Case's Tested XX, pig sticker?

M

MK19

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Feb 9, 2016
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I have had this knife over 10 years now. I bought it from the guy who said it was used in world war II and referred to it as a pig sticker. I can't find very much about this blade profile. In looking at the tang stamp, looks like it might be produced pre- 1940. I just want some more information so I know what I have, thanks very much!

https://imgur.com/a/7ddgEL0

p34i4ys.jpeg
 
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A collecting guide* I have includes one pattern that vaguely resembles the blade grind (a sabre grind) with that integral 'guard'. Pattern numbers start either with '62' or '63' with variations of 62-5, 62-6, 63-5, 63-6. I'm assuming the -5 or -6 are referencing blade length in inches. All produced in mid/late '30s (Tested XX era) thru late '40s (XX era). But all the blades shown in the guide were apparently clip profile in their original form. My first thought when looking at your photo was to wonder if the blade profile had at some time been reground, perhaps to make something useful from a blade with a broken tip, and maybe rehandled as well. All the originals were apparently in bone handles. I searched the web on some of the pattern numbers, and found an old SOLD listing of one of them, with a photo below from that listing (named as pattern# 62-5 in that listing). The guide I mentioned doesn't include anything else with that integral guard in the blade grind. This is the only one that looks anything close to what you've got.

* - "Official Price Guide to Collector Knives", Fourteenth Edition, by C. Houston Price (2004)

(photo below is from a SOLD vendor listing on the web)
1560917220_2295_4.jpg
 
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I don't have any insight into the specific knife, but it did get me wondering if you know anything about the soldier/marine who carried it in WWII. I wondered if the original owner might have been a Marine in the Pacific theater. I found it really interesting when I was researching a V44 that had been donated to the museum (about 15 years ago) that early in WWII, the Marines were being issued daggers, which were not very useful at all in the jungle settings they were fighting in. So soldiers and marines started raiding all the bailout kits to steal the V44 machete/bowies so they would have an actually useful knife. That led to the development of the classic KA BAR USMC knife. So whenever I see a very generally utilitarian looking WWII knife, I wonder if that serviceman had been out in the Pacific having to find whatever actually useful knife they could buy/acquire. Or if it was just a soldier that wanted their own knife.

After all, sometimes it is just about personal preference. I knew a Marine Scout Sniper who always carried a Buck 105. He carried the 105 because his uncle had carried that same knife in Vietnam, and had given it to him when he finished Basic. He was certainly issued beefier more tactical knives, but that old 105 was his preference. But it is always fun to know if there is any story attached to a given knife (even if the story is apocryphal).
 
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In Sargent's 7th book, it shows 4 different blade profiles of of pig-stickers, but with stag handles. 562-5, 562-6, 563-5, 563-6. But a few pages later is this text.

"Pig sticker in wood: The wood-handled “pig sticker” exhibited a double-edged dagger style six-inch blade and was listed as a 162-6 in the January 1, 1934 price list and, by the time of the issuance of the 1941 Case catalog, was listed as a 562. Later, it was designated as a 562-6 in catalog #66 with the 562-6 pattern number remaining until it was last listed in the December 1, 1959 price list. Surprisingly, this pattern was routinely listed in Case catalogs in the household cutlery section—quite a piece of cutlery for the kitchen. This knife was also produced with a single edge, but the pattern number of this variation is not known."
 
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