Plated or Solid Blades?

[Stahlhelm]

Hello,

I have a quick question: Do early SS 1933 EM daggers and early 1st Model nickel-fitted Luftwaffe daggers have plated or solid steel blades?

If they are plated, what are they plated with?

I don't mean to sound too inexperienced about this, but I recently read some threads talking about plated vs. nonplated blades, and I became curious about what type of blades I have. I really have learned a lot about these daggers, but I now realize that I don't know this.
Thanks,

Chris

[Eric Hall]

Hi Chris,
SS dagger blades are not plated, just a polished surface.

Most early Luft daggers I have seen had a nickel plated finish. Good luck finding a 1st Luft blade in Mint condition. Most had some runners marks or lifting where the runners rested.

[Stahlhelm]

Thanks Eric! I appreciate your help.

I thought the early SS daggers were solid and polished. I mostly wasn't sure about the early Lufts.

Chris

[Tiger 1]

Chris,

Probably a better question would have been 'polished or plated steel?'.

All TR era daggers have steel blades.

Most were polished brite and show a crossgrain when not messed with. SS, SA, NSKK, NPEA, Postal, RLB, HJ and a few others were had blades with a natural polished finish.

Some other types were available with nickle plated blades as an extra cost option in some cases, mostly on Army, Luft and Naval daggers. Nickled blades were a standard feature on most TR era sword blades.

Hope this helps some.

Tony

[Stahlhelm]

Tony,

Thanks for adding more to answer my question. Yes, every little bit of information is always valuable and helpful. I really appreciate it!

Thanks again,

Chris

[Tiger 1]