Very nice, Dirk. Very nice. The last one may be my favorite, next to that first Marbles-like old hunter, but all are fine.Here are a few of mine
- Stuart
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Let's see your good old basic fixed blades, Bowie's, Stickers, etc.
- Thread starter sunnyd
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- Stuart
Thx Stuart, the first one is a Hugo Köller from Solingen, a fleamarket found, which I restored. It was in terrible condition, heavy rust on blade, bend finger guard and totally filthy handle, but I managed to bring it to a reasonable condition. The others I made by myself
Outstanding!!
- Stuart
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Wow these are some real beauties!Some USA Carbon Cousins (498S, 153UH, 172UH)
black mamba
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Thanks, clown and Duckdog, the Uncle Henrys are a weakness of mine!
Western Bx-54 Bushman (1943-1944), the model used by Western for their WWII contract knives for Navy and Army Air Corps pilot kits and the precursor to the Western W49 produced in 1964. This one was re-handled before I got it; the original handles were black Bakelite.
- Stuart
- Stuart
black mamba
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Very nice, Stuart! I'm curious if anyone remembers the advertising of the time, what those two parallel grooves were for on the blade. Do they serve a purpose other than looks?
@black mamba I have no documentation on the design, but I believe they are reminiscent of "blood grooves" or, more properly, fuller grooves of some swords and battle daggers. The myth is that the fullered blades world reduce hydrostatic pressure in flesh/muscle during stabbing and withdrawal of the blade thus facilitating such action. However, the real reason for fuller grooves is to remove metal from the blade to reduce weight without losing strength and rigidity. The Buck 119 has such a fuller groove, as do the Marble hunters. The Western's grooves are relatively small in area and, although they could account for some weight reduction, they may be more cosmetic than functional. Sort of a trademark, whether official or not. Just a guess.
- Stuart
tongueriver
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tongueriver
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Damn, yes!
- Stuart
Ditto!
- Stuart
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Pretty cool, Stuart. I've never seen one.This "swingblade" by J.L. Barbee is something slightly different.
- Stuart
Gary, you don't see many. I think that the late bowhunting writer and knife reviewer, Roger J. Combs, referred to it as "the Barb". if Mr. Barbee is still alive on his ranch in Ft. Stockton, TX, he is around 90 years old.
- Stuart
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You would have to find advertising on the Collins #18 Machete Pequeno, which the BX-54 was an authorized copy of.
The #18 had the dual parallel fullers and Western, Case and Kinfolks included them in their copies.
Collins started making the #18 sometime in the late 1920s or very early 1930s. It was selected to be the knife for the AAC Survival Pack in 1934. Western and Case made authorized copies during WW2, as Collins was unable to keep up with the demand, along with all the machete work they were producing for the Army, Navy and Marines.
Kinfolks never had a military contract for the knives to my knowledge, but they probably made them for PX sales. With their close relationship with Case, it's possible that Case made them for Kinfolks. That is just speculation on my part.
Western and Case never had any marketing advertising for the knife as they were not made for the civilian market.
Western used the Bx-54 as the basis with their 1964 Western Bowie, which eventually was marketed as the W49.
Case also used their WW2 knives as the basis for their large Bowie knives down the road.
All 4 of these knives are frequently, incorrectly, called V44s. The only real V44 is a WW2 fixed blade machete Case made for late WW2 survival packs as replacements for the folding machetes which had replaced the #18s and its clones. All 2 were in service simultaneously from 1944 on, until the packs themselves were obsoleted and removed from service.
@zzyzzogeton Thanks for the additional information. Your guidance in another thread was the basis (and extent of) my earlier comments in post #2467 on the Bx-54 and my version thereof. As i mentioned, my thoughts on the fulller grooves are conjecture. The history of those big knives is fascinating, as are the knives themselves.
Stuart
Stuart