Show Your Vintage Knife
- Thread starter gpw_42
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Private Lugnutz
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d42jeep
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Here is one you don’t see often. It’s an electrician’s knife with a Navy FSN made by Camillus. Also I’m posting a Camillus ad posted on the knife thread on G503.com by a colleague in the U.K.
-Don
-Don
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Farmer J.
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ttpete
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I believe the correct spelling is Purdey.
Farmer J.
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RTM
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Thanks, I've corrected it. Dunno why I did that, I could have copied it off the blade!
Blame autocorrect, it works for me.
d42jeep
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Private Lugnutz
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I'll third that! (One of the most versatile 2-pc tool-sets ever.)
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That Purdey is gorgeous, as we'd all expect of anything coming from that shop. Thanks for sharing!
I have a Damascus hunting knife blade which I need to put stocks onto. I have some (old) teak to use for the task, just haven't put it all together yet. Will probably epoxy the wood to the steel, and want to also use brass pins to strengthen it.
Catfishdan
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RTM
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I have heard them called hacking knives. Looks like they called it a chipping knife ( left page bottom center)
https://archive.org/details/BrookstoneToolsFall1979Catalog/page/n57/mode/2up
Similar to this modern tool
https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/hand-tools/chisels/specialty/67735-batoning-chisel
https://archive.org/details/BrookstoneToolsFall1979Catalog/page/n57/mode/2up
Similar to this modern tool
https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/hand-tools/chisels/specialty/67735-batoning-chisel
Does anyone know what type of knife this is? The writing near the handle has the letters "E" at the beginning and "W" at end. I can't make out the letters in between if there are any. Below those larger letters and smaller letters. One letter may be an "H" and the other might be an "E" I can't make them out due to the knifes worn condition. Thanks.
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Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
If the marking you're describing is upside down on the ricasso, it's almost certainly "EGW KNIFE." WWII. Made by E.G. Waterman. Very popular and desirable, especially among a cultish following who don't bow down at the altar of Union Cutlery Ka-Bar. I have one. I will post photos later. Yours is missing the pommel guard. Nice find!
Thanks for the info!
Private Lugnutz
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No problem. Wherever you are - guessing upstate somewhere, you're picking in a good spot!
Private Lugnutz
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I can't tell how long your blade is in that photo, but this...
...is the scarcest and most sought-after of the fighting knives that E. G. Waterman of NYC produced during WWII. It is the longer carbon steel blade version (7-3/8”) with stacked leather washer handle.
The ricasso has the classic, unique upside down “EGW KNIFE” marking.
Almost a foot long from tip to pommel ring, these fighting knives were a very popular companion with the troops during the war in foxholes and in combat, but most of them didn't survive. Awfully prone to corrosion. This one is no exception. I wish the blade was in better condition, but it took no small amount of effort to get it into even a presentable state. The steel guards are very good and the leather washers are tight and in great condition. The sheath has the classic leg tie. A flea market find.
...is the scarcest and most sought-after of the fighting knives that E. G. Waterman of NYC produced during WWII. It is the longer carbon steel blade version (7-3/8”) with stacked leather washer handle.
The ricasso has the classic, unique upside down “EGW KNIFE” marking.
Almost a foot long from tip to pommel ring, these fighting knives were a very popular companion with the troops during the war in foxholes and in combat, but most of them didn't survive. Awfully prone to corrosion. This one is no exception. I wish the blade was in better condition, but it took no small amount of effort to get it into even a presentable state. The steel guards are very good and the leather washers are tight and in great condition. The sheath has the classic leg tie. A flea market find.
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Thanks for the follow up. Yes my knife is about twelve inches long. Mine has the Ricasso upside down “EGW KNIFE” marking. I don't recall where I got it, but I frequent Swap Meets and Estate Sales on Long Island, and Upstate N.Y. I doubt I paid much for it. It was probably a bundle deal.
Recently picked this up off eBay, due to the stock number, G41-K-370, stamped into the scale. It's clearly a post-World War 2 knife (plastic scales, ricasso marking and polished blades), but the stock number is almost the same as that for the WW2 general mechanics tool kit (GMTK...a slight mis-application of the modern term in lieu of thecorrect period names for the tool kits); the FSN for the GMTK knife was 41-K-370. Lugz and I have emailed each other some about it, but so far, I've been unable to ID the significance of the G prefix.
The only other G-prefix FSN I've seen was on a similar knife, but WW2-vintage, with wooden scales, in the archives of a museum. Same basic TL-29 construction, reportedly carried by a US Navy sailor in WW2.
If anybody has insight on the G-prefix, I'd love to hear it.
The only other G-prefix FSN I've seen was on a similar knife, but WW2-vintage, with wooden scales, in the archives of a museum. Same basic TL-29 construction, reportedly carried by a US Navy sailor in WW2.
If anybody has insight on the G-prefix, I'd love to hear it.
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Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
This is going to sound picky at first, but bear with me, there is a madness to my method...
'The FSN for an electrician's knife, with a main blade, a screwdriver blade, 3-3/4" OAL, with wooden scales and a bail, was 41-K-370. 41-K-370 is not the FSN for the GMTK knife. The US Army Ordnance Department chose to put a 41-K-370 in every GMTK.'
Slight difference, rewording it like that, but important.
The Federal Standard Stock Catalog was administered by the Treasury Dept. The stock numbers were generic. They were used by any federal agency, including the technical branches of the Army (Corps of Engineers, Ordnance, QMC, etc) and Navy.
As I told you in our email exchange, the Navy Aviation Supply Office applied an "R" to the beginning of the FSN, during the war and after. See Pic 2.
If the Navy brass felt they needed to do that to distinguish aeronautics equipment from other identical equipment with the same FSN (the fingerprints of just how stubborn the services were in fighting standardized supply, by the way!), it stands to reason they felt that way about the equipment their other Bureaus dealt with. My hunch is that there is a big book like this out there for the Supply Office for Yards & Docks, Ships, Personnel, Medicine and Surgery, Ordnance, or Marine Corps, and one of them used the "G" prefix on FSN's.
So that an electrician's knife issue to a mechanic onboard a Navy ship had a different stock number than the same knife issued to a mechanic at a Navy airfield.
Not kidding. That's how parochial it was even within the same "service".
By the way, note that in 1945 they electrician's knife in the Navy ASO supply book was R41-K-455. It sure looks the same as a 41-K-370, and I never figured out what made the -455 different. See Pic 3.
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d42jeep
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Private Lugnutz
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Perhaps it's the ebony. As opposed to cocobolo or whatever it was for the 41-K-370. The ASO Catalog Class 41 description calls it out for the 41-K-455, and I've never seen a black 41-K-370.
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
You said it. That is an "Excellent" User Car price keep-under-lock-and-friggin'-key find right there!
You said it. That is an "Excellent" User Car price keep-under-lock-and-friggin'-key find right there!
I had no idea what the knife was, it took very little research to find out I stepped in ****.
...and came out smelling like a rose! I don't remember seeing a Nichols knife before; after a little of that looking around about them, that's really something we all hope to find at a sale!
d_42 and Lugz, thanks for your comments on the common pattern knives with various stock numbers.
Private Lugnutz
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Like most of you I suspect, when I was a kid, Scouting was something everyone did as automatic as Hunter Safety, Little League Baseball and Pop Warner football. Here are a couple knives. The skinner is Boy Scouts and if you think you're seeing a blue hue to the scales on the pocketknife, you're not wrong - it's Cub Scouts.
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Private Lugnutz
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Private Lugnutz
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damon18
ALLIANCE MEMBER
This knife belonged to my Father who was in the Navy from 1953-73. Don't really know anything about it. When I was a kid it was used for anything and everything around the house, I even remember using it to dig weeds from cracks in a concrete walkway.
We always called it the survival knife but don't know if it really was. The knife is a survivor though!
Sent from my SM-G973U using The Garage Journal mobile app
We always called it the survival knife but don't know if it really was. The knife is a survivor though!
Sent from my SM-G973U using The Garage Journal mobile app
Bigblockyeti
Banned
I have the same one somewhere that I'm hoping to pass onto one of my boys as soon as I can trust them. Video games have done a fantastic job of creating a false reality where it's assumed there's a reset button or multiple lives to make up for just being safe the first time.
ttpete
Well-known member
This knife belonged to my Father who was in the Navy from 1953-73. Don't really know anything about it. When I was a kid it was used for anything and everything around the house, I even remember using it to dig weeds from cracks in a concrete walkway.
We always called it the survival knife but don't know if it really was. The knife is a survivor though!
Sent from my SM-G973U using The Garage Journal mobile app
That's generically known as a Mk 1 knife. Later versions were made by Pal, and had gray plastic sheaths. I have one of those and also a Mk 2, which is the larger Ka-Bar, also in a gray plastic sheath. Mine was made by Camillus.
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
This one is going to go to my grandson. I am sure my son will have fun explaining ancient history to him. "When Pop-Pop was young boys wore uniforms and learned how to do useful stuff in packs and earned merit badges for community service and..."
EDIT: As lucky koinydink would have it, I just found a B.S.A. signal mirror at the flea market this morning, by the way, in its pouch, with original instructions! Link to 2020 Garage Sale thread post here.
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Damon18, that Mk 1 knife is in great shape, given its likely use (and abuse?) when yur dad was in the Navy, and then abuse(?) later as you and your siblings grew up. IIRC, those red washers are a sign of earlier production; they're sought after among Mk. 2 knife collectors, so I assume the same for Mk. 1.
Lugz, those Scout knives are cool, especially the fixed blade!
A couple years ago, I picked up a ScoutLite knife, made by Buck in the mid-80s. I was jealous of the one my brother took to Philmont when he went, and when I realized they were available on eprey, I figured it was time to get one for myself. Definite 80s item, so it's too new to post on this vintage knife thread.
We now have a thread for BSA branded tools, located here: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=8745357#post8745357
Lugz, those Scout knives are cool, especially the fixed blade!
A couple years ago, I picked up a ScoutLite knife, made by Buck in the mid-80s. I was jealous of the one my brother took to Philmont when he went, and when I realized they were available on eprey, I figured it was time to get one for myself. Definite 80s item, so it's too new to post on this vintage knife thread.
We now have a thread for BSA branded tools, located here: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=8745357#post8745357
Catfishdan
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Private Lugnutz
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Nice knife.