Fairbairn Sykes commando knife for your review

[luftwaffenkopf]

seller says it's a WW1 vintage and is stamped "ENGLAND" on top of the guard. The leather sheath is stamped "England" as well and has initials "S.O." scratched on the back.

if real, what's one like this worth these days? thank you

[gregM]

This is not a ww1 piece. This is a late (post 1943) ww2 dagger.
The England stamp shows that it was exported to the US after the war.

Are there any other marks on the crossguard? Most daggers that
were issued during the war would have the broad arrow /l\ acceptance
stamp.

[JamesT]

seller says it's a WW1 vintage

I assume you mean the seller says that it is WW2 vintage. These were developed in WW2 not WW1.

I thought that any FS knife stamped England was a US import post war but I guess some war time versions would have been stamped on import post war. If the latter was the case then there would be a /|\ on it wouldn't there?

Looks nice though.

[zentsuji2]

re 3rd pattern commando dagger

Nice dagger looks post ww2 these are still used today, the 3rd pattern usually marked William Rodgers Sheffield England,I have just bought one 30 pounds, but need a sheath, the 3rd pattern used through ww2 by British commandos, some have 4 at top of the grip,some pheon marked,some b2 some called sterile totally unmarked.The ones we have could be ww2 Korea ,sas it's hard to tell without marks a book by "flook" is the bible seen these sell for 3rd pattern 250 pounds dealer price.Get a marked one b2 400 pounds it's an iconic knife, and special.keep it.regards.ianb

[zentsuji2]

could be of a batch sold to u.s

This could be a surplus knife sold by the grits to USA about 24,000 we're sent but we're not all well made, the marines hadn't been taught the deadly moves it can inflict and said it didn,t block well, they wanted a chunky knife but make no mistake the letter opener as they called it in the hands of a trained killer is unbeatable.The SOE had the nicest version with a knurled diamond pattern aluminium handle.I like it its a nice piece of history, and arguably the deadliest hand to hand knife in the world.Are you selling it?ianb

[Infanteer]

The typical wartime 3rd pattern knife has a mold number (1,2,3 or 4) on the handle near the pommel. The cross guard looks to be the proper thickness for a wartime knife. Some detailed photos would be useful to make a proper determination of vintage/originality.

[nickn]

this is a standard ww2 pre 45 3rd pattern sent to the us to pay off war debts
hence the england stamp which was required by the us on all imported items
$80-100

[Totenhead]

This could be a surplus knife sold by the grits to USA about 24,000 we're sent but we're not all well made, the marines hadn't been taught the deadly moves it can inflict and said it didn,t block well, they wanted a chunky knife but make no mistake the letter opener as they called it in the hands of a trained killer is unbeatable.The SOE had the nicest version with a knurled diamond pattern aluminium handle.I like it its a nice piece of history, and arguably the deadliest hand to hand knife in the world.Are you selling it?ianb

What made these so deadly compared to other daggers ?? was it the way the Commando's were trained to use it that made it so ??

[pzrwest]

I think it is the design of the blade. It allowed the knife to penetrate heavy wool greatcoats where regular knives wouldn't.

[Totenhead]

I think it is the design of the blade. It allowed the knife to penetrate heavy wool greatcoats where regular knives wouldn't.

I see, makes sense, cheers

[pzrwest]

A while a go on one of the Pawn shows a guy brought several WW1 American daggers. And it was remarked by the "expert" they had review the daggers and he mentioned the fact of daggers that could penetrate the heavy wool greatcoats where the knife style daggers couldn't. One of the daggers had a 3 sided narrow dagger blade, which were banned by the Geneva Convention after the first world war

[Infanteer]

I've heard these stories about certain blade styles being banned by the Geneva Convention but I've gone through the convention and have not found anything that mentions this at all. As far as I'm concerned this is a myth. Some people also say that it's illegal to sharpen a bayonet because it's apparently banned by the convention as well. Funny how the Canadian army issues a bayonet with a sharpener built into the scabbard.... Not to mention that in my 22 years in the military not once was I advised not to sharpen my bayonet. I'm certain that if it was illegal we would have been informed. The use of weapons of war are covered by the Hague Conventions and I didn't find anything in there either.

[Totenhead]

A while a go on one of the Pawn shows a guy brought several WW1 American daggers. And it was remarked by the "expert" they had review the daggers and he mentioned the fact of daggers that could penetrate the heavy wool greatcoats where the knife style daggers couldn't. One of the daggers had a 3 sided narrow dagger blade, which were banned by the Geneva Convention after the first world war

Yeah I also saw that, the blade was a WW1 US 3 sided triangle shape, trench knife it was described as

[Chris Boonzaier]

I've heard these stories about certain blade styles being banned by the Geneva Convention but I've gone through the convention and have not found anything that mentions this at all..

Individual weapons are not mentioned, but triangular and blades like the lebel bayonets are supposedly covered by "weapons should not cause unnecessary suffering or superfluous injury" as the injuries apparently cannot be treated like normal wounds. How true that is, i don't know.

best
Chris

[pzrwest]

A wound made from a triangular blade is hard to stitch. A puckering of the would would result. A regular knife or bayonet wound the edges of the wound are parallel so stitching the wound edges together would be the same as an incised surgical cut, but with a triangular wound there are no parallel edges