Dagger

Les George said:
I love the old WW2 training pics! :)
Click to expand...
Sure gives one pause to contemplate being in that situation. My uncle, my father's brother, experienced a lot (too much) of close quarters, hand to hand or whatever you want to call it, in the Pacific toward the end of WWII. His job was the same as the Viet Nam era tunnel rat - entering caves and taking out Japanese soldiers. Guess that's where my interest comes from. He gave me a very special prize that I've kept close all of my life - a lot of these came back to the states, but not with the Emperor's Chrysanthemum intact. Ones like this were taken in battle, not obtained after surrender for the Japanese were quick to file off the emblem before relinquishing their weapons. People have tried to purchase it from me but that'll never happen. Click to enlarge.


In that last picture "Levy Sentry Removal Technique" the thumb position is as I described above re the ear dagger. Here's a modern replica I shot recently for the maker. It seems to be, as you so aptly said above "a knife designed around an idea." Click to enlarge.


And finally, I have no military/combat experience but I have lots of respect for those of you who do. What knowledge I have in the area is medical. Early in my career I treated many stab and gunshot wounds here in Denver at what we called "The Knife and Gun Club" which was/is the big public city hospital here. I also performed forensic autopsies on homicide victims back in North Carolina before I moved out here. In that setting it was important to know the particulars about anatomy, blades and ballistics for court. I know I sounded like a know-it-all wannabe above but if that was true I would not have sullied your thread with BS. When I said I thought you were onto something I didn't mean something new (I'm very familiar with the F/S dagger design from reading) but rather a good custom treatment of a tried and true design. If you can't tell already I'll make it plain. I'd love to have one but that's an off-line conversation. Thanks again for a very interesting thread.
 
Very cool video and dagger Les! :thumbup: That large block of damascus steel must have been pricey! :eek:

Is that an older Haas TM-1?
 
Incredible work Les... looks perfect to my eyes!

Just a note on sentry removal. In his collected articles from Soldier of Fortune magazine (published as Bowes, Big Knives and Battle Blades by Paladin Press), Bill Bagwell notes that the Ghurkas were the most effective at sentry removal. They simply snuck up behind the unfortunate fellow and either split his skull or struck him at the base of the neck with their fighting knife, the infamous kukri.

Says Bagwell: "Either attack will silence and kill instantly. These are actually attacks on the nervous system, not the circulatory system. A man who has just had his brain split has had his capacity for speech destroyed. So it is a safe bet that he won't issue a vocal warning after he is hit. The same thing holds true when the spinal cord is hit. The entire nervous system is separated from the brain and everything stops instantly."

Insteresting stuff!
 
Les - I'm a big fan of your work and as a vet (Army) and student of military history I can really appreciate the thought and detail you put into this updated design of the classic F/S dagger. Keep up the great work and thanks for sharing with us!
 
WOW. F/S style knives are very attractive already, and this one stands out from the crowd!

Kind regards,

Jos
 
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