John Ek Vietnam era knives???

Senator

Senator

Joined
Oct 2, 1998
Messages
1,874
I've got a friend who came across five knives that were supposedly made by John Ek during the Vietnam years. As I've never heard of this maker, I told him I'd post a question here.

The knives are fixed blades about 12" in OAL, with 7.25" carbon steel spearpoint blades. They have what appears to be walnut handles with lead pins. None of the knives were sharpened. They have what look like false edges on top and bottom instead of true edge bevels.

The knives have definitely seen their fair share of use. Does anyone have any info on these knives, or their approximate value? Any help at all is appreciated. Thanks.

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Kelly
home.sprintmail.com/~maddash
AKTI Member #A000289

Deo Vindice

[This message has been edited by Senator (edited 29 June 1999).]

[This message has been edited by Senator (edited 02 July 1999).]
 
Kelly,

Those are NOT John Ek knives but rather Ek Commando Knife Company knives if made in Richmond Virginia and Blackjack Ek if made in Effinmgton Illinois. Believe me, the knives made by John Ek or for that matter his son Gary are much different. BTW those are all model 3 variants in your picture.

-=[Bob]=-
 
Sorry I didn't make it more clear, Bob. That picture is not mine. I just found it on the web while doing a search. The knives in question are very similar to the one in the picture, but is not actually the same one. I found that pic on someone's Blackjack catalog site. Sorry for any confusion.

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Kelly
home.sprintmail.com/~maddash
AKTI Member #A000289

Deo Vindice
 
HI Senator

MOst of the EK blades were serialized with numbers, does your friends knives have numbers on the hilt?

Regards
Ken
 
John Ek knives made during the Vietnam War were marked "Miami, Fla." on the blade and had a serial number. The maple handles were secured by poured lead rivets that could be tightened in the field by smacking them with a rock. WWII Ek knives were marked Hamden, Ct. on the blade. The knives shown in the picture were made by the Ek Commando Knife Co. of Richmond, Va. which was eventually bought out by Mike Stewart of Blackjack Knives. The John Ek knives were excellent combat/fighters. I personally carried an Ek model 3 while "In Country" along with my trusty Randall model one.
 
namvet67,

Very concise summary of John Ek. Gary, his son, also produces knives out of Miami and formerly out of St. Augustine. Original John Ek knives can command a pretty good price on the collectors market.

-=[Bob]=-
 
OK - I deleted the picture that was in my first post. It seemed to just muddy the issue too much. I was able to get hold of one of the knives to scan it. Here's the pic:

John%20Ek%20knife.jpg


There are no apparent blade markings. A forumite faxed me a copy of a Tactical Knives article on Ek knives from a couple of years ago. From that info, as well as info from the previous owner, it looks like the knives are Model 2 Rangers. The article also had a pic of a Model 1 that had been ink stamped. It stated most Miami-era knives were either die- or ink-stamped, which could explain the absence of markings.

Does anyone have a collectors guide that lists the approximate value of these knives? Any help would be appreciated. TIA



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Kelly

http://home.carolina.rr.com/senator
AKTI Member #A000289

Deo Vindice


 
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