Transitional 2nd Pattern FS Fighting Knife

[lnijherald]

Hi Irv,

Nice pics, thanks!
Here's a close up of the clamp marks on my B2 marked knife. It's different from yours.
I'm not sure why not all WS knives were etched; I guess the MOD at some point ordered non-etched ones as an economy measure.
The 3rd pattern with logos is superb!
I have the impression that these were assembled after the war from leftover stock from various components, can't think of another logical explanation for it.
Cheers, Luc

[britpc]

Hi Luc,

WS kept on making 3rd Patt with etchings but all the post war 3rds don't have the small raised mold number on the grip. Apart from the 1st patt which had the etching on, I wonder if all their other knives with the etching were for sale through their shop in London. Why waste the time and money on a knife that is going to be issued to commando'?
Any chance of seeing the rest of your knife.
Irv

[lnijherald]

Hi Irv,

It is an urban legend that the FS knives were issued to commandos or special force only; the total wartime production number is well over 250,000 and that exceeds the number of special forces.
They were available to every allied soldier stationed in Britain, just to make money.
I'll try and make some decent pics of my knives later!
Cheers, Luc

[lnijherald]

There you go Irv:



Note the blackening on the hilt seems less durable than the blueing on the blade.

[lnijherald]

Close up of the triangular grinding mark; a bit extra has been grounded away near the crossguard:

[britpc]

Looks like a nice honest knife Never seen that much grind taken off. But that's what you get with hand ground blades. I have a 2nd Patt that the blade is very narrow, almost like an aprentice has had a go. Did you get a scabbard with your knife? Any history?

Irv

[lnijherald]

Hi Irv,

Yeah it is good one, nothing special and neither is the scabbard. All pretty standard stuff. No history, just an eBay purchase.
Hand grinding did result in some slight differences indeed; I have a picture of an Indian made 3rd pattern with a triangular grinding mark that is about 5cm!

Luc

[Swordmaker]

Hi Guy's,
I thought that all the FS Fighting Knife collectors on the forum would like to see this interesting knife. I have tried to show in the pictures what the relavent points are.
This knife is a 2nd Pattern nickle that is unmarked but came with a 1st Pattern scabbard. A strange pairing but not unheard of.
When it arrived on closer inspection I noticed that the crossguard had been 'S' shaped but that the crossguard had been hammered almost flat. There are some tell tail marks to show this. They are on the top of the upcurve and on the bottom of the down curve if that makes sense. This must have been made just when they changed over to the new design 2nd Pattern, and had some of the 'S' shaped crossguards left over. So rather than waste them the cutler just hammered the guards flat.
I'll also tag on to the end a nice /I\ B2 marked 3rd Pattern and scabbard that I picked up for a good price. In fact both were a goood price
I hope this will be of interest and help in future buy's.
Happy new year
Regards
Irv

Irv
My take on this was that the owner of the original 'S' shaped guard FS didn't like it as it perhaps didn't suit his style of using the knife and so he customised it and hammered it flatter! I have seen this before when users probably found the curved x guard snagged when drawing the knife.
That is probably the reason I would think. I don't think a Cutler was involved at all, any cutler worth his anvil would have done a far better job and Wilkinsons never did it!!!
Nice because it shows user customisation which we see more frequently in the scabbard department
Hope that helps
Robert

[britpc]

Thanks Robert