest two leather repair shops; on 40 miles away and the other 50... Both of these shops have been in business for decades, and neither of them would give me even a rough estimate as to what it would cost to replace the little straps. "Bring it by and let me look at it...."

I hunted up an old leather belt that is not big enough to wrap my copious body any more and cut me some strips. I want on Amazon and ordered snap kits that come with the basic cheap Chinese tools. After I figured out that I could probably make it work, I had the issue of matching the colors. The only fix in the hose for that was Mom's food coloring. I mixed a little red and blue and came up with a fair match. I sealed it with a good leather dressing and it is pretty stable. I was able to reuse some of the old hardware.

The pics are two Western G46-8s compared with a Ka-Bar Mk. 2. The pics showed me a little fuzz that I need to trim.

[Darryl]

You are becoming "THE KNIFE COLLECTOR".

Nice ---- I like seeing them!

Darryl

[ffuries]

Looks better than good, down the road someone will say that the repairs were field or period done repairs.....

[SA1911a1]

You are becoming "THE KNIFE COLLECTOR".

Nice ---- I like seeing them!

Darryl

You know the truth of it is I am becoming quite fond of them. What is really nice is when you can find one that the owner marked and can then track down the owner's history. I have several of them like that.

[SA1911a1]

Looks better than good, down the road someone will say that the repairs were field or period done repairs.....

Thanks Mike. The new snaps on them wouldn't fool a collector for a moment. The keepers will go South on the sheaths while the rest of the leather remains soft and pliable. The original keeper on the one on the left literally crumbled. I am guessing that oils from the fingers destroy the leather. I also found it interesting that on both of the Western knives, that all of the stitching is gone, not so bad on these because the steel brads keep everything together. My next project will be to learn how to restitch one.

[Junk Yard Dog]

[capt14k]

Congrats. They are addicting. I especially like the 8" Western and Mark II knives. I collect the Westerns, Mark I, Mark II, Case, pretty much most of the WWII knives. Still need a Western L-76, but I have a Western Bowie Bx54 Bushman and single edge L-77. The Western W-31 Parachute knife I may never own. Last couple I have seen sell went over $4k.

Attached is a cheat sheet for some of the Western WWII knives, and the specialty life raft and aircraft knives. What I especially like about the Western Knives of WWII is the bakelite variations. Where the cross guard, or pommel, or both are made of bakelite instead of steel.



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[millman]

What are those last 2?

[ffuries]

What are those last 2?

They are referred to as Floating Knives or Life Raft Knives. We packed them in the accessory kits of multi-place life rafts. It was used for cutting rope/cord/line and as first aid tool. Notice the shape of the blade makes it hard to stab a raft and puncture it.

The one pictured on the left, the excess material was to allow us to glue/sew the sheath to the raft. In the USAF we never did it or at least we didn't while I was the Aircrew Life Support career field from Jan 86 to Sept 08. We always kept them in the accessory kit attached to the life raft (7 man or 20 man rafts). The one on the right has pull the dot snaps to allow it to be snapped on. Again as stated before we never did this.

The handles are made of light wood, add in the holes in the blade making it even lighter, and you now have a floating knife. Makes it harder to lose in an open water survival situation.

[millman]