Navy Issue Knives

[waynorth]

There are older ones, and I have heard these WWI era knives referred to as the new knife for the Navy.*
Post yours please! Many companies made them, and they are remarkably similar brand-to-brand according to Mike Silvey (below). Camillus alone made over 150,000 of them, so they are around, although it is really hard to find them with full, squared blades. Here we see one from Case, and one from Robeson.
I guess a seaman was issued a knife to cut rope, with a manicure blade to help him pass imuster!

*"Pocket Knives of the U.S.Military" by Mike Silvey.

 

[notthatsharp]

Those are nice! Why did they have a squared blade though? seems to me like that takes away a lot of functionality.

 

[edbeau]

Not for stabbing but to cut rope.

 

[waynorth]

Some people say it was intentional to keep disputes less deadly! I'm not so sure . . . .

 

[dannyp]

I've also read here before that it's less dangerous for the person using it to cut rope in rough seas. There's probably a little bit of truth to both theories. I would imagine that spending months on end with people in a confined space could lead to some heated arguments.


It's really interesting to me that they have bone covers. When thinking about military issued knives, the thought of wood handled TL-29s and metal Demo Knives come to mind. Nice thread Charlie.

 

[Thomas Linton]

19th and early twentieth century literature mentions the practice of "tipping" blades that came aboard with a point by placing the point in a deck seam and snapping it off or striking it off with a hammer. So "sailor's" pattern is generally taken to be one with no tip.

A number of such knives with this blade plus a can opener appeared on eBay a few months ago. They were new old stock with a black plastic or composition handle. I picked one up. Yours look classier.

 

[Gevonovich]

Hammer Brand ( mark side ) New York Knife Co. Walden (pile side)

 

[will62]

Supposedly the blade was snapped off to prevent sailors from stabbing each other. I also remember reading something about sailors using a wooden baton to hammer a blade through heavier lines and a pointed bladed would break. All this was years before I joined the Navy, when I joined, the Boatswains Mates carried Camillus knives that had a marlinspike and a sheepsfoot blade, a Buck 110, or a Case folding hunter.

 

[Campbellclanman]

Charlie, you seem to have no end in surprises when it comes to glorious examples, thank you for taking this time to show, and to educate us.
Here is an old( ish) English example, not made with anywhere near the finesse as Case or Robeson, but the knife is quite beautiful, and has great W&T, and dont get lil' fingers in the way when closing - Whew!!

 

[Brian.Evans]

Holy cow! What is the spine thickness of that thing?!

 

[waynorth]

Holy Cow is right!!
Duncan, that monster is made to cut a boat in half, never mind a rope!!
How can that big thing still be so beautiful?? Great piece of history, Duncan!!:thumbup:

What are the markings on the blade??

 

[mike Berkovitch]

Great looking knives Charlie. Duncan your knife is monster, yet so appealing. And Gevonovich seeing your knife in the old knives thread made fall into these rope knives. So here are my 2 examples, Case and Camillus, not sure if they were army issues but they are definitely old. Both are about 3 2/8" closed.

Let's see more of these.
Mike

 

[Campbellclanman]

Very nice pair Mike, ( I hope thats the first time you heard that ) I spied them the other day and though..ooooh!

Thanks guys, the spine thickness is a beast!

The Spine starts at Bolster end just under 5mm, and tapers out to 9mm.

The Tang Stamps are "T. Turner Sheffield" and as you can see when the knife is closed "ENCORE" is stamped so it is read easily when the knife is in closed position., believe it or not the ugly pin is apparently factory and not a replacement. Blade is relatively full, Stovepipe kick, and the blade is centred perfectly !!!

 

[LKJW]

Neat knives. I have a few somewhere, but nowhere near as nice as these!

 

[CNoyes]

This will be somewhat repetitious as Charlie has already posted a very nice Robeson example.

I've seen these with a pen as the secondary blade, but most appear to have the manicure blade.

As to the bone handles on these, it was 1918. That's what most cutleries were using at the time and I'm glad they were, because it makes these WWI Navy issue knives so much more appealing.

 

[CoffeeCat2112]

That bone is gorgeous!

 

[smiling-knife]

Those are very nice knives. I especially like the bone scales. This the British Admiralty pattern 301 which was the British Navy issue knife from 1910 until well into the 1930s.

 

[puukkoman]

As someone who works on boats every day, I can tell you that a sheepsfoot blade is VERY much nicer to use most of the time. When the boat's rocking, it's easy to accidentally stick yourself with a pointy blade. And, most things that require a knife, onboard a marine vessel, don't require much use of a sharp tip.

Really nice ones, guys! Here's my favorite, an old Schrade Walden 163. Not Navy issue, as far as I know, but this one still gets a lot of use.

 

[Mack]

As a guy that has lived all his life around the ocean and boats this is one of my favorite patterns. Duncan, that one is spectacular.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[Humppa]

Wow... you guys have impressive Navy knives.

I think the Ankermesser wether made by Otter or Löwenmesser (Lütters & Cie formaly) have a naval origin.